Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to NYC’s Cinema Village today, Friday, November 29: SHORED UP

Ben Kalina’s look at coastal communities in the face of climate change debuted earlier this year at Montclair. It’s gone on to screen at DOXA, SF Green, Provincetown, and Sidewalk, among several other engagements, as well as to cable on DirecTV.

Kalina’s focus is on beach replenishment – where massive quantities of sand are re-introduced to coastlines that have suffered erosion – and its efficacy, or lack thereof, exploring how the US Army Corps of Engineers are fighting a seemingly neverending (and futile) battle, in part, to allow people to live on steadily vanishing beaches. Despite maps from decades ago providing stark evidence of the vanishing barrier islands along the Jersey Shore, (over)development continues, driven by real estate profit. In North Carolina, politicians are more than willing to bury their heads in the (vanishing) sands, banning the discussion of sea level rise so they can overturn environmental protections that have slowed development. The film was nearing completion when Superstorm Sandy made landfall, destroying communities and costing lives just over a year ago. In response, Kalina was able to integrate footage about its devastating aftermath, making it one of the first feature docs to cogently address the disaster and call for solutions to help prevent similar future recurrences.

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, December 3: GOOD OL’ FREDA

Ryan White’s portrait of the woman behind the Beatles made its debut at SXSW this Spring. Other stops on the fest circuit included Hot Docs, San Francisco, Cleveland, Full Frame, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, DocAviv, and Dallas, among others, before a limited theatrical and VOD release this Fall.

I previously wrote about the film out of SXSW here.

Coming to theatres and to VOD this Friday, November 29: THE PUNK SINGER

Sini Anderson’s portrait of pioneering riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna made its debut at SXSW earlier this year. The film has gone on to screen at DOC NYC, Seattle, London, IFF Boston, Sidewalk, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Hot Docs, among others.

I previously wrote about the doc out of Hot Docs here.

Coming to NYC’s Film Forum tomorrow, Wednesday, November 27: COUSIN JULES

Dominique Benicheti’s portrait of a French farmer and his wife debuted at Locarno in 1973, where it won a special jury prize. While it went on to screen at various festivals, including New Directors/New Films, Moscow, and the Los Angeles International Film Expo – the precursor to the American Cinematheque – the film went without a US theatrical release and essentially vanished after its initial appearance on the circuit. The restored version debuted at the New York Film Festival last year and went on to screen at both Berlin and Venice.

I previously wrote about the doc out of last year’s NYFF here.

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, November 26: DINNER AT THE NO-GOS

Marco Orsini’s provocative exploration of politics and religion had its world premiere at Woodstock last year. It went on to screen at Thin Line and Sydney’s Lebanese Film Festival, as well as at a special IEFTA event in Monaco. The Orchard now makes the doc available on iTunes, Amazon, Google, and Netflix.

There are typically more than thirty countries listed on the US State Department’s Travel Warning list, a roster of those nations deemed too potentially dangerous or unstable for Americans to risk entering – from Syria and Egypt to Israel and Saudi Arabia. Questioning what impact such admonitions have on the ability of everyday people both in the US and in those forbidden nations to mutually understand one another, outside of political rhetoric and fear-mongering, director Orsini and producer Bilal Mekkaoui set out to challenge stereotypes and misunderstanding at the most direct level possible: by breaking bread in various Middle Eastern countries that have been on that list – including Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel – as well as in the UK and the US. Hosting a series of dinner parties – some with prominent attendees representing the elite of society, others with refugees from the seemingly perpetual conflict in the region – their only rule is that politics and religion must be discussed. Using the universal setting of a meal, these fascinating, charged conversations put a human face to diverse peoples all-too-easily dismissed en bloc by some as rabid anti-American extremists, while the American affair, held in Atlanta, manages to hold up a mirror to our own at times shockingly simplistic, if not dismissive, sense of geopolitics.