Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 16: LEVITATED MASS
Doug Pray’s record of the installation of Michael Heizer’s titular sculpture premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year. Its festival circuit also included DOC NYC, Florida, Cleveland, Napa Valley, and Martha’s Vineyard.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Maysles Cinema today, Friday, December 12: THE THROWAWAYS
Ira McKinley and Bhawin Suchak’s personal exploration of African American inner-city life premiered at the Rated SR Film Festival this Spring. It has also screened at Film Columbia, New Hampshire, Harlem, the Finger Lakes, and the Catskills, among others.
When McKinley was a teenager, his father was killed by police. As an adult, he became addicted to crack and served time for robbery. When he was released, he found himself unable to find work with a felony conviction on his record, and became homeless. Determined to better himself, he pursued film production training via a public access television station and later used those skills to in turn teach youth how to make films themselves at an Albany community center. Witnessing firsthand the problems facing people in his African American community, often at the hands of local law enforcement, and without sufficient intervention or interest by politicians, McKinley began documenting their experience. This story forms the core of his film, co-directed with Suchak, which locates racially biased, systemic mass incarceration as the root cause of the troubles facing not only his community, but African American communities throughout the country. McKinley’s film is strongest when it concentrates on the community activist’s own history, but becomes weaker when it broadens out to try to tackle the larger challenges facing Albany’s African American neighborhoods. Still, in light of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases, the themes of the film, and its exposure of the New Jim Crow in American society, are sadly all too topical, with McKinley’s attempt to bear witness to its impact carrying power.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to theatres this Friday, December 12: MAIDAN
Sergei Loznitsa’s front line chronicle of the Ukrainian protests made its world premiere at Cannes this May. It has screened extensively since, including berths at Toronto, London, Karlovy Vary, Vancouver, DOK Leipzig, Zurich, Sarajevo, and IDFA, among others.
Filmed between December 2013 and February 2014, as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians gathered at the historic, titular square to demand their country align with the European Union, Loznitsa’s rigorously formalist portrait documents the mood of the crowd as the situation shifts from righteous euphoria to embattled revolution. Composed of a series of static, widescreen shots, the film foregrounds the idea of mass protest – there are no individuals here, no cutaways to interviews, no identification of protest leaders – as the business of revolution is carried out, from the logistics of distributing food and other supplies to the camaraderie-building singing of songs. While Loznitsa resists providing much in the way of context, allowing diegetic announcements to provide the scene setting, the audience soon enough makes sense of what is transpiring around them. As time passes, and the government bans the protest, the mood changes, with altercations taking place between protestors and armed police, tear gas fired at the cameraman, necessitating the camera’s only real movement as it captures the commotion and concern. While its initial slow-moving pace may tax some viewers’ patience, the film’s ability to envelop its audience within the unfolding revolution proves to have quite the impact, making this a memorable entry in the recent spate of protest documentaries that have emerged in the wake of such events as Occupy and the Arab Spring.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, December 12: WE ARE THE GIANT
Greg Barker’s portrait of Arab Spring activists made its bow at Sundance this year. It has gone on to screen at Nantucket, Hot Docs, IDFA, Heartland, Docuwest, Hawaii, and AFI Docs, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to CNN tomorrow, Thursday, December 11: DINOSAUR 13
Todd Miller’s look at a custody battle over fossil remains had its world premiere at Sundance this year. Other fest engagements have included Traverse City, Sydney, Melbourne, and its local setting of the Black Hills. After a theatrical and VOD release, the film now makes its broadcast debut.
I previously profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
This is the fourth pointer to the lineup announcements for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Just announced are the selections for Shorts programming, located here.
Previously announced: US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions and NEXT; Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, and New Frontier; and Premieres, Documentary Premieres, and Special Events.
Filed under Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations, Sundance
The 11th edition of the Dubai International Film Festival, the oldest Gulf State event of its kind, begins tomorrow, Wednesday, December 10, and runs for a week. This year’s festival has seen some radical changes due to budget constraints, largely reflected in the elimination of its co-production platform, as well as other perennial programs such as the Muhr Asia/Africa Awards section. As a whole, the event showcases a tighter line-up in 2014, including slightly fewer documentary features – 21 to last year’s 25. About a third of these are familiar from other festivals’ programming, while the remaining largely represent new regional work.
The Arabian Nights section includes Wafa Jamil’s COFFEE FOR ALL NATIONS, about a Palestinian man who opens a small coffee shop accessible to Palestinians and Israelis alike; and Takeharu Watai’s PEACE ON THE TIGRIS – IRAQ WAR AND 10 YEARS OF LIFE IN BAGHDAD, which follows the Japanese filmmaker as he tries to reunite with the Baghdad residents he filmed at the onset of the war in 2003; while the Cinema of the World’s doc offerings include Gautam Sonti and Usha Rao’s OUR METROPOLIS (pictured), chronicling Bangalore’s residents’ struggle against the forced development of their city.
Several nonfiction works are included in the Muhr Feature category: Reine Mitri’s IN THIS LAND LAY GRAVES OF MINE (pictured), an exploration of racial and religious territorialism in Lebanese land sales; Bassem Fayad’s DIARIES OF A FLYING DOG, about a Lebanese man and his dog, both with obsessive compulsive disorder; Hazem Alhamwi’s FROM MY SYRIAN ROOM, a personal reckoning with Syria’s 2011 civil war; Hind Shoufani’s TRIP ALONG EXODUS, about the filmmaker’s father, a 1970s Palestinian revolutionary; Salim Abu Jabal’s ROSHMIA, which follows the efforts of an elderly Palestinian couple to seek compensation for the forced relocation; and Nujoom Al Ghanem’s NEARBY SKY, the story of the struggle of the first female Emirati to enter her camel in the traditionally male-led camel beauty pageant.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to theatres today, Monday, December 8 and to DVD and VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 9: JINGLE BELL ROCKS!
Mitchell Kezin’s celebration of Christmas music had its world premiere at IDFA last year. It has gone on to screen at DOC NYC, New Orleans, Cleveland, Lone Star, St Louis, and Whistler.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Ever since he was a kid, Mitchell Kezin has loved Christmas music. But the likes of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “White Christmas” don’t excite the filmmaker – he’s on a search for the twelve best, under-appreciated Christmas songs ever recorded. His infectious quest leads him to other holiday music fanatics, including hip hop legend Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons of RUN-DMC, The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and filmmaker John Waters, and uncovers such unexpected tunes as “Santa Claus Was a Black Man” and “Christmas in Vietnam.”
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, December 8: REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG
Nancy Kates’ exploration of the noted writer made its bow at Tribeca, where it picked up a special jury prize. Other fest screenings have included Seattle, Sheffield, Vancouver, San Francisco Jewish, Frameline, Outfest, Inside Out, Provincetown, IDFA, Doku.arts, and the United Nations Association Film Festival.
Recalling a foregone era in American culture when a critical writer was far more easily able to attain widespread, mainstream fame, Kates recounts the complex personal and professional history of Susan Sontag, the author of such seminal works as “Notes on ‘Camp,'” AGAINST INTERPRETATION, and ON PHOTOGRAPHY. Deftly balancing biographical elements with excerpts from her output of writing, filmmaking, and media appearances, the film crafts a compelling, sometimes contradictory portrait that remains respectful without descending to the hagiographic. As noted in her own words – voiced here by Patricia Clarkson – Sontag’s curious relationship to her own sexuality informed her writing, and though she maintained an air of privacy around her lesbian affairs in public, they form a significant, and sometimes surprising, portion of the film, with several former lovers interviewed here or appearing in archival footage. On the professional side, Kates examines not only the work which drew her acclaim, such as those indicated above, but also less successful efforts, such as her first novel, the derided experimental THE BENEFACTOR, and her lambasted first film, DUET FOR CANNIBALS. Despite Sontag’s late-in-life feelings of dissatisfaction and failure in her career, Kates’ film serves as a potent reminder that the writer was once celebrated in our culture as a polymath, proudly intellectual and a contributor to an enriching and enlightening discourse around a wide-range of interests.
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Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, December 5: THE LAST IMPRESARIO
Gracie Otto’s portrait of an acclaimed theatre and film producer debuted at BFI London last year. Its fest circuit has included DOC NYC, Hamptons, Dubai, Glasgow, Biografilm, and Sydney, among others. FilmBuff now releases the film on VOD platforms including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Xbox, PlayStation, and Google Play.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
From OH! CALCUTTA! and THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW to MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, producer Michael White has helped bring enduring cultural touchstones to Broadway, London’s West End, and the silver screen over the last four decades, but the bon vivant may be the most famous person you’ve never heard of. Thanks to a chance meeting in Cannes, Gracie Otto welcomely corrects that in this buoyant profile featuring admirers like Naomi Watts, John Cleese, Anna Wintour and Kate Moss.
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what (not) to doc 