Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to theatres tonight, Monday, June 17 and this Wednesday, June 19 only:
EMANUEL

Director:
Brian Ivie

World Premiere:
Bentonville 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC

About:
The aftermath of the church shooting in Charleston.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
On June 17, 2015, national headlines blazed the story: Churchgoers gunned down during prayer service in Charleston, South Carolina. After a 21-year-old white supremacist opened fire in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, nine African Americans lay dead, leaving their families and the nation to grapple with this senseless act of terror. Featuring intimate interviews with survivors and family members, Brian Ivie tells a poignant story of justice and faith, love, and hate, examining the healing power of forgiveness.

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, June 17:
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 theatres today, Friday, June 14:
5B

Directors:
Dan Krauss and Paul Haggis

World Premiere:
SFFILM Doc Stories 2018

Select Festivals:
Cannes

About:
At the dawn of the AIDS crisis, nurses and caregivers defied fear and stigma to establish the world’s first AIDS hospital ward.

Part of a growing body of retrospective work that looks back at the early years of the AIDS crisis, a time of criminal federal neglect, irrational fear, and heartbreaking loss, Dan Krauss and Paul Haggis’ doc focuses on one of the epicenters of the crisis, San Francisco, and the work of medical caregivers beginning in the early 1980s. Drawing from archival footage and the testimony of nurses, doctors, volunteers, and, sometimes surprisingly, survivors, this fairly conventional but nevertheless impactful film details the pioneering efforts of a small group of San Francisco General Hospital healthcare workers to set up ward 5B, the first ward exclusively devoted to patients with AIDS. While many in the medical community at the time before HIV was identified as the cause of the disease – including critics within the very same hospital – debated the safety of treating patients with AIDS without the extreme precautions of head-to-toe hazmat suits, the nurses and volunteers of 5B refused to bow to fear, and actually pushed past standard protocols of clinical detachment to insist on caring, human contact. Contrasting their approach with the hateful, fearmongering statements of figures like Dr Lorraine Day, a chief of surgery who remains wholly unsympathetic and unrepentant to this day, the film demonstrates the deep impact this kind of compassionate care had on patients who, for too long, knew that AIDS was a death sentence, and the lasting influence 5B had on other hospitals around the country.

New to Amazon Prime Video this week:
12TH AND CLAIRMOUNT

Director:
Brian Kaufman

World Premiere:
Freep 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Traverse City

About:
A look back at the Detroit uprising of 1967.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
In 1967, Detroit’s mostly white police department was known for its harsh treatment of black citizens. When police raided an after hours party at the intersection of 12th Street and Clairmount, the streets erupted in what’s been called a riot by some, a rebellion by others. It lasted five days and left 43 dead. This compelling documentary uses more than 400 reels of home movies, archival footage, illustrations, and new oral histories to explore what happened from multiple viewpoints.

Coming to PBS’s American Masters tomorrow, Friday, June 14:
EVERY ACT OF LIFE

Director:
Jeff Kaufman

Premiere:
Tribeca 2018

Select Festivals:
Seattle, Tel Aviv, Nashville, Provincetown, Inside Out, Frameline, Outfest, LGBT fests in Miami, Portland, San Diego, Hartford, Vancouver, and Austin

About:
A look at the life and work of acclaimed playwright Terrence McNally.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Returning to DVD this week:
THE MAN WHO DROVE WITH MANDELA

Director:
Greta Schiller

World Premiere:
Edinburgh 1998

Select Festivals:
Berlin, NewFest, Outfest, Frameline, London

About:
The story of a long-overlooked figure in the struggle against apartheid.

I wrote about the doc for NewFest’s program in 1999, saying:
In 1962, Nelson Mandela traveled incognito across South Africa organizing rebellion against the apartheid regime. Driving an Austin Westminster, the man known as “The Black Pimpernel” posed as the chauffeur of a distinguished and well-dressed white man. The man who drove with Mandela was Cecil Williams – Johannesburg theatre director, committed freedom fighter, and gay man. In this engaging documentary, acclaimed filmmaker Greta Schiller recounts the life of Williams and his work in South Africa’s struggle for liberation. Williams, a gentleman and a communist, was a prominent member of Johannesburg society and known to entertain such dignitaries as Sir Lawrence Olivier. Interviews with friends and family, rare home movies of gay life in ’50s South Africa, and dramatic recreations of Williams’ own writings (performed eloquently by actor Corin Redgrave) are all used to construct a fascinating portrait of a man who shuttled between two subcultures – the hidden world of homosexuals and the secret world of anti-apartheid communists.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 11:
CONSTRUCTING ALBERT

Directors:
Laura Collado and Jim Loomis

Premiere:
San Sebastian 2017

Select Festivals:
SXSW, Hot Docs, Seattle, BAFICI, Palm Springs, Guadalajara, DocPoint, Napa Valley, Newport Beach

About:
After the legendary success of elBulli, chef Albert Adria pursues his follow-ups.

I previously wrote about the doc here.