Category Archives: Overviews

São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro will host the 21st edition of Brazil’s It’s All True International Documentary Film Festival, which opens tomorrow, Thursday, April 7 in the former with Berlin winner FIRE AT SEA, Gianfranco Rosi’s meditation on the refugee crisis; and in the latter on Saturday, April 9 with THE AMAZING ARTRICKS OF THE GYPSY CLOUD, Paola Vieira and Claudio Lobato’s profile of a 1970s Rio art collective. Before the festival wraps on Sunday, April 17, the event will present over forty new and recent feature docs, as well as shorts and retrospective programming. Continue reading →

The 19th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival takes place this Thursday, April 7 through Sunday, April 10, offering NC’s Research Triangle audiences the chance to sample nearly 60 new and recent feature docs, in addition to retrospective programming, shorts, and panels. As usual, the fest’s programming team has handpicked an impressive assortment of films that have previously debuted at IDFA, Sundance, and elsewhere on the circuit, in addition to selecting several brand new films to have their debuts at the event. The following turns the spotlight on the latter: Continue reading →

This year’s edition marks the 40th anniversary of the Cleveland International Film Festival. Between this Wednesday, March 30 and Sunday, April 10, the event will showcase nearly 200 feature films, including approximately 70 documentaries, a mix of highlights from other notable festivals and several brand new works, many vying for recognition in the fest’s several competitions, noted below: Continue reading →

Tomorrow, Friday, March 18 sees the opening of Paris’ Cinéma du Reél. Running through Sunday, March 27, the event’s 38th edition includes just under 50 new or recent feature-length selections, joining additional retrospective and tribute sections. Highlights from the former are noted below: Continue reading →

Celebrating its 45th edition, New Directors/New Films, a collaboration between the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, begins tomorrow, Wednesday, March 16, and runs through Sunday, March 27. After a disappointing reduction in the number of nonfiction offerings in 2015, this year’s series shows an improvement, with six of its 27 features representing documentary and hybrid work:

Two titles come to NYC after recent, acclaimed debuts at Sundance: US Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner WEINER (pictured), Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s surprisingly candid look inside Anthony Weiner’s ill-fated mayoral run; and CAMERAPERSON, noted cinematographer Kirsten Johnson’s meditation on capturing images.

A deep sense of place links the remaining nonfiction works in this year’s ND/NF: Salomé Lamas’ ELDORADO XXI (pictured) looks at the lives of miners in the remote Peruvian Andes; Zhao Liang’s BEHEMOTH offers a startling view of the impact of industrialization on China’s Inner Mongolia; Tony Stone’s PETER AND THE FARM profiles a man’s self-destruction against the background of his Vermont farm; and Pietro Marcello’s hybrid LOST AND BEAUTIFUL, which is set in the world of a southern Italian shepherd.

The 18th edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival begins tomorrow, Friday, March 11, and will present approximately 140 new and recent nonfiction features by the time it ends on Sunday, March 20. The following overview offers some highlights in many of the thematic sections of the event: Continue reading →

SXSW returns this Friday, March 11, with approximately 140 features screening as part of the event’s film program, running through Saturday, March 19. Among these are nearly 60 documentaries, a slight reduction from last year’s record 68, appearing throughout many of the festival’s sections, highlighted below: Continue reading →