Category Archives: Film

Coming to NYC’s Quad Cinema this Friday, May 11: PORTRAIT OF WALLY

Andrew Shea’s multi-layered analysis of the international controversy around an Egon Schiele painting made its debut last month at Tribeca.

I included the doc in my Tribeca roundup here.

Coming to NYC’s Film Forum for a one-week run beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, May 9: PATIENCE (AFTER SEBALD)

Grant Gee’s unique exploration of WG Sebald and his adherents had its world premiere at a special Sebald fest organized by Aldeburgh Music in Suffolk, UK. It came stateside this past Fall at the New York Film Festival, with additional screenings at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Rotterdam, and San Francisco.

While not a household name, German author WG Sebald was acknowledged by many literary critics as one of the world’s premier writers and a potential Nobel laureate prior to his death in 2001. His 1995 work, THE RINGS OF SATURN, centered on a narrator named WG Sebald taking a walking tour of Suffolk, is the basis of Gee’s documentary. The film revisits locations discussed in the book, and turns to critics, authors, and admirers of Sebald to offer their at times obsessive insight into this seminal work. The result is decidedly unusual, but oddly engaging. Slightly reminiscent to Rodney Ascher’s ROOM 237 in its focus on responses to a work of art – though Gee’s subjects don’t engage in nearly as over the top musings as do Ascher’s – the doc may not suit everyone’s tastes but serves as a creative approach to adaptation, eschewing a literal translation to the screen in favor of something more intelligent and challenging.

Coming to DVD next Tuesday, May 15: DRAGONSLAYER

Tristan Patterson’s portrait of the coming of age of a skateboarder had its world premiere in competition at SXSW last year, where it won two awards. It went on to screen at nearly fifty additional fests, including Full Frame, Hot Docs, BAMcinemaFEST, Silverdocs, Camden, BFI London, CPH:DOX, IDFA, and RIDM. The doc was also booked in thirty theatrical venues since last Fall.

I included the film in my SXSW coverage

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 8: THIS IS WHAT LOVE IN ACTION LOOKS LIKE

Morgan Jon Fox’s look at the activism against a controversial ex-gay program screened at Frameline last Summer. It picked up awards or special mentions at various LGBT fests – Spokane, Indianapolis, Birmingham – as well as at Indie Memphis.

In 2005, when sixteen-year-old Zach came out to his parents, they sent the Memphis teen to Love In Action, a fundamentalist Christian program designed to “cure” homosexuals of their addictive behavior. With nowhere to turn, Zach shared his anxiety over this decision on his MySpace blog – social media made his posts go viral, and spurred a series of daily protests outside of “Refuge,” LIA’s teen program, bringing media attention and pressure to close the facility. Memphis filmmaker (and protest participant) Fox was granted exclusive access to Zach to tell his story in detail, while also profiling the friends and strangers who organized around his plight, former clients of LIA, and, most revealing, the former director of LIA. Perhaps reflecting the six years it took to complete his doc, Fox errs on the side of caution, not pushing Zach for details on his experiences in Refuge or on his decision not to share his story in more depth until now, but as the double meaning of the title signals, the activism around Zach’s situation is where the filmmaker has largely decided to focus his attention. The urgency of the protests allows the film to avoid feeling dated, and, certainly, there are many similar programs around the country that continue to prey on people’s prejudices, sadly making the film still very much relevant and a compelling example of what can be accomplished by grassroot organizing.