The penultimate day of Doc-A-Thon, DOC NYC‘s panel series, focuses on the current state of nonfiction funding. All of the following Day 5 panel sessions take place between 10:30am-5:00pm at the IFC Center on Wednesday, November 19: Continue reading
Category Archives: Documentary
2014 DOC NYC in Focus: Doc-A-Thon Day 5 – Fund Your Doc
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
RIDM 2014 Overview
Tonight, Wednesday, November 12 sees the opening of the 17th edition of the Montreal International Documentary Festival, more familiar as RIDM, with the world premiere of Kim Nguyen’s THE EMPIRE OF SCENTS (LE NEZ), an exploration of the sense of smell, inspired by a sommelier’s book. The fest closes on Sunday, November 23 with Nicolas Wadimoff’s SPARTANS, a profile of a suburban Marseille MMA and the school he runs. Between these two films, RIDM will screen over sixty new and recent nonfiction features, plus shorts and new media projects. While the simultaneous presentation of DOC NYC on the festival calendar makes it impossible for me to attend, here are the titles that caught my attention: Continue reading
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2014 DOC NYC in Focus: POINT + SHOOT
Photography is at the center of the fifth of six DOC NYC shorts programs: Continue reading
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In Theatres: LEVITATED MASS
Coming to NYC theatres this Friday, November 14: LEVITATED MASS
Doug Pray’s charting of the construction of a massive art project premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year. Its fest circuit included DOC NYC, Florida, Cleveland, Napa Valley, Martha’s Vineyard, and Sebastopol Doc, among others. After a theatrical run in Los Angeles this past September, it now opens in NYC.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On VOD: PEOPLE’S PARK
Coming to VOD via iTunes today, Tuesday, November 11: PEOPLE’S PARK
Libbie D Cohn and JP Sniadecki’s single-take tour through a Chinese park debuted at Locarno in 2012. Its fest circuit has included Vancouver, Beijing Independent, Doclisboa, Viennale, Punto de Vista, Cinéma du Réel, New Directors/New Films, It’s All True, Edinburgh, Margaret Mead, RIDM, and the Whitney Biennial, among others. After its iTunes exclusive release, the film will be released on other major VOD platforms next Tuesday, November 18.
A project of Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab, Cohn and Sniadecki’s film aims to bring an immersive aspect to traditional models of ethnographic documentary. In this case, the method employed is a continuous take which lasts for the entirety of the film’s 75 minute running time, absent the brief end credits. Shot in Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province, the film presents the various goings-on within the bustling titular public space, bookended by the spectacle of public dancing. Along their measured, circuitous path through the park, Cohn and Sniadecki – the former shooting while seated in a wheelchair pushed by the latter, creating their own low-cost dolly, and in the process approximating a child’s perspective, perhaps intentionally, so as to engender a sense of exploration and wonderment – capture the anonymous masses enjoying their State-sanctioned leisure time, pouring drinks at picnic tables, rowing boats in the lake, buying shish kabobs, sitting for a chat, or, more often, acknowledging the presence of the filmmakers, whether by averting their gaze, flashing a quick peace sign, or simply looking back quizzically. As a result, the sense of immersion is constantly questioned, the camera a brief disruption to the everyday activities it attempts to document. Calling attention to itself, the film underscores its status as an experiment more than a genuine experience of immersion, which seems to be its point. Now, whether the film needed over an hour to establish that is the bigger question – it makes for a diverting virtual tour for a short jaunt, but isn’t quite commanding enough to prevent the mind from wandering away from the park and into other terrain.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
2014 DOC NYC in Focus: PARTS + LABOR
The fourth of six DOC NYC shorts programs puts work in the spotlight: Continue reading
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On VOD: I AM SANTA CLAUS
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, November 11: I AM SANTA CLAUS
Tommy Avallone’s 365-day Santa profile premiered at the Hollywood Film Festival last month. After a series of one-night-only screenings last week, the Morgan Spurlock executive produced doc comes to VOD platforms.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
2014 DOC NYC in Focus: Doc-A-Thon Day 4 – Finish Your Doc
DOC NYC‘s daily panel series, Doc-A-Thon, continues with masterclasses focused around postproduction essentials. All of the following Day 4 panel sessions take place between 10:30am-5:00pm at the IFC Center on Tuesday, November 18: Continue reading
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On DVD: WALKING THE CAMINO
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 11: WALKING THE CAMINO: SIX WAYS TO SANTIAGO
Lydia Smith’s look at the famous Spanish pilgrimage premiered at Ashland last year. It went on to Newport Beach, Galway, American Doc, Heartland, and Hollywood, among others, followed by a limited theatrical release this Summer.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
2014 DOC NYC in Focus: THE CULT OF JT LEROY
DOC NYC is pleased to announced a late-breaking addition to this year’s Special Events section: The World Premiere of Marjorie Sturm’s THE CULT OF JT LEROY
DOC NYC Program Description
THE CULT OF JT LEROY
Director: Marjorie Sturm
WORLD PREMIERE
JT LeRoy burst onto the literary scene in the late 1990s, attracting a devoted following through stark tales of poverty, abuse and underage prostitution in books like Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. His was a rags-to-riches story, with his own tortured life inspiring his writing—or so he claimed. Drawn into LeRoy’s inner circle before the truth came to light, director Marjorie Sturm was misled like many others. Through intimate interviews with many close to the tarnished figure, she attempts to untangle what really happened, and in the process explores how this deception called into question not only the value of LeRoy’s writing absent authenticity, but our culture’s complicity within the author’s seductive cult of personality.
Expected to attend: Marjorie Sturm and special guests from the film
Why You Should Attend:
In DOC NYC’s five-year history, there’s never been a film added to the lineup this late, so you know it takes a special kind of film and topic to break with precedent. First-time documentary feature director Sturm has been working on this project for several years, and we’re excited to host its debut with three opportunities to see the film!
More Info:
To purchase tickets, click here and follow links for ticketing; or check out the new options for Passes.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
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