Category Archives: Overviews

Yesterday marked the start of the 69th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, notable as the oldest film festival in the world. Running through September 8, the festival comes right before Toronto, and many titles appear in both events. Unlike TIFF, Venice is competitive, with eighteen titles in the main competition, and additional prizes awarded to films screening in the Orizzonti section.

Notably contained for a major international cinema event, the festival’s lineup includes just over 100 new features – 69 in the official selection, and an additional 39 presented in the autonomous sections selected by independent film associations. Retrospectives and shorts fill out the schedule, but it’s a far cry from the nearly 300 films presented in Toronto. Venice isn’t really known for its non-fiction programming, which is comprised of less than 30 new doc features. None appear in the official competition, special screenings, or the autonomous International Critics’ Week. The majority are included in the out of competition section, the retrospective Venice Classics, and in the autonomous Venice Days – and, frankly, most seem strictly of local interest. Still, I’d love to go to Venice at some point, and if I were there now, there are some docs I’d want to check out: Continue reading →

Celebrating its 13th edition, the New York International Latino Film Festival begins this coming Monday, August 13 and runs through Sunday, August 19. This annual showcase celebrates the work of Latino/a talent both behind and in front of the camera, and was a regular partner of NewFest when I ran that event, co-presenting programs of interest to both communities.

This year’s lineup presents more than thirty features and thirty shorts, of which five are feature documentaries, including the closing night gala, Laura Brownson and Beth Levison’s portrait of a Puerto Rican slam poet and ex-con, LEMON. Artistic expression is also at the heart of another doc, Daniel Fridell’s EL MÉDICO: THE CUBATÓN STORY, about a young Cuban doctor who really wants to be a popstar (which I wrote about previously here). Diego Graue and Raymundo Marmolejo’s WAITING FOR THE BEATLES (ESPERANDO A LOS BITLES) picks up on the music theme by focusing on present-day Beatlemania in Mexico. The final two docs both involve personal quests – María Paz González’s DAUGHTER (HIJA) follows the filmmaker and her mother on a road trip in which each woman searches for missing parts of her past, while Andrés Pardo’s intriguing LOOKING FOR LARISA (BUSCANDO A LARISA) (pictured) details an investigation into the origins of a roll of found Super 8 footage from the 70s and the haunting woman it pictures.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual showcase of recent Latin American cinema, Latinbeat, begins this Friday, August 10 and runs through Thursday, August 23. The 13th edition features 19 feature-length films – six of them documentaries, including the closing night film – as well as a special panel on New Mexican Cinema.

The documentaries cover a wide range of subjects – father and son directors Jaime Roos and Yamandu Roos’ closer, 3 MILLION (3 MILLONES) (pictured above), follows the Uruguayan national soccer team to the World Cup to explore the love of soccer; Eduardo Coutinho’s SONGS (AS CANÇOES) features interviews with Cariocas about their favorite Brazilian songs; and Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray’s UNFINISHED SPACES revisits Cuba’s would-be utopian National Art Schools. Three Argentinian docs are also included: Celina Murga’s cinema verité NORMAL SCHOOL (ESCUELA NORMAL) returns to the filmmaker’s public school to observe modern youth; Nicolas Prividera’s FATHERLAND (TIERRA DE LOS PADRES) (pictured) reconstructs Argentina’s history through the words of its now-deceased national heroes, set in the necropolis of a Buenos Aires cemetery; while Mariano Aiello and Kristina Hille’s AWKA LIWEN confronts viewers with an alternative history of the nation through the lens of the 19th century extermination of its indigenous communities.

The International Documentary Association’s 16th annual DocuWeeks begins this Friday, August 3 in NYC and next Friday, August 10 in Los Angeles. The event has served to qualify over 200 films for Academy Award consideration since its inception, and while recent rule changes by the Academy to feature documentary qualification have thrown some wrinkles into the process – for one thing, features must be reviewed by either the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times – the bicoastal showcase continues. It should be noted that since the LA Times has indicated their intent to review all of the features screening through DocuWeeks, the event retains its Oscar-qualifying aspect.

I’m planning to post a roundup on some of the selections later this month. Among the titles I haven’t yet seen but am hoping to are four that focus on women and girls: Mai Iskander’s WORDS OF WITNESS (pictured), a profile of a young Egyptian journalist and her political awakening; Eugene Martin’s THE ANDERSON MONARCHS, about an African-American girls soccer club team; Nicole Karsin’s WE WOMEN WARRIORS, a focus on the nonviolent resistance led by Colombian indigenous women to combat drug trade violence; and Thomas Riedelsheimer’s GARDEN IN THE SEA, following a Spanish artist as she creates an underwater environmentally-friendly sculpture.

Additional films I’d like to catch include Jane Weiner’s RICKY ON LEACOCK (pictured), a four-decades-in-the-making appreciation of the non-fiction filmmaking legend; Doug Blush and Lisa Klein’s OF TWO MINDS, an exploration of bipolar disorder; and Danielle Gardner’s OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY, a chronicle of what happened to Cantor Fitzgerald after the World Trade Center attacks.

Beginning this Friday July 27 and running through the end of the month, NewFest: The New York LGBT Film Festival returns for its 24th edition. It’s a bit of a different year for the event which I ran from 1996-2008 – a significantly leaner affair, with fewer days and significantly fewer films than usual, but, notably, the first in partnership with the just wrapped Outfest in Los Angeles. Earlier this year, the two orgs announced a strategic partnership that promises to revitalize the East Coast LGBT fest – expect bigger changes for next year’s big 25th anniversary.

This year’s event is more of a curated showcase, presenting just 19 feature length films and two programs of shorts, and providing continuity between NewFest-past and NewFest-future. Last year, the fest left its traditional early June berth for the end of July, and picked up the Film Society of Lincoln Center as a venue for its gala screenings. This year, the relationship with the Film Society expands, with the venerable spot hosting all but one of the screenings.

With a more limited line-up, there’s only room for five doc features. These include Sundance alums ABOUT FACE: SUPERMODELS THEN AND NOW (pictured), Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ interviews about beauty and aging; and special jury winner LOVE FREE OR DIE, Macky Alston’s portrait of gay bishop Gene Robinson.

The remaining docs include Kieran Turner’s JOBRIATH AD, about the influential gay glam rock performer who never managed to achieve stardom; Michiel van Erp’s I AM A WOMAN NOW (pictured), a smart portrait of five older transwomen, and the winner of an award at Outfest; and Andrea Esteban’s BORN NAKED (MLB), a multi-city profile of young lesbian and trans artists and organizers in Europe.

Celebrating its 10th edition, MoMA’s annual showcase of Brazilian cinema in collaboration with the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, Premiere Brazil!, begins next Thursday, July 12 and runs through Tuesday, July 24. More than a dozen films will screen, including a restored print of 1972 classic drama SÃO BERNARDO; a special panel on “Film and Social Change” focused on the favelas; and a special opening night Brazilian music event tied into MoMA Nights summer music series.

The lineup includes four new documentaries: Wagner Novais, Rodrigo Felha, Luciano Vidigal, and Cadu Barcellos’ PEACE IN RIO (5 x PACIFICAÇÃO), a multiperspectival investigation into Rio’s controversial favela “pacification” policy, designed to clear the slums of the drug mafia; Wolney Oliveira’s THE LAST CANGACEIROS (OS ÚLTIMOS CANGACEIROS), in which a 95-year-old patriarch reveals to his unsuspecting family that his wife and he were long ago part of a notorious gang (pictured above); Kiko Goifman and Claudia Priscilla’s LOOK AT ME AGAIN (OLHE PRA MIM DE NOVO), about Silvyo, born a woman, for a time a lesbian, and finally now a man, as he takes a road trip to locate relatives who might help him start a family with his wife; and Eduardo Coutinho’s SONGS (AS CANÇÕES), an exploration of the special connections and meanings songs have in people’s lives.

Time permitting, I hope to have a chance to watch these and post a round-up later this month.

One of Europe’s oldest and most respected film festivals, Karlovy Vary, begins its 47th edition this Friday and runs through July 7. Set in a picturesque spa city in the Czech Republic’s Bohemia, the A-list event serves as a mid-Summer launching point for scores of new films, and draws attendees from around the world to the crossroads of Western and Eastern Europe, including 10,000 backpacking students who camp out in a local soccer stadium, watch films all day, and party all night. I attended last year’s festival for Indiewire and had a fantastic time. While I’m unfortunately not returning this year, I have looked through the roughly 180 features in its lineup to identify 35 documentary features. Of these, here are some highlights – films I would check out if I were Europe-bound: Continue reading →