Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to WORLD Channel’s America ReFramed series tonight, Tuesday October 1: THE NEW PUBLIC

Jyllian Gunther’s profile of an alternative Bed-Stuy high school had its world premiere at the Hamptons last year. Its fest circuit has included Boulder, Minneapolis-St Paul, deadCENTER, San Francisco Doc, and the upcoming Hot Springs Doc fest and Southern Circuit film tour.

Gunther’s film begins in August 2006, with the opening of the new Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School, led by an enthusiastic, ambitious, and, as the film will demonstrate, somewhat naive young faculty. BCAM’s mandate is to address the inequalities in the public school system for lower income, primarily African-American students, and the chosen method is utopian – allowing students more freedom to prosper, channeling their creativity through student-driven arts engagement. While Gunther’s camera, and to a lesser extent, student-shot footage, follows this grand experiment over the school’s first year, she wisely structures the second half of the film to jump to senior year, providing a much-needed reality check on just how challenging BCAM’s mission actually is in practice. Much has changed in the intervening years – the staff and the school have both grown, but only half of the founding class remains, and just half of them are set to graduate. Even so, the more seasoned staff have realistic expectations, and have still been successful in offering an educational system that works better than what was previously in place. Gunther’s film presents a thought-provoking look at the challenges and triumphs of public education through engaging characters, students and faculty alike.

Coming to theatres this Wednesday, October 2: LET THE FIRE BURN

Jason Osder’s gripping reckoning with a devastating piece of recent history premiered at Tribeca earlier this year, where it picked up two awards. It went on to screen at Hot Docs, Vancouver, London, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and AFI Docs, among others.

I included the doc in my Tribeca coverage here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1: THERE IS NO SEXUAL RAPPORT

Raphaël Siboni’s behind-the-scenes deconstruction of pornography and its players made its debut at La Roche-sur-Yon. Other festivals include CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Milan, Guangzhou, Jihlava, BAFICI, and Indielisboa.

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

Coming to Independent Lens as part of the firest PBS Indies Showcase this coming Monday, September 30: DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY

Ramona S Diaz’s story of an unlikely rockstar debuted at Tribeca last year. Its festival circuit has included San Francisco, Seattle, Silverdocs, Dubai, Traverse City, Philadelphia, and Palm Springs, among others.

I included the doc in my Tribeca coverage here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 27: THE NETWORK

Eva Orner’s behind-the-scenes look at Afghanistan’s first independent television network made its debut at SXSW this year. It has also screened at Sheffield, Antenna, Festival do Rio, and Bermuda, among other events.

Marking Orner’s directorial debut, the producer of the Academy Award winning TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE returns to Afghanistan to witness the rebirth of culture in a society in which it brutally had been oppressed under Taliban rule. Her focus is the Mohseni family, expatriates who saw the need to bring information and entertainment to their homeland. Despite having no previous experience in broadcasting, they successfully launched a radio station, and followed up with Tolo TV, which quickly became the nation’s most popular channel. Recruiting Westerners in key creative and managerial roles, Tolo lays the groundwork to mentor and train the first modern generation of Afghan media professionals – a vital step, noted here, as coalition forces prepare to withdraw from the country. While showing the infectious pleasures of young Afghans learning the ropes, and telling their country’s own stories in diverting soap operas and the like, Orner’s film also offers an intriguing look at the promise of television to affect social change in a still-volatile region, as she highlights US government funded dramas that are intended to foster public confidence in the Afghan police and security forces, or programs that are incrementally combatting restrictive attitudes to women and their rights.