Category Archives: Recommendations

New to VOD this week:
GRIT

Directors:
Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander

World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Full Frame, Hamptons, Big Sky Doc, Bergen, One World, Mill Valley, GlobeDocs, Hawaii, Movies That Matter, Ashland, Doc Edge, Salem, Atlanta, Environmental fests in Washington DC, Princeton, and Yale

About:
In East Java, Indonesia, a mother and daughter battle a corporation over a man-made catastrophe.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD this Friday, May 22:
ANBESSA

Director:
Mo Scarpelli

World Premiere:
Berlin 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Hot Docs, Thessaloniki Doc, Durban, Mountainfilm, RiverRun, Maryland, Woods Hole, Cleveland, Cucalorus, Washington DC Enviro, San Francisco DocFest

About:
A young Ethiopian boy turns to his imagination to reckon with the urbanization of his home.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to virtual theatrical this Friday, May 22:
THE GHOST OF PETER SELLERS

Director:
Peter Medak

World Premiere:
Venice 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Telluride, Raindance, Oldenburg, Gent, Sao Paulo

About:
A revisitation of the director’s experience making an ill-fated 1970s Peter Sellers comedy.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In 1973, director-on-the-rise Peter Medak nabbed notoriously difficult comic genius and box-office star Peter Sellers for his new pirate comedy, GHOST IN THE NOONDAY SUN. Outrageously, Sellers immediately began sabotaging the film. While the actual behind-the-scenes shenanigans were often funnier and more bizarre than the film itself, the filmmaking was an excruciating experience that threatened the sanity and career of its director. Medak revisits the ill-fated production to exorcise his demons in this tragicomic documentary.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, May 19:
THE GENE: AN INTIMATE HISTORY

Directors:
Chris Durrance and Jack Youngelson

World Premiere:
PBS broadcast (April 2020)

About:
A far-ranging history of the discovery and research into the human genome.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19:
THE COMPETITION (LE CONCOURS)

Director:
Claire Simon

Premiere:
Venice 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, True/False, CPH:DOX, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, London, Göteborg, Taipei

About:
An inside look at a French film school and its next generation of hopeful filmmakers.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19:
THE RAFT

Director:
Marcus Lindeen

World Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2018

Select Festivals:
IDFA, London, Melbourne, Chicago, Doclisboa, Sao Paulo, Bergen, Antenna Doc, Dokufest, Haifa, Zurich, Athens, RiverRun

About:
A look back at an unusual social experiment from 1973.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to VOD:
REPEAT ATTENDERS

Director:
Mark Dooley

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017

Select Festivals:
DocEdge

About:
A look at the lives and obsessions of musical superfans.

The film previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
In London, Sally has spent £40,000 watching LES MISERABLES every two weeks for much of her life. German Gudrun regularly cosplays as her favorite STARLIGHT EXPRESS character. In California, Christine has assembled the largest collection of CATS memorabilia in the world. For these superfans, musical theater is an obsession, a refuge, and a place where they belong. They’ve spent years in the audience, and now Mark Dooley’s affectionate profile finally puts them in the spotlight.

Coming to virtual theatrical today, Friday, May 15:
ANBESSA

Director:
Mo Scarpelli

World Premiere:
Berlin 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Hot Docs, Thessaloniki Doc, Durban, Mountainfilm, RiverRun, Maryland, Woods Hole, Cleveland, Cucalorus, Washington DC Enviro, San Francisco DocFest

About:
A young Ethiopian boy turns to his imagination to reckon with the urbanization of his home.

The film previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Mo Scarpelli’s creative documentary focuses on a lonely, imaginative Ethiopian boy named Asalif. Displaced by condo developments, Asalif and his mother struggle to make ends meet. With sweeping camera work and light-filled frames, the film gently probes the young boy’s interior world as he processes isolation and displacement. Creating an alternative identity as a ferocious lion – the meaning of the film’s title – Asalif learns to survive. Pushing the boundaries of standard nonfiction form, Mo Scarpelli’s portrait is a testament to resiliency.

New to MUBI this week:
TRANSNISTRA

Director:
Anna Eborn

World Premiere:
Rotterdam 2019

Select Festivals:
London, Gotëborg, CPH:DOX, Docaviv, Jihlava, Docs Against Gravity, Visions du Réel, Tempo Doc, Reykjavik, Busan, Yamagata, Sarajevo, Guanajuato, Cork

About:
A portrait of youth living in the unrecognized nation of Transnistria.

Officially considered part of Moldova and located on the border of Ukraine, Transnistria has been a breakaway state since 1990, internationally unrecognized but functioning with its own constitution, government, law enforcement, and currency. Filmmaker Anna Eborn provides a glimpse into life here, following a group of teenage friends. At the center is the sole female, Tanya, with several boys vying for her attention or affection. As they are followed over the course of a year, languidly captured by Eborn in a strikingly cinematic manner, they behave much like teens anywhere in the world – but time and again, the film offers reminders of the setting, subtly highlighting how much of the Soviet era remains within Transnistrian society.