Coming to DVD next Tuesday, February 17: LIFE ITSELF
Steve James’ look at the life and career of Roger Ebert debuted at Sundance last year. Its extensive festival run has included Nantucket, DOC NYC, Cannes, Ebertfest, and AFI Docs, among several others. The film was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar, but surprisingly was not one of the five nominees.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s AfroPoP this Monday, February 16: THE ABOMINABLE CRIME
Micah Fink’s look at homophobia in Jamaica bowed at Frameline in 2013. Screenings followed at DOC NYC, Montclair, QDocs, BFI London, St Louis, Reeling, and Outfest, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to Anthology Film Archives tomorrow, Friday, February 13: COAST OF DEATH
Lois Patiño’s meditation on a legendary Galician coastal region made its debut at Locarno in 2013, where it picked up the award for Best Emerging Director. Other fest appearances included the New York Film Festival, True/False, Vancouver, Montreal, Tallinn, Jihlava, Rotterdam, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Jeonju, Valdivia, and Play-Doc, among several others.
The titular area, Costa da Morta – or, in Galician, Fisterra, translated as “end of the world” – gained its ominous name from its dangerous, rocky coastline which has proven the demise of countless ships since Roman times. Paying reverence to the grandeur and power of nature, Patiño carefully constructs his frame to highlight this landscape in a series of static long shots, typically filmed from above. While people are sometimes absent from these stunning, distant tableaux, where they are present offers an added, compelling layer to this portrait of a place, an often humorous, intimate aural counterpoint that reminds the viewer of the interactions of man and nature, even when the latter dwarfs the former. Beyond scenes of loggers felling trees or fishermen and women retrieving barnacles or other sealife, other everyday scenes play out, with local residents discussing the history of the coast, both legendary and recent. The result is a beautifully executed multivalent essay film that immerses the viewer in a distinct seaside land.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
MoMA’s annual showcase of nonfiction, Documentary Fortnight, opens its 14th edition tomorrow, Friday, February 13, with Stanley Nelson’s THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION, a chronicle of the controversial Black Power organization; and runs through Friday, February 27, which features closing night film HOT TYPE: 150 YEARS OF THE NATION, Barbara Kopple’s exploration of the long-running liberal weekly magazine. In addition to these titles, nineteen additional new feature documentaries will screen, as well as seven shorts, special lectures, an installation, and a retrospective selection of director Shirley Clarke’s work.
Several of this year’s selections put an emphasis on durational cinema, including: Kevin Jerome Everson’s eight-hour immersion into a working shift at a factory, PARK LANES; Wang Bing’s long shot exploration of the modest dwelling of a Chinese migrant family, FATHER AND SONS; and Peter Bo Rappmund’s time-lapse study of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, TOPOPHILIA (pictured).
Other works also focus on capturing a distinct sense of place, including Irene Gutiérrez Torres’ HOTEL NUEVA ISLA (pictured), a stunning portrait of a crumbling luxury hotel in Havana; Phil Collins’ TOMORROW IS ALWAYS TOO LONG, which constructs a multimedia version of Glasgow; and Nathalie Nambot and Maki Berchache’s BURN THE SEA, an essay film exploring the experiences of Tunisian immigrants to France.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
New to DVD this week: AMERICAN ARAB
Usama Alshaibi’s personal exploration of Arab-American identity had its world premiere at IDFA in 2013. It went on to screen at Big Sky, Chicago Underground, Cleveland, Stockholm, Revelation, Kansas City, and the San Francisco Arab Film Festival, among others.
Alshaibi, an Iraqi-born, US-based filmmaker, takes a largely autobiographical approach in this examination of the experiences of Arabs and Arab Americans in a post-9/11 American society. Narrating and sharing his life experiences, and those of his family, the director expresses an ever-present awareness of the difficult tightrope he, and others with a similar ethnic background, have been forced to walk, contending with Islamophobia both blatant and more insidious, conflicted feelings about assimilation vs tradition, and a shifting sense of identity influenced by complex geopolitical developments. While he surveys the stories of others, from a woman who had her hijab forcefully snatched from her head to a young Iraqi immigrant whose father was victimized by both insurgents and US armed forces, these are too slight and episodic to fully breathe, with the default focus returning to Alshaibi’s personal biography to diminishing returns for the project’s too brief running time. While the film is not wholly successful, it does pose provocative, worthwhile questions that would benefit from more extended consideration.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to NYC’s New School for a special Valentine’s event this Friday, February 13: THE AGE OF LOVE
Steven Loring’s exploration of senior dating had its world premiere at Newport Beach last year. It went on to fests including at DOC NYC, Cucalorus, St Louis, and Rhode Island, and is scheduled to screen at Big Sky and Thessaloniki Doc. This screening is part of a series of special events taking place around the country beginning this month.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
An unprecedented speed-dating event for seniors serves as the backdrop for this alternately poignant and funny look at love among the 70+ set. Thirty brave souls register – widows and widowers, longtime divorcees and the lovelorn – each willing to endure an anxiety-inducing, but mercifully brief, series of setups in their search for companionship in their golden years. Candidly confronting feelings of insecurity, loneliness and anticipation, Steven Loring’s film demonstrates the universality of love and desire, regardless of age.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to DVD this Friday, February 13: EXPOSED
Beth B’s look at the re-emergence of burlesque had its world premiere at Berlin in 2013. Other fest screenings included DOC NYC, DOK.fest Munich, Planete + Doc, Transylvania, Sydney, Moscow, Revelation, Melbourne, and Pornfilmfest Berlin, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, February 10: LOVE & ENGINEERING
Tonislav Hristov’s look at an engineer’s attempts to hack dating debuted at DocPoint last year. It went on to screen at Tribeca, Hot Docs, Karlovy Vary, Sarajevo, Bergen, DOK Leipzig, Flahertiana, DokuFest Prizren, and Visions du Reel, among others. FilmBuff now releases the film on various VOD platforms, including Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, iTunes, Sony PlayStation, Vudu and Xbox Video.
Atanas, a Bulgarian engineer based in Finland, is confident that he has love figured out. After all, unlike his hapless colleagues, he’s married, while they struggle to even have a conversation with the opposite sex. Convinced he can apply science to the typically inscrutable laws of the heart, he offers to coach his four friends with the goal of finding them the perfect mate – even if he warns them they have to keep their expectations realistic: No models, but good companions. Hristov follows Atanas in his efforts to school his hopelessly nerdy guinea pigs, watching them through painfully awkward blind dates, scientific experiments, and counseling sessions with experts. As a whole, the result is a lighter, and sometimes humorous, exploration of the search for love, but it ultimately feels contrived and without any fundamental revelations that would make it particularly memorable.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, February 10: KINK
Christina Voros’ exploration of an acclaimed porn site made its bow at Sundance in 2013. Other fest appearances included DOC NYC, Seattle, Stockholm, NewFest, and Frameline, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, February 10: CALL FOR HELP
Lior Etziony and Michal Hanuka’s provocative look at renegade relief workers in Haiti debuted theatrically in NYC last week. It now comes to VOD platforms including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Xbox, and VUDU.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
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