Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens today, Monday, November 22:
DUTY FREE
Director:
Sian-Pierre Regis
World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2020
Select Festivals:
Big Sky, Miami, ACT Human Rights
About:
As his recently laid off mother struggles to find a new job at the age of 75, the filmmaker celebrates her lifetime of self-sacrifice.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to CNN tomorrow, Saturday, November 20:
THE HUNT FOR PLANET B
Director:
Nathaniel Kahn
World Premiere:
SXSW 2021
About:
A behind-the-scenes look at NASA’s high-stakes James Webb Space Telescope, following a pioneering group of scientists—many of them women—on their quest to find another Earth among the stars.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, November 19:
THE FIRST WAVE
Director:
Matthew Heineman
World Premiere:
Hamptons 2021
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, BFI London, Busan, Hot Springs Doc, Philadelphia, Montclair, Savannah, AFI Fest
About:
A powerful look at the doctors, nurses, and patients on the frontlines during the “first wave” of COVID-19 in New York City from March to June 2020.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Netflix tomorrow, Friday, November 19:
PROCESSION
Director:
Robert Greene
World Premiere:
Telluride 2021
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Camden, Heartland, Montclair, Philadelphia, AFI Fest
About:
Six men, each abused by Catholic priests and, decades later, still in search of peace collaborate with the director and a team of therapists to create short films confronting their pasts.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres and VOD tomorrow, Friday, November 19:
CAPTAINS OF ZAATARI
Director:
Ali El Arabi
World Premiere:
Sundance 2021
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Visions du Reel, DMZ Docs, San Francisco, Seattle, Moscow, Melbourne, El Gouna, Docslisboa
About:
Teenage best friends share soccer dreams while living in the titular Syrian refugee camp.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to OVID.tv today, Thursday, November 18:
THE LAST SEASON
Director:
Sara Dosa
World Premiere:
San Francisco 2014
Select Festivals:
New Orleans, Hot Docs, Mountainfilm, Big Sky, Sebastopol Doc, United Nations Association, Seattle Asian American
About:
A portrait of a mushroom foraging clan.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to DVD this week:
KAREN DALTON: IN MY OWN TIME
Director:
Robert Yapkowitz, Richard Peete
World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2020
Select Festivals:
Docaviv, Minneapolis-St Paul, Melbourne
About:
A portrait of the forgotten figure from the 1960s NYC folk music scene.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Festival:
The 34th IDFA
Dates:
November 17-28
About:
Amsterdam hosts the premier nonfiction event in the world, presenting approximately 140 new and recent documentary features, in addition to shorts, live performances, and interactive works.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to Paramount+ today, Monday, November 15:
SABAYA
Director:
Hogir Hirori
World Premiere:
Sundance 2021
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, CPH:DOX, True/False, Docaviv, Hong Kong, Moscow, Melbourne
About:
An immersion into dangerous efforts to rescue Yazidi women and girls from their horrific fate as ISIS sex slaves.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Friday, November 12:
CUSP
Director:
Parker Hill, Isabel Bethencourt
World Premiere:
Sundance 2021
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Camden, AFI Docs, Stockholm
About:
An intimate chronicle of the lives of three teenage girls in a Texas military town.
I previously wrote about the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
what (not) to doc 