
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Per Jarl
Henrik Georgsson details the dangerous life of the posthumously bestselling crime author.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Sweden
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Per Jarl
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Sweden
Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance

The 12th annual Cinema Eye Honors, recognizing achievements in non-fiction film from 2018, were celebrated at the Museum of the Moving Image at a ceremony last evening.
Below is the full list of winners announced at last night’s ceremony, which was hosted for the fourth (and theoretically final) year by documentarian Steve James. I once again served on the Nominations Committee for features. Congratulations to all the winners, nominees, and the hard-working Cinema Eye organizers.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
Directed by RaMell Ross
Produced by Joslyn Barnes, Su Kim, and RaMell Ross
Audience Choice Prize
FREE SOLO
Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Bing Liu for MINDING THE GAP
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Joshua Altman and Bing Liu for MINDING THE GAP
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes, and Shannon Dill for FREE SOLO
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Jimmy Chin, Clair Popkin, and Mikey Schaeffer for FREE SOLO
Outstanding Achievement in an Original Music Score
Ishai Adair for SHIRKERS
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
Lucas Celler and Sandi Tan for SHIRKERS
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
MINDING THE GAP
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
MY DEAD DAD’S PORNO TAPES
Directed by Charlie Tyrell
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Broadcast
BALTIMORE RISING
Directed by Sonja Sohn, HBO
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Series Made for Broadcast
AMERICA TO ME
Directed by Steve James, STARZ
Spotlight Award
THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS
Directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont
Heterodox Award
AMERICAN ANIMALS
Directed by Bart Layton
Legacy Award
EYES ON THE PRIZE
Executive Producer Henry Hampton
Series Producer/Writer/Director Judith Vecchione, Series Producer Jon Else, Director/Writer/Producers Orlando Bagwell, Sheila Curran Bernard, Callie Crossley, James A. DeVinney, Madison D Lacy, Thomas Ott, Samuel D Pollard, Terry Kay Rockefeller, Jacqueline Shearer, and Paul Stekler
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations

Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Ireland/USA
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, January 11:
THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS
Director:
Simon Lereng Wilmont
Premiere:
IDFA 2017
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, San Francisco, Reyjkavik, Göteborg, Hong Kong, DOK.fest Munich, Docaviv, It’s All True, Docs Against Gravity, Docpoint, !f Istanbul, Vilnius
Notable Recognition:
The doc was shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
About:
A pre-teen boy lives near the border of the Ukraine/Russian war.
Lereng Wilmont crafts a dual portrait of war and of coming of age through this beautifully realized observational project. For three years, his camera intimately follows Oleg, beginning at the age of ten, as the orphaned boy lives in a small Ukrainian village with his grandmother. Situated close to the war zone, the sounds of war can be heard together with the titular canine calls. As Oleg grows up, his grandmother is less and less able to shield him from the realities of the conflict, including the presence of guns and other weapons of war, leading to a heartbreaking loss of innocence and a corresponding darkening of tone as this well-made film progresses.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Richard Ladkani
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Austria
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
New to DVD this week:
FAR FROM THE TREE
Director:
Rachel Dretzin
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017
Select Festivals:
Montclair, RiverRun, GlobeDocs, Documentary Edge, IFF Boston, Hawaii
About:
A film essay and career retrospective examining society’s preoccupation with materialism.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Lutfallah Bakhtary
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
USA/Qatar/UK/Canada
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
This post is a pointer to the fifth and final lineup announcement for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Additional selections in the Documentary Premieres and Special Events, sections have just been announced and may be found here.
Previous lineup announcements include the US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions, NEXT, Documentary Premieres, Premieres, Midnight, Spotlight, and Kids; Indie Episodic, Special Events, and Shorts; New Frontier; and previous late additions.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Aleksandar Valeriev Stanishev
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Finland/Denmark/Bulgaria
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
Festival:
The 28th New York Jewish Film Festival
Dates:
January 9-22
About:
This annual event, co-presented by The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, offers eight documentary features among its 21 new feature offerings. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations