Coming to PBS’ Frontline and to DVD next Tuesday, February 14: THE INTERRUPTERS
My favorite film of 2011, Steve James epic exploration of violence prevention, debuted at last year’s Sundance. It went on to screen at a number of festival and has screened theatrically. It now comes to DVD the same day it will reach wide audiences through public television.
I wrote about the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS’ Independent Lens this Thursday, February 9: THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975
Göran Hugo Olsson’s unearthed the Swedish take on the Black Power movement, premiering the film at last year’s Sundance. Sundance Selects later brought the doc to theatres and VOD.
I wrote about the film pre-Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, February 7: PROJECT NIM
Academy Award winner James Marsh’s poignant doc on the story of a young ape was one of the opening night screenings of last year’s Sundance where Marsh also claimed the Documentary Directing Award. Since then, it has screened to critical and audience acclaim at various festivals, and enjoyed a theatrical release last Summer. While the doc made the Oscar shortlist, it didn’t end up receiving the final nomination.
I wrote about the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD this coming Tuesday, February 7: KNUCKLE
Ian Palmer’s longitudinal portrait of the Irish Traveller community premiered at last year’s Sundance. It went on to screen extensively at festivals as well as in theatrical release in the UK, Ireland, and the US.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, January 31: RESURRECT DEAD: THE MYSTERY OF THE TOYNBEE TILES
Jon Foy’s documentary mystery debuted at Sundance last year, where Foy claimed the jury award for Best Director. After a successful festival run, the film enjoyed a limited theatrical release last Fall.
My pre-Sundance profile of the film may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Winter camp is over, and I’m back from Park City UT after a week and a half of helping to expose audiences to a new crop of exciting films at Sundance. Acquisitions deals are still being reported, so between theatrical and VOD releases, broadcast, and other festival exposure, I hope that most if not all of this year’s lineup will be available to be seen by what (not) to doc readers over the next year.
The 2012 Sundance awards ceremony took place on Saturday night, revealing jury and audience winners for the US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions, as well as an audience award for the NEXT section. Earlier in the week, additional ceremonies revealed the Shorts winners and the Mahindra, NHK, Sloan, and other special prize recipients. The list of awards recipients announced Saturday are: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Sundance
With the 2012 Sundance Film Festival opening tonight, I’ll be too busy in my role as Programming Associate for the festival to post regularly here. So, over the next eleven days, while I’m introducing film screenings and moderating Q&As, this blog will essentially be on hiatus, though I am planning on posting this coming Tuesday, January 24 when the nominees for Best Documentary Oscar are announced. Beyond that, normal, daily frequency won’t resume until after Sundance wraps on Sunday, January 29.
In the meantime, you can catch up on my film-by-film profiling of all 39 feature documentaries in this year’s line-up, beginning here, and get quicker and shorter updates and impressions from Park City by following me on Twitter.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Sundance
The second of two documentaries in New Frontier’s on-screen offerings brings this doc-by-doc look at the 2012 Sundance line-up to a close, just in time for the festival to begin tomorrow: ROOM 237, Rodney Ascher’s playful exploration of the supposed hidden meanings of a genre classic.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté brings one of two documentaries to this year’s New Frontier on-screen offerings: BESTIAIRE, an experimental, observational study of animals and people.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
This year’s Park City at Midnight section’s sole documentary: SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace’s look at the last two days in the life of LCD Soundsystem.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
what (not) to doc 