Category Archives: Recommendations

New to Hulu this week:
FYRE FRAUD

Directors:
Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason

Premiere:
Hulu (January 2019)

About:
A chronicle of the disastrous 2017 music festival that was meant to rival Coachella.

Released just days before the Chris Smith helmed Netflix documentary FYRE: THE GREATEST PARTY THAT NEVER HAPPENED, Furst and Nason’s rival Hulu project gives its own spin on the debacle that was Fyre Festival. Conceived by Billy McFarland and musician Ja Rule, and heavily promoted to FOMO-averse, cash-flush Millennials by social media influencers, the Great Exuma, Bahamas music fest was sold as a generation-defining event, but instead generated global schadenfreude when reports spread about how ill-prepared organizers were for attendees. While dismissed by many as #whitepeopleproblems, the Fyre Festival disaster led to multiple lawsuits and accusations of fraud with serious jail time. The filmmakers back up from the epic fail everyone knows and loves to focus on McFarland, who is interviewed throughout, laying out his history of dodgy entrepreneurship – what many featured here instead call con jobs – and how he developed and mishandled Fyre. While delivering jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes details of the doomed event, the doc also offers surprising insight into the psychology of deception, the manipulation of perception, and the power of social media and branding.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, January 15:
THE INSUFFERABLE GROO

Director:
Scott Christopherson

Premiere:
Sheffield 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Sydney Underground, Calgary Underground

About:
A behind-the-scenes look at the life and work of a low-budget auteur.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, January 14:
RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE

Directors:
Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler, Jeff Springer

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017

Select Festivals:
Full Frame, Big Sky Doc, Wild and Scenic, Oxford, Washington DC Environmental, Salem, Indie Grits, Freep, Sarasota, IFF Boston, RiverRun, Doc Edge, SF DocFest, Woods Hole, Sidewalk, DocUtah, Yale Environmental, Tallgrass, Hot Springs Doc

About:
A wide-ranging look at efforts to protect Louisiana from a giant swamp rat.

I previously wrote about the doc here.