Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, April 18:
THE BABUSHKAS OF CHERNOBYL

Director:
Holly Morris

Premiere:
Los Angeles 2015

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Sidewalk, Woodstock, Sun Valley, One World, DC’s Environmental, Florida, San Francisco Green, DOXA, Documenta Madrid

About:
A profile of elderly women who subsist on their beloved but toxic land in Chernobyl’s radioactive exclusion zone.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD this upcoming Tuesday, April 18:
RUBY RIDGE

Director:
Barak Goodman

Premiere:
American Experience (February 2017)

About:
The story of a tragic standoff between US marshals and a separatist family.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, April 14:
CHASING TRANE: THE JOHN COLTRANE DOCUMENTARY

Director:
John Scheinfeld

Premiere:
Telluride 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, IDFA, Pan African

About:
An exploration of the life and music of the legendary jazz musician.

Though he only lived to 40 years of age, John Coltrane left an indelible mark in music, recognized as one of the most innovative and impactful jazz performers and composers of the 20th Century. Scheinfeld’s film pays tribute to his talent and vision, offering a biographical portrait brimming with music and atmosphere, and featuring the insights of a score of Coltrane fans, from his contemporaries to a new generation of musician, as well as admirers like Cornel West and Bill Clinton. While detailing the jazzman’s numerous achievements, Scheinfeld doesn’t shy away from the darker side of his biography, including Coltrane’s struggles with alcohol and heroin addiction, yet the focus always remains reverentially on its impact on his evocative, pioneering music.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, April 14:
FINDING OSCAR

Director:
Ryan Suffern

Premiere:
Telluride 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Boulder, Mill Valley, Sedona, Sun Valley, United Nations Association, Austin

About:
Investigators seek justice for the victims of a state-sponsored Guatemalan massacre.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
During Guatemala’s 36-year-long civil war, an estimated 200,000 civilians were killed or disappeared. Among these were the 200 residents of the rural village of Dos Erres, who were massacred by an elite government commando unit in 1982. Two young boys survived to be raised, unwittingly, by the very soldiers who slaughtered their families. Suffern’s film follows the quest to finally find justice for the people of Dos Erres.

Coming to theatres and VOD this Friday, April 14:
MISSION CONTROL: THE UNSUNG HEROES OF APOLLO

Director:
David Fairhead

Premiere:
SXSW 2017

Select Festivals:
Sarasota

About:
Members of NASA’s Mission Control recount the triumphs and tragedies of the US space program through the end of the Apollo missions.

Fairhead’s love letter to the bygone years of American space exploration focuses on the engineers, project leaders, and technicians of Mission Control, figures who typically never received the spotlight despite their essential roles in the Space Race. His film combines extensive talking head interviews with these surviving men (the boy’s club environment is awkwardly mitigated by bookend interviews with two present-day female NASA employees), along with new animation and a wealth of archival footage, including extensive period footage of Mission Control, space missions, propaganda/educational films, and news broadcasts. Subjects relate their path to working for NASA, their trial-and-error invention, and the parts they played in the Space Race, including immersive retellings of such pivotal moments as the first three-man mission in space, the lunar landing, and the rescue of the Apollo 13 astronauts, making for an engaging, enjoyable, and respectful look back at NASA’s glory days.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 11:
THE AGE OF CONSEQUENCES

Director:
Jared P Scott

Premiere:
Hot Docs 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Sheffield, Telluride Mountainfilm, Antenna Doc, Waimea Ocean Festival, Wild & Scenic

About:
Global unrest viewed through the lens of climate change.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s American Experience starting tonight, Monday, April 10 through Wednesday, April 12:
THE GREAT WAR

Directors:
Stephen Ives, Amanda Pollak, and Rob Rapley

Premiere:
American Experience (April 2017)

About:
A three-part, six-hour exploration of World War I and its impact on America.

Debuting just after the centenary of the US’s entry into WWI on April 6, 1917, this American Experience docuseries takes an expansive view of the so-called “war to end all wars,” considering not only the details of the conflict raging in Europe, but also a range of concurrent issues affecting the homefront. Ultimately, the series – and its host of talking head commentators – stresses how America’s involvement resulted in the country becoming a global superpower, championing President Woodrow Wilson’s vision of the US as the world’s moral protector of democracy. At the same time, critics are quick to point out that this utopian view elides the repressive tools that Wilson used against dissenters in America, including the Sedition Act; a resistance to women’s suffragism; and a segregationist outlook that held back civil rights for people of color. Ives, Pollak, and Rapley weave this dichotomy throughout the three parts of the series, which begins with an overview of the causes of the war; the introduction of new modes of warfare, from trenches and chemical weaponry to air and undersea combat; and Wilson’s determination to keep the US neutral – despite profiting by supplying the Allied forces, while others push for American entry into war. The second part details that entry, as well as the experiences of African American soldiers and the restrictions imposed on freedom of expression back home, while the third continues these threads while also focusing on the end of the war and Wilson’s attempts to broker a lasting, meaningful peace. While sprawling, and adhering to the conventional approach of the American Experience series, the project is an engrossing and at times disturbingly topical look at the birth of modern American foreign policy.

Coming to VOD through Mubi tomorrow, Saturday, April 8:
TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT

Director:
Tyler Hubby

Premiere:
Chicago Underground 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Leeds, Cork, Rotterdam, Big Sky Doc, Ann Arbor

About:
A portrait of the late, pioneering artist.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to DVD this week:
NATIONAL BIRD

Director:
Sonia Kennebeck

Premiere:
Berlin 2016

Select Festivals:
Tribeca, San Francisco, Sheffield, Sydney, Melbourne, Camden, Hamburg, Zurich

About:
A profile of several whistleblowers who have spoken out against the US drone program.

I previously wrote about the doc here.