Tomorrow, Friday, March 18 sees the opening of Paris’ Cinéma du Reél. Running through Sunday, March 27, the event’s 38th edition includes just under 50 new or recent feature-length selections, joining additional retrospective and tribute sections. Highlights from the former are noted below: Continue reading
Category Archives: Documentary
Cinéma du Reél 2016 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On VOD: WE LIKE IT LIKE THAT
New to VOD this week: WE LIKE IT LIKE THAT
Mathew Ramirez Warren’s ode to Latin boogaloo made its bow at SXSW last year. The doc also screened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Sound + Vision, Ambulante California, Urbanworld, San Diego Latino, and In-Edit Spain and Chile, among other events. It now comes to VOD platforms, including iTunes.
If general audiences aren’t quite sure what Latin boogaloo even is, it’s understandable, given the music genre’s relatively short life, spanning the mid- to late-1960s and spawning only a few still familiar crossover hits. Originating within New York City’s teenage Puerto Rican and Cuban communities, boogaloo fused a variety of music styles, from R&B and doo-wop to their parents’ mambo, while also eschewing Spanish language for English or a mixture of both. In its reflection of 1960s social upheaval and changing conceptions of American identity, boogaloo served as a bridge between an earlier immigrant generation’s traditions and the wider youth culture their offspring embraced. As a result, as argued by several participants in Ramirez Warren’s scrappy if somewhat too insider project, the genre “saved” Latin music from fading away – at least until boogaloo ran its course, or, if some are to be believed here, was deliberately destroyed in favor of the coming of more traditionally-friendly salsa.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On VOD: PURGATORIO
Now on VOD: PURGATORIO: A JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF THE BORDER
Rodrigo Reyes’ exploration of life on the border debuted at Guadalajara in 2013. It went on to screen at Los Angeles, New Orleans, Ann Arbor, San Diego Latino, Chicago, Documentary Fortnight, and Traverse City, among other fests. The doc now comes to VHX.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: WHAT OUR FATHERS DID: A NAZI LEGACY
New to DVD this week: WHAT OUR FATHERS DID: A NAZI LEGACY
David Evans’ profile of the sons of high-ranking Nazis made its debut at Tribeca last year. It also screened at the Jerusalem, Vancouver, Hamburg, London, Stockholm, and San Francisco Jewish film fests.
Evans’ film focuses on three men: Niklas Frank and Horst von Wachter, both sons of lawyers turned governors of Nazi-occupied territories during WWII, and Philippe Sands, a renowned international human rights attorney whose Ukrainian Jewish grandfather lost his entire family due to atrocities overseen by Frank and von Wachter’s fathers. While Frank has unreservedly condemned the actions of his father, a man who never showed him any affection before he was convicted at Nuremberg and sentenced to death, von Wachter clings to the increasingly untenable belief that his beloved father was a good man, not responsible for any war crimes. In settings both private and public, Sands and Frank challenge von Wachter to face facts, but continue to face disturbing resistance, facile excuses, and impossible demands for corroboration, making for a troubling and compelling consideration of the limits of denial.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New Directors/New Films 2016: Documentary Overview
Celebrating its 45th edition, New Directors/New Films, a collaboration between the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, begins tomorrow, Wednesday, March 16, and runs through Sunday, March 27. After a disappointing reduction in the number of nonfiction offerings in 2015, this year’s series shows an improvement, with six of its 27 features representing documentary and hybrid work:
Two titles come to NYC after recent, acclaimed debuts at Sundance: US Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner WEINER (pictured), Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s surprisingly candid look inside Anthony Weiner’s ill-fated mayoral run; and CAMERAPERSON, noted cinematographer Kirsten Johnson’s meditation on capturing images.
A deep sense of place links the remaining nonfiction works in this year’s ND/NF: Salomé Lamas’ ELDORADO XXI (pictured) looks at the lives of miners in the remote Peruvian Andes; Zhao Liang’s BEHEMOTH offers a startling view of the impact of industrialization on China’s Inner Mongolia; Tony Stone’s PETER AND THE FARM profiles a man’s self-destruction against the background of his Vermont farm; and Pietro Marcello’s hybrid LOST AND BEAUTIFUL, which is set in the world of a southern Italian shepherd.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On VOD: BOOM BUST BOOM
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, March 15: BOOM BUST BOOM
Terry Jones, Bill Jones, and Ben Timlett’s creative look at economic crashes has largely bypassed festivals to instead screen at universities, conferences, and other professional events since its debut last March. It opened theatrically last week and now comes to VOD platforms including iTunes.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD: STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 15: STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE
Alex Gibney’s look at the life and legacy of the computer pioneer debuted at SXSW last year. Other fest berths included Nantucket, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, AFI Docs, Melbourne, Woodstock, Napa Valley, DocPoint, Big Sky, and IDFA.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD: CENSORED VOICES
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 15: CENSORED VOICES
Mor Loushy’s revealing look back at the Six Day War bowed at Sundance last year. Screenings followed at Berlin, Hot Docs, BFI London, DMZ Docs, DOXA, DocAviv, Documenta Madrid, and Docs Against Gravity, among other events.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Special Screening: THE MIND OF MARK DEFRIEST
Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow, Tuesday, March 15: THE MIND OF MARK DEFRIEST
Gabriel London’s chronicle of a notorious prisoner made its bow at Hot Docs in 2014. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Los Angeles,, Denver, Lone Star, Tallgrass, Key West, CPH:DOX, and at several university and community screenings around the country. The film enjoyed a limited theatrical release and has been broadcast on Showtime.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
On VOD: THE ARMOR OF LIGHT
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 15: THE ARMOR OF LIGHT
Abigail Disney’s exploration of faith and the Second Amendment debuted at Tribeca last year. Screenings followed at Traverse City, AFI Docs, Hamptons, Galway, Montclair, Milwaukee, St Louis, Heartland, Global Peace, Oxford, and SF Jewish, among others. The film now comes to VOD platforms, including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and Vudu.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
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