Category Archives: Film Festivals

Among the world’s oldest international film events, the Film Festival Locarno kicks off its 66th edition tonight, running through Saturday, August 17, with a lineup of over 100 features, of which more than forty are documentaries. The Swiss fest, situated just weeks before Venice, Telluride, and Toronto, often showcases an adventurous program, balancing the expected star-driven fare with more challenging discoveries that might normally be relegated to the sidelines at other festivals its size. Its non-fiction offerings appear in virtually every section, from the fest’s signature Piazza Grande massive open-air screenings to its own version of the independently curated Semaine de la critique. The following highlights docs, section-by-section, that have caught my eye: Continue reading →

The 9th annual edition of Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival technically begins tomorrow, Tuesday, July 30, and runs through Sunday, August 4, but “pre-festival” screenings have actually been taking place since Saturday afternoon. The festival offers its audiences the opportunity to experience a wide selection of “just great movies,” representing standouts from larger festivals like Sundance and SXSW, as well as a sampling of brand new films and some retrospectives. Among these are more than forty documentary features, including its Centerpiece slot, Chiemi Karasawa’s ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME, and the following:

Screening as part of the pre-fest “Friends Only” show was the world premiere of Ky Dickens’ SOLE SURVIVOR (pictured), recounting the experiences of people who miraculously survived plane crashes. Also exploring a tragic air accident is Kristina Borjesson’s TWA FLIGHT 800, which investigates claims made by whistleblowers of a cover-up. Robert Greenwald’s WAR ON WHISTLEBLOWERS: FREE PRESS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE takes as its subject the fates facing those who would publicly reveal government wrongdoing.

Other newer or lesser-seen docs appearing at the festival are Ben Anderson’s THIS IS WHAT WINNING LOOKS LIKE (pictured), about the transition facing Afghanistan as US forces leave the war-torn country to its own security and defense forces; Shosh Shlam and Ada Ushpiz’s GOOD GARBAGE, following Palestinian men and boys as they attempt to support their families by picking through garbage at a Hebron dump; and Jane Gillooly’s SUITCASE OF LOVE AND SHAME, an auditeuristic exploration of a 1960s affair conducted through tape recordings. Finally, of special note is Traverse City’s tribute to Michael Apted with a retrospective screening of all the docs in the UP series.

NYC’s Film Society of Lincoln Center turns the spotlight on music docs in their new Sound + Vision series, which runs this Friday, July 26 through Thursday, August 1. Covering a wide range of topics and approaches, the seventeen feature docs included in the program celebrates musicians as well as the power music has on our lives. Very generally speaking, it’s a genre that doesn’t always immediately strike a chord with me, but I would single out the following highlights:

Among the films that I’ve not had a chance to see yet but have been on my radar: Lily Keber’s BAYOU MAHARAJAH: THE TRAGIC GENIUS OF JAMES BOOKER (pictured), about the man known as the “Black Liberace;” Hark-Joon Lee’s 9 MUSES OF STAR EMPIRE, which follows the making of a K-pop girl group over a year; John Anderson’s BORN IN CHICAGO, the story of a group of middle-class white musicians who were inspired by Mississippi Delta black performers in the 1960s; Olallo Rubio’s GIMME THE POWER, a profile of the successful political activist Mexican band Molotov; and Désirée von Trotha’s WOODSTOCK IN TIMBUKTU: THE ART OF RESISTANCE (pictured), a look at a desert musical festival and its role in uniting the nomadic Touareg people.

Titles that I’ve seen elsewhere that are worth a look include: Jesse Acevedo’s VIVA CUBA LIBRE: RAP IS WAR!, also focuses on the ability of popular music to catalyze protest, through the story of Cuban rap duo Los Aldeanos; Greg “Freddy” Camalier’s Sundance alum MUSCLE SHOALS, on the famed Alabama recording studio; Doug Hamilton’s SXSW alum, BROADWAY IDIOT, on the adaptation of Green Day’s heralded album into a successful Broadway musical; and Bobbi Jo Hart’s I AM NOT A ROCK STAR, an intimate portrait of a gifted young Canadian pianist over eight years.

Beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, July 24 and running through Saturday, August 3, NYC’s AsianCinevision presents the 36th edition of the Asian American International Film Festival. The event, the longest-running of its kind in the US, annually celebrates the work of Asian and Asian-American filmmakers. This year, the festival presents more than two dozen features and over forty shorts from eighteen countries, in addition to workshops and other special events. Among its documentary feature offerings are a pair of Sundance alums: Evan Jackson Leong’s LINSANITY, making its East Coast premiere here as the Opening Night film; and Jason DaSilva’s WHEN I WALK, screening as a sneak preview.

Among the other docs on offer are Mona Lisa Yuchengco’s MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA: FILMMAKER ON A VOYAGE (pictured), an overview of the late Filipino director, whose 1983 KARNAL also screens this year; Hua Tien-hau’s GO GRANDRIDERS, about a Taiwanese senior citizen motorcycle club; Megumi Nishikura and Lara Perez Takagi’s HAFU: THE MIXED-RACE EXPERIENCE IN JAPAN, an exploration of Japanese biracial identity; and Benito Bautista’s HARANA, a search for a lost Filipino courtship tradition.