Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to DVD and VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11: BRIDGEND

John Michael Williams’ exploration of a rash of teen suicides seems to have bypassed film festival screenings and to go directly to to DVD, as well as to VOD exclusively via Netflix.

Beginning in 2007, the titular South Wales town has seen scores of deaths by suicide – mostly by hanging, absent suicide notes, and by young people. From the first reported discovery of the body of eighteen-year-old Dale – who had been missing for several months – in an amusement park, to the subsequent suicide of one of his best friends, David, six weeks later, theories have abounded of a serial killer, suicide pacts, Internet cults, or other nefarious explanations. As more teenagers fell victim, the media circus grew, particularly when young women started to kill themselves. Williams’ film examines this unusual incidence rate from an inside perspective, through interviews with family members and friends of the deceased, witnesses who found bodies, and coroners and other authorities. While some offer explanations – the dead-end nature of Bridgend itself, a former market town with no major industry or opportunities left save its nightlife, or the idea of contagion, with the first suicide serving as a trigger to others predisposed to taking their own lives – the film’s strength lies in the haunting presence of the departed – one young man interviewed here was later to take his own life – and in the emotional resonance their loss has had on those left behind.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11: PORTRAIT OF JASON

Shirley Clarke’s seminal look at black gay male identity debuted at the New York Film Festival in 1967. Milestone Films and the Academy Film Archive debuted the restored film at Berlin last year, followed by a theatrical re-release and festival screenings at London, Poland’s American Film Festival, CPH:DOX, and the upcoming IDFA. This release also marks the first time the film has ever been available on Blu-ray.

I wrote about the film upon its theatrical re-release here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, November 7: VIRUNGA

Orlando von Einsiedel’s chronicle of Congo’s imperiled national park bowed at Tribeca. Its extensive fest circuit has included Hot Docs, DOXA, Mountainfilm at Telluride, AFI Docs, Edinburgh, Traverse City, Melbourne, Camden, Reykjavik, Antenna, and Abu Dhabi.

Congo’s Virunga National Park is a breathtakingly beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site that serves as a sanctuary for the world’s dwindling population of mountain gorillas, not to mention a rich diversity of other fauna and flora. Charged with overseeing this national treasure are Belgian park warden Emmanuel de Merode and his deputy, Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo, dedicated to protecting the wildlife from poachers, and increasingly concerned by the presence of armed guerrilla fighters M23, who threaten to reignite civil war. Joining them at the center of von Einsiedel’s film are Andre Bauma, a caretaker of the park’s endangered gorillas, and Melanie Gouby, an intrepid French journalist whose undercover work here lends the doc some of its most enraging moments. As is soon revealed, the park, and this quartet, are threatened by a far more dangerous foe – the oil industry. British company SOCO International is deadset on exploiting Virunga for its oil deposits, and is willing to partner with M23 to clear out the park of anyone that stands in their way. Expertly melding elements of social issue doc, investigative journalism, and thriller, von Einsiedel crafts a compelling, vital exposé of corporate greed and environmental disregard.