Category Archives: In Brief

Last week, I posted a pointer to my Indiewire articles on AFI Docs, which covered the event as a whole, as well as five titles in the fest’s initial Washington DC lineup. This post wraps up my coverage with brief views on eight additional films. Continue reading →

I’m back from a few days in Washington DC, where I covered the first edition of AFI Docs, which for the past decade has been centered in nearby Silver Spring MD as Silverdocs. I wrote two pieces for Indiewire about the event that were just published this morning. The first considers what this geographical move could end up meaning for the festival’s programming focus, while the second offers my thoughts on five new docs – AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY, DOCUMENTED, I LEARN AMERICA (pictured), LOST FOR LIFE, and THE NEW BLACK – that will be sure to make their way to several other festivals in the coming months. As time allows, I plan to post here later this week on some additional titles that were part of this year’s inaugural DC line up.

Wrapping up my reactions to films from this year’s Hot Docs, this post looks at a few of the remaining programming sections not covered in previous posts (here, here, and here). These include the playful and subversive Nightvision, thematic focus on Rule Breakers & Innovators, and the art, music, and culture strand Next. Continue reading →

Next in my Hot Docs coverage catch up are a selection of films appearing in the festival’s non-competitive Special Presentations and World Showcase sections. I’ll round it up with one additional post later this week looking at the remaining programming strands. Continue reading →

As with my recent Tribeca roundups, I’m going to continue my attempt to catch up on festival coverage with a series of posts this week on Hot Docs, which wrapped up its 20th anniversary edition earlier this month. I previously wrote about AMERICAN COMMUNE, THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE, I WILL BE MURDERED, and RIVER in a festival dispatch for Indiewire here, but am planning to share my thoughts on more then thirty more films. This post covers docs featured in the two competition sections, International Spectrum and Canadian Spectrum. The winners of the former included: Best International Feature Documentary to DRAGON GIRLS, Special Jury Prize to CLOUDY MOUNTAINS, HBO Documentary Films Emerging Artist Award to 12 O’CLOCK BOYS, and Best Mid-Length Documentary to THE CIRCLE. Continue reading →

This post wraps up my coverage of Tribeca with a look at eight docs from the festival’s Spotlight section, a programming strand meant to straddle indie and mainstream sensibilities. I should note that Spotlight included two additional docs that I didn’t get a chance to watch – GASLAND PART II and IN GOD WE TRUST – and a couple whose subject matter just didn’t pique my interest enough to watch – MCCONKEY and THE MOTIVATION. Continue reading →

Continuing my belated roundup of last month’s Tribeca Film Festival, this post covers the fest’s high profile Gala slots and the catch-all Special Screenings, which includes several of the ESPN Sports Film Festival sidebar. One additional post will follow later this week covering the Spotlight section. Continue reading →