Category Archives: Film

Coming to PBS today, Tuesday, August 27: THE MARCH

John Akomfrah’s detailed exploration of the historic 1963 March on Washington makes its debut tonight on PBS as part of a special week of programming commemorating the watershed moment in civil rights. It will be rebroadcast tomorrow, on the actual 50th anniversary, with viewers afforded the opportunity to interact with original organizers and key activists.

On August 28, 1963, 250,000 Americans, both black and white, descended upon the nation’s capital to peacefully demand an end to segregation and other discriminatory practices, creating a lasting symbol that motivated lawmakers to pass important reforms. John Akomfrah’s film transports the viewer back to that time, profiling the major players behind the scenes who made that historic assemblage possible, from organizers A Phillip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and the coalition of civil rights leaders who brokered the support of Kennedy’s White House, to committed volunteers who worked tirelessly to spread awareness of the event and to organize the logistics to enable supporters to attend from all over the country. While moments from the event, which caps off the riveting film, like Martin Luther King Jr’s masterful “I Have A Dream” speech – the final one delivered – still carry tremendous emotional resonance, the film also spotlights other, less widely remembered invocations, such as John Lewis’, which threatened a last-minute schism because of its potentially incendiary language, prompting a rewrite. As he has demonstrated in his past work, Akomfrah skillfully builds the film largely through archival footage, much of it rarely seen, creating an immersive effect that places the viewer into the racially divided United States of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and captures the immediacy of a society during a transformational moment.

Coming to NYC’s Film Forum this Wednesday, August 28: TOKYO WAKA: A CITY POEM

John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson’s Tokyo city symphony made its debut at San Francisco last year. It went on to screen at Silverdocs, Big Sky, IFF Boston, Haifa, and the United Nations Association Film Festival, among others.

I previously wrote about the doc out of Silverdocs here.

Coming to theatres this Friday, August 30: OUR NIXON

Penny Lane’s archival exploration of the 37th President’s White House debuted at Rotterdam earlier this year. It went on to screen at SXSW, New Directors/New Films, Los Angeles, Nantucket, Seattle, AFI Docs, and Traverse City, among others, and was broadcast on CNN at the beginning of the month. After opening at IFC Center, the doc will expand throughout the US via Cinedigm.

I included the film in my SXSW roundup here.

Coming to HBO this Monday, August 26: GLICKMAN

James L Freedman’s tribute to legendary sportscaster Marty Glickman made its debut at Santa Barbara earlier this year. The doc went on to screen at Jewish festivals in San Francisco, Atlanta, San Diego, and Austin, and enjoyed a limited theatrical release earlier this month.

Freedman, who produced Glickman’s late-night sports program when the former was only a high school senior, crafts an affectionate celebration of the man noted by many interviewees as a pioneer in the field of sports announcing, on radio, in the nascent realm of network television, and, significantly, on cable at HBO’s birth. While utilizing a somewhat stilted narrator to bridge the gaps, Freedman also makes good use of archival audio and video of Glickman, allowing his late subject – who passed in 2001 at the age of 83 – ample room to tell his own story in his distinctive and down-to-earth style. Loosely organized into different chapters, headed by an evocative quote delivered either by Glickman or one of his admirers, the film is surprisingly comprehensive without being overwrought, relating the life of a Jewish-American New Yorker who was a talented athlete, making it to the 1936 Olympics before a successful college football career at Syracuse, and who later developed into a consummate sports announcer. The discrimination he experienced at the Berlin Olympics leaves a particularly singular impression – a fellow runner and Glickman, the only Jewish athletes on the US team, were pulled from their event to appease Nazi leadership fears that their win might undercut Nazi propaganda about Jewish inferiority. One is struck by the parallels to the current controversy around the upcoming Sochi games and Russia’s homophobic laws, making for an unintended but very topical connection. For a figure who here touchingly reflects on racial, religious, and gender equality and camaraderie in the arena of sports and sportscasting, that resonance seems especially fitting.

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, August 27: KOCH

Neil Barsky’s exploration of the life and political career of Hizzoner debuted at the Hamptons last Fall. It went on to screen at Palm Springs and several Jewish fests, including Boston, New York, Toronto, and Atlanta before enjoying a limited theatrical release.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to NYC’s IFC Center this Friday, August 23: THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI

Bill Siegel’s penetrating exploration of the controversy over the boxing legend’s refusal to serve in Vietnam debuted at Tribeca earlier this year. The film went on to Seattle, Traverse City, San Francisco Jewish, Melbourne, and Montclair, among other festivals.

I included the doc in my Tribeca coverage here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 20: DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY

Ramona S Diaz’s rags to rockstar riches chronicle made its world premiere at Tribeca last year. The film want on to San Francisco, Silverdocs, Dubai, Traverse City, Sedona, San Diego Asian, and Palm Springs, and had a limited theatrical release last Spring.

I previously covered the doc out of Tribeca here.