Category Archives: Recommendations

Telluride 2022: Documentary Overview

Festival:
The 49th Telluride Film Festival

Dates:
September 2-5

About:
The US film industry will be flocking to this Colorado cinephile retreat this weekend, where once again nonfiction makes up well over 60% of its new feature presentations.

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Streaming: AMERICAN RAPSTAR

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.

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Venice 2022: Documentary Overview

Festival:
The 79th Venice International Film Festival

Dates:
August 31-September 10

About:
Twenty documentaries appear as part of the approximately 75 feature offerings of this premier Italian event, while its autonomous sidebars present 14 docs among their 38 feature presentations, including the following.

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On TV/DVD: FAYA DAYI

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, August 29 and to DVD via Criterion Collection tomorrow, Tuesday, August 30:
FAYA DAYI

Director:
Jessica Beshir

World Premiere:
Sundance 2021

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, BlackStar, True/False, Full Frame, Visions du Reel, Seattle, New Directors/New Films, Rotterdam, Melbourne

Notable Recognition:
The doc was shortlisted for the Academy Awards.

About:
A poetic, sensorial journey into the highlands of Harar in eastern Ethiopia, the birthplace of khat.

I profiled the doc before Sundance here.

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In Theatres: LET THE LITTLE LIGHT SHINE

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.

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Streaming: GHOST FLEET

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.

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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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