Category Archives: Sundance

Coming to theatres this Friday, October 29: A SMALL ACT

Jennifer Arnold’s inspirational doc premiered at Sundance, where it attracted the attention of Bill Gates and George Soros and began receiving pledges of support for the education charity spotlighted in the film to the tune of $300,000 and counting. HBO screened the film this summer, and it’s now coming to theatres for a limited run.

Simply and powerfully demonstrating the idea that a small act of charity can yield profound change for its recipient, Arnold’s film tells the story of Swedish Hilde Back and Kenyan Chris Mburu. Years ago, Hilde sponsored Chris, sending small amounts of money each month for his education in his rural village community – so small, she barely remembered it when she was contacted by the now-grown and successful Chris, a Harvard graduate and United Nations lawyer, who informed her that he had begun a scholarship program in her name. A SMALL ACT tells their story, as well as that of the top Kenyan students competing for the fund, as the impact of Hilde’s generosity reverberates through the decades to create hope for a new generation of students.

Coming to theatres next Friday, October 29: WASTE LAND

Lucy Walker followed up her critically acclaimed first two documentaries, DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND and BLINDSIGHT by premiering two new films at this year’s Sundance – COUNTDOWN TO ZERO and this upcoming Arthouse Films release, which took Sundance‘s World Cinema Documentary Audience Award. The doc went on to claim additional awards at numerous other festivals during its play on the circuit, including at Berlin and Full Frame, and it screened as part of DocuWeeks this Summer to qualify for Oscar consideration.

WASTE LAND follows artist Vik Muniz from Brooklyn back to his native Brazil to photograph a number of catadores, a diverse group of individuals who scrape together a living by picking through the world’s largest garbage dump for recyclable materials to sell. Inspired by his subject’s experiences, Muniz transforms his photographs into breathtaking, large-scale collages using the very garbage they comb through each day. These portraits, combined with the film’s stunning cinematography, reveal a remarkable, transformative beauty and dignity in the face of poverty and squalor.

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, October 19: SMASH HIS CAMERA

Oscar Award-winning documentary director Leon Gast (WHEN WE WERE KINGS) scored the US Directing Award for his latest film, which premiered at Sundance at the beginning of the year. Magnolia gave the film a limited theatrical release this summer.

SMASH HIS CAMERA is a portrait of Ron Galella, the master paparazzo made infamous when he was sued for harassment by Jackie Kennedy Onassis. While showcasing and celebrating Galella’s decades of celebrity photography, Gast also tackles the criticism the 79-year-old still-working photographer has amassed due to his notorious invasion of privacy. Despite the ethical quandaries that come with his profession, Galella, and the film, ultimately emerge as likeable and entertaining.

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, October 12: KIMJONGILIA

NC Heikin’s debut documentary had its world premiere in competition at last year’s Sundance – the project was also supported by the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program and participated in the Sundance Story & Edit Labs in 2008. After the festival, Lorber Films gave the film a limited theatrical release.

KIMJONGILIA takes an in-depth look at North Korea through the testimony of survivors of the dictatorship’s legendary prison camps who managed to escape, as well as through a stunning amount of propaganda films and other rarely-seen official footage extolling the magnificence and beneficence of Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. The former prisoners’ stories of injustice, abuse, and famine serve as a powerful counterpoint to the lush images of a happy, prosperous country.

Coming to HBO this Monday, September 27: TEENAGE PAPARAZZO

Adrian Grenier’s film (his second doc following SHOT IN THE DARK) premiered at this year’s Sundance before being acquired by HBO, whose ENTOURAGE helped turned Grenier into a household name.

Focused on the young star’s unusual relationship with Austin, a 14-year-old celebrity photographer who he turns the tables on to document instead, TEENAGE PAPARAZZO becomes a surprisingly intimate and intricate exploration of celebrity, media, and the symbiotic/parastic connection which exists between them. Initially intrigued by Austin’s youth to explore the role of the paparazzi, Grenier expands his project further to question the nature of fame and his own influence on his young subject, leading to thought-provoking role-reversals, revealing as much about himself as it does about his young friend.

Coming to DVD next Friday, September 28: THE OATH

My thoughts on Laura Poitras’ powerful Sundance alum are here.

For information on the DVD release, visit the film’s distributor, Zeitgeist FIlms.

Opening this Friday, September 24: WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN”

Davis Guggenheim scored a triple coup at Sundance: his newest film was pre-emptively bought by Paramount on the opening day of the festival before its world premiere, Bill Gates made a visit to Park City to support the project, and the film won the Audience Award for Best US Documentary. Since then, much support has been put behind the film, including a smart campaign gathering pledges from audience members to see the film, which have translated into real benefits for public schools.

Like his most notable previous project, Guggenheim’s film looks at a very inconvenient truth: America’s public education system is broken. He comprehensively dissects the reasons why – including an insular and powerful teachers union that protects terrible educators, reshuffling them from one school to the next, rather than showing them the door – and profiles a number of students and the efforts of their parents to secure for them a decent education. This is the kind of non-fiction project that should incite public outrage and lead to real and lasting reform, and one hopes that with the support of its powerful advocates, it can have the “super” power to school the education system.

Coming to POV on September 21: THE OATH

Laura Poitras’ latest film premiered in competition at Sundance this year, where it picked up the Documentary Cinematography Award. It made the festival rounds the rest of the year, appearing at Berlin, SXSW, and in New Directors/New Films, and continued to pick up awards at True/False, Full Frame, Hot Docs, and elsewhere, before it began a theatrical run.

Focused on two brother-in-law protagonists, one seen, the other a “ghost,” represented through letters he writes from prison in Guantanamo Bay, THE OATH reveals an unseen side of Al Qaeda. The stories of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver intertwine to provide a context through which to understand the development of political ideology and the origins and aftermath of 9/11. Attaining unprecedented access into a forbidden world, moreso as a female filmmaker in a gender-segregated culture, Poitras manages to develop a surprisingly natural ease with her subject, resulting in a complex portrait of an organization that’s often over-simplified.

To find out more about the POV screening on PBS, click here.