With DOC NYC bringing over a hundred true stories and real-life unforgettable characters to audiences beginning tonight, my latest curated selections for Hulu’s Documentaries page, revisits past New York stories. Watch these docs now for free (but first go to DOC NYC if you’re in the area)!
For more information about the selections, see my Indiewire article.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Indiewire @ Hulu Docs
Coming to theatres and VOD this Friday, November 15: DEAR MR WATTERSON
Joel Allen Schroeder’s tribute to CALVIN & HOBBES had its world premiere earlier this year at Cleveland. Its festival circuit has also included New Orleans, deadCENTER, Wisconsin, Chagrin Doc, Savannah, and Kansas City, among others.
CALVIN & HOBBES, in many people’s eyes the last, best syndicated comic strip of all time, came to an end in 1995 after a decade of creator Bill Watterson’s inspired, imaginative, and hilarious work. Still fondly remembered, perhaps in part because of Watterson’s refusal to bow to pressures to commercialize his creation via merchandising, the strip inspired director Schroeder to examine its history and impact to this day. Despite its title, the film (thankfully) purposefully avoids seeking out the notoriously reclusive cartoonist – though the director does visit Watterson’s hometown of Chagrin Falls OH – to instead focus on the inventive work itself, turning to scores of cartoonists and art historians for their reflections. As a great admirer of the comic strip, the project holds great appeal, and is very watchable, despite fairly conventional filmmaking, a distractingly overused score, and the fairly superfluous inclusion of the filmmaker as a character – to the latter point, Schroeder features plenty of other speakers who testify about their love and connection to CALVIN & HOBBES, so his own presence feels fanboyish. Still, Schroeder’s film does offer great background about the history of the comic strip, employs illustrations well, and evokes happy memories of pouring through collections like SOMETHING UNDER THE BED IS DROOLING, and, in doing so, amply succeeds in its mission.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Day Three of DOC NYC‘s Doc-A-Thon provides an overview of the ever-changing landscape of documentary funding and what that means for your creative control. All of these sessions take place at the IFC Center next Wednesday, November 20: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
2013 marks the sweet sixteen for the Montreal International Documentary Festival, better known to our French-speaking Northern neighbors as RIDM (Anglophones, that stands for Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal), opening tonight, Wednesday, November 13 with Sundance and Toronto audience award winner THE SQUARE. Closing on Sunday, November 24 with director Annie St-Pierre’s local interest title FERMIÉRES, about Quebec volunteer farm women’s groups, the festival will screen over sixty new and recent feature documentaries, as well as additional retrospectives (Marcel Ophüls and Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab), transmedia projects, and shorts. I’ve never attended, unfortunately, and the simultaneously running DOC NYC will be keeping me plenty busy, but if I were in beautiful Montreal, the following newer films would be highest on my list:
RIDM holds four separate competitions – one for shorts, and three for features and mid-lengths. Among the dozen International Features titles are several I’ve noted on this site before, including Susanna Helke’s AMERICAN VAGABOND and Gonçalo Tocha’s THE MOTHER AND THE SEA; and from the International Medium-Lengths, films like Dora Garcia’s THE JOYCEAN SOCIETY and Valéry Rosier’s SILENCE RADIO. Several of the eleven Canadian Features competition are unfamiliar to me, with the most intriguing being: John Walker’s ARCTIC DEFENDERS, about the indigenous struggle that led to the creation of Nunavut; Dominic Gagnon’s HOAX_CANULAR, on the end of the world as envisioned by youth-created amateur online videos; Julie Perron’s LE SEMEUR, about a man who preserves seeds to ensure agricultural biodiversity and history; and Laura Bari’s ARIEL (pictured), a decade-long quest to design new legs for the filmmaker’s paraplegic brother.
The festival’s non-competitive Panorama includes several separate sections, including a collection of auteur films and festival favorites in Special Presentations; music docs in Beat Dox; transmedia projects in Docs 2.0; the current affair-driven Horizons, including Dieudo Hamadi’s ATALAKU, about paid campaigners for Congolese elections, and Alessandra Celesia’s AN ITALIAN MIRAGE, following Italians seeking jobs in remote Alaska; the perception-challenging Against the Grain, which includes Mariam Abu-Khaled, Udi Aloni, and Batoul Taleb’s ART/VIOLENCE, looking at Palestine’s Freedom Theatre in the wake of its founder’s assassination, and Tiago Campos’ MASTER AND DIVINO (pictured), about a missionary and an indigenous Amazonian, both with a passion for filmmaking; and the environmentally-focused Territories, such as Amy Miller’s NO LAND NO FOOD NO LIFE, on the devastating local impact of industrial agricultural, and Jean-Nicolas Orhon’s BIDONVILLE: ARCHITECTURES DE LA VILLE FUTURE, a rumination on shantytowns around the world.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
This fourth collection of DOC NYC shorts profiles a wide range of individuals who get swept away in various passions or preoccupations.
DOC NYC Program Description:
OBSESSIONS:
Wednesday, November 20 at 9:30pm
Collectors, curiosity seekers, and compulsives. FLUTTER (USA/Canada, 8 min., Dara Bratt) explores a lonely retiree’s love of butterfly collecting, while BUG PEOPLE (USA, 15 min., Paul Meyers) examines our odd aversion to insects. TANGO (Brazil, 6 min., Louis Robin) questions racetrack attendees about gambling. Discarded photos lead to a search for vaudeville performers DERBY & GROMA (Canada, 17 min., Kara Blake). Rollerskating recaptures the past in SKATE YRSELF CLEAN (USA, 7 min., Janna Jude Brown). THE EMERGENCY KIT (USA/Denmark, 11 min., Christian Svanes Kolding) shows an expectant mother’s anxiety around impending disasters. Freeman Dyson reveals his never-realized ATOMIC DREAM (USA, 26 min., Derek Lartaud & Melanie Ruiz) of nuclear bomb-powered space travel. (91 min. total)
Why You Should Attend:
We all have things that compel us, from benign hobbies and aspirations to more troubling vices and addictions. The individuals profiled in these intriguing films reflect on theirs.
More Info:
To purchase tickets, follow the link from the program page by clicking on the program title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, November 12: MORE THAN HONEY
Markus Imhoof’s tribute to the honeybee had its world premiere at Locarno last year. Its fest circuit included Toronto, Palm Springs, Cleveland, Santa Barbara, Sarasota, Montclair, Vancouver, and Seattle, among others, before enjoying a limited theatrical release this past Summer. FilmBuff now releases the film on iTunes, Xbox Video, and Sony Playstation.
I previously wrote about the doc out of Toronto here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 12: BROADWAY IDIOT
Doug Hamilton’s charting of the development of Green Day’s rock opera debuted at SXSW this past Spring. The doc went on to screen at Newport Beach, Lincoln Center’s Sound + Vision, London, and the CBGB Film Festival before being released theatrically and on VOD last month.
I included the film in my SXSW coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
The second day of DOC NYC‘s panel series, Doc-A-Thon, focuses on post-production. All of these masterclasses take place at the IFC Center next Tuesday, November 19: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD/VOD today, Tuesday, November 12: RISING FROM ASHES
TC Johnstone’s chronicle of Rwandan competitive cycling had its world premiere at the Hamptons last year. It went on to screen at fests in Denver, the Bahamas, Dallas, Austin, RiverRun, and Santa Barbara, among others, and to enjoy a limited theatrical release this Summer.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
My third DOC NYC shorts program focuses on younger protagonists – from pre-adolescents to young adults.
DOC NYC Program Description:
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT:
Wednesday, November 20 at 7:15pm
These five shorts capture the honesty and wisdom of youth. Cancer upends a dancer’s dreams in LIKE A DANCE (USA, 6 min., Jill Orschel). FOLLOW MY STEPS (USA, 16 min., Andrew Hida) details a friendship between a 13-year-old and a 21-year-old, bonded by physical disability. An undocumented young woman shares her story in I WAS BORN IN MEXICO, BUT…(USA, 12 min., Corey Ohama). Classroom and playground culture clash when a young Native American boy moves to Norway in EAGLE BOY (Norway, 27 min., Gry Elisabeth Mortensen). A group of Native children guide strangers through their remote island community in DOGS ON A BEACH (Canada, 23 min., Spencer Gilley & Andrew Hovi). (85 min. total)
Why You Should Attend:
These portraits cover everything from health issues and immigration to identity and culture differences – all from the perspectives of disarmingly astute and open young men and women.
More Info:
To purchase tickets, follow the link from the program page by clicking on the program title above.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
what (not) to doc 