Coming to PBS tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17:
THE LAVENDER SCARE
Director:
Josh Howard
World Premiere:
qFLIX Philadelphia 2017
Select Festivals:
Virginia, Sun Valley, Frameline, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Sydney, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Rochester, Austin, Miami, and Palm Springs
About:
A look back at the Cold War era panic over gays in the government.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tonight, Monday, June 17 and this Wednesday, June 19 only:
EMANUEL
Director:
Brian Ivie
World Premiere:
Bentonville 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC
About:
The aftermath of the church shooting in Charleston.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
On June 17, 2015, national headlines blazed the story: Churchgoers gunned down during prayer service in Charleston, South Carolina. After a 21-year-old white supremacist opened fire in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, nine African Americans lay dead, leaving their families and the nation to grapple with this senseless act of terror. Featuring intimate interviews with survivors and family members, Brian Ivie tells a poignant story of justice and faith, love, and hate, examining the healing power of forgiveness.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, June 17:
ROLL RED ROLL
Director:
Nancy Schwartzman
Premiere:
Tribeca 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, New Orleans, Hot Docs, Traverse City, Hamptons, Denver, Göteborg, Guanajuato, Globe Docs, Sidewalk, Santa Barbara, Double Exposure, Bend, Tallgrass, Hot Springs Doc, Big Sky Doc, SF Jewish, Human Rights Watch
About:
An exploration of rape and its cover-up in a small town.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, June 14:
5B
Directors:
Dan Krauss and Paul Haggis
World Premiere:
SFFILM Doc Stories 2018
Select Festivals:
Cannes
About:
At the dawn of the AIDS crisis, nurses and caregivers defied fear and stigma to establish the world’s first AIDS hospital ward.
Part of a growing body of retrospective work that looks back at the early years of the AIDS crisis, a time of criminal federal neglect, irrational fear, and heartbreaking loss, Dan Krauss and Paul Haggis’ doc focuses on one of the epicenters of the crisis, San Francisco, and the work of medical caregivers beginning in the early 1980s. Drawing from archival footage and the testimony of nurses, doctors, volunteers, and, sometimes surprisingly, survivors, this fairly conventional but nevertheless impactful film details the pioneering efforts of a small group of San Francisco General Hospital healthcare workers to set up ward 5B, the first ward exclusively devoted to patients with AIDS. While many in the medical community at the time before HIV was identified as the cause of the disease – including critics within the very same hospital – debated the safety of treating patients with AIDS without the extreme precautions of head-to-toe hazmat suits, the nurses and volunteers of 5B refused to bow to fear, and actually pushed past standard protocols of clinical detachment to insist on caring, human contact. Contrasting their approach with the hateful, fearmongering statements of figures like Dr Lorraine Day, a chief of surgery who remains wholly unsympathetic and unrepentant to this day, the film demonstrates the deep impact this kind of compassionate care had on patients who, for too long, knew that AIDS was a death sentence, and the lasting influence 5B had on other hospitals around the country.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to Amazon Prime Video this week:
12TH AND CLAIRMOUNT
Director:
Brian Kaufman
World Premiere:
Freep 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Traverse City
About:
A look back at the Detroit uprising of 1967.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
In 1967, Detroit’s mostly white police department was known for its harsh treatment of black citizens. When police raided an after hours party at the intersection of 12th Street and Clairmount, the streets erupted in what’s been called a riot by some, a rebellion by others. It lasted five days and left 43 dead. This compelling documentary uses more than 400 reels of home movies, archival footage, illustrations, and new oral histories to explore what happened from multiple viewpoints.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, June 14:
BLUE NOTE RECORDS: BEYOND THE NOTE
Director:
Sophie Huber
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2018
Select Festivals:
IDFA, CPH:DOX, Palm Springs, Vancouver, Sound Unseen, SF Jewish
About:
A look back at the influential jazz label.
Founded in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, German Jews with a love for jazz, Blue Note Records became the premier label for the giants of the genre, issuing work by Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, and Herbie Hancock, among several others. Director Sophie Huber recounts Blue Note’s early days, its visionary leaders’ support of art above commerce, and the elements that made the label so memorable, beyond the music, including the bold, evocative album photography and artwork. The project loses its focus, however, when it moves to the present day in an attempt to link the work Lion and Wolff championed with a new generation, resulting in a too cursory look at large portions of the label’s history. Blue Notes has been the subject of several docs, underscoring its influence and the affection music lovers have for the label, and this one no doubt will find some admirers, even if its treatment hits a few wrong notes.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming back to theatres in a new restoration beginning today, Friday, June 14:
PARIS IS BURNING
Director:
Jenni Livingston
World Premiere:
Toronto 1990
Select Festivals:
Sundance, Berlin
About:
This seminal doc explores NYC’s drag ball culture.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
