Coming to DVD next Tuesday, October 4: BUCK
Cindy Meehl’s portrait of the real Horse Whisperer, Buck Brannaman, has inspired audiences and critics since its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. It has claimed Audience Awards at Sundance and Full Frame, and had a successful theatrical run that began in the Summer.
I profiled the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Releases, Sundance
The Camden International Film Festival begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday. Sadly, I won’t be able to make it. Hopefully next year. Despite its closeted name, Camden is a doc festival (C’mon Ben Fowlie! How about CamDocs?). Over four nights, the fest presents about forty programs, including thirty feature-length docs. In addition, over Friday and Saturday, the Points North Documentary Forum conference takes place, offering New England-based filmmakers access to key industry for professional development.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD next Tuesday, October 4: THE RED CHAPEL
Mads Brügger’s provocative and subversive comedic doc on North Korea finally comes to DVD after a successful festival and theatrical run. It premiered at Hot Docs in 2009 and came stateside to Sundance, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Award.
I previously offered my thoughts on the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to POV next Tuesday, September 27: LAST TRAIN HOME
Lixin Fan’s jaw-droppingly beautiful and affecting film about the mass migration of Chinese peasant workers premiered at IDFA in 2009, where it won Best Documentary, and went on to Sundance and a host of other festivals the following year. Following a limited theatrical run and DVD release, it now comes to PBS’ celebrated POV series.
I wrote about the film before its theatrical run here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual showcase is on every New York cinephile’s calendar. The highly selective lineup stretches out over more than two weeks, spotlighting some of the best US and world cinema. While the festival has typically included some non-fiction, in a very welcome development this year, in addition to a few works in the accompanying Views from the Avant-Garde program and in the fest’s Main Slate, organizers have grouped an additional ten documentaries as “special presentations.” Following are the non-fiction projects I am most interested in screening:
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
A previous post at the end of last week ran down the first half of this year’s Toronto docs I managed to see: INTO THE ABYSS, URBANIZED, THE PATRON SAINTS, DARK GIRLS, and ARIRANG.
The remaining titles include: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief
I returned from the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday after just five nights, and while I didn’t see nearly as many of the fest’s 38 feature docs as I’d hoped to, I saw enough to fill a couple of posts here. I hope to see a few films I missed at the New York Film Festival, including PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY (since it will feature the new ending), CRAZY HORSE (I liked the hour I managed to see, though a conflict meant I couldn’t view the whole film), PINA (which I’ve now missed at multiple fests), and THIS IS NOT A FILM. Others, I hope to catch up at other events like DOC NYC, Stranger Than Fiction, or various other fests over the next several months, especially GIRL MODEL (I’ve seen many cuts, but never the final version), LAST CALL AT THE OASIS, THE ISLAND PRESIDENT, and PINK RIBBONS INC. That said, among the docs I viewed are: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief
Coming to Northern California theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 16: CONNECTED
Tiffany Schlain premiered her documentary feature debut at Sundance this year. Since January, she’s taken her film – a declaration of interdependence – to other notable fests, including Cleveland, Nashville, Ashland, and Jerusalem.
My pre-Sundance profile of the film may be located here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Releases, Sundance
I just spent the past week in Canada attending the Toronto International Film Festival. I’ll be posting brief thoughts on a number of the fest’s docs later this week, but, in the meantime, I decided to look to this year’s TIFF line-up for inspiration. This week’s indieWIRE-curated Hulu documentaries share some common topics or themes with the newest non-fiction offerings at the festival. View all of these docs for free now!
For more information about the selections, see my iW article.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Indiewire @ Hulu Docs, Recommendations
Coming to NYC’s IFC Center today, Wednesday, September 14: GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR
Pamela Yates returned to Sundance earlier this year to premiere her newest film, which demonstrates the impact her earlier film, WHEN THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE, had on Guatemala.
My pre-Sundance profile of the film may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Releases, Sundance
what (not) to doc 