Coming to PBS’ ITVS series Global Voices this Sunday, August 5: THE COLLABORATOR AND HIS FAMILY
Ruthie Shatz and Adi Barash’s intimate portrait of a Palestinian family seeking political asylum in Israel made its world premiere at Visions du Réel last year. Its festival circuit has included Hot Docs, Antenna, DMZ Docs, Planete Doc, DocAviv, DocLisboa, and Yamagata, picking up awards at the latter three.
I wrote about the film out of Hot Docs here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Film Forum next Wednesday, August 8: MEET THE FOKKENS
Rob Schröder and Gabriëlle Provaas’ portrait of two sexworker siblings made its premiere last year at IDFA. Additional festivals have included Planete Doc, Hot Docs, and Silverdocs.
I included the film in my Hot Docs coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres (as part of the International Documentary Association’s Oscar-qualifying DocuWeeks) at NYC’s IFC Center this Friday, August 3 and at LA’s Laemmle NoHo 7 on Friday, August 24: LOVE FREE OR DIE
Macky Alston premiered his portrait of gay bishop Gene Robinson at Sundance earlier this year, where he picked up a special jury prize. Since then, the film has had numerous community and festival screenings, including Cleveland, Full Frame, RiverRun, Nashville, QDoc, Seattle, Outfest, and Inside Out, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres (as part of the International Documentary Association’s Oscar-qualifying DocuWeeks) at NYC’s IFC Center this Friday, August 3 and at LA’s Laemmle NoHo 7 on Friday, August 10: LA SOURCE
Patrick Shen’s story of one Haitian’s quest to provide his village with clean water had its world premiere earlier this Summer at Silverdocs. Upcoming screenings after DocuWeeks include Colorado’s DocuWest, with further engagements forthcoming.
I included the film in my coverage of Silverdocs for Indiewire, writing:
Patrick Shen expands on one of the subjects of his earlier film, THE PHILOSOPHER KINGS, in this portrait of Josue Lajeunesse, a janitor at Princeton by day and cabdriver by night, who finally realizes a long-held dream to bring clean water to his rural Haitian hometown. Against the backdrop of the devastating aftermath of the earthquake, Shen presents an uplifting story of humanitarianism and development stemming from the local level.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s Rooftop Films this Saturday, August 4: THE PATRON SAINTS
Brian Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s evocative and unsettlingly humorous exploration of a nursing home made its world premiere at Toronto last year. It went on to screen at Rotterdam, Planete Doc, and BAMcinemaFest, among others.
I included the doc in my Toronto roundup here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s “Art of the Real” film series this Thursday, August 2: SOMEWHERE BETWEEN
Linda Goldstein Knowlton’s exploration of Chinese cross-cultural adoption had its world premiere last year at Hot Docs, where it won the people’s choice award. It went on to win a jury prize in Milwaukee, and also screened at Vancouver, Aspen, Portland, and LAFF among others.
I wrote about the film out of Hot Docs for Indiewire, saying:
Finally, this issue of belonging is key to Linda Goldstein Knowlton’s SOMEWHERE BETWEEN, which had its world premiere at Hot Docs this week. The director of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET embarked on this film after she adopted her young daughter from China. Concerned about the questions her daughter might ask her about identity and cross-cultural adoption, Goldstein Knowlton sought out teenage girls who were similarly adopted from China and raised in the US. Her young subjects speak eloquently about their experiences, and on their varying desire to reconnect with their places of origin to gain a greater sense of self, reach closure with their pasts, or find a truer sense of belonging to their original cultural and homeland. While the doc is unquestionably emotionally affecting, I felt that two of the young women’s stories — Fang, who bonds with a little Chinese girl with cerebral palsy and helps her get adopted; and Hailey, whose return to the site of her abandonment yields surprising results — overshadow the other two subjects, who I’m hard pressed to even remember at this point. In addition, the brief bookends, explaining via narration the filmmaker’s personal reasons for making the film, are unnecessary; I’d prefer to see them gone completely. Still, the film is successful at getting to the heart of some rather huge issues around identity and belonging.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 31: LAST DAYS HERE
Don Argott and Demian Fenton’s portrait of a musician who’s seen better times made its world premiere at SXSW last year. After a festival circuit that also included awards at the Independent Film Festival Boston and IDFA, the film was released theatrically and on DVD this Winter.
I included the doc in my SXSW coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Now screening at NYC’s Anthology Film Archive through this Thursday, August 2: ABENDLAND
Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s lyrical look at Europe by night premiered at last year’s Diagonale in Austria. It’s gone on to screen at Visions du Reel, Hot Docs, MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight, and True/False, among others.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to HBO next Monday, July 30: ABOUT FACE: SUPERMODELS, THEN & NOW
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ profile of beauty, aging, and the first supermodels made its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. Since then, it has screened at Hot Docs, Montclair, Provincetown, and Los Angeles, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to NYC’s Quad this Friday, July 27 and to LA’s Laemmle Noho 7 next Friday, August 3: BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!*
Fredrik Gertten’s behind-the-scenes chronicle of the controversy of his previous doc BANANAS!* made its world premiere at IDFA. It came stateside at Sundance and continued on to screen at numerous festivals including DocPoint, Tempo, Hot Docs, Planete, and Sheffield.
I wrote about the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
