Coming to POV tonight, Tuesday, September 13: IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman’s eye-opening exploration of the controversial radical environmental group took home the Best Documentary Editing jury prize at its premiere at Sundance. It picked up four more awards during its festival tour and had a limited theatrical run this summer.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, September 13: THE HOUSE OF SUH
Iris K Shim’s film about murder in a Korean-American family premiered at Hot Docs, screened at notable fests including Denver and Sarasota, and went on to win awards at various Asian-American fests and at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
I wrote about the film in my coverage of Hot Docs for indieWIRE, saying:
The doc aims to uncover the truth behind the sensationalism of a murder involving a pair of Korean-American siblings that has already been adapted into a made-for-TV film (though with the protagonists made Caucasian!). Andrew Suh pleads guilty to the murder of his sister Catherine’s boyfriend, while Catherine runs from the law, eventually found after an appearance on AMERICA’S MOST WANTED. But Shim finds that there’s much more to the story, relating to immigrant identity, rebellion against authority, and the unsolved brutal murder of the Suhs’ mother. The result is compulsively watchable and surprising.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
An examination of a life lived online, the nature of celebrity, and the impact of social media, all through the story of a smalltown Tennessee gay boy who rocketed to Internet infamy in 2007 when he posted a heartfelt, albeit hysterical, plea on YouTube to “Leave Britney Alone!”
Chris Moukarbel and Valerie Veatch’s first feature documentary focuses on the curious case of Chris Crocker. After Britney, his videos have been seen by millions and he entered into pop culture, largely as an object of ridicule, but he clearly had many fans as well. His story is both unique and becoming all-too-common, as more individuals upload the content of their lives online every day. Named for the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube, the film uses Crocker’s story to explore how the swift development of social media has radically altered the ways we interact with and reveal ourselves to one another and to the world, and how the world sometimes responds back.
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 9: WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM
Heather Courtney claimed the Best Documentary Editing Award for her doc about a group of young veterans coming home at the film’s world premiere at SXSW earlier this year. It’s since screened at notable festivals including Full Frame, BAMcinemaFEST, Silverdocs, Los Angeles, and Traverse City, where it also scored a Best US Documentary Award.
I wrote about the film out of SXSW here.
Note: Courtney and her subjects will be present for Q&As at the Friday and Saturday evening screenings at Village East Cinemas in NYC.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Dear Documentary Filmmakers: If the most interesting thing in your doc is the postscript, you may have finished too soon.
Often, after watching a documentary, the viewer is left with questions about what happens next: Did your ex-junkie protagonist stay clean? Did your Everyman David win his court appeal against the corporate Goliath? Did the actions depicted in your film lead to any concrete change for either your protagonist or society at large? While audiences attending festival screenings or special events where the filmmaker is present for a Q&A might have the opportunity to get some of these answers, a larger portion of your potential viewership hopefully would be seeing the film in wider theatrical or home video release or broadcast where you won’t be on-hand. Some filmmakers address this by including update cards at the end of their films, providing a brief postscript – a “where are they now” type of update for the key figures featured. Others prefer to leave some ambiguity in place, perhaps hoping that audience members will seek out further information and get involved in the related cause (if it’s a advocacy-based project), or otherwise are content that the story they’ve told works most dramatically without need for an update.
Filed under Dear Documentary Filmmakers, Documentary, Film
Coming to NYC’s Lincoln Center this Friday, September 9 (with other theatrical engagements through the end of the year): THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU
Andrei Ujica’s masterful film essay on Romania’s despotic leader made its premiere at Cannes last year, and later appeared at Toronto, San Sebastian, Transilvania, and the New York Film Festival, among others.
Ujica combed through a thousand hours of archival footage of Ceausescu from Romania’s national film and television archives to create this hypnotic three hour composition. He lets the footage speak for itself rather than include narration or title cards: a reign of nearly 25-years as represented by public appearances of the dictator and his wife, greeting other world leaders, touring local industry, and being entertained at state events high in pomp and circumstance. The propaganda on display is quite remarkable, at times jaw-droppingly absurd, underscoring the way that media was manipulated to project an image of prosperity that hid the reality of harsh life in the Communist nation. The only exception to this highly-mediated version of the Ceausescus comes after they are forced to abdicate – the televised mock trial that swiftly led to their execution – itself a manipulation of sorts. Broken, defeated, they claim their innocence, staring at the unfeeling camera that they no longer control. Ujica’s film is unlike any other, and well worth your three hours.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Together with what usually seems the entirety of the film industry, I’ll be headed up to Canada later this week for the Toronto International Film Festival, the event that, for me, marks the start of the new festival year (sadly I’ve never been to Telluride or Venice). For quite some time now, TIFF has been the pre-eminent North American launching pad for critically and commercially successful films, setting off awards buzz. Many of the titles premiering at the festival will be making their way to theatres before the end of the year, but industry and public audiences get an early, taste-making look at eventual Oscar nominees.
Of course, while trying to catch some of these hopefuls, my focus is on the festival’s non-fiction programming. This year, by my count, there are 38 feature-length documentaries, with the majority represented in the festival’s Real to Reel section, programmed by Thom Powers. Twelve additional docs are spread out among seven other sections. I’m going to do my best to see as many of these as possible within the six days I’m attending, and hope to catch ones I miss if they’re programmed at Powers’ DOC NYC and Stranger Than Fiction series.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to NYC’s Angelika this Friday, September 9 and to LA on Friday, September 16: WE WERE HERE
THE COCKETTES’ David Weissman and Bill Weber premiered their elegiac and inspiring look at the early days of AIDS at Sundance this year before taking it to Berlin and numerous LGBT film fests.
I profiled the film before its Sundance debut here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Releases, Sundance
After more than 35 years, a man reunites his old friends to recapture their wayward youth as represented by his old 1968 Mustang.
Back in the 1970s, Mike Ondish and his friends tore up the roads in the Catskills, racing other cars, running moonshine, and gleefully evading the authorities at every turn in a real-life Northeastern DUKES OF HAZZARD. Eventually, they put their cars away and settled down to much quieter lives. Now, decades later, Mike is repairing his legendary car, the Demon, to get it back out on the road, reuniting with his friends, and his youth, as a result. Director Christina Eliopoulos, producer George Wieser, and executive producer Josh Levin follow Mike as he commits himself to his new mission.
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
Coming to theatres next Friday, September 9 and on VOD Wednesday, September 14: THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975
Göran Hugo Olsson’s provocative re-presentation of period Swedish footage of Black Power leaders had its premiere earlier this year at Sundance. Sundance Selects picked up the film for select theatrical engagements and VOD beginning next week.
I profiled the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Releases, Sundance
