Category Archives: Recommendations

New to DVD and VOD this week:
BOGALUSA CHARM

Director:
Steve Richardson

Premiere:
Slamdance 2017

Select Festivals:
Bentonville, SF Doc Fest

About:
A portrait of a small Louisiana town known for its charm school.

Bogalusa, Louisiana developed as a company town around the world’s largest sawmill in the 1900s. Today, the paper mill that replaced it accounts for most of the town’s economy. Director Steve Richardson returns to his hometown to craft an understated, even rough-hewn, but revealing portrait in his almost Errol Morris-like slice of small-town Americana. At its core is Miss Dixie, who has run her summertime Smoky Creek Charm School for girls for nearly three decades. Representing the traditional Southern way, the school extols old-fashioned etiquette and gender roles, and is noticeably primarily geared toward nice, white, Christian girls. Other Bogalusa residents speak more candidly about the Southern town’s relationship to race and religion, both historic and present-day, notably Sandy, who owns local restaurant Birdie’s Roadhouse. Though a smaller film, it maintains viewer interest in piecing together its mosaic of provincial Southern life.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, February 12:
FREE SOLO

Directors:
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

Premiere:
Telluride 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, Los Angeles

Notable Recognition:
The documentary has been nominated for the Academy Awards.

About:
The chronicle of a man’s attempt to be the first person to scale a notorious cliff wall without ropes or safety gear.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, February 12:
ANTONIO LOPEZ 1970: SEX FASHION & DISCO

Director:
James Crump

Premiere:
London 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Guadalajara

About:
A portrait of an unheralded figure in the 1970s fashion scene.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, February 12:
THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR FEET

Director:
Jeremy Workman

Premiere:
SXSW 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Denver, IFF Boston, Nashville, RiverRun, Newport Beach, deadCENTER, Heartland, Bergen, Woodstock, Hot Springs Doc

About:
A man explores NYC by walking every single one of its streets.

I previously wrote about the film here.

Coming to PBS’s AfroPoP tonight, Monday, February 11:
WHILE I BREATHE, I HOPE

Director:
Emily Harrold

Premiere:
New Orleans 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hot Springs Doc, Cucalorus, Toronto Black, Oxford,

About:
A portrait of a young African-American politician in the South.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
When he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2005, Bakari Sellers became the youngest African-American elected official in US history. In this candid profile, the charismatic Democrat sets his sights on becoming the state’s lieutenant governor, a role not held by an African American since 1876. Emily Harrold offers an eye-opening look at the legacy of racism in American politics as she follows Sellers through his campaign and beyond, including the tragic shooting at Charleston’s Emanuel AME church.

Coming to PBS this Sunday, February 10 and next Sunday, February 17:
MARGARET: THE REBEL PRINCESS

Director:
Hannah Berryman

Premiere:
BBC (September 2018)

About:
A two-part docuseries exploring the rebellious life of Queen Elizabeth’s younger sister, Princess Margaret.

Popularized for a modern-day audience by the series THE CROWN, Margaret Rose Windsor was a boundary-pushing public figure at a time of great change in Britain. Hannah Berryman’s two-part biography draws from an extensive archive as well as the reflections of close friends and associates, plus appealing animation, to offer an entertaining and illuminating sense of the ever-unpredictable iconoclast who transformed the public’s idea of what a royal should or shouldn’t do. Taking a strictly chronological approach, the first part briefly sketches out Elizabeth’s path to the throne, and the resultant impact on her sister Margaret, who dutifully fulfills royal obligations but eventually attracts media attention for her affair with the older, married Peter Townsend, and later due to her romance with the womanizing commoner Antony Armstrong-Jones. The second part follows the troubled path of that marriage, her sensational trip to America, divorce, and further scandals, as Margaret rides the wave of societal changes that bring more and more scrutiny to the monarchy.