Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to OVID today, Monday, September 12:
BOY I AM

Director:
Sam Feder, Julie Hollar

World Premiere:
NewFest 2006

Select Festivals:
Outfest, Frameline, LGBT fests in Tucson, Seattle, Budapest

About:
An exploration of provocative issues rarely touched upon in films portraying trans male subjects.

The film screened at NewFest, for which our program notes read:
It is only in recent years that transgender people and their issues have gained significant visibility within the larger LGBTQ community. But visibility has not translated into instant acceptance or understanding from everyone. For some within the lesbian community, the act of FTM transitioning is viewed at best as a naive social trend, or, at worst, an anti-feminist rejection of butchness and female power in favor of male privilege. Sam Feder and Julie Hollar’s timely and balanced documentary uses the engaging stories of three NYC-based FTMs, as well as interviews with a number of activists and scholars, to explore this controversy and get to its historical and cultural roots.

Coming to Amazon Prime Video today, Friday, September 9:
FLIGHT/RISK

Director:
Karim Amer, Omar Mullick

World Premiere:
Amazon Prime Video (September 2022)

About:
Families, their legal teams, whistleblowers, and Pulitzer-winning Seattle Times journalist Dominic Gates find themselves in the midst of a global tragedy when two Boeing 737 Max planes crashed only five months apart in 2018 and 2019.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 9:
THE BENGALI

Director:
Kavery Kaul

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, New Orleans, Rhode Island

About:
Fatima, a New Orleans dwelling descendant of African Americans and Indian immigrants, ventures to Kolkata, India, in search of her long-lost family.

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.