Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 29: KILLING THEM SAFELY
Nick Berardini’s look at the dangers of Taser use in law enforcement premiered at Tribeca last year. The film went on to screen at Hot Docs, Tallgrass, Big Sky, and St Louis, among other fests.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 29: CARTEL LAND
Matthew Heineman’s investigation of Mexican cartel violence had its world premiere at Sundance last year, winning two awards. Screenings followed at Nantucket, DOC NYC, True/False, Full Frame, Dallas, Sarasota, Tribeca, IFF Boston, Docville, Seattle, Sydney, Human Rights Watch, AFI Docs, and Sheffield, among many others. The film went on to be nominated for the Documentary Feature Academy Award.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, March 29: DOG DAYS
Laura Waters Hinson and Kasey Kirby’s look at street food vending in Washington DC debuted at the Austin Film Festival in 2013. It also screened at the Santa Barbara fest as well as at special events in DC.
After Coite, a newly-married industrial engineer, loses his job, he takes a gamble by starting an entrepreneurial venture: Providing more creative, healthier food options for DC’s street vendors to sell – despite having no kitchen experience or skill. Taking a crash culinary course thanks to his visiting aunt, Coite seeks out vendors who will test market his idea, and finds an early client in Eritrean immigrant Siyone, a divorced mother of four who has run her struggling hot dog stand for 22 years. While the film reveals how vendors like Siyone are subject to both stringent regulation and a suppliers monopoly, it stumbles in placing most of its focus on Coite. While affable enough, he’s far less compelling than Siyone, and, despite his unemployment woes, he awkwardly comes from a position of privilege as a white male seeking to enter a field he knows nothing about, hawking appropriated cuisine (Jamaican jerk chicken) he doesn’t even know how to make through the vehicle of still-beleaguered vendors who, at least as its represented here, are primarily female people of color. Still, Waters Hinson and Kirby succeed in demonstrating the bureaucracy, and the lack of advocacy, that has made it difficult for small business owners like Siyone to realize their American Dream.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 29: THE MESSENGER
Su Rynard’s look at the endangered songbird debuted at Hot Docs last year. The film went on to screen at Jackson Hole Wildlife, Vancouver, Mill Valley, Reykjavik, Calgary, and Bergen, among others. Kino Lorber now releases the doc on iTunes and other VOD platforms.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
This year’s edition marks the 40th anniversary of the Cleveland International Film Festival. Between this Wednesday, March 30 and Sunday, April 10, the event will showcase nearly 200 feature films, including approximately 70 documentaries, a mix of highlights from other notable festivals and several brand new works, many vying for recognition in the fest’s several competitions, noted below: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, March 28: ONLY THE DEAD SEE THE END OF WAR
Michael Ware and William Guttentag’s immersive exploration of the Iraq War debuted at Sydney last Summer. It went on to screen at Melbourne, New Zealand, Adelaide, Telluride, and IDFA, and had a limited theatrical release this Winter under the shorter title ONLY THE DEAD.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens this coming Monday, March 28: AN HONEST LIAR
Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom’s portrait of famed magician and skeptic The Amazing Randi premiered at Tribeca in 2014. Screenings followed at Nantucket, Hot Docs, AFI Docs, and Outfest, among other fests.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to the Metrograph’s Three Wiseman series for a one-week run beginning today, Friday, March 25: HIGH SCHOOL
Frederick Wiseman’s examination of a Philadelphia high school debuted in 1968. His second feature, the film has screened in several retrospectives over the years, and was preserved by the National Film Registry in 1991.
One of the auteur’s masterful institutional studies, Wiseman’s observational film offers audiences an inside look at the goings on at Northeast High School, from language and literature classes to disciplinary meetings between teachers, students, and parents, hall pass inspections to sex-ed lectures. What soon emerges is an often wryly funny portrait of a system that stresses conformity and subservience to authority more than independent thinking or intellectual engagement. A boy who denies his involvement in bad behavior is forced to take detention anyway, though he notes he only agrees “under protest.” A girl prepping for a fashion show is criticized for her weight problem, while another is taken to task for an inappropriate dress worn to a formal. Wiseman holds up the mirror to the American educational system to capture the reflection of a factory which aims to produce obedient citizens.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD this coming, Monday, March 28: SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE
Matthew Bate’s portrait of a man’s four decades of documenting his life premiered at Sundance last year. Other fest berths included Rotterdam, Cleveland, Hot Docs, Open City Docs, Docville, and Doc Aviv.
My pre-Sundance doc profile may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Newly re-released to DVD: THE UNIVERSE OF KEITH HARING
Christina Clausen’s tribute to the pop art phenomenon debuted at Rome in 2007. The film also screened at NewFest, Tribeca, Tallinn Black Nights, New Zealand, Oslo, Newport Beach, Tallgrass, and Outfest, among others. Previously released on DVD in 2009, the title became available once again earlier this week.
I previously wrote about the doc for NewFest’s program, saying:
Keith Haring was one of the most popular artists of the late 20th century, and his images remain some of the most recognizable today, years after his death from AIDS. Christina Clausen’s film explores the scope of Haring’s universe, from his personal history to interviews and archival footage of the many friends, associates, and admirers who traveled in his orbit – including Yoko Ono, David LaChapelle, Madonna, Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, Junior Vasquez, and others. Her film serves as a wonderful celebration of his life and of the enduring legacy of his art.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 