Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to PBS’s POV this coming Monday, September 9 and to DVD on Tuesday, September 10: PING PONG

Hugh Hartford’s look at senior table tennis champs had its world premiere at Hot Docs last year. It went on to screen at Sheffield, DOC NYC, Palm Springs, Vancouver, and Miami, among others, and came to theatres this past May.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 6: WE THE PARENTS

James Takata’s chronicle of the possibilities of parent power in education made its debut in limited theatrical release in Los Angeles last month. It now expands to NYC, with filmmakers using Tugg to set up potential screenings around the country based on demand.

In January 2010, California became the first state to pass a parent trigger law – essentially, a means by which parents can hold their school district to task for an underperforming school by closing the school, demanding a new administration, or converting it to a charter school. Takata’s film focuses on the efforts of the first group of parents who tried to invoke the law in California’s Compton school district by gathering petitions from more than half of their school’s parents, backed by Parent Revolution, the organization which fought for the parent trigger law in the first place, and which was eager to see it utilized. Not surprisingly, the Compton school district challenges the petition, necessitating a legal battle. While Takata’s film is fairly conventional in approach, and, clocking in at just about an hour, can’t hope to be comprehensive, it is decidedly successful in poignantly capturing the importance of this battle for several of the participants. The primarily Latino and African American parents profiled view the trigger law, and their involvement in Parent Revolution, as perhaps the first time they’ve felt empowered – as one mother notes, in handing the petition over the school district, she felt like she was on the same level as the administrators. That alone makes Takata’s film worth seeking out by parents, community organizers, and teachers alike.

Coming to NYC’s Filmwax for a screening in a taxi garage parking lot this Saturday, September 7 and to VOD this coming Tuesday, September 10: DRIVERS WANTED

Joshua Z Weinstein’s look at NYC taxi drivers made its premiere at Silverdocs last year. It has gone on to screen at DOK.Leipzig, the Southern Circuit Tour, DOC NYC, Big Sky, and Sebastopol Doc fests, among others, before a limited theatrical release last Fall. It comes to VOD next week via iTunes and Amazon.

I previously wrote about the film here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 6: I AM BREATHING

Emma Davie and Morag McKinnon’s affecting look at a man’s impending mortality had its world premiere at IDFA last year. Its festival circuit included True/False, Hot Docs, Documentary Edge, DOK.fest Munich, DocsBarcelona, Cleveland, and Edinburgh, as well as a Global Screening Day in June that saw 36 countries host more than 170 screenings.

I included the doc in my IDFA coverage here.

Coming to NYC’s MIST Harlem tomorrow, Thursday, September 5 before expanding to the IFC Center and to LA’s Laemmle Playhouse 7 this Friday, September 6: BEST KEPT SECRET

Samantha Buck’s profile of a teacher at a Newark special needs high school made its world premiere at the Independent Film Festival Boston. Additional fest screenings have included Montclair and AFI Docs.

I previously wrote about the film out of AFI Docs here.