In commemoration of Rosh Hashanah, this week’s indieWIRE-curated Hulu documentaries offers up a series of unique portraits of Jewish lives and Jewish identity, past and present. View all of these docs for free now!
For more information about the selections, see my iW article.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Indiewire @ Hulu Docs, Recommendations
The Camden International Film Festival begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday. Sadly, I won’t be able to make it. Hopefully next year. Despite its closeted name, Camden is a doc festival (C’mon Ben Fowlie! How about CamDocs?). Over four nights, the fest presents about forty programs, including thirty feature-length docs. In addition, over Friday and Saturday, the Points North Documentary Forum conference takes place, offering New England-based filmmakers access to key industry for professional development.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD next Tuesday, October 4: THE RED CHAPEL
Mads Brügger’s provocative and subversive comedic doc on North Korea finally comes to DVD after a successful festival and theatrical run. It premiered at Hot Docs in 2009 and came stateside to Sundance, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Award.
I previously offered my thoughts on the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Opening at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center for one week beginning today, Friday, September 23: A GOOD MAN
Gordon Quinn and Bob Hercules brought their study of noted choreographer Bill T Jones’ working process to Full Frame for its world premiere, followed by additional stops on the festival circuit including Silverdocs, Woods Hole, and DOXA. Before appearing on American Masters later this fall, the film enjoys a theatrical release in production company Kartemquin Films’ own Chicago.
I wrote about the doc out of Silverdocs here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to POV next Tuesday, September 27: LAST TRAIN HOME
Lixin Fan’s jaw-droppingly beautiful and affecting film about the mass migration of Chinese peasant workers premiered at IDFA in 2009, where it won Best Documentary, and went on to Sundance and a host of other festivals the following year. Following a limited theatrical run and DVD release, it now comes to PBS’ celebrated POV series.
I wrote about the film before its theatrical run here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual showcase is on every New York cinephile’s calendar. The highly selective lineup stretches out over more than two weeks, spotlighting some of the best US and world cinema. While the festival has typically included some non-fiction, in a very welcome development this year, in addition to a few works in the accompanying Views from the Avant-Garde program and in the fest’s Main Slate, organizers have grouped an additional ten documentaries as “special presentations.” Following are the non-fiction projects I am most interested in screening:
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
I just spent the past week in Canada attending the Toronto International Film Festival. I’ll be posting brief thoughts on a number of the fest’s docs later this week, but, in the meantime, I decided to look to this year’s TIFF line-up for inspiration. This week’s indieWIRE-curated Hulu documentaries share some common topics or themes with the newest non-fiction offerings at the festival. View all of these docs for free now!
For more information about the selections, see my iW article.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Indiewire @ Hulu Docs, Recommendations
Coming to POV tonight, Tuesday, September 13: IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman’s eye-opening exploration of the controversial radical environmental group took home the Best Documentary Editing jury prize at its premiere at Sundance. It picked up four more awards during its festival tour and had a limited theatrical run this summer.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to NYC’s Lincoln Center this Friday, September 9 (with other theatrical engagements through the end of the year): THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU
Andrei Ujica’s masterful film essay on Romania’s despotic leader made its premiere at Cannes last year, and later appeared at Toronto, San Sebastian, Transilvania, and the New York Film Festival, among others.
Ujica combed through a thousand hours of archival footage of Ceausescu from Romania’s national film and television archives to create this hypnotic three hour composition. He lets the footage speak for itself rather than include narration or title cards: a reign of nearly 25-years as represented by public appearances of the dictator and his wife, greeting other world leaders, touring local industry, and being entertained at state events high in pomp and circumstance. The propaganda on display is quite remarkable, at times jaw-droppingly absurd, underscoring the way that media was manipulated to project an image of prosperity that hid the reality of harsh life in the Communist nation. The only exception to this highly-mediated version of the Ceausescus comes after they are forced to abdicate – the televised mock trial that swiftly led to their execution – itself a manipulation of sorts. Broken, defeated, they claim their innocence, staring at the unfeeling camera that they no longer control. Ujica’s film is unlike any other, and well worth your three hours.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Together with what usually seems the entirety of the film industry, I’ll be headed up to Canada later this week for the Toronto International Film Festival, the event that, for me, marks the start of the new festival year (sadly I’ve never been to Telluride or Venice). For quite some time now, TIFF has been the pre-eminent North American launching pad for critically and commercially successful films, setting off awards buzz. Many of the titles premiering at the festival will be making their way to theatres before the end of the year, but industry and public audiences get an early, taste-making look at eventual Oscar nominees.
Of course, while trying to catch some of these hopefuls, my focus is on the festival’s non-fiction programming. This year, by my count, there are 38 feature-length documentaries, with the majority represented in the festival’s Real to Reel section, programmed by Thom Powers. Twelve additional docs are spread out among seven other sections. I’m going to do my best to see as many of these as possible within the six days I’m attending, and hope to catch ones I miss if they’re programmed at Powers’ DOC NYC and Stranger Than Fiction series.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
