Coming to DVD tomorrow Tuesday, June 24 and already available on iTunes: ANITA
Freida Mock’s exploration of the lasting impact of Anita Hill debuted at Sundance last year. Screenings followed at Nantucket, Seattle, Human Rights Watch, Pan African, Cleveland, Hot Docs, Napa Valley, and AFI Docs, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed on The WORLD Channel tomorrow, Tuesday, June 24: BROKEN HEART LAND
Jeremy and Randy Stulberg’s look at the impact of a homophobia on a small town just had its official world premiere at Frameline this past weekend. Sneak previews have also taken place in Norman and Oklahoma City OK.
In 2010, Zach Harrington, a young gay man in Norman OK, committed suicide. One week prior, Norman’s city council meeting was the site of unexpected controversy, as conservative community members spoke out against a proposal to recognize LGBT History Month in the town, often spouting anti-gay rhetoric and fear-mongering misinformation. The Stulbergs’ poignant film focuses on Zach’s sad action – including revelations from his diary – and its aftermath, as revealed through the unexpected politicization of his conservative Republican parents, who begin to campaign for LGBT-supportive candidates. While the Harringtons are genuine, relatable subjects who try to make their private tragedy into an impetus for larger community transformation, the film shines most when Zach’s story is instead allowed to take center stage, rather than haunting the background of the campaign.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 24: AFTERNOON OF A FAUN: TANAQUIL LE CLERCQ
Nancy Buirski’s tale of the tragedy that felled a dancer premiered last year at the New York Film Festival. Its fest circuit also included Berlin, Palm Springs, Full Frame, and Bermuda, and was released theatrically and on VOD last week.
I wrote about the doc upon its release last week here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to HBO today, Monday, June 23: THE CASE AGAINST 8
Ben Cotner and Ryan White’s in-depth look at the Supreme Court fight for marriage equality had its world premiere at the beginning of the year at Sundance, where they won the US Documentary Competition Directing Award. The film went on to win an audience award at SXSW, and to screen at Cleveland, RiverRun, DOXA, Hot Docs, Sarasota, Dallas, Ashland, Vail and the upcoming Nantucket Film Festival, among several others, and to screen in limited theatrical release earlier this month.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tonight, Friday, June 20: GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE
Adam Rifkin’s chronicle of a lo-fi auteur filmmaker premiered at Hot Docs this Spring. It made its US debut at the Los Angeles Film Festival this past week.
Lanky Giuseppe Andrews once pursued a career as an actor, appearing in films like AMERICAN HISTORY X, DETROIT ROCK CITY, and CABIN FEVER, as well as TV series like TWO GUYS, A GIRL AND A PIZZA PLACE. For the better part of the last fifteen years, however, Andrews has spent more time behind the camera, making crude, cheap, and quick mini-epics out of his mobile home, starring his neighbors and other locals he meets on the street. Rifkin, who cast Andrews in DETROIT ROCK CITY, follows the trailer-park Fassbinder as he sets out to realize his latest film, GARBANZO GAS, in just two days. If there are a couple of scenes that might border on the questionable – such as Andrews having to clean up one of his actors who has had an accident – the proceedings are largely funny and refreshingly spontaneous. What emerges is a look at the creative process of an infectiously enthusiastic man who embraces outsiders, even if the quality of their – and his – work bears little resemblance to what most viewers would ever watch.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tomorrow, Saturday, June 21: LIVING STARS
Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat’s glee-inducing look at Argentines dancing debuted at Sundance earlier this year. The film also screened at Hot Docs, Little Rock, and BAFICI.
My pre-Sundance profile of the film may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s American Experience and to DVD this coming Tuesday, June 24: FREEDOM SUMMER
Stanley Nelson’s latest Civil Rights era chronicle debuted at Sundance earlier this year. It’s gone on to screen at Mountainfilm, Chicago’s African Diaspora fest, Maryland, Montclair, IFF Boston, Full Frame, Nashville, and the Pan African fest, among several other special screenings.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tonight, Thursday, June 19: THE LAST SEASON
Sara Dosa’s exploration of connection between two mushroom foragers made its debut at San Francisco this Spring, where it won an award. It has also screened at Hot Docs, and Mountainfilm in Telluride.
Taking place in rural Oregon over the course of the two month season which sees hundreds of foragers – many Southeast Asian migrant workers – seeking the prized matsutake mushroom, Dosa’s film focuses on three singular figures: middle-aged Kuoy, a Cambodia immigrant who last part of his leg as a freedom fighter against the Khmer Rouge; 75-year-old Roger, a former US Special Forces sniper in Vietnam; and his strong, loving wife, Theresa. Together, the trio form an unexpected surrogate family – the men bonded not only in their common quest for the lucrative fungus, but in their shared experience of conflict and violence, which they reveal gradually over the course of this quiet, sensitively realized project. Dosa immerses the viewer in the rhythms of their sylvan world, entering her subjects’ inner lives as carefully as they root around searching for the matsutake.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Gay film fest season officially kicks off tonight with the opening night of Frameline, celebrating its 38th edition this year. San Francisco is home to the world’s longest-running queer film festival, drawing an estimated 65,000 attendees to experience the newest in LGBT cinema. More than 30 feature length documentaries are included in this year’s lineup, including the fest’s coveted Opening Night slot, which goes to Sundance winners Ben Cotner and Ryan White’s excellent THE CASE AGAINST 8, with fellow Sundance alum Jennifer Kroot and Bill Weber’s TO BE TAKEI taking one of the Centerpiece spots. The following spotlights additional documentary programming SF audiences should be sure to check out: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to PBS’s POV this coming Monday, June 23: WHEN I WALK
Jason DaSilva’s account of the onset of his multiple sclerosis made its debut at Sundance last year. Other fest appearances have included Hot Docs, Sarasota, LA’s Arclight Doc Fest, Vancouver, Hot Springs, Margaret Mead, ReelAbilities, San Diego Asian, Heartland, Hot Springs, and Poland’s New Horizons American Film Festival, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
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