Category Archives: Overviews

Columbia MO’s popular True/False Film Festival celebrates its lucky 13th edition beginning tomorrow, Thursday, March 3, presenting approximately forty new feature documentaries before it wraps on Sunday, March 6. As ever, the event’s lineup offers a carefully curated selection of recent highlights from larger events like IDFA, Toronto, Berlin, and Sundance, as well as a handful of debuts and “secret screenings” of titles that will make their official premieres at other fests in the coming months (and which attendees promise not to reveal publicly). A can’t miss stop on my festival circuit, I’m most looking forward to catching the following new titles over the weekend: Continue reading →

Croatia’s ZagrebDox launches its 12th edition this Sunday, February 21 and runs through next Sunday, February 28. More than 160 new and retrospective features and shorts will screen as part of the event, the nation’s largest documentary showcase. While much of this includes local debuts of films that are already well-traveled on the international festival circuit, the festival also affords the opportunity to view new regional work, a sampling of which is provided below. Continue reading →

Tomorrow night, Friday, February 19, sees the start of the 15th anniversary edition of MoMA’s annual nonfiction showcase, Documentary Fortnight, with the NYC premiere of Billy Woodberry’s AND WHEN I DIE, I WON’T STAY DEAD, about unheralded African American Beat poet Bob Kaufman. Eighteen features and several shorts will screen before the series wraps on Monday, February 29 with the world premiere of Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil’s INNATE/SE/ [IT SHINES A CERTAIN WAY. TO A CERTAIN PLACE./IT FLIES. FALLS./], which reclaims the Ojibway story for the Native American people themselves.

Also making its world premiere is Beth B’s CALL HER APPLEBROOG (pictured), a portrait of the filmmaker’s mother, artist Ida Applebroog. North American premieres include: John Gianvito’s WAKE (SUBIC), an exploration of the damage done to the Philippines by continued US military presence; Jacques Perconte’s ETTRICK, an experimental film manipulating Scottish landscapes into abstract art images; K8 Hardy’s OUTFITUMENTARY, a portrait of the artist through a dozen year’s of personal fashion choices; and Ane Hjort Guttu’s TIME PASSES, which follows a student’s solidarity with a homeless Roma woman as part of a performance art project.

This Friday, February 19 kicks off the 13th Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula MT. Running through Sunday, February 28, the state’s largest film event will present several competitions, as well as a diverse range of non-competitive sidebars on themes including native concerns, conflict resolution, nature, culture, history, adventure, local filmmaking, and retrospectives of the work of Lucy Walker and Ondi Timoner. A selection of the more than 60 new and recent feature docs is included below: Continue reading →

The 66th edition of the Berlinale opens tonight, Thursday, February 11 and runs through Sunday, February 21. A massive undertaking, the world-class festival, Germany’s largest, annually screens approximately 400 new and retrospective films across a wide range of programming strands. Among the new features on offer this year are just about seventy documentaries and hybrids, a sampling of which are noted below. Additionally, the festival is once again presenting Meet the Docs, a networking platform that is part of its corresponding European Film Market. The latter includes fifteen documentaries not in the official Berlinale fest program co-presented under the Docs Spotlight series by festivals IDFA, CPH:DOX, and DOK Leipzig; Meet the Festivals sessions; and a series of nonfiction-focused panels and conversations. Beyond this, the festival also presents Doc Station as part of the Berlinale Talents program, featuring ten projects in development. While my schedule continues to make attending the festival inconvenient, my attention would be drawn to the following programmed documentary features, were I to be heading to Berlin this weekend: Continue reading →

Supplementing their main features announcement last week, SXSW has just revealed the remainder of their film programming here, bringing the doc count to 57 of a reported 139 features. Following is the list of newly announced nonfiction features per section:

Festival Favorites:
Selections culled from other notable festivals.

CAMERAPERSON
Kirsten Johnson
Exposing her role behind the camera, Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation of the power of the camera.

GLEASON
Clay Tweel
At the age of 34, Steve Gleason was handed a death sentence. When doctors diagnosed him with ALS, they gave the former NFL defensive back and New Orleans hero two to five years to live. So that is what Steve chose to do – live.

NEWTOWN (pictured)
Kim A Snyder
Documenting the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history. A cast of characters within Newtown and beyond interconnect to weave an intimate story of trauma, grief and community resilience.

PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW
Ido Haar
The true story of the incredible Princess Shaw and the enigmatic composer Kutiman, who discovers her from the other side of the world.

RICHARD LINKLATER – DREAM IS DESTINY
Louis Black and Karen Bernstein
A feature-length documentary on the filmmaker Richard Linklater and an unusual look at a fiercely independent film style that emerged from Austin, Texas in the 1990s.

TRAPPED
Dawn Porter
Following the clinic workers, women, and lawyers on the front lines of the battle as they fight to keep abortion safe and legal across the US for millions of poor and uninsured women caught in a political quagmire.

Special Events:
Unique one-offs.

DARKON
Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel
10th Anniversary screening of the cult-hit documentary about American LARPers. The film covers an epic war raging through the fantasy realm of Darkon, investigating our complex relationship with fantasy and reality.

Additions to Already Announced Sections

24 Beats Per Second:

ROBERT KLEIN CAN’T STOP HIS LEG
Robert Klein
A hilarious and heartfelt look at the career and influence of comedy legend Robert Klein.

SIDEMEN – LONG ROAD TO GLORY (pictured)
Scott Rosenbaum
An intimate look at the lives and legacies of piano player Pinetop Perkins, drummer Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, all Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf sidemen.

Visions:

BOONE
Christopher LaMarca
Haunting and deeply human, Boone tells the story of three young goat farmers as they transition with the seasons and come to terms with the physical and emotional grit required to live in deep relationship with the land. This experiential film is a visceral meditation on the sacrifice and struggle of a lifestyle born of self reliance, a sensual homage to the heart and soul of a farmer.

After a sneak peek announcement of a selection of titles early last month, SXSW has just released their initial list of features, with additional announcements to come shortly. 47 of the 104 features and episodics announced so far are documentaries. Following is the list of documentary features, broken down by section: Continue reading →

Today, Wednesday, December 9 sees the opening of the 12th edition of the Dubai International Film Festival, the longest-running Gulf State cinema event. Continuing through next Wednesday, December 16, the festival will screen more than 130 films from 60 countries, among these 17 feature documentaries. A selection of the these are spotlighted below: Continue reading →