Category Archives: In Brief

Yesterday, I posted a link to my Indiewire article on this year’s just-concluded Silverdocs, which included a roundup of ten titles. This post adds nearly a dozen more to wrap up my coverage of the event this year. Continue reading →

This post wraps up my reactions to Hot Docs with a look at select titles from World Showcase and Rise Against, a thematic section looking at activism. Continue reading →

My thoughts on documentaries at this year’s Hot Docs continues with a look at selections from the International Spectrum, Special Presentations, and Nightvision sections. I was very intrigued by the latter, a new section this year devoted to films that stretch the idea of documentary filmmaking, and was only sorry to have missed what sounded like a really fun title, FINDING TRUELOVE. Continue reading →

Though I had a shorter visit in Toronto for Hot Docs than I usually do, and had to balance covering the Forum with fulfilling my duties as a juror for the Canadian Spectrum, I managed to find enough time to watch quite a lot of films – enough to warrant at least three separate posts. Today’s will cover a selection of films from my competition section as well as a few from the music- and art-focused Next section. Continue reading →

A major non-public side of Hot Docs is the accompanying Hot Docs Forum, a gathering of international commissioning editors and funders, and the filmmakers who are eager to get their support. My article about the best pitches presented at this year’s event is up at Indiewire here.

This post wraps up my coverage of Tribeca documentaries, covering a number of titles from the festival’s Spotlight and Viewpoints sections. Combined with the previous roundups, and films covered at other festivals, I managed to write about thirty-one of the thirty-nine feature docs in this year’s lineup. Continue reading →

In this second of three Tribeca roundup posts, I offer brief thoughts on a number of documentaries in the festival’s Spotlight, Viewpoints, and Tribeca Talks sections. For films in the World Documentary Competition and Special Screenings, see my earlier post. One final post will follow with additional docs from Spotlight and Viewpoints not covered below. Continue reading →

NYC’s Tribeca wrapped up its eleventh edition this weekend, announcing a number of jury and audience awards over the past few days, including: Best New Documentary Director to WAVUMBA (pictured), Best Documentary Editing to THE FLAT, Best Documentary Feature to THE WORLD BEFORE HER, Tribeca (Online) Best Feature to ON THE MAT, and Documentary Audience Award to BURN. I offer my thoughts below on the first two, and will hold off on writing about WORLD until after Hot Docs, since it is part of the competition there for which I am a juror. Unfortunately, I missed BURN, but will address MAT in the second part of my Tribeca coverage in the next day or so – this post covers the World Documentary Competition and Special Screenings, while the next will look at documentaries in the Spotlight, Viewpoints, and Tribeca Talks sections. Continue reading →

Wrapping up my thoughts on the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (part one, covering Greek films may be found here, and part two, looking at international portraits may be found here, while Indiewire articles are here and here), today’s post looks at a surprising number of films dealing primarily with prisons or crime. Continue reading →