Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 8: THE MASK YOU LIVE IN
Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s exploration of the impact of gender stereotypes debuted at Sundance last year. Other fest appearances include Cinequest, Minneapolis-St Paul, Napa Valley, Las Vegas, St Johns International Women’s, and Berkshire.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to NYC’s JCC Manhattan CineMatters series tonight, Tuesday, March 8: LOOK AT US NOW, MOTHER!
Gayle Kirschenbaum’s exploration of her fraught relationship with her mother debuted at Sarasota last year. Other screenings included DocAviv, Woods Hole, Rhode Island, Woodstock, Orlando, Mumbai, and Jewish fests in Toronto, Nashville, Atlanta, Palm Beach, Miami and Baton Rouge.
Kirschenbaum continues to mine the personal terrain that was the subject of her previous film, MY NOSE, a short that focused on her mother Mildred’s obsession with her daughter’s appearance. Expanding from this premise to take a wider look at their mother/daughter relationship, Kirschenbaum’s new film is, essentially, filmmaking as therapy, for all the good – and bad – that this entails. From Kirschenbaum’s standpoint, she has suffered from years of humiliation, criticism, and downright abuse from the hypercritical Mildred, while the mother points to her daughter’s lifelong defiance and inability to let go of minor things. While the filmmaker eventually convinces herself to look past her mother’s prickliness to consider what made her that way, this doesn’t ameliorate the awkwardness of the proceedings for the viewer. Focused on such a fundamental relationship as that between a child and a parent, audiences can certainly relate to some extent, but it’s like being invited to a friend’s home for dinner only to silently witness the evening erupt into a never-ending family fight, with no escape in sight.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Tuesday, March 8: NEWMAN
Jon Fox’s profile of a man who could have changed the world debuted at the Hamptons last Fall. Other fests have included DOC NYC, where it received a special jury mention, and Irvine.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In 1979, Joseph Newman, a self-educated inventor in the backwoods of Mississippi, claimed to develop a motor that defied the laws of physics. Mainstream news stations, and even an appearance on THE TONIGHT SHOW, spread the revolutionary potential of his magnetic perpetual motion machine, which could end our dependence on oil and gas. Instead, as detailed in Jon Fox’s stranger-than-fiction debut, the maverick faced a decades-long, and increasingly paranoid, battle against the US Patent Office and the scientific establishment.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, March 8: BADDDDD SONIA SANCHEZ
Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon profile of the influential artist and activist had its world premiere at Full Frame last year. The doc went on to screen at DOC NYC, New Orleans, BlackStar, Black Harvest, Hot Springs Doc, Mill Valley, and LA’s Pan African fests.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
“I want to tell people how I became this woman with razor blades between her teeth.” So says Sonia Sanchez, a seminal figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, a poet who has harnessed her gift for words as a champion against racism, sexism, and war, fusing art and activism over the past six decades. As a pioneer of spoken word poetry, her influence on hip hop is fundamental, but her tireless commitment to justice for all people has come at a personal cost, as demonstrated in this vibrant portrait.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD this coming Tuesday, March 8: WE COME AS FRIENDS
Hubert Sauper’s meditation on African neo-colonialism made its bow at Sundance in 2014, winning a special jury award. Screening berths followed at Berlin, New Directors/New Films, BAFICI, Istanbul, San Francisco, Durban, Dokufest, Rio, Busan, London, Jihlava, CPH:DOX, IDFA, and Traverse City, among many others. The film was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar in 2015.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s American Masters and to DVD today, Friday, March 4: LORETTA LYNN: STILL A MOUNTAIN GIRL
Vikram Jayanti’s tribute to the Queen of Country Music makes its world premiere on the long-running public television series, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this season. The doc debuts in conjunction with the release of Lynn’s Full Circle, her first new studio album in more than a decade, which is shown being recorded here, in part.
Jayanti’s film is a warm appreciation of the Grammy Award-winning best-selling artist, whose life story was memorialized in the Oscar-winning COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER, based on Lynn’s 1976 autobiography, and which, of course, takes its name from her most recognizable song. That song is so popular that Jayanti just can’t resist including what feels like more than a dozen renditions here, not only by Lynn in archival and present day footage, but by family members, other country stars, and, in what’s absolutely overkill, members of a tour group that come through Lynn’s ranch during an interview. This over-indulgence isn’t limited to that song, unfortunately, as the doc also features one or two too many riffs on “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man),” contributing to a feeling that the project is a bit padded. On the plus side, Lynn is a warm, genuine presence, allowing her to win over viewers who might not have any particular affection for her style of music; and the entertaining stories her family shares of her tumultuous 48-year relationship with husband Doolittle demonstrate just how he inspired her catalogue of vibrant songs about cheating and drinking.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to DVD this week: IN DEFENSE OF FOOD
Michael Schwartz’s exploration of Michael Pollan’s guide to healthy eating made its debut at Mill Valley last year. It went on to screen at the Austin, Life Sciences, and Feast on This film fests, and to be broadcast on PBS this Winter.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, March 4: THEY WILL HAVE TO KILL US FIRST
Johanna Schwartz’s look at the plight of Mali’s exiled musicians made its bow at SXSW last year. Other screenings have included London, Göteborg, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Sound + Vision, Hot Docs, Singapore, RIDM, Cork, Calgary, and Durban.
Recognizing that Western audiences are unlikely to know much, if anything, about Mali’s complex recent sociopolitical history, Schwartz wisely, and fittingly, opens her film with a primer via rap, establishing the present, tentative status quo: After decades fighting for their independence, the MNLA, a group of nomadic Touareg of the northern part of Mali, join forces with a jihadist group that inherits arms from Libya after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, and aggressively subjugate the populace under sharia law. One consequence in northern cities like Timbuktu and Gao is the total ban on music in 2012. The film profiles several Malian musicians, including Songhoy Blues, a foursome formed in exile that attracts the attention of Damon Albarn, Brian Eno, and Nick Zinner, fostering international success; Kharia, an acclaimed singer who defies threats to organize a public concert in Timbuktu; Disco, a singer and activist who is actually married to an MNLA leader; and Moussa, a guitarist who returns from exile to try to reunite with his persecuted wife. While not every story thread feels fully fleshed out, suggesting that Schwartz may have benefited from focusing on fewer subjects, the film nevertheless offers a poignant exploration of the impact of censorship and repression on a culture.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, March 4: TRAPPED
Dawn Porter’s look at the impact of abortion regulation debuted at Sundance, where it won a special jury award. The doc will also screen at the upcoming SXSW and Miami in addition to community screenings around the country. The film is timely, as the Supreme Court hears arguments in Whole Woman’s Health v Hellerstedt.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
The Tribeca Film Festival has just announced the films in its Narrative Competition sections, now split along US and International lines, World Documentary Competition, and Viewpoints sections. Features screening in the Spotlight, Midnight, and Special sections will be announced next week. Today’s films represent more than half of the anticipated 101 features in this year’s 15th annual festival, including the 23 documentaries noted below: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews
what (not) to doc 