Category Archives: Recommendations

Now on VOD via iTunes:
ADDICTED TO SHEEP

Director:
Magali Pettier

Premiere:
Sheffield 2015

Select Festivals:
Ashland, Holmfirth, Underwire, Leeds Wool Festival

About:
A portrait of a rural English family’s efforts to breed sheep over the course of a year.

Set in northeast England’s North Pennines, Pettier’s charming film focuses on Tom and Kay Hutchinson, who work as tenant farmers in a community largely devoted to agriculture. For their part, as underscored by the doc’s title, the Hutchinsons are devoted to their ovine charges, and dream of breeding the perfect sheep, out of both economic necessity and pride in their work. Pettier captures the slow pace of their environment as they contend with chores both mundane and heartbreaking – such as the difficult birthing process of a ewe. Also well featured are the Hutchinson children, whose experiences on the farm have given them a matter-of-fact perspective on life and death as well as a respect for the rhythms and quietude of rural life.

Now on VOD via Microsoft:
THE SPECIAL NEED

Director:
Carlo Zoratti

Premiere:
Locarno 2013

Select Festivals:
SXSW, Hamptons, Dallas, DOK Leipzig, ZagrebDox, CPH:DOX, IDFA, Ambulante, Thessaloniki Doc, Planete+ Doc, DOXA

About:
Two friends set out on a road trip to help their developmentally challenged friend lose his virginity.

Enea is a 29-year-old Italian man on the autism spectrum. Despite a healthy curiosity about sex and a boldness that sees him freely approaching women on the street, he’s not yet been able to locate the fashion model woman of his fantasies. Enter friends Alex and Carlo – the latter the film’s director. After failing to find a willing participant, they decide to hit the road on a quest through Europe to find a legal and safe way to allow Enea to meet this rite of passage. Employing some unacknowledged, yet clearly staged scenes, the crowdpleasing film is a low-level hybrid of sorts, but largely maintains a casual, observational style, enabled by the warm rapport between the three principals.

On VOD this week:
FIRE AT SEA

Director:
Gianfranco Rosi

Premiere:
Berlin 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, Telluride, New York, DocAviv, Sydney, Melbourne, It’s All True, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, New Zealand, Reykjavik

Notable Recognition:
The doc has been nominated for the Academy Awards.

About:
An intimate portrait of Lampedusa, an island at the heart of Europe’s migration crisis.

I previously wrote about the doc here.