Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 2: THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
Eugene Jarecki’s exploration of the damages wrought by the war on drugs had its world premiere at Sundance last year, where it picked up a grand jury prize. Other festival screenings included Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Melbourne, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Last week, I posted a pointer to my Indiewire articles on AFI Docs, which covered the event as a whole, as well as five titles in the fest’s initial Washington DC lineup. This post wraps up my coverage with brief views on eight additional films. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief, Recommendations
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 2: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU
Andrei Ujica’s hypnotic archival portrait of the Romanian dictator debuted at Cannes in 2010. Other festival stops included Toronto, San Sebastian, Transilvania, and the New York Film Festival, before a limited theatrical release.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Monday, July 1: DOWNLOADED
Alex Winter’s take on Napster had its world premiere at SXSW earlier this year. Its fest circuit has included Cleveland, Hot Docs, Martha’s Vineyard, and Sydney, and the doc also opened theatrically last month. FilmBuff now makes the film available on iTunes, Amazon, XBOX, Playstation, Cinemanow, and Vudu.
I previously wrote about the doc out of SXSW here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
The 24th edition of the International Film Festival-Marseille, commonly known as FID Marseille, begins this Tuesday, July 2 and runs through Monday, July 8. Historically, the event was an exclusively non-fiction festival, but that changed about five years ago when the organizers began to screen fiction work as well, part of a shift in philosophy that aims to break down the differences between the two, champion all film as cinema, and embrace the idea that both forms are equally constructed by filmmakers. This, combined with the festival’s often labyrinthine program notes, sometimes makes it hard to determine what is and is not what most would consider a traditional documentary – clearly part of the festival’s overall point. That said, the following spotlights the new non-fiction (and potentially a few hybrids) that sound most intriguing to me.
The International and French Competitions include several world premieres, including: Travis Wilkerson’s LOS ANGELES RED SQUAD: THE COMMUNIST SITUATION IN CALIFORNIA, an exploration of the LAPD’s hunt for communists in the early part of the 20th century; Dora Garcia’s THE JOYCEAN SOCIETY (pictured), about a group of James Joyce amateur scholars; José Luis Torres Leiva’s TO SEE AND TO HEAR, following blind and deaf people as they teach one another how to communicate; and Pierre Creton’s SUR LA VOIE, an observational road movie following two men on separate, but intersecting, paths. Among doc competition entries having their international premieres are Gerardo Naumann and Nele Wohlatz’s RICARDO BÄR, a portrait of an Argentinian village constructed as a film within a film; and João Vladimiro’s LACRAU, an experimental, observational movement away from the city.
Outside of its competitions, FID Marseille’s Parallel Screens offers five sections – this year very loosely inspired by Pasolini’s oeuvre, which is presented in a large retrospective here. Among the newer work are: Pilar Arcila’s COSTEL’S PENDULUM, a portrait of Europe through the experiences of a Romanian Roma and his family; Gereon Wetzel’s CASA PARA TODOS, a meditation on what’s been wrought from Spain’s disastrous real estate speculation; Graeme Thomson and Silvia Maglioni’s IN SEARCH OF UIQ (pictured), an essay on Félix Guattari’s unfilmed sci-fi project; and Salomé Lamas’ NO MAN’S LAND, a character study of a Portuguese mercenary.
The festival also holds a number of Special Screenings, including partnerships with various organizations and associations. Among these is a series of selections in collaboration with DocAlliance: André Gil Mata’s CAPTIVE, exploring the relationship between a woman and the home she occupied for all of her 91 years; Axel Salvatori-Sinz’s THE SHEBABS OF THE YARMOUK, about the close-knit friends who grew up in a Syrian Palestinian refugee camp; and Klára Tasovská and Lukás Kokes’ FORTRESS (pictured), on the unrecognized sovereign state of Transnistria.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Tuesday, July 2: WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL
Ben Nabors’ portrait of a young Malawian man whose life changes after he builds a windmill debuted at SXSW earlier this year, picking up the grand jury prize. It has since gone on to Hot Docs, SF DocFest, Sydney, BAMcinemaFest, and the upcoming Jerusalem Film Festival.
I previously wrote about the doc out of SXSW here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to WORLD Channel’s Global Voices series this Sunday, June 30: NIÑOS DE LA MEMORIA
María Teresa Rodríguez’s search for El Salvador’s disappeared children made its debut at Ambulante last year. It has screened at numerous universities, as well as at festivals like DOXA, San Diego Latino, Cine+Mas SF, Punta del Este, and Uruguay’s International Festival of Cinema and Human Rights. After its broadcast, the doc will be available for a limited time on WORLD’s website.
The twelve-year Salvadoran Civil War between the military government and leftist guerrillas saw systematic slaughtering of civilians, as well as the seizure of surviving children by soldiers. While some were taken in by military families, others lost their identities in orphanages or through irregular international adoptions during the chaotic time. These disappeared and unaccounted for children of the 1980s, now three decades removed from their biological families, are the focus of Rodríguez’s often moving film, which follows three individuals affected by the conflict: Margarita, a human rights investigator who uses survivor testimony and DNA sampling to try to locate and identify the missing, including her own siblings; Salvador, an older farmer whose family was brutally murdered, save for one lost daughter; and Jamie, who was adopted by an unsuspecting Jewish American family, but hopes to find some connection to lost relatives during her first return trip to El Salvador. There are sadly no miraculous reunions on display here, underscoring the ongoing challenges these subjects, and thousands more, face in reconciling the damage done to their society. A change of political leadership, however, offers some hope that, even thirty years later, progress – and justice – may still be possible.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s POV this Monday, July 1: SPECIAL FLIGHT
Fernand Melgar’s observational look at Switzerland’s deportation system debuted at Locarno in 2011, where it picked up two awards. Its extensive festival run has included DOK Lepizig, Mumbai, Doclisboa, Doha Tribeca, RIDM, Docpoint, One World, Thessaloniki Doc, Full Frame, BAFICI, Silverdocs, and Dokufest Kosovo.
I previously wrote about the doc out of Silverdocs here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, June 28: THE SECRET DISCO REVOLUTION
Jamie Kastner’s whimsical exposé of the subversive core of ’70s music culture had its world premiere at Toronto last year. It went on to screen at Rotterdam, London, Stockholm, Newport Beach, and Frameline, among other fests.
I included the doc in my Toronto roundup here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Nearing in on its half-century, Karlovy Vary, set in a beautiful Bohemian spa town in the Czech Republic, launches its 48th edition festival this Friday. The event is among the highest ranked competitive festivals by FIAPF, the International Federation of Film Producers Associations – colloquially referred to as an “A”-list festival – in the ranks of Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Locarno, among other European powerhouses. Its geographic location allows it to serve as a bridge between Western and Eastern Europe cinema, while its position on the calendar allows it to launch new films outside of the shadow of Cannes and before the busy late Summer/early Fall festivals. Its setting and the weather also serve as a great excuse for a party, as thousands of university students annually backpack to the event to watch some films and drink until the wee hours of the night. With upwards of 180 features in the lineup, it’s easy to see how the event takes over the town, drawing not only students, but a large industry presence as well. While I won’t be attending, the following highlights some of the nearly 40 nonfiction or hybrids that will be screening this year: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
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