Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction as a pre-Spring Season special screening this Monday, March 28: THE PIPE
After its premiere at Toronto last September, I offered brief thoughts on Risteard Ó Domhnaill’s doc on the impact of a natural gas pipeline on a small Irish village here.
Note: There will be a Q&A with director Risteard Ó Domhnaill & producer Rachel Lysaght after the screening.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
San Francisco Bay Area filmmaker Max Good (assistant producer, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS) takes a distinctly different look at street art in his feature documentary directorial debut, focusing on anti-graffiti activists.
In VIGILANTE VIGILANTE, Good and producer Nate Wollman track down four men who have made it their missions to clean up their cities from graffiti in its various forms – artwork, tags, stickers, and posters – usually by painting over it. As a result, they’ve started to become condemned not only by graffiti artists whose work they destroy, but also by authorities and other critics who note that the anti-graffiti vigilantes are themselves engaging in the same behavior of their sworn nemeses. In 2008, Good noticed a particular back-and-forth battle being waged between one subject, known as “the Silver Buff” or “Buffman” (“buffing” is the term used to describe removing or painting over the street art), and graffiti artists in Berkeley and set out to get the story.
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
The 40th edition of New Directors/New Films, a co-presentation of the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, begins this Wednesday, March 23 and runs through Sunday, April 3.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
This semester, I have been teaching an undergraduate course at Pratt which culminates in the 3rd annual Wallabout Film Festival, a student-run student film festival that will take place on Wednesday, April 20 at the landmark BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn. The event should be an interesting bit of counterprogramming to a certain larger Manhattan-based festival that launches the same night…
Technically the submission deadline is today, but for readers of my blog (and anyone to whom you spread the word, which I strongly encourage), I can extend the deadline until the end of this week, Friday, March 25. My students would love to take a look at US or international short films of any genre, 10 minutes or less, provided they are made by students (current or within one year of graduation). Submission is free! For more information on submitting, click here.
Filed under Film, Film Festivals, Submission Deadlines
In this second of two post-SXSW entries, I’m offering some thoughts on docs that screened outside of the main competition, including the Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, 24 Beats Per Second, and SX Global sections. Take a look at part one, on the eight competition titles, here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief
Coming to theatres, beginning with an exclusive one-week engagement at NYC’s IFC Center on Wednesday, March 23: MY PERESTROIKA
Director Robin Hessman’s feature documentary debut had its world premiere in competition at last year’s Sundance, and has been blazing through more than thirty festivals ever since, including New Directors/New Films, Hot Docs, Doha Tribeca, Sheffield, and Silverdocs and Full Frame, claiming awards at the last two. It’s now on the brink of its US theatrical premiere, with screenings scheduled in nearly a dozen locations through the beginning of the summer.
Having spent most of the 1990s living in Russia, Hessman brings a personal touch to this intimate portrait of a generation of Russians – the last generation to grow up behind the Iron Curtain. She spent five years crafting MY PERESTROIKA, finding her participants, shooting new interviews, and going through a wealth of archival footage – from Soviet propaganda to personal home movies of her five subjects, former classmates who now make up the new middle-class in Russian society, undreamt of in their childhood. By focusing her camera on the stories of ordinary people, Hessman gains extraordinary insight into the hopes and dreams, disappointments and disillusionment of the modern Russian.
Note: Hessman will be in attendance for the March 23 opening screening, and for selected shows through the weekend at the IFC Center.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
I’m back from Austin TX and another year of SXSW film, which actually continues through this Saturday night. Awards were announced on Tuesday evening, with DRAGONSLAYER (pictured) being the big doc winner with two nods. Other non-fiction features recognized included KUMARÉ, WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM, THE CITY DARK, BECOMING SANTA, and INCENDIARY: THE WILLINGHAM CASE. For a full list of winners, check out indieWIRE‘s coverage here.
As I’ve done in the past after attending other festivals, I’ll offer some brief reactions to docs which screened at SXSW – I managed to view many of the titles I was most anticipating which I wrote about in my pre-fest overview. This post will cover all eight of the world premieres in the Documentary Competition, while tomorrow’s will focus on a selection of offerings from other sections.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief
For many attendees of SXSW film, Austin is slowly receding as we make our way back to reality following the awards on Tuesday night, despite films continuing through Saturday. If you weren’t able to make it to Austin, or already miss SXSW’s eclectic programming, take a look at my second round of flashbacks from past editions for indieWIRE via Hulu. View all of these docs for free now!
For more information about the selections, see my iW article.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Indiewire @ Hulu Docs, Recommendations
Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, whose documentary feature debut about female adolescence, GOING ON 13, premiered at Tribeca, continues to focus on “girl power” by exploring female superheroes, and perhaps their most famous representative, Wonder Woman, in her new feature documentary.
Through an exploration of the seventy year history of DC Comics’ Amazon princess and other heroines, THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE AS TOLD BY WONDER WOMAN explores how our culture navigates female identity and empowerment, and the need for powerful, non-sexualized examples of women role models. The twists and turns of the character’s history and representation serves as a case study of modern women’s experiences. Featuring commentary from Lynda Carter, who played the character in the 1970s TV series; Lindsay Wagner, known for another popular female TV hero, THE BIONIC WOMAN; feminist activist Shelby Knox; comic book creators; and more, the film aims to provide a rounded view of women’s place in not only the superhero landscape but in pop culture in general.
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
Coming to DVD next Tuesday, March 22: THE WINDMILL MOVIE
A film more than twenty-five years in the making, THE WINDMILL MOVIE began as an autobiographical project by filmmaker Richard P Rogers, but was left unfinished upon his death in 2001. His former student, photographer Alexander Olch, was brought on to construct a film out of Rogers footage, and the result, his feature debut, had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival in 2008 before going on to a theatrical run at Film Forum in the summer of 2009.
Given this background, THE WINDMILL MOVIE is nothing if not unusual – an autobiographical documentary created by someone else, using a hybrid of fiction and non-fiction to tell Rogers’ story – that of a skilled filmmaker who was nonetheless tortured by unfulfilled success, who carefully documented his life yet still managed to stop short of truly revealing himself. With the help of Rogers’ wife, photographer Susan Meiselas, Olch skillfully found a way to shape the hundreds of hours of footage into an intriguing, poignant, and evocative portrait – one that Rogers might frustratingly have been unable to create, but likely would have approved of. At the same time, the film offers a metacommentary into the construction of fact vs fiction, making it essential viewing for other documentary filmmakers.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
