Recently, the IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project) asked me to blog monthly as part of their “Ask the Expert” series, focusing on film festival strategy. Consider it an occasional supplement to this more broadly focused blog. Check out my introductory post here.
Category Archives: Film
IFP: Film Festival Strategy
Filed under Film, Film Festivals
Stranger Than Fiction: Fall 2010
The duo behind the upcoming DOC NYC, Raphaela Neihausen and Thom Powers (also Toronto International Film Festival’s Documentary Programmer), have unveiled Stranger Than Fiction’s Fall 2010 line-up, beginning with a pre-season sneak peak of Barbara Kopple’s THE HOUSE OF STEINBRENNER on September 20th at the series’ home at the IFC Center.
On a personal note, I’m thrilled that THE CANAL STREET MADAM is part of STF this season, but beyond that, Powers and Neihausen continue to balance recent festival standouts (like fellow SXSW alums MARWENCOL and WAR DON DON) with modern classics like AMERICAN SPLENDOR and MARLENE.
STF is consistently a great series for NYC documentary fans – if you haven’t been yet, take a look (especially on Tuesday, October 19th – we’re planning on distributing our popular promo items!).
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
In Theatres: THE TILLMAN STORY
Opening this Friday, August 20: THE TILLMAN STORY
Premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Amir Bar-Lev’s expose of the US military’s cover-up of the death by friendly fire of professional football player turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman was very well received and scored a distribution deal with The Weinstein Company. Recently, as happened with its fellow Sundance alum A FILM UNFINISHED, the Weinsteins unsuccessfully faced off against the MPAA over an R rating, due in large part over the language in the documentary – the film was originally announced with the title I’M PAT ____ TILLMAN, referring to some of the Tillman family’s propensity for swearing.
Director Bar-Lev has consistently crafted engaging, thought-provoking work, and in THE TILLMAN STORY, he asks the audience to consider how and why we choose our heroes. At its core, the documentary questions not only the propaganda-making of a government at war, but the public’s willingness to buy what the government is selling.
Update: indieWIRE has a review of the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases, Sundance
On DVD: OFF AND RUNNING
Being released on DVD this week: OFF AND RUNNING
Nicole Opper’s intimate documentary follows an African-American teenager, Avery, in what is appropriately described by the film’s subtitle – “An American Coming of Age Story.” Adopted by white Jewish lesbians, who also have two adopted sons, one mixed-race and the other Korean, track star Avery begins to explore her African-American roots, becoming disconnected from her family. Opper gains access to critical moments with both Avery and her family members, crafting a sensitive portrait of adolescence.
Earlier this year, I screened OFF AND RUNNING as part of the LGBT series I curate at The Jacob Burns Film Center, and have also seen the film as part of numerous, diverse festivals – reflecting the universality of its subject matter.
For more information about purchasing the film, visit First Run Features’ website.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
In Theatres: A FILM UNFINISHED
Opening this Wednesday, August 18 in NYC and Friday, August 20 in LA before a national roll-out: A FILM UNFINISHED
Yael Hersonski’s acclaimed documentary had its world premiere in competition at Sundance this year, where it also claimed the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award. Oscilloscope picked up the film for theatrical release, and in the past few weeks generated quite a bit of press when the MPAA slapped an unwarranted R rating on the film due to graphic nudity, a ruling upheld even after a very public appeal.
The rating underscores the MPAA’s myopia, “protecting” younger teen viewers from seeing the horror of the Holocaust, which one could strongly argue they should be witnessing in the service of education and good conscience. Hersonski’s film reveals the story behind a Nazi propaganda film about the Warsaw ghetto which became an important source for Holocaust and Jewish history scholars after WWII. But, as Hersonski demonstrates, more recently discovered reels reveal the carefully orchestrated way the Nazis constructed their “documentary,” filming multiple takes in obviously staged scenes.
A FILM UNFINISHED lays bare this footage, reflecting on the power of the image and the question of documentary truth, while at the same time providing insight into the Third Reich’s propaganda machine.
indieWIRE profiles the film’s director here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases, Sundance
SummerFest: A FIGHTING CHANCE
Today at indieWIRE, SnagFilms hosts the world premiere of A FIGHTING CHANCE, the fifth film in its free online film festival, SummerFest. The film tells the inspirational story of Kyle Maynard, a young man born without forearms and lower legs who decides to compete in mixed martial arts.
Watch the film for free for the next two weeks and read my interview with directors Takashi Doscher & Alex Shofner here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals
On DVD: CRUMB
Being released on DVD by Criterion this week: CRUMB
A portrait of the legendary underground comix artist Robert Crumb, Terry Zwigoff’s film delves into its subject’s artwork and history to reveal completely unexpected terrain – a disturbing upbringing by a schizotypical family which left its mark not only in Crumb’s distinctive artistic predilections for grotesque sexual and even scatological subject matter but most affectingly on his troubled brothers Charles and Maxon.
SF360 recently offered an appreciation for the film, as part of their “Essential SF” series focusing on key films about San Francisco in some way. I was living in SF when I saw CRUMB during its theatrical run in 1995 – one of the first contemporary documentaries that I was exposed to that helped instill a love for and an appreciation for what could be done with the form.
Criterion is also offering, for the first time on DVD, Zwigoff’s LOUIE BLUIE, which I haven’t seen yet (Update: The Documentary Blog has posted a review) – for more information and ordering details check out their website.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
SummerFest: VIDEOCRACY
SnagFilms’ SummerFest continues today with the fourth film in the series, and while I didn’t conduct the indieWIRE interview this week, you should still check it out! VIDEOCRACY premiered at Venice last summer and went on to screen at Toronto and numerous other festivals, showing how Berlusconi’s media empire has captivated the Italian people with celebrity and salaciousness, distracting them from real news and threatening their democratic freedoms.
See the film for free for the next two weeks and read the interview with director Erik Gandini here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals
In the Works: Untitled Asexuality Documentary
A few months back, I helped indieWIRE relaunch its long-running but recently dormant monthly “In Production” column, which spotlighted upcoming films that were currently, well, in production. Together, we took a broader approach for the relaunch of the column, expanded it into a regular weekly column, and renamed it “In the Works”.
I’m always curious about what filmmakers are working on, so in addition to tweeting about iW‘s column, I’ll occasionally spotlight some of these types of projects here as well.
Filed under Documentary, Film, In the Works
On DVD: SWEETGRASS
Being released on DVD this week: SWEETGRASS
Having screened at Berlin, New York, AFI Fest, CPH:DOX, and elsewhere, Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s evocative documentary is a mesmerizing film that bears repeat viewings. The film follows cowboys as they bring their flocks of sheep into the Beartooth Mountains of Montana for the last time.
It’s as simple as that – man and creature against the stunning backdrop of nature. The viewer immediately adapts to the film’s natural pace and gets swept up in its imagery and its indelible sense of place, as it evokes the myth of the cowboy, the West, and the frontier.
Information on purchasing the film is available on Cinema Guild’s website. It should also be available on demand or instant Netflix.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
