Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to VOD via OVID.tv today, Friday, August 9:
EL VELADOR

Director:
Natalia Almada

World Premiere:
New Directors/New Films 2011

Select Festivals:
Cannes, Silverdocs, FIDM, Jihlava, IDFA

About:
A meditation on life and death in Mexico.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to VOD this week:
RISKING LIGHT

Director:
Dawn Mikkelson

World Premiere:
Cinequest 2018

Select Festivals:
Melbourne, Cleveland, Minneapolis-St Paul

About:
Three stories explore resilience and forgiveness.

Director Dawn Mikkelson’s film interweaves three unrelated but thematically linked stories of injustice, grief, anger, and, ultimately, redemption. The strongest and most impactful of the three involves Mary, whose 21-year-old son Laramium was killed in 1993 by 16-year-old O’Shea. Years later, Mary lets go of years of anger and forges an unexpected bond with O’Shea as part of a restorative justice program, helping to heal both. The other threads in Mikkelson’s project involve Debra, the daughter of a mixed Aboriginal and white Australian couple, who was forcibly place by federal assimilationist policy into an abusive foster care system; and Kilong, a victim of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge who escaped from slave labor to become a refugee in the US, where he suffered from PTSD. While the latter two strands are not quite as well-developed as Mary’s, there’s certainly cumulative power in the film’s hopeful message, making this an imperfect but worthwhile project.

Coming DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, August 6:
AMAZING GRACE

Realized and Produced by:
Alan Elliott

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018

Select Festivals:
Berlin, SXSW, True/False, AFI Fest, Full Frame, Pan African

About:
A landmark Aretha Franklin music concert film is released over forty years after it was filmed.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s American Experience and to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 6:
WOODSTOCK: THREE DAYS THAT DEFINED A GENERATION

Director:
Barak Goodman

Premiere:
Tribeca 2019

Select Festivals:
Seattle, DocLands

About:
An immersive reflection on how organizers defied the odds to stage the seminal music event.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to Starz tonight, Monday, August 5:
THE KLEPTOCRATS

Directors:
Havana Marking and Sam Hobkinson

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018

Select Festival:
CPH:DOX, Docville, Sydney, Cleveland, Docs Against Gravity, Sonoma

About:
An investigation into an audacious financial scandal.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, August 5:
THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS

Director:
Simon Lereng Wilmont

Premiere:
IDFA 2017

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, San Francisco, Reyjkavik, Göteborg, Hong Kong, DOK.fest Munich, Docaviv, It’s All True, Docs Against Gravity, Docpoint, !f Istanbul, Vilnius

Notable Recognition:
The doc was shortlisted for the Academy Awards.

About:
A pre-teen boy lives near the border of the Ukraine/Russian war.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD today, Friday, August 2:
FOR THE BIRDS

Director:
Richard Miron

Premiere:
Sheffield 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, New Orleans, Hamptons, Thessaloniki Doc, AFI Docs, DocPoint, Antenna Doc, Cork, Austin, Planet in Focus, Woodstock

About:
An obsessive bird lover struggles to properly care for her flock.

I previously wrote about the doc here.