Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to theatres today, Friday, November 4: THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES

Brett Story’s meditation on the impact of the prison system across America premiered at True/False this year. Additional screenings included Hot Docs, Art of the Real, Camden, Reykjavik, Ann Arbor, DOXA, and New Orleans, among other events.

The United States leads the world in mass incarceration, making the criminal justice system a sadly perennial topic for documentary filmmakers. Story’s project takes a distinctly different approach in her consideration of the prison-industrial complex – chiefly, she never shows a prison on camera or enters into a cell. Instead, the film offers a series of vignettes demonstrating the less visible signs of our society’s penchant for criminalization and punishment and the consequences for individuals, communities, families, and economies. Stories range from a former prisoner turned park chess player and a man who has developed a cottage industry in supplying prison-approved goods for sale to the family members of the incarcerated, to a former Kentucky coal town now dependent on a prison for jobs and an African American woman who demonstrates racially-motivated policing through her experience of serving two weeks in prison for a minor trashcan violation on her own property. While diffuse in its scope by design, the film effectively builds to a damning indictment of the systemic injustices of policies in dire need of a radical overhaul.

Coming to the World Channel’s Doc World series this Sunday, November 6: A GOAT FOR A VOTE

Jeroen van Velzen’s made its world premiere on Dutch television in 2014. Its festival circuit included Traverse City, Sarasota, Camden, Movies That Matter, and One World, among others.

A look at African democracy in a microcosm, van Velzen’s appealing project follows a secondary school presidential election in a small Kenyan village. The three-way race is between Said, a popular rich kid; Harry, a quiet boy from the poor side of the tracks; and Magdalene, who dreams of being the school’s first female president. While Said aims to charm his classmates by composing a catchy rap, Harry hits upon the idea of bribing voters with goat meat, and Magdalene attempts to disrupt the boys’ efforts by creating a unified female student voting bloc to place her in power. As a midlength, the film demonstrates compact observational storytelling – but perhaps a bit too compact, limiting van Velzen’s ability to fully flesh out his protagonists. Still, in a nation where many past federal elections have included charges of fraud and led to violence, this offers an interesting exploration of these young subjects’ perceptions of how political campaigns are meant to operate.

Coming to theatres and to VOD tomorrow, Friday, November 4: PETER AND THE FARM

Tony Stone’s portrait of an isolated farmer debuted at True/False at the beginning of the year. It went on to screen at New Directors/New Films, San Francisco, Melbourne, Camden, and Poland’s American fest, among other events.

Peter Dunning has worked his Mile Hill Farm for 35 years, and it has taken its toil. He came to Vermont as part of the back to the land movement, and for a time, Mile Hill was an idyllic place, drawing his friends and family together. Now 68 years old, Peter is alone, estranged from his grown children, his marriage having ended long ago, a victim of his depression and alcoholism. Somehow, he still maintains a wry humor, and a penchant for storytelling, preventing this artfully composed profile from feeling either exploitative or unrelentingly dark, leaving an indelible impression of the man and his work.

New to DVD this week: DEEP WEB

Alex Winter’s look at the dark corners of the Internet debuted at SXSW last year. It went on to screen at Full Frame, San Francisco, Hot Docs, and Montclair, among other fests.

I previously wrote about the doc here.