Coming to DVD next Tuesday, May 15: DRAGONSLAYER
Tristan Patterson’s portrait of the coming of age of a skateboarder had its world premiere in competition at SXSW last year, where it won two awards. It went on to screen at nearly fifty additional fests, including Full Frame, Hot Docs, BAMcinemaFEST, Silverdocs, Camden, BFI London, CPH:DOX, IDFA, and RIDM. The doc was also booked in thirty theatrical venues since last Fall.
I included the film in my SXSW coverage
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
A major non-public side of Hot Docs is the accompanying Hot Docs Forum, a gathering of international commissioning editors and funders, and the filmmakers who are eager to get their support. My article about the best pitches presented at this year’s event is up at Indiewire here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief, Recommendations
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 8: THIS IS WHAT LOVE IN ACTION LOOKS LIKE
Morgan Jon Fox’s look at the activism against a controversial ex-gay program screened at Frameline last Summer. It picked up awards or special mentions at various LGBT fests – Spokane, Indianapolis, Birmingham – as well as at Indie Memphis.
In 2005, when sixteen-year-old Zach came out to his parents, they sent the Memphis teen to Love In Action, a fundamentalist Christian program designed to “cure” homosexuals of their addictive behavior. With nowhere to turn, Zach shared his anxiety over this decision on his MySpace blog – social media made his posts go viral, and spurred a series of daily protests outside of “Refuge,” LIA’s teen program, bringing media attention and pressure to close the facility. Memphis filmmaker (and protest participant) Fox was granted exclusive access to Zach to tell his story in detail, while also profiling the friends and strangers who organized around his plight, former clients of LIA, and, most revealing, the former director of LIA. Perhaps reflecting the six years it took to complete his doc, Fox errs on the side of caution, not pushing Zach for details on his experiences in Refuge or on his decision not to share his story in more depth until now, but as the double meaning of the title signals, the activism around Zach’s situation is where the filmmaker has largely decided to focus his attention. The urgency of the protests allows the film to avoid feeling dated, and, certainly, there are many similar programs around the country that continue to prey on people’s prejudices, sadly making the film still very much relevant and a compelling example of what can be accomplished by grassroot organizing.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’ Independent Lens next Thursday, May 10 as well as to DVD and VOD through iTunes: SUMMER PASTURE
Lynn True and Nelson Walker premiered their Tibetan verité doc at Full Frame in 2010, where it was honored with a special mention from the jury. In addition to numerous additional fest engagements, it received both Gotham and Spirit Award nominations.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
Coming to DVD next Tuesday, May 28: NORMAN MAILER: THE AMERICAN
Joseph Mantegna’s portrait of the outspoken author has screened at more than a dozen festivals in the past two years, including Denver, Edinburgh, Cleveland, and Provincetown. Along the way, it’s picked up awards in Orlando, Ft Lauderdale, and Dallas.
I wrote about the film out of Dallas here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
This post wraps up my coverage of Tribeca documentaries, covering a number of titles from the festival’s Spotlight and Viewpoints sections. Combined with the previous roundups, and films covered at other festivals, I managed to write about thirty-one of the thirty-nine feature docs in this year’s lineup. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief, Recommendations
In this second of three Tribeca roundup posts, I offer brief thoughts on a number of documentaries in the festival’s Spotlight, Viewpoints, and Tribeca Talks sections. For films in the World Documentary Competition and Special Screenings, see my earlier post. One final post will follow with additional docs from Spotlight and Viewpoints not covered below. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief, Recommendations
NYC’s Tribeca wrapped up its eleventh edition this weekend, announcing a number of jury and audience awards over the past few days, including: Best New Documentary Director to WAVUMBA (pictured), Best Documentary Editing to THE FLAT, Best Documentary Feature to THE WORLD BEFORE HER, Tribeca (Online) Best Feature to ON THE MAT, and Documentary Audience Award to BURN. I offer my thoughts below on the first two, and will hold off on writing about WORLD until after Hot Docs, since it is part of the competition there for which I am a juror. Unfortunately, I missed BURN, but will address MAT in the second part of my Tribeca coverage in the next day or so – this post covers the World Documentary Competition and Special Screenings, while the next will look at documentaries in the Spotlight, Viewpoints, and Tribeca Talks sections. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, In Brief, Recommendations
Coming to PBS’ Independent Lens this Thursday, May 3: CIRCO
Aaron Schock’s portrait of a circus family premiered at Los Angeles, and went on to screen at True/False, Palm Springs, and the Hamptons, where it won Best Documentary. It enjoyed a limited theatrical release last year.
My thoughts on the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
This post wraps up my overview of docs that have caught my eye in this year’s Hot Docs, one of the largest and most influential non-fiction events in the world. I’ll be heading up to Toronto on Tuesday, and the following, together with those noted in my earlier post are docs I’m hoping to see: Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
