Coming to NYC’s Bronx Documentary Center Women’s Film Series tomorrow, Tuesday, September 6: THE WOLFPACK
Crystal Moselle’s look at a band of unconventional brothers debuted at Sundance last year, claiming the US Documentary Grand Jury Prize. Screenings followed at DOC NYC, Nantucket, Cleveland, Full Frame, Sarasota, Tribeca, San Francisco, and Seattle, among other events.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, September 6: HOCKNEY
Randall Wright’s artist profile premiered at BFI London in 2014. Screenings followed at BAFICI, Doc Aviv, Minneapolis St Paul, Brighton, Vancouver, Palm Springs, and St Louis, among other festivals.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s POV this coming Monday, September 5: THE BIRTH OF SAKÉ
Erik Shirai’s exploration of the making of the distinctive Japanese beverage debuted at Tribeca last year. Additional screenings included Seattle, Dokufest Kosovo, San Sebastian, Milan, ZagrebDox, Philadelphia, Chicago, Antenna, Mar del Plata, Sidewalk, Palm Springs, Tallinn Black Nights, and Goteborg, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Serving as a bellweather for the upcoming awards season and a celebration of the love of film, the annual Telluride Film Festival kicks off today, Friday, September 2. Keeping with tradition, the beloved event’s lineup was just revealed yesterday, and is now available online via its program guide. Through its wrap on Monday, September 5, the 43rd edition will showcase nearly 40 new and recent features, with nonfiction representing more than half its offerings. Among these are the following:
Twelve documentary programs are included in the main slate, Show. These include: Errol Morris’ THE B-SIDE: ELSA DORFMAN’S PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY, about the celebrated oversized Polaroid photographer and her work; Werner Herzog’s INTO THE INFERNO, which follows the work of a leading volcanologist; Angus Macqueen’s THE END OF EDEN, about the impact of modern civilization on a hitherto undisturbed remote Brazilian tribe; Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani’s THE IVORY GAME, on attempts to protect African elephants from poachers; Ryan Suffern’s FINDING OSCAR, which follows the forensic detective work to discover what happened to the survivors of a brutal Guatemalan massacre; Doug Nichol’s CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER, a love letter to a typewriter repair store and to those who still cherish the not-quite obsolete writing implement; and John Scheinfeld’s CHASING TRANE (pictured), on the legendary John Coltrane.
Additional nonfiction appears in sections devoted to films about films and tributes to filmmakers and performers, Backlot and Frontlot/Backlot. Among these are María José Cuevas’ BEAUTIES OF THE NIGHT (pictured), a portrait of aging Mexican showgirls; Janus Køster-Rasmussen’s COOL CATS, a portrait of American jazz musicians in Denmark after jazz fell from favor in America; and Steven Okazaki’s MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI, a celebration of the Japanese actor best known for his classic collaborations with Akira Kurosawa.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to VOD today, Thursday, September 1: CITY 40
Samira Goetschel’s clandestine profile of a secret Soviet-era city debuted at Hot Docs earlier this year. Other fest engagements have included Sheffield and Antenna. It now becomes available worldwide via Netflix.
Before 1994, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ozersk didn’t exist – or at least it was never permitted to appear on maps. It wasn’t even known as Ozersk during the Soviet era, but instead as “City 40,” a fittingly bureaucratic and vaguely mysterious name that underscored its secretive purpose: housing the families of scientists, engineers, and workers who worked on the USSR’s classified nuclear program. Convinced they were doing their patriotic duty as Mother Russia’s “nuclear shield,” the residents traded their freedom – generally cutting off outside contact – for a seemingly idyllic existence of relative plenty and harmony. Where other Soviet cities reckoned with food shortages or lack of resources at times, City 40 kept its population well-fed, cared for, and entertained. However, as those who provide testimony in this portrait attest, the true cost of their residency also included cancer, rare medical conditions, premature death, and living within an irradiated and polluted environment. Goetschel, who was aided by locals in smuggling in film equipment, speaks to ordinary citizens as well as a local journalist, nuclear scientists, and a human rights attorney advocating for justice for those maltreated by the Russian state, providing a compelling inside look at a fascinating, once-invisible “closed city.”
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, September 2: BIG VOICE
Varda Bar-Kar’s portrait of a high school choir and its teacher debuted at Am Docs last year. Screenings followed at Julien Dubuque, Heartland, Sonoma, and Fargo, among other regional events.
In Bar-Kar’s film, choral director Jeffe Huls finally realizes a long-held desire: Assembling a 32-member mixed madrigal choir at Santa Monica High School. Despite making his singers prove their mettle through an audition process, Huls finds the group has serious problems harmonizing, distracted by a range of concerns both academic and personal. Bar-Kar follows the frustrated leader as he attempts to focus and motivate his charges to become the ensemble of his dreams. While the demanding Huls is fleshed out to some extent, demonstrating his passion for music and teaching, the film unfortunately too briefly sketches out the various choir members to allow them to properly register as individuals. While viewers may enjoy the music Huls manages to coax out of his mardigals, their overall story may prove less memorable.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Bronx Documentary Center Women’s Film Series this Friday, September 2: JACKSON
Maisie Crow’s look at the battle over abortion in Mississippi debuted at Los Angeles this Summer. Screenings followed at Human Rights Watch, San Francisco Doc, GlobeDocs, Marfa, Sidewalk, and the upcoming New Orleans fests.
The third of three feature-length docs to debut this year following Dawn Porter’s Sundance winner TRAPPED and Tracy Droz Tragos’ Tribeca title ABORTION: STORIES WOMEN TELL, Crow’s film offers another look at the impact of restrictive laws against clinics designed to essentially circumvent Roe v Wade and make abortion illegal. The setting here is denoted by her film’s title, Jackson MS, where a single remaining abortion clinic faces a ticking clock towards closure unless the courts invalidate one such law. In the meantime, clinic director Shannon Brewer, doctors, and staff continue their work despite constant harassment from anti-abortion advocates, including an act of vandalism caught on security camera. Not too far away, Barbara Beavers champions her own cause at the Center for Pregnancy Choices, one of a series of pro-life funded clinics often located in poorer neighborhoods that doggedly tries to convince pregnant woman that abortion is never the answer. April Jackson, a young single mother of four, visits the center, unclear about its political leanings and ultimately decides to keep her fifth child despite the financial hardship. While Beavers serves as something of a mentor for April, the former’s insistence on abstinence as the only acceptable form of birth control sees predictable results by the film’s end. Largely keeping her focus to this microcosm, Crow crafts an empathetic portrait of a seemingly unending debate and the lives it affects.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to DVD this Friday, September 2: WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?
Liz Garbus’ portrait of the iconic performer made its bow at Sundance last year. Screenings followed at Nantucket, DOC NYC, True/False, San Francisco, Hot Docs, and Montclair, among other events. The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to CNN this Thursday, September 1: HOLY HELL
Will Allen’s reflection of life in a cult premiered at Sundance this year. Its fest circuit also included Hot Docs, Nashville, Montclair, Minneapolis-St Paul, DocAviv, Martha’s Vineyard, and Biografilm, among others.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, August 30: COWBOYS IN INDIA
Simon Chambers’ self-effacing investigation of a small Indian town made its debut at IDFA in 2009. It also screened at True/False, Planete Doc Review, London Doc, CinemaAmbiente, Planet in Focus, and Reel Earth fests, among others.
I previously wrote about the film out of True/False, saying:
A film that puts the filmmaker/subject relationship in sharp relief, Chambers’ intended exposé of the environmental and human rights abuses of a Western company in India instead becomes a humorous exploration of his own relationship with his local guides. Though he initially suspects that his guide and driver may be both literally and figuratively taking him for a ride, he comes to recognize the impact his presence has on them, their safety, and their livelihood. Their cross-cultural exchange calls into question documentary intent and the relationship between the developed and developing world.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 