My rundown of the 2013 Sundance US Documentary Competition continues with Zachary Heinzerling’s directorial debut: CUTIE AND THE BOXER, the decades-long story of the personal and professional struggles of a married pair of Japanese artists in NYC.
Category Archives: Film
2013 Sundance Docs in Focus: CUTIE AND THE BOXER
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
In the Works: THIS IS CONGO
An inside look at the complex forces behind the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ongoing conflicts.
The history of the DRC has been synonymous with conflict. The country is among the poorest – its wealth of natural resources benefitting not its people, but shady middlemen, corrupt politicians, multinational electronics corporations, and, ultimately, end users in the developed world. The vast majority of Congolese instead suffer through perpetual war, with their women raped and their children forced into combat. Director Daniel McCabe tells the stories of several Congolese on various sides of the conflicts, demonstrating the connections between instability and violence in the region and the market in illegally mined natural resources. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
2013 Sundance Docs in Focus: CITIZEN KOCH
Today’s look at Sundance 2013’s US Documentary Competition wraps up with returning filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin: CITIZEN KOCH, a bracing analysis of the political consequences of corporate personhood.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2013 Sundance Docs in Focus: BLOOD BROTHER
The next US Documentary Competition title in my profile of the upcoming Sundance doc slate: BLOOD BROTHER, Steve Hoover’s portrait of his best friend, who has dedicated his life to an Indian orphanage for HIV positive children.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2013 Sundance Docs in Focus: BLACKFISH
Continuing my doc-by-doc look at Sundance 2013: Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s US Documentary Competition title, BLACKFISH, an exploration of the risks of keeping killer whales in captivity – for both the orcas and their trainers.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2013 Sundance Docs in Focus: AMERICAN PROMISE
The third Sundance 2013 title of today: Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s US Documentary Competition entry, AMERICAN PROMISE, which follows two African-American boys from kindergarten to high school graduation.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2013 Sundance Docs in Focus: AFTER TILLER
Next up in my overview of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival US Documentary Competition: AFTER TILLER, Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s portrait of the only physicians in the country who perform controversial late-term abortions.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2013 Sundance Docs in Focus: 99% – THE OCCUPY WALL STREET COLLABORATIVE FILM
My film-by-film look at the documentaries of next month’s 2013 Sundance Film Festival begins with the US Documentary Competition. Going alphabetically through the contenders, first up: 99% – THE OCCUPY WALL STREET COLLABORATIVE FILM, a history, overview, and analysis of the Occupy movement from its inception, through eviction, and to today, by Audrey Ewell, Aaron Aites, Lucian Read, and Nina Krstic.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On DVD: PUTIN’S KISS
Coming to DVD next Monday, January 31: PUTIN’S KISS
Lise Birk Pederson’s exploration of Russia through ideological politics premiered at IDFA last year. It picked up a jury prize for cinematography upon its US premiere at Sundance at the beginning of the year. Its fest circuit has included Santa Barbara, Full Frame, Nashville, and Seattle, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Special Note: Submit Your Project to w(n)td
In the Works is a regular feature of this blog on most Fridays – a brief look at a documentary currently in production or post-production, often but not always while it’s in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign. Occasionally, I’ve been contacted by filmmakers to consider writing about their own projects, while more typically I’ve chanced upon films on my own.
As an experiment, I’ve decided to make the former process more standardized by adding a simple submission form on my Contact page. Let me know about your feature-length documentary and I’ll consider writing about it. As noted on the page, however, I likely won’t be able to write about every film submitted, based on some combination of available space, time, and personal interest – but I’m very curious to hear about what w(n)td readers are working on, and drawing attention to some of them by profiling them here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
what (not) to doc 