Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to theatres this Friday, March 15:
THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES

Director:
Mark Cousins

Premiere:
Cannes 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Karlovy Vary, Antenna Doc, Haifa, Taipei Golden Horse, Morelia, Dokufest, Melbourne, Biografilm

About:
A new perspective on the creativity of iconic filmmaker Orson Welles.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Esteemed film historian Mark Cousins (THE STORY OF FILM) takes a novel approach to Orson Welles by studying the legendary filmmaker’s paintings, drawings, and doodles. Granted exclusive access to Welles’ private artwork, Cousins presents an unorthodox portrait, and one informed by the documentarian’s signature personal essayistic approach. Critic Todd McCarthy writes, “Freshly conceived, mordantly whimsical, light on its feet and fleet of mind, THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES rightly makes no extensive claims for Welles’ drawing and painting skills, but positions them honestly as one heretofore overlooked aspect of the man’s polymorphously abundant talent.”

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12:
OVER THE LIMIT

Director:
Marta Prus

Premiere:
IDFA 2017

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Moscow Doc, Visions du Reél, DOK.fest Munich, DocsBarcelona, Zagreb Dox, Krakow, Docpoint, Göteborg, Thessaloniki Doc, One World, Ambulante

About:
A brutally candid look at a rhythmic gymnast’s Olympic training.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD and VOD tomorrow, Friday, March 8:
TIME FOR ILHAN

Director:
Norah Shapiro

Premiere:
Tribeca 2018

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Mountainfilm, Provincetown, Traverse City, Global Peace, Hamptons, Mill Valley, GlobeDocs, United Nations Association, Hot Springs Doc, Milwaukee

About:
The story of Muslim Somali immigrant Ilhan Omar’s 2016 campaign for the Minnesota State Legislature.

Norah Shapiro’s campaign doc is being released at time when Omar is in the news for controversial statements made about America’s relationship to Israel. This project, of course, details an earlier time in her political career – not much earlier, as she only entered politics with the 2016 campaign chronicled here, when the community organizer decided to run against Phyllis Kahn for the Minnesota House of Representatives, an incumbent in office for more than four decades. Despite sexism within her Somali-American Muslim community, the growing tenor of Islamophobia around the country, and practical concerns about caring for her own family of three young children, Omar takes the plunge into politics, seizing the opportunity to bring the voice of her community into a sphere that has long felt exclusionary. While following the tried and tested conventions of campaign doc storytelling, including a late-developing scandal that threatens to undermine Omar’s efforts and underscores the prejudices she faces, Shapiro excels in capturing her subject’s charisma and determination, and the hopeful and inspiring message of bringing previously unheard voices into the political process.