Category Archives: Film Festivals

The 39th Cleveland International Film Festival kicks off tonight, Wednesday, March 18, and runs through Sunday, March 30. One of the nation’s best regional film events, the festival takes over the Ohio city with an impressive showcase of nearly 200 feature films and more than 200 shorts. The following offers a brief overview of the event’s feature documentary slate, broken down by the many competitions featured in the fest. Continue reading →

This year’s New Directors/New Films, a collaboration between the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, kicks off this Wednesday, March 18, and runs through Sunday, March 29. 2015’s 44th edition of the Spring favorite showcases 26 features from emerging filmmakers. Sadly, the nonfiction offerings, which never make up a large percentage of the event’s programming, have been halved relative to last year, with only two documentaries and one hybrid making the cut:

Two made their debut at Sundance this past January: The Ross Brothers’ WESTERN (pictured), which looks at the way two border towns deal with the threat of cartel violence; and Stevan Riley’s LISTEN TO ME MARLON, a textured biographical portrait of Marlon Brando. The third, Simone Rapisarda Casanova’s hybrid THE CREATION OF MEANING, which was awarded at its premiere in Locarno, focuses on a Tuscan shepherd’s struggle with the encroachment of modernity on his way of life.

Tomorrow, Friday, March 13 marks the opening of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which sees its 17th edition run through Sunday, March 22. While I’ve been fortunate to attend the past few years, I’m taking a break this time around. The following section overview offers highlights of new and recent films that I would try to see, were I to be heading to Greece:

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This Friday, March 13, sees the kick off of the latest edition of SXSW, with the film program continuing through Saturday, March 21. I’ll be attending the first half of the festival, joining the hordes of film, music, and interactive professionals and fans who annually descend on Austin. In terms of nonfiction programming, the festival has increased the number of feature docs in its lineup after a bit of a reduction last year, with 68 out of 145 selections. The following section breakdown (excepting Festival Favorites and Midnighters) offers highlights of many of these: Continue reading →

Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, March 5, the 12th edition of the True/False Film Festival takes over Columbia MO through the weekend. More than forty features figure in the popular destination event’s programming, representing an eclectic cross-section of brand new work, recent Sundance titles, standouts from the past Fall’s European festivals like IDFA, CPH:DOX, and elsewhere, several “secret screenings” that offer attendees sneak previews of upcoming debuts, and works on the border of fiction and nonfiction, as featured in the event’s Neither/Nor series. I’m looking forward to returning to the festival again, with the below highlights foremost on my watch list: Continue reading →