Category Archives: Recommendations

New to DVD this week: IN DEFENSE OF FOOD

Michael Schwartz’s exploration of Michael Pollan’s guide to healthy eating made its debut at Mill Valley last year. It went on to screen at the Austin, Life Sciences, and Feast on This film fests, and to be broadcast on PBS this Winter.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, March 4: THEY WILL HAVE TO KILL US FIRST

Johanna Schwartz’s look at the plight of Mali’s exiled musicians made its bow at SXSW last year. Other screenings have included London, Göteborg, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Sound + Vision, Hot Docs, Singapore, RIDM, Cork, Calgary, and Durban.

Recognizing that Western audiences are unlikely to know much, if anything, about Mali’s complex recent sociopolitical history, Schwartz wisely, and fittingly, opens her film with a primer via rap, establishing the present, tentative status quo: After decades fighting for their independence, the MNLA, a group of nomadic Touareg of the northern part of Mali, join forces with a jihadist group that inherits arms from Libya after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, and aggressively subjugate the populace under sharia law. One consequence in northern cities like Timbuktu and Gao is the total ban on music in 2012. The film profiles several Malian musicians, including Songhoy Blues, a foursome formed in exile that attracts the attention of Damon Albarn, Brian Eno, and Nick Zinner, fostering international success; Kharia, an acclaimed singer who defies threats to organize a public concert in Timbuktu; Disco, a singer and activist who is actually married to an MNLA leader; and Moussa, a guitarist who returns from exile to try to reunite with his persecuted wife. While not every story thread feels fully fleshed out, suggesting that Schwartz may have benefited from focusing on fewer subjects, the film nevertheless offers a poignant exploration of the impact of censorship and repression on a culture.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 1: SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY

Mary Dore’s chronicle of women’s liberation’s early years debuted at Sarasota in 2014. Its fest circuit has included DOC NYC, Virginia, St Louis, Milwaukee, Cucalorus, and IFF Boston, among others.

I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.

Coming to VOD today, Monday, February 29: HEART OF A DOG

Laurie Anderson’s musings on life and death had its world premiere at Telluride last year. Screenings followed at Venice, Toronto, San Sebastian, New York, Adelaide, and Chicago, among other events. The film was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature of 2015. It now comes to VOD on iTunes.

I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.

Coming to PBS’ American Experience tomorrow, Tuesday, March 1: SPACE MEN

Amanda Pollak’s look back at the long-forgotten experiments that helped lead to space makes its debut on the acclaimed public television series.

While the names Sputnik, Yuri Gargarin, Apollo 8, and Mercury 7 will forever be linked to early space exploration in the minds of the general public, that likely can’t be said for John Paul Stapp, David Simons, Joseph Kittinger, Manhigh, or Excelsior. For a period in the late 1950s through 1960, however, these men and their high-altitude Air Force projects involving balloons would garner high-profile coverage in publications like Life and The New York Times, and their early designation as “Space Men.” Pollak uncovers their fascinating story, which was eventually overshadowed by the growth of NASA and its corresponding lion’s share of government funding and international press. In the process, the film demonstrates how their experiments proved pivotal in the development of the nascent space program, providing experiential data that pushed the boundaries of what humans were thought to be able to withstand, physically and mentally, in the unknown terrain of space.

Coming to Independent Lens tonight, Monday, February 29: WILHEMINA’S WAR

June Cross’ look at life with HIV in the rural American South had its world premiere at DOC NYC last year. It has also screened at LA’s Pan African and Black Hollywood film fests.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
While the perception of AIDS in America has changed from the death sentence it once was to a disease managed by medicine, in the deep South, HIV continues to claim the lives of rural black women in epidemic numbers. Despite facing institutional and personal obstacles every step of the way, 62-year-old Wilhemina Dixon works tirelessly to combat the stigma and care for her daughter and granddaughter, both HIV+.