Category Archives: Overviews

DocsDF: The International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City celebrates its 10th anniversary beginning tomorrow, Thursday, October 15. The event will showcase more than 100 films through more than 250 screenings through Saturday, October 24, with the vast majority free to the public. Continue reading →

The New Orleans Film Festival begins its 26th edition tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14, and runs through Thursday, October 22. I’m excited to be returning to the festival after several years, and am looking forward to serving on the documentary features jury. The following highlights a small fraction of this year’s nearly 40 documentary features:

Competition titles include: Shamira Raphaëla’s DEAL WITH IT, about the filmmaker’s troubled father and brother; Jack Pettibone Riccobono’s THE SEVENTH FIRE, a profile of a Native American gang leader; Jennifer Redfearn’s TOCANDO LA LUZ, which follows the experience of three blind women in Havana; Poppy Stockell’s SCRUM, a portrait of a gay Aussie rugby team; David Shapiro’s MISSING PEOPLE (pictured), about a woman obsessed by her brother’s unsolved murder and by the work of a New Orleans outsider artist; Jide Tom Akinleminu’s PORTRAIT OF A LONE FARMER, a portrait of the filmmaker’s long absent father; and Irene Gutierrez’s HOTEL NUEVA ISLA, about a man living in an abandoned Havana resort.

Other nonfiction titles include: Sara Fishko’s look back at NYC’s jazz scene of the late 1950s and ’60s, THE JAZZ LOFT ACCORDING TO W EUGENE SMITH; Gene Fredericks’ portrait of an eccentric photographer, THE PHANTASMAGORICAL CLARENCE JOHN LAUGHLIN; Ian Midgley’s look at the collaboration between innovative agricultural thinkers, REVERSING THE MISSISSIPPI; Bartek Bartos and Piotr Bartos’ look at an atist’s response to Katrina, FLOATING ON FIRE; Julie Sokolow’s ASPIE SEEKS LOVE (pictured), about a man with Asperger’s who has posted personal ads for fifteen years.

The 23rd annual Hamptons International Film Festival kicks off five days of programming tomorrow, Thursday, October 8, screening approximately 75 features before it wraps on Monday, October 12. Those escaping the bustle of NYC for a getaway in the tony East End hamlets will have more than 30 documentary features to sample, as highlighted below: Continue reading →

Beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, October 7, and running through Sunday, October 18, the BFI London Film Festival celebrates its 59th edition with 240 films. Among these are approximately 50 documentary features, with select highlights noted below:

Continue reading →

The Hudson Valley’s Woodstock Film Festival kicks off its 16th edition tonight, Wednesday, September 30. Before the fest wraps this Sunday, October 4, it will present just over 50 features – among them, two dozen documentaries.

Included in this number are a few world premieres: Justin Schein and David Mehlman’s LEFT ON PURPOSE, in which a biography about an activist threatens to become about his suicide; Jon Bowermaster’s AFTER THE SPILL, an examination of the impact of the Deepwater Horizon spill on Louisiana; and Ben Selkow’s BURIED ABOVE GROUND, a profile of three individuals facing PTSD.

Other nonfiction offerings include: Sam Pressman’s FITZCARRALDO inspired RECONQUEST OF THE USELESS; Ron Nyswaner’s portrait of a character actor, SHE’S THE BEST THING IN IT; Leon Gast’s look at aspiration through athletics, SPORTING DREAMS; Hillevi Loven’s coming of age portrait of a religious young FTM in the deep south, DEEP RUN; Noa Roth’s personal exploration of divorce on an ultra-orthodox Jewish clan, FAMILY MATTERS; and Holly Morris and Anne Bogart’s portrait of a community of elderly women living in a notoriously contaminated area, THE BABUSHKAS OF CHERNOBYL (pictured).

This Friday, September 25, sees the kick-off of the 53rd annual New York Film Festival. Long geared toward art house audiences but in recent years opening up programming to include some mainstream offerings, the festival has also embraced nonfiction far more than it ever did in the past. Documentaries or hybrid projects have a presence in virtually every section of the event, with over 20 feature projects claiming coveted spots in the well-respected Fall event, which runs through Sunday, October 11. The following offers a selected overview: Continue reading →

Returning for its 19th edition beginning this Wednesday, September 23 and continuing through Sunday, September 27, NYC’s Urbanworld Film Festival will once again provide a platform for the films of African American and multicultural filmmakers. This year’s edition shows an uptick in the number of documentaries among its offerings – nearly half at twelve of 28 features, including both its opening and closing night slots: Respectively, Clarence “Coodie” Simmons & Chike Ozah’s MUHAMMAD ALI: THE PEOPLE’S CHAMP, which highlight’s the boxing legend’s legacy; and Nelson George’s A BALLERINA’S TALE, about African Americans in ballet, as revealed through the story of Misty Copeland.

Among the other nonfiction presentations this year are: Nick Quested’s DRAMATIC ESCAPE, about a prison’s theatrical production/rehabilitation program; Dean Hargrove’s TAP WORLD (pictured), a survey of the American dance form; Flora Pérez-Garay’s ANATOMY OF A DRESS, a look at Puetro Rican fashion designers; Mathew Ramirez Warren’s WE LIKE IT LIKE THAT, which explores the NYC roots of Latin boogaloo; and Bobbito Garcia’s STRETCH AND BOBBITO: RADIO THAT CHANGED LIVES, about the legendary hip hop radio program.

Turning 40 this year, the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off tomorrow, Thursday, September 10, screening well over 275 new feature films in addition to retrospectives, shorts, and industry programming before it wraps on Sunday, September 20. This year sees a notable increase in nonfiction programming, with just over 50 new docs or hybrid projects by my count compared to approximately 35 last year. I’ll be in attendance for the first half of the festival, especially hoping to have a chance to catch up with the following highlights: Continue reading →

Today, Friday, September 4, sees the opening of the 42nd annual Telluride Film Festival, which will give North American audiences their first look at some of the most anticipated films of the Fall in advance of key September fests like Toronto and New York. The event, which wraps on Monday, September 6, just released its lineup yesterday, available now via the fest’s program guide. The following presents highlights from the nineteen documentary features on offer this year: Continue reading →

The world’s oldest film festival, Venice, turns 72 tomorrow, Wednesday, September 2, and runs through Saturday, September 12. While the majority of its hundred-plus lineup focuses on fiction, there’s been a noticeable uptick in nonfiction programming this year between its official selection and the autonomous Venice Days sidebar. Among these offerings are the following:

Of 21 features in Competition, only two are docs: Laurie Anderson’s essay film on love and mortality, HEART OF A DOG (pictured), and Zhao Liang’s meditation on industrialization on modern China, BEHEMOTH. The festival’s discovery section, Orizzonti, which has previously spotlighted numerous works of creative nonfiction, this year only presents one: Renato De Maria’s ITALIAN GANGSTERS, an archival exploration of criminality.

Documentaries fare better Out of Competition, making up half of this section, with such works represented as: Frederick Wiseman’s IN JACKSON HEIGHTS (pictured), a portrait of the cultural diverse NYC neighborhood; Gianluca and Massimilano De Serio’s I RICORDI DEL FIUME, a chronicle of the dismantling of a massive Italian shanty town; Sergei Loznitsa’s THE EVENT, which re-examines the end of Soviet rule in Russia; Evgeny Afineevsky’s WINTER ON FIRE, a chronicle of the Ukrainian revolution; Amy Berg’s JANIS, a portrait of the legendary Janis Joplin; and Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s DE PALMA, a candid exploration of the director’s long career.

Venice Classics, an annual sidebar of retrospective work and documentaries about films and filmmakers, offers titles like: Pietra Brettkelly’s A FLICKERING TRUTH, which recounts the efforts to hide Afghanistan’s film archive in the days of the Taliban; Rinku Kalsy’s FOR THE LOVE OF A MAN (pictured), on the intergenerational popularity and fandom of a South Indian actor; as well as appreciations of such figures as Guy Maddin, Jacques Tourneur, Lina Wermüller, Helmut Berger, and Alfredo Bini.

Final Cut in Venice spotlights several works-in-progress from the Middle East, including Ziad Kalthoum’s ROOSTER OF BEIRUT, about Syrian workers in Lebanon; Tala Hadid’s HOUSE IN THE FIELDS, on a rural community in Morocco; Hakar Abdulqadir’s SEPARATION, about the plight of Kurdish families separated from one another as they flee ISIS; and Kaouther Ben Hania’s ZAINEB HATES THE SNOW (pictured), which follows a Tunisian family as they make a new life in Canada.

Finally, of the two independently organized sidebars of the festival, International Critics’ Week foregoes nonfiction altogether, while Venice Days offers five titles, including Grant Gee’s INNOCENCE OF MEMORIES: ORHAN PAMUK’S MUSEUM AND ISTANBUL, on a museum created to document a fictional love story.