Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, August 24:
MAKALA
Director:
Emmanuel Gras
Premiere:
Cannes 2017
Select Festivals:
Karlovy Vary, Toronto, London, Busan, IDFA, CPH:DOX, True/False, Thessaloniki Doc, New Directors/New Films, Poland’s New Horizons, Palm Springs, Goteborg, Tokyo, Hamburg, Vienna
About:
A young Congolese man embarks on a Sisyphean trek to sell charcoal.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Logo TV tomorrow, Thursday, August 23:
QUIET HEROES
Directors:
Jenny Mackenzie, Jared Ruga, and Amanda Stoddard
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Frameline, BFI Flare, Portland QDoc, TLVFest
About:
A tribute to the only medical professionals in Utah who would treat patients with AIDS in the early years of the epidemic.
My pre-Sundance profile may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tomorrow, Thursday, August 23:
PICK OF THE LITTER
Directors:
Don Hardy and Dana Nachman
Premiere:
Slamdance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Melbourne, New Zealand, Sydney, Cleveland, Seattle, San Francisco, Freep, Hawaii, Newport Beach
About:
A behind the scenes look at the training of guide dogs for the blind.
Phil, Primrose, Potomac, Patriot, and Poppet are all in the running for a vitally important, life-changing job, but they’ll have to make it through intense training first. These five adorable puppies from the same litter are candidates to become guide dogs for the blind. In this heartwarming and affectionate film, directors Dana Nachman and Don Hardy follow them from birth through training to see which dogs have what it takes to be paired with one of the 500 applicants seeking their assistance, including Janet, waiting for her fourth dog, and Ron, waiting for his first.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Festival:
The 15th New York Latino Film Festival
Dates:
August 22-26
About:
This well-regarded event showcasing the work of Latinx talent in film went dormant between 2013-2016, but returned last year. This year’s anniversary edition offers two dozen features, among them 10 documentaries. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, August 22:
JOHN MCENROE: IN THE REALM OF PERFECTION
Director:
Julien Faraut
Premiere:
Berlin 2018
Select Festivals:
Cinema du Reel, Art of the Real, Seattle, deadCenter, Las Vegas, Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand, Provincetown, Jerusalem, Jeonju
About:
The athlete’s 1984 French Open performance illustrates an essay on the linkage between tennis and cinema.
Though its title might suggest a conventional biographical portrait, Faraut’s unconventional film is anything but. While its titular subject ends up being the project’s focal point, the film signals its unusual approach in its set up, highlighting not McEnroe, but the work of Gil de Kermadec, an instructional filmmaker for France’s Institut National du Sport et de l’Education Physique. Faraut himself has a background at the INSEP, informing this analysis bridging the worlds of sport and cinema. He draws first from de Kermadec’s almost comic how-to-play-tennis films and then from footage of McEnroe on the courts to demonstrate the pro’s unpredictable style and infamous rage. At the same time, the filmmaker, through the playful – sometimes too much so – narration by Mathieu Amalric, builds a not altogether convincing argument about the parallels between filmmaking and tennis, involving meditations on movement, time, perception, and, ultimately, storytelling, with McEnroe in the role of auteur. The culmination is a deep and occasionally repetitive parsing of McEnroe’s legendary disappointment at the finals of the 1984 French Open. While the film’s drollness gives way to pretension at times, there’s a distinct pleasure in witnessing McEnroe’s masterful game from such a hyper-focused perspective, even for non-fans.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, August 21:
LARGER THAN LIFE: THE KEVYN AUCOIN STORY
Director:
Tiffany Bartok
Premiere:
Hamptons 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Full Frame, Cleveland, Edinburgh
About:
A portrait of a too-soon-departed fashion world pioneer.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
photo by Jim Judkis
Director:
Morgan Neville
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, SXSW, True/False, San Francisco, Montclair, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis St Paul, Wisconsin, Boulder, Miami
About:
A moving exploration of the enduring impact of children’s television show host Fred Rogers on generations of viewers through his pioneering program, MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 21:
BOOM FOR REAL: THE LATE TEENAGE YEARS OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
Director:
Sara Driver
Premiere:
Toronto 2017
Select Festivals:
New York, IDFA, Thessaloniki Doc, San Francisco, Bentonville, Panama, Full Frame, IFF Boston
About:
An exploration of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s early development as an artist in late 1970s/early 1980s NYC.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tomorrow, Friday, August 17:
THIS ONE’S FOR THE LADIES
Director:
Gene Graham
Premiere:
SXSW 2018
Select Festivals:
Sheffield, AFI Docs, San Francisco, Seattle, Montclair, IFF Boston
About:
An insider look at the African American exotic dancing scene of Newark NJ.
Graham’s boisterous subcultural portrait introduces viewers to the Dojo, a Newark NJ venue that serves as a karate school during the day but transforms into a male strip club once a week, catering primarily to African American women. Several male strippers are introduced and profiled briefly, plus Blaze, a lesbian dancer who strips for both lesbian specific and mixed crowds, but the film pays significant attention to Raw Dawg and Tygar, twin brothers who started the scene through their New Jersey Nasty Boyz troupe, using dance and creativity to stay out of legal trouble and help their family. The film’s other primary focus, as signaled by its title, is on the Dojo’s female fanbase. Women like Poundcake and C-Pudding speak to the joy they get in attending events, supporting their favorite dancers, and finding a space to call their own. Although the project suffers from a surplus of participants – too many to properly flesh out – and a fairly scattered approach that privileges spectacle over developing a clear narrative, it remains an entertaining look at an unexpected world.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to theatres and to Hulu this Friday, August 17:
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
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
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