Category Archives: Overviews

Tonight, Wednesday, June 17, sees the opening of the seventh edition of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s
annual BAMcinemaFest, a popular program of 35 recent films which had its origins as the Sundance at BAM series. The event, which runs through Sunday, June 28, continues to draw selections from Park City for their NYC premieres, along with acclaimed work from other notable events.

Nonfiction programming which appeared previously at Sundance includes Chad Gracia’s unforgettable conspiracy theorist profile, THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER (pictured); Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon’s political history, BEST OF ENEMIES; Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors’ empathetic portrait of a place, PERVERT PARK; Bobcat Goldthwait’s surprising profile of a comedian turned activist, CALL ME LUCKY; and Amy Berg’s look at fundamentalist Mormonism, PROPHET’S PREY.

From Berlin comes Jem Cohen’s city essay, COUNTING; from Full Frame, Jon Nealon and Jenny Raskin’s portrait of a pioneering video collective, HERE COME THE VIDEOFREEX; and from SXSW, Luke Meyer’s look at fame’s impact on a junior high school metal band, BREAKING A MONSTER; and Elizabeth Giamatti and Alex Sichel’s hybrid about creativity and coping with a terminal illness, A WOMAN LIKE ME (pictured).

Also from this year’s SXSW and screening in Brooklyn as a Special Event is the late Les Blanks’ unreleased 1974 Leon Russell portrait, A POEM IS A NAKED PERSON. It joins another classic, Penelope Spheeris’ 1981 THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (pictured), a chronicle of LA’s punk scene, which screens here in a new restored version.

Washington DC’s AFI Docs returns tomorrow, Wednesday, June 17, opening with acclaimed Sundance title BEST OF ENEMIES by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon, about the infamous Buckley/Gore debates of 1968, and draws to a close five days later on Sunday, June 21 with Jessica Edwards’ loving tribute to performer Mavis Staples, MAVIS!, which debuted at SXSW earlier this year. The event’s 13th edition is the first under the leadership of new Festival Director Michael Lumpkin, formerly of the International Documentary Association and a longtime fest veteran as the former Executive Director of San Francisco’s Frameline.

This year’s lineup includes approximately 50 recent documentary features, primarily culled from the lineups of Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, IDFA, and other notable festivals. Notable exceptions are four world premieres: Dawn Porter’s RISE: THE PROMISE OF MY BROTHER’S KEEPER (pictured), looking at the initiative to mentor African American boys and men to success; Natalie Avital’s THE THREE HIKERS, about three Americans who found themselves behind Iranian prison bars; Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci’s SALAM NEIGHBOR, which explores a massive refugee camp for Syrians in Jordan; and Brad Horn’s FIRST AND 17, on the pressures faced by America’s top-ranked high school football recruit.

AFI Docs’ annual celebration of nonfiction artistry, the Charles Guggenheim Symposium, this year honors Stanley Nelson, whose Sundance title THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION (pictured) screens at the festival. The festival also organizes a two-day Filmmaker Conference for nonfiction filmmakers and industry exploring a range of topics from the risky business of investigative documentary to creating social change through nonfiction projects.

This Wednesday, June 17 marks the opening of the 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival, the first edition under new Artistic Director Mark Adams, formerly the chief film critic of Screen International. Over the course of twelve nights, 164 new and retrospective features, including 30 documentaries, will unspool, including several world and UK premieres. The following offers a brief look at some of these: Continue reading →

Returning tonight, Thursday, June 11, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival showcases 16 films and three special programs addressing a wide range of human rights issues to audiences for its 26th edition in New York City, which will run through Sunday, June 21. The following offers highlights from this year’s thematic programming: Continue reading →

The Los Angeles Film Festival returns for its 21st edition tonight, Wednesday, June 10, and runs through Thursday, June 18. After a major shift in its programming team which saw the departure of longtime programmers David Ansen and Doug Jones and the addition of curator Elvis Mitchell, associate director Roya Rastegar, and senior programmer Jennifer Cochis, the event has gone through some significant retooling, with the introduction of several new sections and a refocusing of existing ones. Just over 70 features will screen, with nearly two dozen documentaries counted within that number. Among the highlights are the following: Continue reading →

Tomorrow, Friday, June 5 sees the opening of the 22nd Sheffield Doc/Fest, the beloved UK nonfiction event that has gone through significant staff changes over the past year, seeing the departure of several key figures, including director Heather Croall (to Adelaide Fringe Festival), deputy director Charlie Phillips (to the Guardian), and director of programming Hussain Currimbhoy (to Sundance). This edition marks Claire Aguilar’s first in the role of director of programming, having joined the staff after a long tenure at ITVS. Running through Wednesday, June 10, the festival will present over 70 documentary features across a wide range of thematic strands. In addition to curating notable festival favorites, the event offers audiences their first look at several new films, including the opening night debut of Benedikt Erlingsson’s THE GREATEST SHOWS ON EARTH: A CENTURY OF VAUDEVILLE, CIRCUSES AND CARNIVALS, preceded by a live circus show. Other highlights follow below: Continue reading →

South Africa’s Encounters, Africa’s largest documentary film festival, kicks off its 17th edition tomorrow, Thursday, June 4, in Cape Town, with screenings continuing there and in Johannesburg through Sunday, June 14. About half of its 30+ feature lineup consists of African films, with the remainder made up of a diverse selection of international festival favorites. The highlights below draw from the former: Continue reading →

The Brooklyn Film Festival returns for its 18th edition tomorrow, Friday, May 29, presenting 109 films before it wraps up on Sunday, June 7, curated by new director of programming Bryce Renninger from a record number of film submissions. Among these are the following ten feature documentaries, which premiered at several notable film events and now come to NYC via BFF: Continue reading →

One of the world’s lengthiest film events, the Seattle International Film Festival kicks off three weeks of programming tonight, Thursday, May 14. More than 72 new and recent documentary features will screen through the wrap up of the festival’s 41st edition on Sunday, June 7. While the bulk of these represents standout selections culled from the recent line-ups of other notable events, from Toronto and Berlin to Sundance and SXSW, Seattle also showcases a number of less familiar and some brand new titles as well. The following primarily focuses on these: Continue reading →

Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13, sees the launch of the 68th edition of Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world – at least for fiction films. Once again, the event’s organizers, as well as those of the concurrent independently-run events, Directors’ Fortnight and International Critics’ Week, barely acknowledge that nonfiction is capable of more than just inside baseball film biographies. Out of 54 features in the Official Selection, there are merely two documentaries, both out of competition. None are in Un Certain Regard or the Special Screenings sections, and instead, as usual, shore up the retrospective and cinephilic Cannes Classics sidebar. Between the independent events, there is only one doc, in Directors’ Fortnight, with none appearing in International Critics’ Week. A rundown of all of these follows: Continue reading →