Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, November 4: THE DOG

Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren’s profile of the inspiration behind DOG DAY AFTERNOON premiered at Toronto last year. It went on to screen at the New York Film Festival, Berlin, SXSW, Thessaloniki, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Montclair, among others, and had a limited theatrical release this Summer.

I previously wrote about the doc out of Toronto here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, October 31: TRUE SON

Kevin Gordon’s portrait of young man’s entry into local politics had its world premiere at Tribeca this Spring. The doc has gone on to SF DocFest, Oakland Underground, the United Nations Association, and the upcoming Indie Memphis film fests.

Michael Tubbs already beat the odds once, taking the charismatic African American young man from the beleaguered city of Stockton CA to the halls of Stanford University. Having completed his studies, Tubbs isn’t content to put his past behind him – instead, he returns home, ready to make a difference in a city with serious problems. His solution, borne of late-night dorm talks: run for city council and unseat an incumbent who seems content with the status quo – despite a lack of experience and funds. While he faces an uphill battle, his passion, and ability to rally otherwise disinterested young adults, gives Tubbs a fighting chance – even if Stockton’s electoral rules systemically make it unlikely for minority candidates to win seats. While fairly conventionally constructed, Gordon’s film benefits greatly from the engaging personalities of Tubbs and his campaign team to rally audience engagement, making this an appealing entry in the nonfiction subgenre of political campaign docs.

Coming to NYC’s Anthology Film Archives today, Friday, October 31: BRADDOCK AMERICA

Jean-Loïc Portron and Gabriella Kessler’s portrait of a former steeltown debuted at La Rochelle’s Escales Documentaires last year. It went on to screen in a sidebar program at Cannes, Thessaloniki Doc, Cleveland, Lussas, Nashville, France’s International Environmental, and Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers film fests.

Braddock PA was once at the heart of US steel, but as that industry collapsed, so to did the town, losing the majority of its population. Expertly employing copious archival footage and often emotional interviews with residents, Portron and Kessler chronicle the decline of the town through the decades, leading to today’s sad present, with shuttered factories and mills, rows of abandoned houses, and a crumbling infrastruture. Still, against this backdrop, the community tries to maintain hope, banding together to manage small-scale maintenance projects in the absence of funding or to protest the shuttering of the only hospital. From their outside perspective, and notably without fetishizing the urban decay, the French filmmakers craft an at times affecting look at the wages of greed on post-industrial America, as localized in one town and the challenges it faces.