New to VOD this week:
BEING BEBE
Director:
Emily Branham
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2021
Select Festivals:
Provincetown, NewFest, Outfest, BFI Flare, Tallgrass, Sound Unseen, Image+Nation, Heartland
About:
In 2009, Bebe Zahara Benet was crowned the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, but the franchise hadn’t yet achieved notoriety, so without an infrastructure to support her next steps, Bebe is confronted with the fickleness of fame.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, June 7:
BALONEY
Director:
Joshua Guerci
World Premiere:
Frameline 2021
Select Festivals:
Outfest, LGBT fests in Tel Aviv, Palm Springs, Boston, Seattle,
About:
The titillating and charming story behind San Francisco’s first and only all-male gay revue.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Festival:
The 21st Tribeca Festival
Dates:
June 8-19
About:
Approximately 140 features and episodic content – about half of that nonfiction – screens in this NYC event.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to HBO and HBO Max tomorrow, Wednesday, June 8:
THE JANES
Director:
Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes
World Premiere:
Sundance 2022
Select Festivals:
San Francisco, Cleveland, Athena, Minneapolis-St Paul
About:
The story of “Jane,” a group of women in Chicago who built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, and illegal abortions before Roe v Wade.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD and VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 7:
SEARCHING FOR MR RUGOFF
Director:
Ira Deutchman
World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2019
Select Festivals:
Palm Springs, Cleveland, Wisconsin, Galway, Mill Valley
About:
A look back at the outsized personality behind legendary art house distributor Cinema 5.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Monday, June 6:
A SEXPLANATION
Director:
Alex Liu
World Premiere:
Cinequest 2021
Select Festivals:
Cleveland, Frameline, Inside Out, Sebastopol Doc, NYC Asian American, Zurich, Anchorage, Honolulu, Tallgrass
About:
The filmmaker probes the failures of our country’s sex education, the proliferation of pornography, and the stigma that is still attached to sex in America today.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 7:
MAU
Director:
Benji Bergmann, Jono Bergmann
World Premiere:
SXSW 2021
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Tallinn Black Nights
About:
The unlikely story of design visionary Bruce Mau and his ever-optimistic push for massive change.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres and VOD today, Friday, June 3:
WE ARE THE THOUSAND
Director:
Anita Rivaroli
World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
IDFA, Hot Docs, Melbourne, Docs Against Gravity, Thessaloniki Doc
About:
An uplifting, inspiring, and emotional music documentary about a seemingly impossible plan to record a song by the Foo Fighters with a thousand musicians.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s American Masters tomorrow, Friday, June 3:
JOE PAPP IN FIVE ACTS
Director:
Tracie Holder, Karen Thorsen
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2012
Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Rio, Brisbane, Ashland, San Francisco Jewish, Havana
About:
A portrait of the founder of The Public Theater, who believed in the democratization of theatre for all, spearheading free performances of Shakespeare in the Park and producing groundbreaking plays in his legendary NYC venue.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Friday, June 3:
THE JANES
Director:
Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes
World Premiere:
Sundance 2022
Select Festivals:
San Francisco, Cleveland, Athena, Minneapolis-St Paul
About:
The story of “Jane,” a group of women in Chicago who built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, and illegal abortions before Roe v Wade.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
what (not) to doc 