Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 25: KIND HEARTED WOMAN

David Sutherland’s intimate portrait of an Oglala Sioux single mother’s efforts to better her life debuted on PBS’s Independent Lens and Frontline this past Spring. It has also screened at the Salem Film Festival, and as part of community events, including several Native film series.

I previously wrote about the film prior to its broadcast premiere here.

Coming to PBS’s POV and to NYC’s Maysles Cinema next Monday, June 24: HOMEGOINGS

Christine Turner’s look at African American approaches to funerals and death made its debut at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight this past Winter. It has gone on to screen at Full Frame and the American Black Film Festival before its broadcast and theatrical release next week.

Isaiah Owens has had a strange affinity for funerals since he was a child, holding make-believe funerals as a regular pastime. He turned this interest into his career, running the Owens Funeral Home in Harlem (and South Carolina) for more than four decades. Owens and his family cater to an African American clientele, providing Turner with the opportunity to explore the way death is often viewed in this community. Marking a passage back home, the funerals that Owens arranges for his clients represent both a vehicle through which to mourn as well as a celebration of their lives for family and friends. Turner demonstrates this by spotlighting several funerals through the course of the film, as well as the arrangements one woman makes for her own eventual passing. Archival photos and interviews with Owens reveal the rich tradition and history of African American undertakers and funeral directors, who filled a need in their communities in a time when segregation and racism meant that white practitioners refused to serve black families. Owens is a very appealing protagonist, a man in love with, and deeply respectful of, his often misunderstood profession, making for an insightful and intriguing film.

Coming to WORLD Channel’s Global Voices series this Sunday, June 23: UNMISTAKEN CHILD

Nati Baratz’s chronicle of a Tibetan monk’s search for his master’s reincarnation had its premiere at Toronto in 2008. It went on to screen at Berlin, Haifa, Full Frame, RiverRun, IFF Boston, Flahertiana, San Francisco, Seattle, and Thessaloniki Doc, among others, picking up several awards along the way. After its broadcast, the doc will be available for a limited time on WORLD’s website.

As a young boy, Tenzin Zopa, himself a reincarnated master, left his parents to study and assume his spiritual duties at the side of his master, Geshe Lama Konchog. Decades later, after Lama Konchog passes, the devoted Zopa is tasked by the Dalai Lama to locate his beloved master’s reincarnation – but he must do so before the child and his earthly parents form too close of a bond, preventing his easy transfer to the monk’s care. Zopa sets out on what will be a four-year journey to investigate reports of unusual recently-born children in hopes of identifying Lama Konchog’s new incarnation. Baratz’s intimate camera follows the nervous young monk, revealing the fascinating tests and ceremonies used to determine if he’s found his lost master, while also creating a beautiful, at times transcendent, travelogue of Nepal. Remaining strictly observational, Baratz leaves it to the viewer to wonder about some of the thornier issues that arise around the core goal of separating a young child from his parents, and to ask questions about faith and tradition.