Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, July 20:
WE ARE THE RADICAL MONARCHS

Director:
Linda Goldstein Knowlton

World Premiere:
SXSW 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nantucket, San Francisco, Seattle, Traverse City, AFI Docs, Frameline, Inside Out, Outfest Fusion, IFF Boston, Bentonville, March on Washington, Cine Latino, Virginia, Milwaukee, Hawaii, Palm Springs, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Athena

About:
A portrait of a group of young girls of color on the front lines of social justice.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Finding that traditional youth organizations aren’t directly focusing on the issues facing young girls of color, two moms, Anyavette Martinez and Marilyn Hollinquest, begin their own troop, the Radical Monarchs. Based in Oakland, a city with a long history of social justice movements, this progressive group is more likely to participate in protest marches than in bake sales. This inspiring film follows the founders as they try to expand the organization while contending with the country’s growing political divides.

New to DVD this week:
SACRED WATER

Director:
Olivier Jourdain

World Premiere:
DOK Leipzig

Select Festivals:
IDFA, Thessaloniki Doc, Docs Against Gravity, Docpoint, Docville, Margaret Mead, BelDocs, DOXA, Moscow Doc, Ischia, Zanzibar

About:
An exploration of female sexual pleasure in Rwanda.

As recounted in Olivier Jourdain’s light but enjoyable film, there is a well-known legend that explains the apparent widespread phenomenon of female ejaculation in Rwandan society. While her husband was at war, an ancient queen found unexpected sexual release with a servant, producing enough sacred water to fill Lake Kivu, one of the African Great Lakes. Since then, the story goes, Rwandan women have been encouraged to find their own water, for both their own sexual pleasure and to keep their men happy – not surprisingly, the focus here is exclusively on heterosexual couplings. Providing an insider’s perspective is popular radio host and sexual health educator Vestine Dusabe, who discusses in frank terms the importance of female sexual pleasure and awareness of their own bodies, both through her regular broadcasts and visits to schools and communities, but she is but one of several figures who populate the film, from doctors providing remedies for “dried up” water to ordinary Rwandans speaking openly about sex while swimming. The result is a look at a refreshingly open approach to sex education that foregrounds the pleasure for both women and men, unconnected to reproduction, religion, or shame.

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, July 17:
BLESSED CHILD

Director:
Cara Jones

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2019

About:
An inside look at life in a controversial religious movement.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
This intimate film revisits director Cara Jones’ upbringing within the Unification Church of Reverend Sun Myung Moon – commonly known as the Moonies – where her parents are high-ranking members. Home videos reveal never-before-seen footage of the inner workings of the controversial movement, considered a cult by some. After Jones separates from the church, she must come to terms with the shift in her relationship with her parents and with the impact of this unusual background on her family.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 14:
IN BRIGHT AXIOM

Director:
Spencer McCall

World Premiere:
San Francisco DocFest 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Covellite, Rhode Island

About:
An exploration of the work of a secretive group of artists who design transformative experiences.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Welcome to the House of Latitude, where absolute discretion is demanded in exchange for entry into a mysterious social experiment in the form of an elaborate immersive experience. Drawing a community of curiosity seekers, this secret society becomes a way of life for some, putting increasing pressure on the organizers to maintain this sophisticated and fantastical parallel world. Filmmaker Spencer McCall weaves an intriguing cautionary tale about the unforeseen consequences of embracing the unknown.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14:
DON’T BE NICE

Director:
Max Powers

World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2018

Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Palm Springs, Urbanworld, Bushwick, Black Harvest, Brisbane, Guelph, Vail

About:
The Bowery Slam Poetry Team prepares for the national championships.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14:
DECADE OF FIRE

Directors:
Vivian Vazquez and Gretchen Hildebran

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018

Select Festivals:
Full Frame, Cleveland, Chicago Latino, Harlem, Maryland

About:
A Bronx native revisits the truth behind the boroughs rash of arson in the 1970s.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to VOD via Vimeo on Demand this week:
FEELINGS ARE FACTS: THE LIFE OF YVONNE RAINER

Director:
Jack Walsh

World Premiere:
Berlin 2015

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Rio, Dance on Camera, Calgary Underground, San Francisco Dance, Sebastopol Doc, Frameline, LGBT fests in London, Boston, Portland, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Copenhagen, Milwaukee, Hamburg, Bologna, Sao Paulo, Sydney

About:
An expansive look at the life and work of Yvonne Rainer.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
A long-overdue portrait of an iconoclastic performer, Jack Walsh’s film profiles the incomparable Yvonne Rainer. In the 1960s, within a scant few years as a dancer and choreographer, she radically changed the art form through her influential work at the Judson Dance Theater. When she shifted to film in the 1970s, she continued to innovate, creating avant-garde work from an unapologetically feminist viewpoint. Still vital and creating new boundary-pushing choreography at the age of 80, Rainer continues to inspire.

New to DVD this week:
SEAHORSE: THE DAD WHO GAVE BIRTH

Director:
Jeanie Finlay

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2019

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Sheffield, Chicago, Göteborg, St Louis, Bergen, DocPoint, Hot Springs Doc, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Nashville

About:
An intimate portrait of a transgender man’s pregnancy.

Over the course of three years, filmmaker Jeanie Finlay follows Freddy, a gay transgender man, as he makes the decision to stop taking testosterone in order to become pregnant and fulfill his dream of becoming a father. In this way, he will be like the titular marine life, in which the male of the species gives birth. While Freddy sees pregnancy as a pragmatic decision – using his biology to achieve a goal that otherwise might be hard to achieve – it has unexpected consequences, for himself and others around him. As his body begins to change, Freddy confronts complex questions around gender, maleness, parenthood, and identity. Finlay takes an appropriately delicate, though sometimes too leisurely, approach, but it yields affecting results. That said, the film’s subtitle is off-putting. A recent addition, it helps set the viewer’s expectations more clearly than the original more poetic, standalone title, but it also lends the doc an unfortunate air of tabloid sensationalism that thankfully does not actually materialize within it. Beyond that, the subtitle’s use of “the dad” suggests that McConnell is the sole trans man who has decided to become pregnant, and that’s far from the case – this isn’t even the only documentary about the subject. While this might seem like a minor quibble, the subtitle – likely a fairly innocent marketing decision – unintentionally serves to further other McConnell, even if Finlay’s film itself is clearly sympathetic and supportive.