Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to OVID.tv tomorrow, Friday, August 16:
THE GOLD SPINNERS

Directors:
Kiur Aarma and Hardi Volmer

World Premiere:
Sydney 2014

Select Festivals:
Melbourne, United Nations Association, Message to Man, Monterrey, Vilnius, Cinema Verite

About:
A look back at the only commercial advertising agency in the Soviet Union.

Established in 1967, at the height of the Cold War, the Estonian company Eesti Reklaamfilm had the distinction of being the sole advertising firm for the Soviet Union. Despite operating within a socialist economy that rejected the consumerism of capitalism, the studio was allowed to operate, creating advertisements – often for products that were unavailable or simply didn’t exist. Directors Kiur Aarma and Hardi Volmer tell the story of Eesti Reklaamfilm and its enterprising head, Peedu Ojamaa, smartly incorporating a wide range of archival clips to give the viewer a sense of just how strange and colorful their commercials were. While the storytelling is, on the whole, fairly academic beyond that, with a great deal of narration and talking heads, the subject matter is unusual and fascinating enough to elevate the project.

New to VOD via Netflix this week:
ROLL RED ROLL

Director:
Nancy Schwartzman

Premiere:
Tribeca 2018

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, New Orleans, Hot Docs, Traverse City, Hamptons, Denver, Göteborg, Guanajuato, Globe Docs, Sidewalk, Santa Barbara, Double Exposure, Bend, Tallgrass, Hot Springs Doc, Big Sky Doc, SF Jewish, Human Rights Watch

About:
An exploration of rape and its cover-up in a small town.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to HBO tonight, Wednesday, August 14:
ALTERNATE ENDINGS: SIX NEW WAYS TO DIE IN AMERICA

Directors:
Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill

World Premiere:
Aspen Ideas 2019

About:
An exploration of how Americans are confronting death and celebrating life.

At the beginning of Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill’s film, it’s noted that last year was the first in which cremation was the preferred choice of Americans. With traditional burial-focused funerals losing favor, alternative and unconventional end-of-life choices are on the upswing, as represented in a brief walk through an annual funeral directors convention and a look at a drive-through viewing. While the film maintains a survey approach for its remainder, it’s a more respectful and considered one, putting the spotlight, each in turn, on six alternative ways of recognizing the dead or dying: environmentally-minded memorial reefs and green burials, freedom of autonomy-focused death with dignity/medial aid in dying and living wakes, and unorthodox ways of honoring the wishes of the recently departed, including space burials and celebrations of life – in the latter case, a Batman-themed party for the friends and family of a young boy who died of cancer. The filmmakers offer sensitive profiles in each of these cases, inviting in the audience to experience the love and loss felt by family members – in one case, watching a subject pass on camera. The result is a fitting and affecting tribute to life.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, August 14:
LOS REYES

Directors:
Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff

World Premiere:
IDFA 2018

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Film Comment Selects, DocPoint, Göteborg, Montclair, Biografilm, Miami, Portland

About:
A portrait of two stray dogs living in a Chilean skatepark.

Skateboarding teenagers are not the only regulars in Santiago’s first skate park. The site also is home to Footbol and Chola, two beautiful stray dogs who spend their time running around and fetching balls, soda bottles, and other objects. As filmmakers Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff capture these furry friends on camera, they also eavesdrop on the youth of the park. Revealed through their offscreen voices, the skater kids display the brashness and braggadocio of teenage boys, telling stories of girlfriends, getting high, selling weed, and rebelling against parents and other authorities. Ultimately, however, the canines take center stage, drawing in the audience to their rhythms and companionship while smartly resisting overt anthropomorphism that easily could have turned this bittersweet, exceptionally warm project into a schmaltzy affair.