Brooklyn’s Northside Festival kicks off today, Thursday, June 12, and runs through next Thursday, June 19, with film programming starting on Monday evening. As it has for the past several years, this mini-SXSW joins the worlds of music, cinema, and innovation together, and presents a healthy number of docs in its line-up – both new and recent work and an eclectic selection of retrospective classics or unseen gems. The following offers notable selections from this year’s film programming: Continue reading
Category Archives: Documentary
Northside 2014: Documentary Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Special Screening: THE SEARCH FOR EMAK BAKIA
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Friday, June 13: THE SEARCH FOR EMAK BAKIA
Oskar Alegria’s Man Ray-inspired journey debuted at BAFICI in 2012. It’s gone on to screen at Edinburgh, Telluride, San Sebastian, DocLisboa, Morelia, RIDM, Ambulante, San Francisco, DocAviv, DOXA, EDOC, and Sydney, among others.
Avant-garde artist Man Ray’s short film poem, EMAK-BAKIA, was shot in Biarritz in 1926. Despite the literal translation of its Basque title – “leave me alone” – the film so captivates Alegria that he instead sets out to get closer to it, attempting to pin down its origins out of rumors and legends. In a literal sense, the filmmaker seeks out the undisclosed location of the house where Man Ray shot the film, but in his research, allows curiosity to lead him to tangential asides, some generating unusual surprises, but many amounting to nothing useful in a concrete sense, which nevertheless inform his understanding of – or better yet, serve to evoke – the elusive artist and his work. The resulting project is a strangely charming realization of the timeworn adage that it’s not the destination, but the journey, that proves more edifying.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Human Rights Watch 2014: Documentary Overview
Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, June 12, the New York edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival celebrates a quarter century of showcasing films addressing vital global concerns. With screenings through Sunday, June 22, the event will screen nearly two dozen programs to bear witness to and bring greater awareness of continuing human rights abuses around the world. Among the thematic offerings this year are: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On TV: THE NEW BLACK
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens this Sunday, June 15: THE NEW BLACK
Yoruba Richen’s look at the relationship between African Americans and gay rights had its premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year. It went on to screen at Human Rights Watch, AFI Docs, Frameline, Urbanworld, Citizen Jane, Hot Springs, Polari, and New Orleans, among others.
I included the film in my AFI Docs coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
In Theatres: IVORY TOWER
Coming to theatres this Friday, June 13: IVORY TOWER
Andrew Rossi’s investigation of the current economics of higher education debuted earlier this year at Sundance. It has also screened at Sarasota, Miami, Seattle, Ashland, Full Frame, Cleveland, and Montclair, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On DVD/VOD: TIM’S VERMEER
Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, June 10: TIM’S VERMEER
Teller’s exploration of an art history mystery had its world premiere at Telluride. Other fest screenings included Toronto, Palm Springs, Denver, St Louis, Portland, Dubai, the Hamptons, and New York Film Festival, and enjoyed a limited theatrical release. The doc was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. It now becomes available in a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, as well as digitally via iTunes.
I previously wrote about the film out here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD: THE MISSING PICTURE
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 10: THE MISSING PICTURE
Rithy Panh’s personal reflection on life under the Khmer Rouge premiered at Cannes last year, where it won the Un Certain Regard. Additional screenings included Toronto, New York, Vancouver, Cleveland, Seattle, Jerusalem, and Göteborg, among several others. The doc was Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
I included the film in my Toronto coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On VOD: BRASSLANDS
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, June 10: BRASSLANDS
The Meerkat Media Collective’s exploration of a Serbian brass festival debuted at the Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival last year. Other screenings have included Belgrade’s BelDocs, Los Angeles Film Festival, Rooftop Films, Rotterdam, CPH:DOX, Vilnius, Thessaloniki Doc, New Orleans, and American Doc fest. It now comes to VOD platforms via The Orchard’s Opus Docs series.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Los Angeles 2014: Documentary Overview
This Wednesday, June 11, marks the start of the 20th anniversary edition of the Los Angeles Film Festival, which will continue through Thursday, June 19. Nearly 200 films total will screen, though this year sees slightly fewer feature documentaries represented, with only 21 by my count, representing a cross-section of debuts as well as LA premieres of several festival favorites. The following offers brief highlights: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On DVD: BIBLE QUIZ
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 10: BIBLE QUIZ
Nicole Teeny’s Scripture spin on SPELLBOUND debuted at Slamdance last year, where it claimed the best doc award. Other fest appearances have included New Orleans, Newport Beach, Kansas, St Louis, Oxford, American Doc, and Spokane.
At the same time a competition doc and a portrait of adolescence, Teeny’s film profiles seventeen-year-old Mikayla, a girl from a troubled home who turns to religion for stability and acceptance – or, perhaps more accurately, she turns to a small circle of earnest, pious friends who happen to be obsessed with memorizing the Bible. Their goal: to win the National Bible Quiz Championship. Mikayla’s goal, even though she may not know it herself at first: to make team captain JP her (chaste) boyfriend. Following standard competition doc conventions, Teeny films her subjects engrossed in prep, committing huge chunks of Scripture to memory, and triumphant in battle, rattling it off at debate-speed to beat rival schools – initially fascinating in its peculiarity, but not particularly riveting in and of itself without a more nuanced, in-depth exploration of the impact of Christianity on these young people’s lives, which is strangely lacking here. The viewer might expect Teeny to concentrate on both Mikayla and her clean-cut, attractive crush, JP, but instead she wisely focuses on Mikayla, an appealing, intriguing teen. If she plays to the camera a little too much, it’s forgiveable, as her vulnerability still comes through, with her tentative exploration of burgeoning sexuality and attraction complicating what could have been an otherwise rote comp doc.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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