Category Archives: Recommendations

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.

Coming to HBO tonight, Tuesday, May 7 and to theatres this Friday, May 10:
FOSTER

Director:
Mark Jonathan Harris

Premiere:
AFI Docs 2018

About:
An inside look at America’s foster care system.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 3:
DECADE OF FIRE

Directors:
Vivian Vazquez and Gretchen Hildebran

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018

Select Festivals:
Full Frame, Cleveland, Chicago Latino, Harlem, Maryland

About:
A Bronx native revisits the truth behind the boroughs rash of arson in the 1970s.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In the 1970s, the Bronx was on fire. Left unprotected by the city government, nearly a half-million people were displaced as their close-knit, multiethnic neighborhood burned, reducing the community to rubble. While insidious government policies caused the devastation, Black and Latino residents bore the blame. In this story of hope and resistance, Bronx native Vivian Vazquez exposes the truth about the borough’s sordid history and reveals how her embattled and maligned community chose to resist, remain, and rebuild.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 3:
MEETING GORBACHEV

Directors:
Werner Herzog and Andre Singer

Premiere:
Telluride 2018

Select Festivals:
Toronto, CPH:DOX, Tribeca, DocPoint, Dok Leipzig

About:
The German auteur has a meeting of the minds with the legendary final leader of the Soviet Union.

Over the course of six months, Werner Herzog sat down with Mikhail Gorbachev for three surprisingly affectionate meetings to discuss the politician’s history and pivotal role in bringing the Cold War to an end. As may be expected, their discussions are less formal and more idiosyncratic, but nevertheless cover the key points in the fraught relationship between the US and USSR, the struggles within the Soviet politburo, and Gorbachev’s pragmatic reformist approach during a time of geopolitical turmoil. Herzog displays a genuine, and infectious, fondness for the world leader and his diplomacy, particularly in these fractious times.