Category Archives: Film

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, April 1:
WATERMAN

Director:
Isaac Halasima

World Premiere:
Hawaii 2021

About:
A portrait of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, the trailblazing father of modern-day surfing and five-time Olympic medalist.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, April 1:
BABI YAR. CONTEXT

Director:
Sergei Loznitsa

World Premiere:
Cannes 2021

Select Festivals:
Karlovy Vary, BFI London, Jerusalem, Melbourne, Chicago, Stockholm

About:
A reconstruction of the massacre of more than 30,000 Jews by Nazi troops and Ukrainian police in September 1941.

New to OVID this week:
LOURDES

Director:
Alban Teurlai, Thierry Demaiziere

World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2019

Select Festivals:
Docville, Hof

About:
A portrait of the French pilgrimage site.

Coming to OVID today, Wednesday, March 30:
INTO THE NIGHT: PORTRAITS OF LIFE AND DEATH

Director:
Helen Whitney

Premiere:
FilmColumbia 2017

Select Festivals:
Austin, Hamptons Take 2 Docs

About:
Nine diverse perspectives on dying, death, and the afterlife.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, March 29:
NORTH BY CURRENT

Director:
Angelo Madsen Minax

World Premiere:
Berlin 2021

Select Festivals:
Tribeca, Sheffield, Krakow, Melbourne, AFI Docs, Camden, Frameline, Outfest, Sidewalk, Freep, Doclisboa, Montclair

About:
In this personal essay about motherhood, grieving, and transgender masculinity, the unexplained death of his niece leads the director back to his family.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 29:
WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA

Director:
Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler

World Premiere:
SXSW 2021

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, AFI Fest, Seattle, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Woodstock

About:
ACLU lawyer Jeffery Robinson’s shattering talk on the history of US anti-Black racism is interwoven with archival footage, interviews, and Robinson’s story, exploring the legacy of white supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it. 

Coming to SundanceNOW today, Monday, March 28:
SINCE I BEEN DOWN

Director:
Gilda Sheppard

World Premiere:
Cleveland 2020

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Big Sky, Freep, Sebastopol Doc, Portland, Thin Line, Montreal Black

About:
Despite serving life without parole, a man works to improve others’ lives. 

The doc previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Kimonti Carter is serving life without parole in a Washington state prison based on a harsh 1990s three-strikes law, but rather than accept this condemnation, he has worked to transform inmates’ lives through education. His experience brilliantly elucidates the dehumanization and trauma that accompany incarceration, but also demonstrates the possibility of redemption even among those society has called irredeemable. Gilda Sheppard’s profound and revealing film represents a 12-year journey to investigate the circumstances and inequities that have landed a whole generation of African-American youth in prison.