Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, May 9: FED UP
Stephanie Soechtig’s eye-opening look at obesity in America had its world premiere earlier this year at Sundance. It went on to screen at San Francisco and Hot Docs before its theatrical release.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, May 7: BREASTMILK
Dana Ben-Ari’s indepth look at mother’s milk debuted at Woodstock. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Citizen Jane, and Australia’s Human Rights Arts & Film Fest.
I previously wrote about the film for the DOC NYC program, saying:
Bypassing the breastmilk vs. formula debate, Dana Ben-Ari’s film instead looks at the practical, societal, and biological realities faced by women who choose to breastfeed. Why are so few nursing mothers able to breastfeed exclusively? What has made a natural biological act into a taboo public activity? Where can an adoptive mother turn if she wants the benefits of breastmilk for her child? With candor and humor, mothers and other experts discuss the challenges, misconceptions and fears around mother’s milk.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
DOK.fest Munich opens its 29th edition tonight, Wednesday, May 7. Screening over a hundred titles through next Wednesday, May 14, the festival continues to showcase a broad range of brand new and recent nonfiction work, as well as retrospective programming which includes a selection of Oscar documentaries and the work of celebrated British director Kim Longinotto. What follows are highlights from some of the event’s competitive and non-competitive sections: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, May 6: UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP
Jim Hubbard’s history of the grassroots AIDS activist group made its premiere at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight in 2012. Other fest screenings followed at Hot Docs, and at LGBT fests around the world, including Frameline, Outfest, and Mix Brasil.
I previously wrote about the film out of Hot Docs here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, May 6: AN AFFAIR OF THE HEART
Sylvia Caminer’s exploration of Rick Springfield fandom made its debut at the Florida Film Festival last year. It also screened at IDFA, Hot Docs, Nashville, Sidewalk, Hot Springs, and Planete+ Doc, among others, before a limited theatrical release. FilmBuff now releases it on iTunes, Amazon, Google, Vudu, Hulu, PlayStation, and other VOD platforms.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, May 6: DESERT RIDERS
Vic Sarin’s investigation into child exploitation in Middle Eastern camel racing debuted at Vancouver in 2011. It went on to screen at IDFA, One World, and Thessaloniki Doc, among other fests.
Camel racing grew from a haphazardly organized local pastime to a point of international pride among the Middle East’s elite. With the sport’s development came the need for jockeys – the lighter, the better – leading to the industrywide practice of utilizing child riders, and, inevitably, a black market in child trafficking to meet the demand. Boys from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sudan were routinely sold into indentured servitude by family or acquaintances, sometimes knowingly, but often not, and subjected to harsh working conditions, forced hormone injections to keep them from growing, and, often, physical and sexual abuse. Documentary evidence of their plight helped to mobilize American intervention, ultimately leading the UAE in 2005 to ban jockeys under the age of fifteen from competing. Sarin’s film, unconnected to the early doc, revisits the story, while also checking in on the repatriation of the exploited children and the struggles many have had to deal with from their traumatic experiences, and, poignantly, from re-entering families and communities that may not be as welcoming as one might expect. This rough-hewn talking heads survey is workmanlike at best, spending far too much time on background for a controversy that largely took place a decade ago, and not enough time on the present-day circumstances of its subjects, who fail to be particularly individuated here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 6: FORGET ME NOT
David Sieveking’s personal chronicle of the impact of Alzheimer’s on his family had its world premiere at Locarno in 2012. It went on to screen at Thessaloniki Doc, Planete Doc, Sheffield, RIDM, Reykjavik, Talinn Black Nights, Documenta Madrid, and Zurich, among other events.
I previously covered the doc out of Thessaloniki here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 6: MERCEDES SOSA: THE VOICE OF LATIN AMERICA
Rodrigo H Vila’s tribute to the popular singer debuted at Panama last year. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, IDFA, Havana’s International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, and Sydney Latin American, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 2: DOCUMENTED
Jose Antonio Vargas’ personal exploration of his life as an undocumented American made its debut last year at AFI Docs. Its fest circuit also included IDFA, Hawaii, Boulder, and the San Diego Asian film fests.
I previously wrote about the film out of AFI Docs for Indiewire saying:
Making its world premiere at AFI Docs as the festival’s Centerpiece Gala is this personal story about the experiences of an undocumented immigrant. Directing the emotionally-affecting project (with co-director Ann Lupo), Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, reveals how he risked potential deportation and his successful career by coming out publicly in the New York Times Magazine about his undocumented status and becoming a very visible activist for immigration reform. There’s real power in Vargas’ story – a true American success story, just missing the papers – making him an ideal subject who provides a much-needed and sympathetic human face behind the staggering statistics and rhetoric around this pressing issue.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 2: MORE THAN THE RAINBOW
Dan Wechsler’s portrait of a New York street photographer had its world premiere at DOC NYC in 2012. It also screened at SF DocFest and at the Coney Island Film Festival, where it won best documentary.
From behind the wheel of the taxi cab he drove in the late 1970s-1980s, Matt Weber captured scenes of NYC life with his camera, often focusing on lives on the margins, people who were otherwise rarely the subject of a photographer’s lens. Self-taught, he made the plunge to full-time artist in 1990, selling his hack medallion and taking to the streets to follow his passion. Wechsler’s appealing film provides a platform for Weber to reveal his story, and that of his beloved city, frozen in time in his evocative black and white portraits. Weber makes for an affable Everyman, bolstered by comments from admirers and fellow street photogs, as they reflect on the changing face of their artform and of the cities they chronicle.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
