Festival:
The 16th annual EDOC – Encuentros del Otro Cine
Dates:
May 10-21
About:
More than 60 new features screen at Ecuador’s largest nonfiction festival in both Quito and Guayaquil. Continue reading
Category Archives: Recommendations
EDOC 2017 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On DVD: HOLY HELL
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, May 9:
HOLY HELL
Director:
Will Allen
Premiere:
Sundance 2016
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Nashville, Montclair, Minneapolis-St Paul, DocAviv, Martha’s Vineyard, Biografilm
About:
An inside look at life as a cult member.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On VOD: MOM AND ME
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, May 9:
MOM AND ME
Director:
Ken Wardrop
Premiere:
Telluride 2015
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Cleveland, RiverRun, Edinburgh, Sydney, Denver
About:
An exploration of the unique bond between mothers and sons.
I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s lineup, saying:
Just before Mother’s Day, a local talk radio show in Oklahoma City – “the manliest city in the United States” – asks male listeners to call in and talk about their relationships with their moms. The responses frame this warm, often humorous film. Exhibiting surprising vulnerability and sharing alternately charming and poignant stories, callers are a diverse group, from a contrite prisoner eager to reconnect with his wronged mom to a bachelor whose mother badgers him for grandkids. Ultimately, what emerges is a multifaceted exploration of a bond that is unique for each mother-son pair, yet wonderfully universal at the same time.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On VOD: KEDI
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, May 9:
KEDI
Director:
Ceyda Torun
Premiere:
!f Istanbul 2016
Select Festivals:
Full Frame, Sheffield, Seattle, Melbourne, Vancouver, DocPoint, Goteborg, Salem, Palm Springs
About:
Istanbul through the eyes of its colorful street cats.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Special Screening: ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL
Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction series tomorrow, Tuesday, May 9:
ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL
Director:
Steve James
Premiere:
Toronto 2016
Select Festivals::
New York, Chicago, IDFA, Palm Springs, True/False, Cleveland, Full Frame, Dallas, Hong Kong, Montclair
About:
A small Chinatown bank becomes the only institution to face criminal charges as a result of the 2008 financial crisis.
While America’s financial institutions were bailed out following the economic meltdown of 2008 because they were deemed “too big to fail,” the Abacus Federal Savings Bank, it is argued in Steve James’ latest film, became the sacrificial lamb for the industry. Founded by Thomas Sung, a Chinese lawyer and American immigrant, and run by two of his daughters, Abacus prided itself on serving New York’s Chinatown community with mortgages and small business loans. When evidence arises that a loan officer was engaging in fraud, the family reports the crime, only to find the bank under siege by an ambitious DA, with the Sungs’ reputation on the line. James crafts a compelling legal and family drama as Abacus seeks vindication in the courts.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Special Screening: THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975
Coming to NYC’s Q/A/F series tonight, Monday, May 8:
THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975
Director:
Göran Hugo Olsson
Premiere:
Sundance 2011
Select Festivals:
Berlin, New Directors/New Films, Full Frame, Miami, Hot Docs, Silverdocs
About:
The Black Power movement, as seen through the lens of Swedish journalists in the 1960s and ’70s.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On TV: THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens this coming Monday, May 8:
THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES
Director:
Brett Story
Premiere:
True/False 2016
Select Festivals:
New Orleans, Hot Docs, Art of the Real, Camden, Reykjavik, Ann Arbor, DOXA
About:
A reflection on the far-reaching impact of America’s mass incarceration epidemic.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On VOD: THE MARS GENERATION
Coming to Netflix today, Friday, May 5:
THE MARS GENERATION
Director:
Michael Barnett
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
About:
A look at the would-be astronauts of the future.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
DOXA 2017 Overview
Festival:
The 16th annual DOXA
Dates:
May 4-14
About:
Approximately 50 new and retrospective features screen at this Vancouver documentary festival. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
In Theatres: SACRED
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, May 5:
SACRED
Director:
Thomas Lennon
Premiere:
Tokyo 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Sebastopol Doc, RiverRun, Cleveland, Ashland, Montclair
About:
A look at spirituality around the world.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Directed by Academy Award winner Thomas Lennon and shot around the globe by 40 teams of filmmakers, this expansive project immerses the viewer in an exploration of spirituality across cultures and religions. From a Buddhist monk’s 1000-day circumnavigation of a mountain in Japan and Hasidic Jews’ ecstatic celebrations in Uman, to Angola Prison inmates finding God and Malagasy turning of the bones to commemorate their dead, this breathtaking film is at once deeply personal yet universally human.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
