Category Archives: Recommendations

New to DVD this week:
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.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, May 13:
HARVEST SEASON

Director:
Bernardo Ruiz

Premiere:
Mill Valley 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Full Frame, Freep, San Diego Latino, Riverrun, Newport Beach, Sebastopol Doc, Cine Las Americas, Minneapolis-St Paul, Kansas City, Houston Latino, Washington DC Environmental

About:
A profile of the unheralded Latinx individuals involved in all facets of California wine production.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Lush and luxurious, California’s Napa and Sonoma Valleys are known for their top-notch wine making. The unsung heroes of the industry are the Latinx vineyard workers and small producers, who lovingly oversee all aspects of the wine-making process, from vine to vintage. Unfolding over the course of one of the most dramatic harvests in history, Bernardo Ruiz’s film follows three people whose lives are rooted in wine making, immersing the audience in the challenging and unpredictable process.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 10:
THE SERENGETI RULES

Director:
Nicholas Brown

Premiere:
Tribeca 2018

Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Hamptons, Jackson Hole, Bergen, Maui, Vancouver, Global Peace,

About:
Scientists explore the impact of keystone species on ecosystems.

In 1969, zoologist Bob Paine developed a pioneering ecological theory that posited that within different ecosystems, certain species played a critical role in maintaining the whole. If these keystone species – in Paine’s research, starfish – were removed from the habitat, there would be a drastic, and typically detrimental, domino effect on other organisms. In some cases, these keystone species are apex predators, those at the top of the food chain, with no natural predators. Nicholas Brown’s film, which is framed around interviews and narration with Paine at the end of his life, profiles several other scientists and their work with the concept of keystone species in diverse settings, from the impact of whaling on otters, kelp, and fish to wildebeest in the Serengeti. While the production is a bit over the top at times, it benefits, unlike many other traditionally doom-and-gloom environmentally-themed projects, by the hopeful message that reintroducing keystone species within downgraded ecosystems can reverse the damage.