Category Archives: Recommendations

On DVD/VOD: THE EARTH IS BLUE AS AN ORANGE

Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, August 23:
THE EARTH IS BLUE AS AN ORANGE

Director:
Iryna Tsilyk

World Premiere:
Sundance 2020

Select Festivals:
Berlin, IDFA, Hot Docs, Doc Fortnight, Thessaloniki Doc, ZagrebDox, Docs Against Gravity, Biografilm, Docudays UA, Reykjavik, Zurich, Dokufest, Adelaide, Seattle

About:
A Ukrainian family processes life in a war zone by making films about their experience.

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In Theatres: THREE MINUTES — A LENGTHENING

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo: Family Affair Films

Coming to theatres today, Friday, August 19:
THREE MINUTES — A LENGTHENING

Director:
Bianca Stigter

World Premiere:
Venice 2021

Select Festivals:
Sundance, Toronto, IDFA, DOC NYC, Philadelphia, Göteborg, Thessaloniki Doc, Provincetown, Sydney, Cleveland, Docs Against Gravity

About:
A home movie shot by David Kurtz in 1938 in a Jewish town in Poland – the only moving images left of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk before the Holocaust – is examined to unravel the stories hidden in the celluloid.

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In Theatres: THE TERRITORY

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, August 19:
THE TERRITORY

Director:
Alex Pritz

World Premiere:
Sundance 2022

Select Festivals:
True/False, CPH:DOX, It’s All True, Docs Against Gravity, Philadelphia Environmental, Jerusalem, Movies That Matter, Cleveland, Seattle, Sydney

About:
When a network of Brazilian farmers seizes a protected area of the Amazon rainforest, a young Indigenous leader and his mentor must fight back in defense of the land and the people living deep within the forest.

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Streaming: SILVERLAKE LIFE: THE VIEW FROM HERE

Coming to OVID this Friday, August 19:
SILVERLAKE LIFE: THE VIEW FROM HERE

Director:
Peter Friedman, Tom Joslin

World Premiere:
Sundance 1993

About:
A video diary of life with AIDS, told with guts and humor by longtime lovers Tom Joslin and Mark Massi, celebrates the power of love in the face of a devastating illness.

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On TV & Streaming: THE PRINCESS

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Kent Gavin

Coming to HBO and HBO Max tomorrow, Saturday, August 13:
THE PRINCESS

Director:
Ed Perkins

World Premiere:
Sundance 2022

Select Festivals:
Biografilm

About:
Princess Diana’s story is told exclusively through contemporaneous archive, creating a bold and immersive narrative of her life and death, illuminating the profound impact she had, and demonstrating how the public’s attitude to the monarchy was, and still is, shaped by these events.

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Special Screening: RIOTSVILLE, USA

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films tomorrow, Saturday, August 13:
RIOTSVILLE, USA

Director:
Sierra Pettengill

World Premiere:
Sundance 2022

Select Festivals:
New Directors/New Films, True/False, CPH:DOX, Seattle, Freep, San Francisco, Traverse City

About:
Footage shot by the media and government of a fictional town built by the US military explores the militarization of the police and the reaction of a nation to the uprisings of the late 1960s, creating a counter-narrative to a critical moment in American history.

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In Theatres: FREE CHOL SOO LEE

Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Grant Din

Coming to theatres today, Friday, August 12:
FREE CHOL SOO LEE

Director:
Julie Ha, Eugene Yi

World Premiere:
Sundance 2022

Select Festivals:
BAMcinemaFest, Santa Barbara, Milwaukee, CAAMFest, Los Angeles, Asian Pacific, Asian American fests in New York, Seattle, San Diego, Denver, Chicago, Austin

About:
After a Korean immigrant is wrongly convicted of a 1973 San Francisco Chinatown gang murder, Asian Americans unite as never before to free Chol Soo Lee.

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On VOD: HE DREAMS OF GIANTS

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, August 9:
HE DREAMS OF GIANTS

Director:
Keith Fulton, Lou Pepe

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2019

Select Festivals:
AFI Fest, Cleveland, Dublin, Taipei Golden Horse, Raindance

About:
A behind-the-scenes look at Terry Gilliam’s THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE.

The film screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
For 30 years, Terry Gilliam struggled to make a screen adaptation of DON QUIXOTE, including an abandoned attempt chronicled in Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s 2002 documentary LOST IN LA MANCHA. Gilliam never gave up and neither did the documentarians. This film represents the culmination of all their efforts in an epic and poignant portrait. We watch Gilliam bring all his talent, obsession, and humor to confronting self-doubt, the pressure to compromise, and the need to realize a long-held dream.

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On VOD: FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, August 9:
FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK

Director:
Bobbi Jo Hart

World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2021

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, DOXA, Inside Out, Frameline, Outfest, Los Angeles Asian Pacific, Santa Barbara, Athena, Cleveland, In-Edit, Hawaii, Doc’n Roll, Woodstock, Florida

About:
Ferocious female rockers Fanny, who shattered glass ceilings in the ’70s, collecting fans like David Bowie before being buried in retro record bins, reunite fifty years later with a new record deal and a chance to rewrite history.

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On DVD: CALENDAR GIRL

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 9:
CALENDAR GIRL

Director:
Christian D Bruun

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2020

Select Festivals:
Miami Jewish, LA Fashion Festival, Berkshire

About:
Ruth Finley, the nonagenarian queen of the fashion industry through her pink Fashion Calendar, founded in 1945, faces the end of an era as her iconic publication changes ownership. 

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