Category Archives: Documentary

January 18, 2022 · 1:31 PM

2022 Sundance Don’t Miss Docs: THE AMERICAN DREAM AND OTHER FAIRY TALES

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

THE AMERICAN DREAM AND OTHER FAIRY TALES
Abigail Disney looks at America’s dysfunctional and unequal economy and asks why the American Dream has worked for the wealthy, yet is a nightmare for people born with less. As a way to imagine a more equitable future, Disney uses her family’s story to explore how this systemic injustice took hold.

Directors/Producers:
Abigail E Disney, Kathleen Hughes

Producer:
Aideen Kane

Festival Section:
Special Screenings

More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details by clicking on the film title above.

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January 18, 2022 · 12:46 PM

On DVD & Streaming: GORBACHEV. HEAVEN

Coming to DVD Tuesday, January 25 and to OVID.tv Friday, January 28:
GORBACHEV. HEAVEN

Director:
Vitaly Mansky

World Premiere:
IDFA 2020

Select Festivals:
Visions du Réel, Docaviv, Dokufest, Tallinn Black Nights, Sofia, Hong Kong, BelDocs, Docs Against Gravity

About:
Gorbachev, the architect of glasnost and perestroika, but condemned by his own people, lives out the last days of his life in an empty house in the suburbs near Moscow.

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January 18, 2022 · 12:01 PM

Streaming: THERE WILL BE NO MORE NIGHT

Coming to MUBI Tuesday, January 25:
THERE WILL BE NO MORE NIGHT

Director:
Eléonore Weber

World Premiere:
Indielisboa 2020

Select Festivals:
IDFA, Camden, Cinema du Reel, Jihlava, DOXA

About:
Footage from the frontlines of the French and American armies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, are explored with pilot Pierre V as he examines – and admits – his emotions. This cinematic experiment unveils the darker secrets of that which can be seen through the unique lens of the military viewfinder.

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January 18, 2022 · 11:15 AM

On DVD: DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD

Coming to DVD via The Criterion Collection Tuesday, January 25:
DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD

Director:
Kirsten Johnson

World Premiere:
Sundance 2020

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, True/False, CPH:DOX, Doc10

About:
The filmmaker approaches her father’s mortality with inventiveness and dark humor.

My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.

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January 18, 2022 · 10:30 AM

On DVD: BECOMING HELEN KELLER

Coming to DVD Tuesday, January 25:
BECOMING HELEN KELLER

Director:
Michael Pressman

World Premiere:
American Masters PBS broadcast (October 2021)

About:
An exploration of the complex life and legacy of the author, advocate, and human rights pioneer, Helen Keller, who used her celebrity and wit to champion rights for women, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty.

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January 18, 2022 · 9:45 AM

On DVD: WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR

Coming to DVD Tuesday, January 25:
WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR

Director:
Kier-La Janisse

World Premiere:
SXSW 2021

Select Festivals:
Rotterdam, Fantasia, Melbourne, Fantastic Fest, Nashville, Vancouver, Sitges

About:
An expansive history of folk horror, from the 1960s to today.

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January 17, 2022 · 3:02 PM

2022 Sundance Don’t Miss Docs: INSTANT LIFE

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Instant Life
Destitute without electricity and running water, Yolanda Signorelli Von Braunhut has lost control of her late husband Harold’s iconic Amazing Live Sea Monkeys novelty. Yet she alone knows their secret formula, and from her crumbling estate on the Potomac, Yolanda wages legal and existential battles to fully win them back.

Directors/Producers:
Mark Becker, Aaron Schock

Festival Section:
Indie Episodic

More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details by clicking on the film title above.

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January 17, 2022 · 2:12 PM

2022 Sundance Don’t Miss Docs: THREE MINUTES – A LENGTHENING

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo: Family Affair Films

Three Minutes – A Lengthening
Three minutes of footage are the only moving images known of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk in Poland before the Holocaust. An examination of that film — in color, random, full of life — reveals historical and personal dimensions.

Director:
Bianca Stigter

Producer:
Floor Onrust

Festival Section:
Spotlight

More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details by clicking on the film title above.

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January 17, 2022 · 1:31 PM

2022 Sundance Don’t Miss Docs: MEET ME IN THE BATHROOM

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Rebecca Greenfield

Meet Me In The Bathroom
An immersive journey through the New York music scene of the early 2000s. Set against the backdrop of 9/11, the film tells the story of how a new generation kickstarted a musical rebirth for New York City that reverberated around the world. Inspired by the book by Lizzy Goodman.

Director:
Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace

Producers:
Vivienne Perry, Sam Bridger, Marisa Clifford, Thomas Benski, Danny Gabai, Suroosh Alvi

Festival Section:
Midnight

More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details by clicking on the film title above.

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January 17, 2022 · 12:46 PM

On TV: NOT GOING QUIETLY

Coming to PBS’s POV on Monday, January 24:
NOT GOING QUIETLY

Director:
Nicholas Bruckman

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2020 (unscreened)

Select Festivals:
SXSW, Oxford, Cleveland, Annapolis, Provincetown, San Francisco Jewish

About:
When a young father chances to meet a powerful senator on an airplane, their exchange goes viral, sparking one of the most unlikely political movements in a generation.

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