Coming to NYC’s Film Forum for a two-week run beginning next Wednesday, June 13: MARINA ABRAMOVIC THE ARTIST IS PRESENT
Matthew Akers’ portrait of the famed performance artist had its world premiere in competition at Sundance, where Abramovic famously hosted a silent party. It went on to win an audience award the next month at the Berlinale.
My pre-Sundance profile of the film may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
One of the summer’s most anticipated documentary events, Sheffield Doc/Fest, opens in less than a week, running June 13-17. I was hoping to be able to make it there for the first time this year, but it sadly hasn’t worked out.
Last year saw the fest’s first edition in its new June berth, just seven months after its last edition was held the previous Fall. With a whole year to plan 2012’s edition, Festival Director Heather Croall, Programmer Hussain Currimbhoy, and the rest of their team have assembled a wide-ranging lineup of more than eighty documentary features, including nearly a dozen world premieres. Taking a look at a number of the fest’s different programming strands, here are some highlights (omitting titles I’ve previously written about out of other festivals): Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews
Coming to NYC’s Cinema Village this Friday, June 8: PATAGONIA RISING
Brian Lilla’s investigation into a controversial Chilean hydroelectric plan premiered at Newport Beach last year. Additional stops on the festival circuit included, among others, the Hot Springs and San Francisco Documentary fests, and Chile’s Valdivia, Cine Otro, and Cine de la Patagonia Aysen, wining awards at the latter two.
Chile’s isolated Patagonian region is home to the Baker and Pascua, two glacier-fed rivers that provide for the region’s biodiversity. When the Spanish company Endsea proposes an ambitious hydroelectric project – the construction of five large dams – they promise a surplus of “clean” energy which can benefit Chile. Among the downsides, familiar to viewers who have seen films like UP THE YANGTZE: flooded regions, displaced inhabitants, and the potential unbalancing of the area’s ecosystem. Lilla talks to the gauchos and other residents of the region, contrasting their anxieties about this radical change to their homes with the corporate-speak reassurances of Endsea’s representative. The engaging doc also explores alternative, lower-impact sources of energy that may prove better solutions to the country’s energy needs, if only the interest of global profit above all else is able to be held in check.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, June 8: PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE
Stephen Kessler’s portrait of one of the most ubiquitous celebrities of the 1970s had its world premiere last year at Toronto. Additional screenings followed at SXSW, IDFA, Thessaloniki Documentary, and Seattle, among other festivals.
I included the film in my Toronto roundup here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Thursday, June 7: THE SHEIK & I
Caveh Zahedi premiered his button-pushing look at censorship in the Middle East at SXSW earlier this year. It has gone on to screen at the Independent Film Festival of Boston and San Francisco.
I included the film in my SXSW roundup here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, June 5: (A)SEXUAL
Angela Tucker’s exploration of a community of individuals with no sexual inclination made its world premiere last year at Frameline. Its festival circuit included additional LGBT events, the New Orleans Film Festival, and a multi-city tour for Asexual Awareness Week last October.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’ Independent Lens this Thursday, June 7: WE WERE HERE
David Weissman’s brought his elegaic yet hopeful look back at AIDS to Sundance for its world premiere last year. After an extensive festival run and a limited theatrical release, the doc made the Oscar shortlist,
My pre-Sundance profile of the film may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD next Tuesday, June 5: BEAR NATION
Malcolm Ingram’s exploration of a uniquely gay subculture made its premiere at SXSW in 2010. In addition to screening at numerous LGBT film fests, including NewFest, Frameline, and Outfest, among others, the doc was presented at numerous bear events around the US, and picked up a jury award at the Atlanta Film Festival in 2011.
Ingram’s previous documentary, SMALL TOWN GAY BAR, provided insight and inspiration as it demonstrated the need for community, even against a backdrop of intolerance. In a similar vein, his newest film is focused on belonging – specifically, the brotherhood that has formed among gay men with a particular body type that is typically not celebrated in either the mainstream straight or gay communities. While those well-versed in the gay community may know what bears are – generally, larger, hairier gay men – the general public most likely does not. Interestingly, it’s this latter group that Ingram’s film may best serve, providing exposure to an alternate conception of gay male sexuality that embraces a specific conception of masculinity that might be surprising to straight women and men who associate male homosexuality with effeminacy. The presence of Ingram’s good friend, filmmaker Kevin Smith, as both executive producer and on-screen “honorary bear” further emphasizes this link to non-gay audiences. This is not to say that gay audiences haven’t responded to the doc, of course, but it may be a little “Bears 101” for those in the know. Additionally, as is clear from the film in its discussion of subgroups of bears – muscle bears vs fat bears, for example – there is cliquish behavior based on what one is attracted to which makes the audience for this film fairly self-selecting within the larger gay male community. As a whole, Ingram offers a broad view of a subculture that challenges stereotypes of gay men both within and outside of the gay community, explores the significance of finding one’s own community, and celebrates the power of acknowledging and accepting one’s body type and sexual preferences.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
The director of CLEANFLIX explores post-industrial Detroit through the stories of three men who call the Motor City home.
No American city has seen the impact of the Great Recession moreso than Detroit. It was one of the main destinations for the millions of African-Americans who traveled from the South during the Great Migration, lured by the automotive and manufacturing industries which helped foster an African American middle class. As these industries gave way to cheaper resources outside the US in recent decades, the city has been on the decline, exacerbated by the sharp economic downturn of the past five years. Director Andrew James uses the stories of three African American men – notably from different generations, with ages ranging from 21-63 years old – to tell the story of the city in microcosm. Taking a ground level approach, James reveals their personal struggles to survive and to thrive in their city despite its difficult realities. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
Since 1998, the Brooklyn Film Festival has exposed a wide range of independent film each June and promoted NYC’s most populous borough as a cinema destination. This year’s edition, held today, June 1, through Sunday, June 10, is organized around the theme “Decoy,” encouraging audiences to explore multiple perspectives and meanings in the films in its lineup of features and shorts.
Among the festival’s more than twenty feature-length films are eight documentaries. I’ve seen and can recommend three of these already: Katie Dellamaggiore’s already acclaimed junior-high chess team film, BROOKLYN CASTLE, which I wrote about upon its world premiere at SXSW here; Mareike Wegener’s MARK LOMBARDI – DEATH-DEFYING ACTS OF ART AND CONSPIRACY (pictured), an involving consideration of the late artist whose obsessive work mapped surprising connections between money, power, and geopolitical events; and Sven Zellner’s PRICE OF GOLD, depicting the illegal and dangerous mining of gold by Mongolian nomads.
Two of the offerings present new work by notable Brooklyn filmmakers reflecting on the dramatic changes to their neighborhoods: Su Friedrich’s GUT RENOVATION (pictured), a personal film about the “revitalization” which forced the acclaimed filmmaker out of Williamsburg; and Kelly Anderson’s MY BROOKLYN, an exploration of the unholy union between corporate and political interests that led to the gentrification of Downtown Brooklyn and the Fulton Street Mall.
The final three feature docs also focus on individuals’ relationship to their homes: Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza’s DEAR MANDELA address the South African governments attempts to eliminate shantytowns and the resistance its residents put up to defend their homes; Raul Santos’ THE ROCK (pictured), the story of two communities being forcibly separated by the edict of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco; and Antonio Tibaldi’s [S]COMPARSE, in which a feature film crew disrupts the lives of the inhabitants of a small island between Sicily and Africa.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews
