Released on DVD last week: BLACKFISH
Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s exploration of the consequences of keeping killer whales in captivity debuted at Sundance at the beginning of the year. Other screenings have included DOC NYC, Nantucket, Seattle, Sarasota, Vancouver, Provincetown, AFI Docs, Miami, Moscow, Melbourne, and Sydney, among others. The film has enjoyed a limited theatrical release and has been broadcast on CNN.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
The sixth and last of this year’s DOC NYC shorts programs explores a yearning for the past, often wrapped up in places.
DOC NYC Program Description:
THEN & NOW:
Thursday, November 21 at 9:30pm
Nostalgia and changing times. THE PHOTO MAN (USA, 7 min., Ben Kitnick) trades in old photographs. An antique store owner welcomes visitors in NOT FOR SALE (USA, 10 min., Matthew C. Levy). THE FINAL NOTE (USA, 16 min., Mayeta Clark) profiles a South Bronx piano warehouse. A young couple takes over THE MERCANTILE (USA, 16 min., Brian Bolster), a general store in remote Montana. LAST DAYS OF THE VIDEO STORE (USA, 7 min., Quin O’Brien) shows the struggle of a once-thriving business. Remembrances of a swiftly changing Brooklyn come to animated life in OF MEMORY & LOS SURES (USA, 15 min., Laurie Sumiye & Andrew Parsons). CAMP STORY (USA, 26 min., David B. Levy) reveals the impact of getting away from the city as a kid. (97 min. total)
Why You Should Attend:
The pull of the past is strong in these shorts, from lost photos to vanishing businesses, summer memories to transforming neighborhoods.
More Info:
To purchase tickets, follow the link from the program page by clicking on the program title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Argentina’s Mar del Plata International Film Festival begins this Saturday, November 16, and runs through Sunday, November 24. While this is the fest’s 28th edition, the event is technically Latin America’s oldest fest, having been founded in 1954. After more than a decade, it largely went dormant between 1967-1995, until it relaunched in its current incarnation in 1996. The only “A” class fest in South America, the seaside resort destination event annually draws over 100,000 attendees for its impressive 425-strong film lineup, consisting of approximately 250 feature-length films and 170 mid-lengths and shorts. Included are nearly 75 documentary features, largely representing new Argentine and Latin American filmmaking. The following offers a spotlight on some of these: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Doc-A-Thon wraps up on DOC NYC‘s closing day, next Thursday, November 21. Catch these essential panels at the IFC Center to help you connect with your audiences: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
DOC NYC‘s penultimate shorts program this year turns the spotlight on family and the influence they have on us.
DOC NYC Program Description:
BLOOD IS THICKER:
Thursday, November 21 at 9:15pm
This program demonstrates the bonds of family, even under the most trying circumstances. In BEYOND BROKEN, Vasso, dependent on her family after a brutal attack, turns to art to find the will to go on (USA, 38 min., Andrew Morreale). A grandson realizes his late grandfather’s secret dream of becoming a filmmaker in QUICKSAND (USA, 8 min., Lance Oppenheim). SOFTENING (Canada, 39 min, Kelly O’Brien) explores the relationship between the filmmaker’s special needs son and the rest of the family. (85 min. total)
Why You Should Attend:
Family relationships, functional or dysfunctional, are universal, making these shorts resonant for all audiences. The particular situations these families find themselves in offer opportunities to reflect on what matters most in our lives.
More Info:
To purchase tickets, follow the link from the program page by clicking on the program title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Day Three of DOC NYC‘s Doc-A-Thon provides an overview of the ever-changing landscape of documentary funding and what that means for your creative control. All of these sessions take place at the IFC Center next Wednesday, November 20: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
2013 marks the sweet sixteen for the Montreal International Documentary Festival, better known to our French-speaking Northern neighbors as RIDM (Anglophones, that stands for Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal), opening tonight, Wednesday, November 13 with Sundance and Toronto audience award winner THE SQUARE. Closing on Sunday, November 24 with director Annie St-Pierre’s local interest title FERMIÉRES, about Quebec volunteer farm women’s groups, the festival will screen over sixty new and recent feature documentaries, as well as additional retrospectives (Marcel Ophüls and Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab), transmedia projects, and shorts. I’ve never attended, unfortunately, and the simultaneously running DOC NYC will be keeping me plenty busy, but if I were in beautiful Montreal, the following newer films would be highest on my list:
RIDM holds four separate competitions – one for shorts, and three for features and mid-lengths. Among the dozen International Features titles are several I’ve noted on this site before, including Susanna Helke’s AMERICAN VAGABOND and Gonçalo Tocha’s THE MOTHER AND THE SEA; and from the International Medium-Lengths, films like Dora Garcia’s THE JOYCEAN SOCIETY and Valéry Rosier’s SILENCE RADIO. Several of the eleven Canadian Features competition are unfamiliar to me, with the most intriguing being: John Walker’s ARCTIC DEFENDERS, about the indigenous struggle that led to the creation of Nunavut; Dominic Gagnon’s HOAX_CANULAR, on the end of the world as envisioned by youth-created amateur online videos; Julie Perron’s LE SEMEUR, about a man who preserves seeds to ensure agricultural biodiversity and history; and Laura Bari’s ARIEL (pictured), a decade-long quest to design new legs for the filmmaker’s paraplegic brother.
The festival’s non-competitive Panorama includes several separate sections, including a collection of auteur films and festival favorites in Special Presentations; music docs in Beat Dox; transmedia projects in Docs 2.0; the current affair-driven Horizons, including Dieudo Hamadi’s ATALAKU, about paid campaigners for Congolese elections, and Alessandra Celesia’s AN ITALIAN MIRAGE, following Italians seeking jobs in remote Alaska; the perception-challenging Against the Grain, which includes Mariam Abu-Khaled, Udi Aloni, and Batoul Taleb’s ART/VIOLENCE, looking at Palestine’s Freedom Theatre in the wake of its founder’s assassination, and Tiago Campos’ MASTER AND DIVINO (pictured), about a missionary and an indigenous Amazonian, both with a passion for filmmaking; and the environmentally-focused Territories, such as Amy Miller’s NO LAND NO FOOD NO LIFE, on the devastating local impact of industrial agricultural, and Jean-Nicolas Orhon’s BIDONVILLE: ARCHITECTURES DE LA VILLE FUTURE, a rumination on shantytowns around the world.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
This fourth collection of DOC NYC shorts profiles a wide range of individuals who get swept away in various passions or preoccupations.
DOC NYC Program Description:
OBSESSIONS:
Wednesday, November 20 at 9:30pm
Collectors, curiosity seekers, and compulsives. FLUTTER (USA/Canada, 8 min., Dara Bratt) explores a lonely retiree’s love of butterfly collecting, while BUG PEOPLE (USA, 15 min., Paul Meyers) examines our odd aversion to insects. TANGO (Brazil, 6 min., Louis Robin) questions racetrack attendees about gambling. Discarded photos lead to a search for vaudeville performers DERBY & GROMA (Canada, 17 min., Kara Blake). Rollerskating recaptures the past in SKATE YRSELF CLEAN (USA, 7 min., Janna Jude Brown). THE EMERGENCY KIT (USA/Denmark, 11 min., Christian Svanes Kolding) shows an expectant mother’s anxiety around impending disasters. Freeman Dyson reveals his never-realized ATOMIC DREAM (USA, 26 min., Derek Lartaud & Melanie Ruiz) of nuclear bomb-powered space travel. (91 min. total)
Why You Should Attend:
We all have things that compel us, from benign hobbies and aspirations to more troubling vices and addictions. The individuals profiled in these intriguing films reflect on theirs.
More Info:
To purchase tickets, follow the link from the program page by clicking on the program title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
The second day of DOC NYC‘s panel series, Doc-A-Thon, focuses on post-production. All of these masterclasses take place at the IFC Center next Tuesday, November 19: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
My third DOC NYC shorts program focuses on younger protagonists – from pre-adolescents to young adults.
DOC NYC Program Description:
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT:
Wednesday, November 20 at 7:15pm
These five shorts capture the honesty and wisdom of youth. Cancer upends a dancer’s dreams in LIKE A DANCE (USA, 6 min., Jill Orschel). FOLLOW MY STEPS (USA, 16 min., Andrew Hida) details a friendship between a 13-year-old and a 21-year-old, bonded by physical disability. An undocumented young woman shares her story in I WAS BORN IN MEXICO, BUT…(USA, 12 min., Corey Ohama). Classroom and playground culture clash when a young Native American boy moves to Norway in EAGLE BOY (Norway, 27 min., Gry Elisabeth Mortensen). A group of Native children guide strangers through their remote island community in DOGS ON A BEACH (Canada, 23 min., Spencer Gilley & Andrew Hovi). (85 min. total)
Why You Should Attend:
These portraits cover everything from health issues and immigration to identity and culture differences – all from the perspectives of disarmingly astute and open young men and women.
More Info:
To purchase tickets, follow the link from the program page by clicking on the program title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
