Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to PBS’s AfroPoP tonight, Monday, February 4:
THE FACES WE LOST

Director:
Piotr Cieplak

Premiere:
Cambridge 2017

Select Festivals:
Rwanda, Africa-in-Motion, Cannes PanAfricaine

About:
Survivors of the Rwandan genocide explore the importance of photographic memory.

Exploring the lasting impact of the horrific murder of nearly a million Rwandans over the course of 100 days 25 years ago, Cieplak’s thoughtful project seeks to explore questions of representation, as grounded in photographic remains of victims. While disturbing images of the slaughter have become part of the historic record, the filmmaker here instead focuses on other photographs – ones that celebrate life, not death. Survivors tell the heartbreaking stories of their loved ones, display the few remaining images they have of them – family snapshots or official IDs – and discuss the importance these remnants play in coping with their loss. Similarly, museum archivists take on similar work on a larger scale, helping to reframe national collective memory of the trauma. Though a bit repetitive and overextended, the film succeeds in helping to humanize a mass tragedy, and force more complex reflection on our view of Rwanda and the genocide.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, February 4:
BLACK MEMORABILIA

Director:
Chico Colvard

Premiere:
MoMA Documentary Fortnight 2018

Select Festivals:
New Orleans, Atlanta, St Louis, Salem, IFF Boston

About:
An exploration of the creators, consumers, and re-appropriators of racially stereotypical/racist black memorabilia, like Mammy figurines.

Tackling a controversial but complex subject, Colvard offers an intriguing and thoughtful approach, profiling three individuals, all women, who are engaged with the surprisingly lucrative market in black memorabilia in different ways. In China, Jian works in one of the many factories that produce reproductions of historical items to address the renewed demand. Though she likens her job to her family’s traditional trade in ironworking, she is very conflicted about the idea that what she produces uses offensive imagery. Joy, a white woman, makes a living as a dealer in black memorabilia, including KKK and slavery related items, beyond relatively more innocuous figurines. She views this material as important, real black history that should be visible and available to the public, even if it’s disturbing. Younger visual artist Alexandria in NYC uses a black-face, hood-covered Pickaninny-styled character in much of her work, and also dresses like her at times. She feels drawn to take ownership of and re-appropriate these uncomfortable images. Together, Colvard’s three subjects offer a thought-provoking reframing of these problematic artifacts.

New to VOD last week:
A LITTLE WISDOM

Director:
Yuqi Kang

Premiere:
Busan 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, SXSW, Karlovy Vary, Hot Docs, RIDM, CAAMFest, DokuFest

About:
A portrait of young novice monks in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
This beautiful observational portrait of childhood is set in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located on the border between Nepal and India, the birthplace of the Buddha. Director Yuqi Kang reveals the emotional dynamics of five-year-old Hopakuli and his older brother Chorten as these young novice monks attempt to balance the rituals and disciplines of the monastery with the distractions of modern life, where the allure of video games competes with their lessons and meditation.

New to VOD this week:
THE AGGRESSIVES

Director:
Daniel Peddle

Premiere:
SXSW 2005

Select Festivals:
NewFest, Frameline, Outfest, London LGBT, Africa in the Picture, Cleveland

About:
An early 2000s exploration of a male-identified lesbian subculture.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s AfroPoP next Monday, January 28:
MAMA COLONEL

Director:
Dieudo Hamadi

Premiere:
Berlin 2017

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, IDFA, Sheffield, MoMA Doc Fortnight, DocsMX, AFI Docs, Cinéma du Réel, Dok.Fest Munich, Docs Against Gravity, Encounters, Cinema Verite, One World, Guth Gafa, Dokufest, RIDM, Zurich, Göteborg, Vienna, Zanzibar, Durban, Rio

About:
A portrait of a fierce female Congolese police chief.

Veteran police officer Honorine Munyole arrives at her new post in the city of Kisangani to face daunting challenges in her mission to protect women and children from sexual violence. She meets with women in the area who tell of the rape they endured and the atrocities they witnessed during the Six-Day War of 2000 between Uganda and Rwanda within the city, but then finds their credibility questioned by others claiming more genuine victimhood. Munyole warns against mistreating children but faces all-too-common cases of adults beating, imprisoning, and starving kids as punishment for practicing witchcraft. Hamadi takes an observational approach, which, while capturing the stark realities of his subject’s work, limit the extent to which Munyole reveals herself to any great extent. Despite this, the film does convey her determination to make a difference despite the odds.

Coming to HBO next Monday, January 28:
BRESLIN AND HAMILL: DEADLINE ARTISTS

Directors:
Jonathan Alter, John Block, and Steve McCarthy

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018

About:
A profile of legendary newspaper NYC journalists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill defined an era of New York journalism in the late 20th century. They were swashbuckling liberal newspaper columnists who spoke for ordinary people and brought passion, wit and literary merit to their brilliant reporting about their city and the larger nation.

Breslin’s column was a longtime fixture of the New York Daily News. His best-known reporting includes his chilling correspondence with the Son of Sam and his column after John F. Kennedy’s funeral, which provided an Everyman perspective on the tragedy. Pete Hamill was a columnist and editor for the New York Daily News and the New York Post. He moved with ease through different circles, from blue collar workers to Hollywood celebrities. Both men wrote novels, nonfiction and memoirs, covering a range of topics from politics to crime to sports, always deeply rooted in the neighborhoods of New York City.

Veteran journalist Jonathan Alter, author of several books including THE CENTER HOLDS: OBAMA AND HIS ENEMIES, teams with Emmy Award-winning filmmakers John Block and Steve McCarthy to plunge us into Breslin and Hamill’s times, while probing explosive issues of race, class and the practice of journalism that resonate powerfully in our own time. They capture the writers in their own words and with added insights from peers such as Gloria Steinem and Gay Talese, as well as devoted readers such as Spike Lee and Colin Quinn. It’s essential viewing for anyone who loves journalism or New York City.