Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, September 6:
FREDDIE MERCURY: THE FINAL ACT

Director:
James Rogan

World Premiere:
BBC broadcast (November 2021)

About:
Set against a backdrop of relationship highs, personal lows, and the Queen catalogue, the extraordinary final chapter of Freddie Mercury’s life.

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, September 5:
LOVE & STUFF

Director:
Judith Helfand

Co-Director:
David Cohen

World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2020

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, New York Jewish, Docudays UA

About:
Faced with the loss of her beloved mother and becoming a first-time mom herself, the filmmaker has a lot of stuff to deal with.

The film screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
In less than a year, filmmaker Judith Helfand goes through two major life moments: losing her beloved mother, Florence, and becoming a mom herself. As Judith prepares to welcome her adopted daughter, Theo, into her life, she must deal with literal and figurative “stuff:” endless boxes of her parents’ belongings, the promise she made to Florence to lose weight, reckoning with first-time motherhood at the age of 50, and moving on without her mother to help guide her.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 2:
LOVING HIGHSMITH

Director:
Eva Vitija

World Premiere:
Solothurner 2022

Select Festivals:
Locarno, Docaviv, Biografilm, Outfest, Provincetown, Sydney

About:
Her thrilling best-sellers were adapted into hit films, but in her previously unpublished private journals, Patricia Highsmith is revealed as a woman who had to keep her love for women out of sight and away from her family.

Coming to Hulu tomorrow, Thursday, September 1:
AMERICAN RAPSTAR

Director:
Justin Staple 

World Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2020

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, SXSW, Doc’n Roll

About:
An eye-opening exploration of the SoundCloud rap phenomenon, a scene of troubled, young, lo-fi rappers that has used social media to develop a rabid fan base.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, August 26:
LET THE LITTLE LIGHT SHINE

Director:
Kevin Shaw

World Premiere:
True/False 2022

Select Festivals:
Black Star, Full Frame, Doc 10, Minneapolis-St Paul, Doclands, Freep, Milwaukee, Ashland

About:
A high-achieving elementary school near downtown Chicago is a lifeline for Black children – until gentrification threatens its closure.

Coming to Topic tomorrow, Thursday, August 25:
GHOST FLEET

Directors:
Shannon Service, Jeffrey Waldron

World Premiere:
Telluride 2018

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Toronto, Berlin, Doc Edge, Seattle, El Gouna, Hamptons, Palm Springs, Cleveland

About:
A harrowing look at slavery on the high seas.

I previously wrote about the doc here.