Category Archives: Recommendations

New to VOD this week:
ELEPHANT’S DREAM

Director:
Kristof Bilsen

Premiere:
DOK Leipzig 2014

Select Festivals:
IDFA, DocPoint, Hot Docs, Docville, Docs Against Gravity, DOK.fest Munich, Dokufest, Camden, Margaret Mead, Cork, Cinema Verité, Big Sky Doc, Taiwan Doc, Traverse City

About:
A portrait of modern-day Congo through its broken-down institutions.

Bilsen expertly crafts a quiet but poetic sense of place in this observational profile of three state-run institutions in Kinshasa and the people that work there. Henriette works at the crumbling post office, but she never seems to have any customers, and hasn’t received her full wages in ages. Middle-aged Simon guards the rail station, but, given the lack of trains, he mostly just whiles away the time with his coworker, a protege who is getting too big for his britches. Kasono and his fellow firefighters train, but when faced with a real fire they lack proper equipment and even water pressure to make much of a difference. These individuals serve as a microcosm of Congo, persevering within their positions and hoping that the economic situation will improve someday to make them feel productive once again.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, February 3:
A GOOD AMERICAN

Director:
Frederich Moser

Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2015

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Palm Springs, Rotterdam, Portland, Sedona, Diagonale, Movies That Matter, Cleveland, RiverRun, DOXA, Docs Against Gravity, Biografilm, Dokufest

About:
The little-known story of how the NSA abandoned an effective intelligence-gathering system before the 9/11 attacks.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
The explosion of information in the digital age left government agencies like the NSA struggling with bureaucracy and technology to keep up with the changing times. Responding to the challenge, NSA technical director Bill Binney and a small team of codebreakers develop ThinThread, an astonishingly effective data collecting and sorting program that also protects privacy. Despite its success, ThinThread is discontinued just weeks before September 11, 2001. After Binney and fellow intelligence officials challenge this decision, they find their world upended.

New to VOD this week:
THE RETURN

Directors:
Kelly Duane De La Vega and Katie Galloway

Premiere:
Tribeca 2016

Select Festivals:
San Francisco

About:
A consideration of how newly-released prisoners reintegrate into society.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming back to theatres tomorrow, Friday, February 3 (after an initial qualifying run in early December):
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO

Director:
Raoul Peck

Premiere:
Toronto 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, New Orleans, New York Film Festival, the Hamptons, Chicago, Virginia, AFI Fest, Philadelphia

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

About:
James Baldwin’s unfinished book on three key civil rights leaders prompts an all-too timely reflection on the state of race relations in America.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD today, Wednesday, February 1:
MOTHER WITH A GUN

Director:
Jeff Daniels

Premiere:
Antenna Doc 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Atlanta Jewish

About:
A portrait of the Jewish Defense League, through the lens of its current, unlikely leader.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC, saying:
Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City in 1968, the Jewish Defense League advocates any means necessary to stop antisemitism. Once considered the most active terrorist organization in the United States for its use of armed response and preventative violence, the JDL is currently led by Shelley Rubin. With candor, Daniels’ film charts Rubin’s path to extremism, relaying how an archetypal good Jewish girl defied family and community expectations for love and purpose – at a deep personal cost.

Coming to ESPN tomorrow, Thursday, February 2:
THIS WAS THE XFL

Director:
Charlie Ebersol

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2016

About:
An entertaining reappraisal of the much-hyped but disastrous alternate to the NFL.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
The kind of sports story even non-sports fans will love, Charlie Ebersol’s doc chronicles the ill-fated history of the XFL, the no-holds-barred brainchild of NBC’s Dick Ebersol and WWE’s Vince McMahon. Launched to fanfare in 2001, the extreme football league lasted only a single season, making up rules – and breaking them – as it went along. Ebersol’s son Charlie directs this wild look back at what went wrong with the XFL and its role in redefining broadcast sports.

Coming to VOD today, Wednesday, February 1:
FROM THIS DAY FORWARD

Director:
Sharon Shattuck

Premiere:
Full Frame 2015

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, AFI Docs, Hot Docs, Framline, Outfest, Camden, Traverse City, Frameline, Outfest, LGBT fests in Seattle, North Carolina, Milwaukee, and Austin

About:
A portrait of the filmmaker’s father, who transitioned from male to female.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

New to VOD on iTunes today, Tuesday, January 31:
MIRIAM: HOME DELIVERY

Director:
Juliet Jordan

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2015

Select Festivals:
Ambulante

About:
A portrait of a modern-day midwife.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Juliet Jordan offers an inside look at what some consider to be the world’s second-oldest profession: midwifery. As a homebirth midwife, Miriam performs a service once commonplace, but now increasingly rare as the process of childbirth firmly moved to a hospital setting. The filmmaker immerses viewers in Miriam’s mission, driving along with her across NYC as she assists expectant mothers, from her clients among the Orthodox Jewish community to the dramatic home birth that falls during the Hurricane Sandy blackout.