Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, January 3:
ANATOMY OF A MALE BALLET DANCER

Directors:
David Barba and James Pellerito

Premiere:
Dance on Camera 2017

Select Festivals:
Full Frame, AFI Docs, Provincetown, DocUtah, Rio, GlobeDocs, Raindance, Hot Springs Doc, Key West, SF Dance, Austin LGBT

About:
A portrait of longtime American Ballet Theater principal dancer Marcelo Gomes.

Barba and Pellerito follow Gomes over the course of several years, as the Brazilian dancer celebrates his twentieth year with the ABT and faces retirement. A charismatic, well-liked performer, Gomes, who was the first major professional ballet dancer to come out publicly, details his upbringing in Brazil, and his early experiences as the sole boy in ballet class. While bullied, he had the support of his family, and especially that of his gay uncle Paulo and Paulo’s partner Wolf, easing his pursuit of his dancing dreams and his later embrace of his sexuality. While the filmmakers attempt to develop a family-focused storyline about Gomes’ long-estranged father, this thread unfortunately feels forced and incomplete in what is otherwise an enjoyable, light profile of a world-class artist.

New to DVD this week:
CHAVELA

Directors:
Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi

Premiere:
Berlin 2017

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Sheffield, AFI Docs, Provincetown, Guadalajara, Malaga, Ambulante, BAFICI, Montclair, Seattle, Krakow, Transylvania, Sydney, Galway, Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out, LGBT fests in Milan, Barcelona, Austin, Palm Springs, Chicago

About:
A portrait of an iconic Latin American singer.

I previously wrote about the doc here.