Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, December 2: BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Garrett Zevgetis’ profile of a quirky young blind woman on the autism spectrum debuted at SXSW this Spring. Its fest circuit also included Hot Docs, Camden, Margaret Mead, Mill Valley, Florida, IFFBoston, Dallas, Bentonville, Philadelphia, Denver, and IndieBo.

Michelle is a 20 year old self-proclaimed outcast living in rural Maine with her mother. Since being graduated from the Perkins School for the Blind, she has struggled to engage with the outside world, but finds an outlet for her creativity and need for belonging through the Internet. Unexpectedly, it is here that she finds a boyfriend and a mutual interest in kink, an intriguing curveball that Zevegtis cautiously rolls with as he follows his appealing protagonist over several years. The result is a strange little film, but one with charm – part universal coming of ager, part celebration of self-assured difference.

Coming to DVD and VOD tomorrow, Friday, December 2: MAVIS!

Jessica Edwards’ affectionate tribute to the soul singer debuted at SXSW last year. Its fest circuit also included Nantucket, IDFA, Sheffield, New Zealand, Melbourne, Martha’s Vineyard African American, Vancouver, Woodstock, Mill Valley, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Athena, and Big Sky, among other events. In addition to its DVD release, the doc now comes to iTunes and Amazon.

I previously wrote about the film here.

Coming to theatres this Friday, December 2: FIRST LADY OF THE REVOLUTION

Andrea Kalin’s profile of a Southern belle turned Central American political figure bowed at Sidewalk Film Festival this Summer. It also has screened at Hot Springs Doc, Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, and theatrically throughout Costa Rica.

Kalin chronicles the 1948 civil war in Costa Rica that presaged radical changes to the Central American nation from the perspective of one of its most unlikely players: Henrietta Boggs. The young woman, born in South Carolina and later a resident of Alabama, was a college student and aspiring journalist when she visited family in Costa Rica in 1940, met coffee farmer José Figueres, and decided to marry him. Over the next few years, Figueres emerged as popular opposition leader to the repressive government. With Boggs at his side as a pivotal behind-the-scenes advisor and confidante, Figueres fled the country in exile before finally coming to power in the aftermath of the 1948 revolution. Together the couple established a new constitution and government, introducing progressive reforms like the abolishment of the nation’s military which led to unprecedented stability and peace. Kalin has found a very appealing subject around whom to frame a largely forgotten but compelling story.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 29: TOMORROW WE DISAPPEAR

Jimmy Goldblum and Adam Weber’s portrait of a vanishing Indian artist colony debuted at Tribeca in 2014. Screenings followed at Hot Docs, Melbourne, Austin, Aspen, Hot Springs Doc, and Camden, among other events.

For hundreds of years, New Delhi’s Kathputli was home to an eclectic assortment of artists and performers – traditional puppeteers, magicians, acrobats, and jugglers who would ply their craft on the streets of the city. As Goldblum and Weber begin their tale, the artist colony has been sold by the government for real estate development, with plans to install a luxury skyscraper and mall after the dwellings are razed, displacing the nearly 3000 residents. The film follows the different reactions to Kathputli’s impending demise, focused on three of its artists: acclaimed puppeteer Puran Bhatt, who tries to organize resistance to the government’s planned relocation; street magician Rahman Shah, who tires of police harassment and considers leaving the city altogether; and young acrobat Maya Pawar, who welcomes the change, hoping for a better life. Rather than constructing the expected David vs Goliath social activism film, the directors instead opt for a quieter, more poignant study of how the colony responds to change.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, November 30: BOBBY SANDS: 66 DAYS

Brendan J Byrne’s intimate chronicle of the legendary IRA leader’s hunger strike debuted at Hot Docs earlier this year. The film also screened at DOC NYC, Galway, Sheffield, and Antenna Doc, among other events.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In 1981, at the height of the sectarian violence and nationalism in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles, a group of Irish Republican Army prisoners, led by Bobby Sands, went on a hunger strike to demand special recognition as political prisoners. Archival footage, Sands’s prison diary, and testimonials from key players reveal how this desperate tactic would bring the world’s attention to their struggle, elevate him to martyrdom, and shape the conflict for decades to come.

Coming to NYC’s JCC Manhattan as part of its CineMatters series tomorrow, Tuesday, November 29: ON THE MAP

Dani Menkin’s story of the underdog 1977 Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team debuted at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival earlier this year. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Gold Coast, and Jewish fests in Boston, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, and Virginia, among others.

In 1977, after years of failing to make it past the initial round of the European Cup basketball tournament, the Tel Aviv team achieved the seemingly impossible, winning against champion CSKA Moscow in the semi-final round. This victory over the Red Army team – which came after the USSR refused to play in Israel, a nation they did not formally recognize at the time – prompted Maccabi leader Tal Brody to declare that this put Israel “on the map” – both in basketball and in world affairs. Menkin’s engaging film, grounded in the context of Cold War politics and Israel’s tumultuous history, provides a comprehensive consideration of the symbolic weight of Brody’s sentiment, revisiting the basketball team that overshadowed all other Israeli events at the time, including the resignation of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin amidst a financial scandal involving his wife.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, November 29: SOUNDBREAKING: STORIES FROM THE CUTTING EDGE OF RECORDED MUSIC

Maro Chermayeff and Jeff Dupre’s look at the modern history of recorded music had its premiere at SXSW this Spring. Screenings followed at DOC NYC and San Francisco, among other events, before its PBS debut earlier this month.

I previously wrote about the series here.

Coming to the World Channel’s Doc World series this Sunday, November 27: WALKING UNDER WATER

Eliza Kubarska’s portrait of a tribe of sea nomads near Borneo premiered at Hot Docs in 2014, where it won a special jury prize. Its fest circuit also included Traverse City, Los Angeles, Reykjavik, Vancouver, Zurich, London, Planete+ Doc, Denver, Palm Springs, and Margaret Mead, among several others.

Kubarska’s focus is on the Badjao, a vanishing people who once traversed the seas around Borneo, dependent on spearing deepwater fish using dangerous diving techniques. Her subjects, Alexan and his nephew Sari, are among the few Badjao left who are trying to maintain their traditional way of life in the face of a changing world and efforts by local authorities to normalize their existence, settling them on land and turning their talents to the service of tourism. The film employs striking underwater camerawork to capture its subjects’ watery world, creating a stark contrast with the seemingly dead-end options of land-borne modernity that they’re being pushed towards.