Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to PBS’s American Masters this Friday, January 19:
LORRAINE HANSBERRY: SIGHTED EYES/FEELING HEART

Director:
Tracy Heather Strain

Premiere:
Toronto 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Chicago

About:
A moving account of the life of the pioneering black playwright.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Lorraine Hansberry, best known for A RAISIN IN THE SUN, was a black writer, communist, feminist, lesbian, and outspoken trailblazer at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. She led an active life, befriending James Baldwin, inspiring Nina Simone, breaking barriers from Broadway to Hollywood, being monitored by the FBI, and seeking love on her own terms, all before her untimely death at age 34. After many years in the making, director Tracy Heather Strain delivers the rich biography that Hansberry deserves.

Coming to theatres and to VOD this Friday, January 19:
THE FINAL YEAR

Director:
Greg Barker

Premiere:
Toronto 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, London, IDFA

About:
An inside look at US foreign policy in the last year of the Obama administration.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres this Friday, January 19:
THE ROAD MOVIE

Director:
Dmitrii Kalashnikov

Premiere:
IDFA 2016

Select Festivals:
True/False, Sheffield, Hot Docs, Sarajevo, Docs Against Gravity, Nashville,

About:
A dashboard camera view of modern Russia.

I previously wrote about the doc here.