Festival:
The 18th Documentary Fortnight
Dates:
February 21-28
About:
MoMA’s annual nonfiction showcase has slimmed down a bit this year, with just 17 new and recent features in the lineup. Continue reading
Category Archives: Recommendations
Documentary Fortnight 2019 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On TV/DVD: SAMMY DAVIS JR: I’VE GOTTA BE ME
SAMMY DAVIS, JR: I’VE GOTTA BE ME
SAMMY DAVIS JR: I’VE GOTTA BE ME
Director:
Sam Pollard
Premiere:
Toronto 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, AFI Fest, Chicago, Philadelphia, Woodstock, New York Jewish, RiverRun, St Louis,
About:
A star-studded roster of interviewees pay tribute to the legendary, multi-talented song-and-dance man.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Special Screening: ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: COMPANY & ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: CO-OP
Coming to NYC’s Pure Nonfiction screening series tomorrow, Tuesday, February 19:
ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: COMPANY & ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: CO-OP
Director:
DA Pennebaker (COMPANY), Alex Buono (CO-OP)
Premiere:
New York Film Festival 1970 (COMPANY), DOC NYC 2018 (CO-OP)
About:
A one-of-a-kind presentation of Pennebaker’s classic behind-the-scenes Broadway chronicle and the loving DOCUMENTARY NOW! send-up episode it inspired.
As explained in its opening card, Pennebaker was approached to film the album recording as a pilot for an intended television series, but the larger project never took off after the lead producers left NYC to head MGM in Hollywood. What remains is this compelling hour-long film, one of Pennebaker’s most enjoyable projects. The Direct Cinema master films the marathon 14-hour recording session with the COMPANY cast, plus a notable pick up shot a few days later, distilling it into a compelling exploration of artists performing under intense pressure. Recorded just after COMPANY debuted on Broadway, the cast gamely belts out their songs as the session wears on, taking direction from the cocky young Sondheim and producer Thomas Shepard. It all culminates in the dramatic final scene, the recording of the final song, Elaine Stritch’s solo “The Ladies Who Lunch,” which doesn’t go according to plan despite take after take.
As part of its new season, IFC’s Emmy-nominated series DOCUMENTARY NOW! pays loving tribute to Pennebaker’s classic, reimagining Sondheim’s COMPANY as a decidedly less-successful show called CO-OP. In the episode, producers Benedict Juniper (Taran Killam), Simon Sawyer (John Mulaney), and Howard Pine (James Urbaniak) oversee the cast album recording of the ill-fated musical CO-OP, featuring Kenny (Alex Brightman), the star of the show; Larry (Richard Kind), the out-of-breath doorman; Patty (Paula Pell), who has to go to the eye doctor; and Dee Dee (Renee Elise Goldsberry), a tennis coach who dreams of living in the building.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
On TV: MINDING THE GAP
Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, February 18:
MINDING THE GAP
Director:
Bing Liu
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Sheffield, CPH:DOX, DOXA, AFI Docs, Full Frame, Biografilm, Doc 10, Big Sky Doc, San Francisco, Cleveland, Freep, BAMcinemaFest, Sun Valley, San Diego Asian, LA Asian Pacific, CAAMFest, RiverRun, Newport Beach, Docs Against Gravity, Nashville, Guanajuato, Traverse City, Dokufest
Notable Recognition:
The documentary has been nominated for the Academy Awards.
About:
Friends from volatile homes, bonded over their love of skateboarding, face the responsibilities and complexities that come with adulthood.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On VOD: LORENA
LORENA | Courtesy of Sundance Institute
LORENA
Director:
Joshua Rofé
Premiere:
Sundance 2019
About:
An exploration of the notorious case of Lorena and John Wayne Bobbitt
I profiled the doc series before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Big Sky Documentary 2019 Overview
Festival:
The 16th Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
Dates:
February 15-24
About:
Nearly 60 new or recent doc features screen as part of Montana’s largest film event. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On DVD/VOD: AMONG WOLVES
New to DVD and VOD this week:
AMONG WOLVES
Director:
Shawn Convey
Premiere:
Chicago 2016
Select Festivals:
Big Sky Doc, Sebastopol Doc, St Louis, Anchorage, RiverRun
About:
A profile of a biker club consisting of veterans of the Bosnian War.
During the Bosnian War in the early 1990s, Lija helped defend his city, Livno – service for which he feels no guilt. Now, he leads many of his comrades-in-arms from those days in the Wolves motorcycle club. Though the viewer might expect these hardened veterans to live up to the aggro biker stereotype, the portrait that emerges in Shawn Convey’s surprisingly understated film upends those preconceptions. While some of the Wolves’ younger members engage in some disruptive behavior, to the gentle headshaking of Lija and his cohort, the club as a whole is dedicated to charitable work, from blood drives and building repair to taking responsibility for the care and protection of a herd of wild horses – stewardship that is laden with metaphor about their own membership. Convey’s project is a quiet one, focused more on observation than on fleshing out the personalities or lives of the Wolves – save, to some extent, Lija – but nevertheless paints an intriguing portrait of trauma and healing.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD/VOD: BOGALUSA CHARM
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.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD & Digital Download: NARCISSISTER ORGAN PLAYER
photo by PJ Norman
NARCISSISTER ORGAN PLAYER
Director:
Narcissister
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
SXSW, Locarno, Frameline, Outfest, Stockholm
About:
Against the backdrop of her provocative and inventive performance, Narcissister reflects on the personal impact of her mother’s illness and death.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On VOD: FREE SOLO
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.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
