Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Maxim Pozdorovkin reveals American politics through the distinct, and decidedly warped, lens of the Russian newsmedia.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Russia/USA
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Category Archives: Film
2018 Sundance Docs in Focus: OUR NEW PRESIDENT
Maxim Pozdorovkin reveals American politics through the distinct, and decidedly warped, lens of the Russian newsmedia.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2018 Sundance Docs in Focus: THE OSLO DIARIES
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Saar Yaacov
Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan take an unprecedented behind the scenes look at the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Israel/Canada
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On VOD: BOBBI JENE
New to VOD this week:
BOBBI JENE
Director:
Elvira Lind
Premiere:
Tribeca 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Camden, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, Biografilm, Melbourne, Helsinki
About:
An American dancer leaves a position with Israel’s premier dance company to return to the US to begin a solo career.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
2018 Sundance Docs in Focus: OF FATHERS AND SONS
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Kahtan Hasson and Talal Derki
Talal Derki embeds with a radical jihadist and his family in Syria.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Germany/Syria/Lebanon/Qatar
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
In Theatres: IN THE LAND OF POMEGRANATES
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, January 5:
IN THE LAND OF POMEGRANATES
Director:
Hava Kohav Beller
Premiere:
January 2018 (theatrical)
About:
An exploration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Beller attempts to tackle the massive, and seemingly perpetual, issue of peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians in this thoughtful but flawed project. While ostensibly about Vacation From War, an effort to bring together the younger generation of both sides in dialogue with a hope toward perhaps reaching some kind of mutual understanding, Beller makes the strange choice to bypass the potential stories these participants might have been able to share and instead profiles several unconnected individuals, from a traumatized Israeli survivor of a suicide bombing to a young Palestinian boy who receives life-saving heart surgery from an Israeli doctor. This broadening results in the project becoming a loose survey, taking on far too much and greatly lessening whatever potential transformative impact might have come from the Vacation From War discussions.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
2018 Sundance Docs in Focus: MATANGI/MAYA/MIA
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Stephen Loveridge offers an insider perspective on the life and career of the popular musician.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Sri Lanka/United Kingdom/USA
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2018 Sundance Docs in Focus: GENESIS 2.0
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Evgenia Arbugaeva
Christian Frei and Maxim Arbugaev unearth efforts to resurrect the wooly mammoth.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Switzerland
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
In Theatres: ANATOMY OF A MALE BALLET DANCER
Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, January 3:
ANATOMY OF A MALE BALLET DANCER
Directors:
David Barba and James Pellerito
Premiere:
Dance on Camera 2017
Select Festivals:
Full Frame, AFI Docs, Provincetown, DocUtah, Rio, GlobeDocs, Raindance, Hot Springs Doc, Key West, SF Dance, Austin LGBT
About:
A portrait of longtime American Ballet Theater principal dancer Marcelo Gomes.
Barba and Pellerito follow Gomes over the course of several years, as the Brazilian dancer celebrates his twentieth year with the ABT and faces retirement. A charismatic, well-liked performer, Gomes, who was the first major professional ballet dancer to come out publicly, details his upbringing in Brazil, and his early experiences as the sole boy in ballet class. While bullied, he had the support of his family, and especially that of his gay uncle Paulo and Paulo’s partner Wolf, easing his pursuit of his dancing dreams and his later embrace of his sexuality. While the filmmakers attempt to develop a family-focused storyline about Gomes’ long-estranged father, this thread unfortunately feels forced and incomplete in what is otherwise an enjoyable, light profile of a world-class artist.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
2018 Sundance Docs in Focus: THE CLEANERS
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by gebrueder beetz filmproduktion
Moritz Riesewieck and Hans Block give voice to the hidden figures who police social media.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Germany/Brazil
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On DVD: CHAVELA
New to DVD this week:
CHAVELA
Directors:
Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi
Premiere:
Berlin 2017
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Sheffield, AFI Docs, Provincetown, Guadalajara, Malaga, Ambulante, BAFICI, Montclair, Seattle, Krakow, Transylvania, Sydney, Galway, Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Milan, Barcelona, Austin, Palm Springs, Chicago
About:
A portrait of an iconic Latin American singer.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
