Category Archives: Recommendations

Now available on VOD: WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL

Ben Nabors’ portrait of an industrious young Malawian man premiered at SXSW in 2013, where it won the documentary grand jury prize. Screenings followed at Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, Virginia, Ashland, Camden, Bahamas, Leeds, SF DocFest, Sydney, BAMcinemaFest, and Jerusalem, among other events. It is now available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and other VOD platforms.

I previously included the doc in my SXSW coverage here.

New to VOD this week: DO NOT RESIST

Craig Atkinson’s look at the nationwide militarization of the police force had its world premiere at Tribeca this year, where it picked up the Best Documentary award. Screenings also included Hot Docs, Traverse City, AFI Docs, DOXA, Human Rights Watch, Telluride Mountainfilm, Bergen, Zurich, Dokufest, and Camden. The film now comes to iTunes.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, December 13: FAKE IT SO REAL

Robert Greene’s look at the lives of aspiring pro wrestlers debuted at True/False in 2011. Screenings followed at Sarasota, Camden, Rooftop Films, Maryland, and CPH:DOX.

I wrote about the doc out of True/False

Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 9: SOLITARY

Kristi Jacobson’s exploration of longterm solitary confinement made its debut at Tribeca this Spring. It went on to screen at IDFA, Denver, Philadelphia, Stockholm, Human Rights Watch, AFI Docs, Sheffield, and Traverse City, among other fests.

Jacobson’s film is set within Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison, one of more than 40 American supermax prisons where inmates are often kept in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours each day. Having broken general population prison rules through violence, escape attempts, or other disruptive behavior, the men profiled in this sobering project find their reality reduced to eight-by-ten cells for an indefinite period of time, only able to communicate with passing guards or occasionally via vents with neighboring inmates. Jacobson spends a year at Red Onion, and is able to speak with several of the incarcerated men – all of whom have committed serious, violent crimes, including murder – about their experiences in isolation. They speak of boredom, frustration, anger, and suicidal ideation, underscoring the impact of such punishment on their mental well-being. Without sugar-coating their dark pasts and criminal activity that led to their incarceration, Jacobson presents an eye-opening look at the excesses of a prison system that values punishment over rehabilitation.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 9: ON THE MAP

Dani Menkin’s look at Israeli basketball through a Cold War lens made its debut at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival earlier this year. Screenings followed at DOC NYC, Gold Coast, and Jewish fests in Boston, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, and Virginia, among other events.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, December 9: I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO

Raoul Peck’s adaptation of James Baldwin’s unfinished book on race in America debuted at Toronto this Fall. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, New Orleans, New York Film Festival, the Hamptons, Chicago, Virginia, AFI Fest, and Philadelphia, among other events. The film was announced this week as part of the Oscars shortlist. While the film’s primary release will take place in early February, its awards-qualifying run commences this weekend.

Before his death in 1987, author and public intellectual James Baldwin had planned to complete REMEMBER THIS HOUSE, a personal reflection on race through the stories of three men he knew well, martyrs of the civil rights movement Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. Peck has taken Baldwin’s 30 completed pages and crafted a masterwork examining the complex and contentious history of black lives in this country. While still focused on Baldwin’s intended main subjects, Peck’s cogent, gripping essay broadens the scope to include the author himself, represented in powerful archival interviews as well as through Samuel L Jackson’s recital of his writing, and takes on a sad, ever-present topicality, addressing the continued violence against African Americans signified by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Coming to VOD today, Thursday, December 8: OFF THE RAILS

Adam Irving’s look at a public transit-obsessed man had its premiere at Full Frame this Spring. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Hot Docs, Sarasota, RiverRun, Newport Beach, San Francisco Doc, Provincetown, Sidewalk, Woods Hole, DocUtah, Hot Springs Doc, Savannah, Denver, and St Louis, among other events. It now comes to VOD via Sundance Now.

I previously wrote about the doc here.