Category Archives: Recommendations

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Jheri Jones, a lively 74-year-old transgender divorcée, works hard to keep her family together in a trailer-park home in Mississippi’s Bible Belt. After years of estrangement encouraged by her embittered religious ex-wife, Jheri now lives with two of her grown sons. Together, the Joneses attempt to resolve old resentments, reconcile questions of identity, and reveal long-unaddressed secrets in this often-surprising family portrait.

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October 30, 2018 · 12:01 PM

2018 DOC NYC in Focus: Centerstage

OLYMPIA

Festival:
DOC NYC

Dates:
November 8-15

Section:
Centerstage, which highlights performance: Continue reading →

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October 30, 2018 · 11:15 AM

On VOD: OUR NEW PRESIDENT

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, October 30:
OUR NEW PRESIDENT

Director:
Maxim Pozdorovkin

Premiere:
Sundance 2018

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Big Sky Doc, True/False, CPH:DOX, Miami, Biografilm, Traverse City, Sheffield, Minneapolis-St Paul, DOXA, Revelation Perth, Melbourne, New Zealand, Jerusalem

About:
American politics through the distinct, and decidedly warped, lens of the Russian newsmedia.

I profiled the doc before Sundance here.

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October 29, 2018 · 3:02 PM

On DVD: CALL HER GANDA

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 30:
CALL HER GANDA

Director:
PJ Raval

Premiere:
Tribeca 2018

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Doc Edge, Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out, Cínemalayà, LA Asian Pacific, DMZ Docs, Sidewalk, New Orleans

About:
The murder of a transgender woman by a US Marine exposes the legacy of imperialism in the Philippines.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

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October 29, 2018 · 1:31 PM

DOK Leipzig 2018 Overview

Festival:
The 61st DOK Leipzig

Dates:
October 29-November 4

About:
More than 80 new and recent nonfiction features screen at this long-running German festival.

LORD OF THE TOYS

The German competition includes several world premieres, including: Claudia Lehmann’s THE SYMPHONY OF UNCERTAINTY, an essay exploring particle physics, hypnotherapy, and industrial music; Katinka Zeuner’s BREATHING LIFE INTO STONE, a portrait of a man who creates tombstones; Benjamin Rost’s NIGHTWANDERERS, a nocturnal look at German outsiders; Arjun Talwar and Bigna Tomschin’s A DONKEY CALLED GERONIMO, about the residents of a small Baltic Sea island; and Pablo Ben Yakov’s LORD OF THE TOYS, which follows a group of young professional YouTubers in Dresden.

A SISTER’S SONG

Among the offerings in the International Competition are: Othmar Schmiderer’s THE DAYS AND THE YEAR, following an Austrian organic farm for a year; Danae Elon’s A SISTER’S SONG, in which Marina tries to convince her sister Tatiana to leave the religious order that has separated them; Hester Overmars’ THE PRINCIPAL WIFE, following a woman’s quest to find answers about her mother, the wife of a notorious leader of a sect; Digna Sinke’s KEEPING & SAVING – OR HOW TO LIVE, in which the director explores the compulsion to collect; and Alina Gorlova’s NO OBVIOUS SIGNS, a profile of a Ukrainian woman reckoning with PTSD.

ANIMUS ANIMALIS (A STORY ABOUT PEOPLE, ANIMALS AND THINGS)

World premieres in the Next Masters competition include: Aistė Žegulytė’s ANIMUS ANIMALIS (A STORY ABOUT PEOPLE, ANIMALS AND THINGS), which looks at the presentation of dead animals as objects; Ricardo Calil’s CINEMA MOROCCO, about a theatre workshop in a long-abandoned movie palace; Guillermo Quintero’s HOMO BOTANICUS, an exploration of a Colombian tropical forest; Ahmad Jalili Jahromi’s SENTENCED TO DEATH, a profile of female criminals in Iran; and Jaśmina Wójcik’s SYMPHONY OF THE URSUS FACTORY, in which old employees of a Polish factory re-enact their former roles in the now derelict building.

CHEZ JOLIE COIFFURE

Several titles make their debut in the International Programme, including: Elke Sasse’s THE WAR ON MY PHONE, which demonstrates how Syrian refugees have used technology to track the ongoing conflict; Rosine Mbakam’s CHEZ JOLIE COIFFURE, set in an African hairdresser’s in Brussels; Valentina Primavera’s UNA PRIMAVERA, which follows the filmmaker’s mother as she separates from her husband of 40 years; Albin Biblom’s CURIOSITY AND CONTROL, exploring the way the animals are presented in museums and zoos; Bettina Borgfeld’s THE PRICE OF PARADISE, about what happened to the last feudal spot in Europe; Alice Riff’s ELECTIONS, which follows the high school elections in a São Paulo high school; Boris Missirkov and Georgi Bogdanov’s PALACE FOR THE PEOPLE, an exploration of five iconic socialist era buildings; Fanny Bräuning’s THE JOURNEY – A STORY OF LOVE, which follows the filmmaker’s elderly and infirm parents as they tour Europe.

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October 29, 2018 · 12:46 PM

2018 DOC NYC in Focus: True Love

CHINA LOVE

Festival:
DOC NYC

Dates:
November 8-15

Section:
True Love, a new section exploring love and romance in its myriad forms: Continue reading →

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October 29, 2018 · 12:01 PM

On TV: WILDLAND

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, October 29:
WILDLAND

Directors:
Alex Jablonski and Kahlil Hudson

Premiere:
Camden 2018

Select Festivals:
Ashland

About:
An immersion into the training and work of a group of firefighters.

Set in Grants Pass OR, Jablonski and Hudson’s film follows the personal stories of a few men who have elected to take on the challenge and duty of fighting wildfires. Embedding themselves within the training program, the filmmakers capture the rigor and boredom of preparation, but it all leads to the important – and dangerous – work. Some recruits have signed up for adventure, others for duty, and a few as a means to turn their lives around from addiction and crime. At its core, the beautifully shot film explores conceptions of masculinity, more obviously denoted by its original title, YOUNG MEN AND FIRE, and poetically captured here through excerpts of Ray Bradbury’s DANDELION WINE.