Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 10: THE MISSING PICTURE
Rithy Panh’s personal reflection on life under the Khmer Rouge premiered at Cannes last year, where it won the Un Certain Regard. Additional screenings included Toronto, New York, Vancouver, Cleveland, Seattle, Jerusalem, and Göteborg, among several others. The doc was Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
I included the film in my Toronto coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, June 10: BRASSLANDS
The Meerkat Media Collective’s exploration of a Serbian brass festival debuted at the Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival last year. Other screenings have included Belgrade’s BelDocs, Los Angeles Film Festival, Rooftop Films, Rotterdam, CPH:DOX, Vilnius, Thessaloniki Doc, New Orleans, and American Doc fest. It now comes to VOD platforms via The Orchard’s Opus Docs series.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
This Wednesday, June 11, marks the start of the 20th anniversary edition of the Los Angeles Film Festival, which will continue through Thursday, June 19. Nearly 200 films total will screen, though this year sees slightly fewer feature documentaries represented, with only 21 by my count, representing a cross-section of debuts as well as LA premieres of several festival favorites. The following offers brief highlights: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 10: BIBLE QUIZ
Nicole Teeny’s Scripture spin on SPELLBOUND debuted at Slamdance last year, where it claimed the best doc award. Other fest appearances have included New Orleans, Newport Beach, Kansas, St Louis, Oxford, American Doc, and Spokane.
At the same time a competition doc and a portrait of adolescence, Teeny’s film profiles seventeen-year-old Mikayla, a girl from a troubled home who turns to religion for stability and acceptance – or, perhaps more accurately, she turns to a small circle of earnest, pious friends who happen to be obsessed with memorizing the Bible. Their goal: to win the National Bible Quiz Championship. Mikayla’s goal, even though she may not know it herself at first: to make team captain JP her (chaste) boyfriend. Following standard competition doc conventions, Teeny films her subjects engrossed in prep, committing huge chunks of Scripture to memory, and triumphant in battle, rattling it off at debate-speed to beat rival schools – initially fascinating in its peculiarity, but not particularly riveting in and of itself without a more nuanced, in-depth exploration of the impact of Christianity on these young people’s lives, which is strangely lacking here. The viewer might expect Teeny to concentrate on both Mikayla and her clean-cut, attractive crush, JP, but instead she wisely focuses on Mikayla, an appealing, intriguing teen. If she plays to the camera a little too much, it’s forgiveable, as her vulnerability still comes through, with her tentative exploration of burgeoning sexuality and attraction complicating what could have been an otherwise rote comp doc.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 10: THE ABOMINABLE CRIME
Micah Fink’s exploration of the persecution of LGBT Jamaicans had its world premiere at Frameline last year. Its festival circuit has included DOC NYC, Montclair, QDocs, BFI London, St Louis, Reeling, and Outfest, among others.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program saying:
Exposing the roots of homophobia in Jamaican society, THE ABOMINABLE CRIME tells the story of a mother’s love for her child and an activist’s love for his country. It gives voice to Jamaicans like Simone Edwards, who survived an anti-gay shooting, and Maurice Tomlinson, a leading activist who is forced to flee the country after being outed. These personal accounts take the audience on an emotional journey traversing four years and five countries.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres and to VOD today, Friday, June 6: BURT’S BUZZ
Jody Shapiro’s portrait of the reluctant founder of Burt’s Bees had its world premiere at Toronto last year. Its festival circuit also included San Francisco, Ashland, Seattle, Panama, Wisconsin, Santa Barbara, and Sedona, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc out of Toronto here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, June 6: WALKING THE CAMINO: SIX WAYS TO SANTIAGO
Lydia Smith’s portrait of pilgrims walking across Spain debuted at Ashland last year. Its fest run has included Newport Beach, Galway, American Doc, Heartland, and Hollywood, among others.
Spain’s Camino de Santiago is a 500 mile path that culminates in the city of Santiago de Compostela, a popular pilgrimage destination as the site of St James’ remains, annually drawing more than 270,000 pilgrims. Smith, a former pilgrim herself, follows nearly a dozen international individuals who make the journey for a variety of reasons, walking during the day and stopping at hostels along the way to rest and socialize. These include two Canadian retirees, one of whom is still dealing with his wife’s passing; an American woman who learns how to let go of some of her anxiety around competition after the trek takes a physical and emotional toll; a recently unemployed Brazilian woman who needs a fresh start; an adventurous Portuguese man who experiences a lot of physical trouble en route; an uptight, religious young French mother who travels with her inquisitive young son and her non-religious, free-spirited younger brother; and a sporty Danish loner who unexpectedly finds herself starting a relationship with a younger fellow pilgrim. As they reflect on the issues in their lives over the course of the pilgrimage, they learn to appreciate a slower pace and absorb the beauty of the Spanish countryside in this handsomely lensed if (appropriately) meandering production. Smith does an admirable job in balancing multiple subjects – though I’m left unconvinced that all needed to be included, with more than one indulging in navel-gazing and First World Problems – but it’s easy to see the film resonating with viewers with particular interest in spirituality and self-development.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Quad Cinema tomorrow, Friday, June 6: SMALL SMALL THING
Jessica Vale’s look at a disturbing case of child rape in Liberia had its world premiere at Palm Beach last year. It went on to screen at Dallas, Bronze Lens, Encounters, Warsaw, Baghdad, Toronto Black, LA Pan African, and Egypt’s Luxor fest, among others.
At the start of Vale’s film, Olivia, a nine-year-old, is brought in for medical treatment in a Monrovian hospital, suffering from malnourishment and a debilitating fistula. Her mother believed her condition to be caused by witchcraft, and kept her homebound for two years, but medical professionals soon determine that the cause is a horrific rape – by Olivia’s own cousin, when the girl was just seven-years-old. Sadly, the film reveals that child rape is no rare crime in Liberia. What’s worse, victims are often ostracized, made to suffer twice over as their community shuns them for causing trouble, as happens here. As Vale follows Olivia and her mother to their sad end, as they face obstacles in their search for justice, she lays out a compelling analysis about how Liberia’s violent past of civil war and child soldiers has led to a culture that tacitly condones rape. While Olivia’s story is moving (and has since inspired a scholarship to be founded in her name), Vale’s well-intentioned film is too conventional in approach, often unfocused, and unfortunately plagued with an overuse of narration and a corresponding tendency to speak for her subjects rather than allowing them to speak for themselves, ultimately making the doc less effective than it could have been.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
This Saturday, June 7, sees the launch of the 21st edition of Sheffield Doc/Fest, one of the nonfiction community’s favorites on the festival circuit. I’ll be on Nantucket for the month of June, gearing up for my own festival, but other doc folk will be headed over the Pond between now and the fest’s wrap next Thursday, June 12. The following represent some of the doc features that have most piqued my interest in this year’s lineup: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, June 6: SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON
Mike Myers’ celebration of the man behind the careers of the likes of Alice Cooper and Emeril Lagasse premiered at Toronto last year. It went on to screen at Tribeca, Full Frame, Sarasota, SXSW, Sydney, Miami, and Montclair.
I included the doc in my Toronto coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 