Category Archives: Recommendations

Coming to VOD via OVID.tv today, Wednesday, December 2:
BORDER SOUTH

Director:
Raul O Paz Pastrana

World Premiere:
Sheffield 2019

Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Margaret Mead, New Orleans, Guadalajara, Indie Memphis, Indie Grits, San Diego Latino

About:
An exploration of the dangerous path taken by migrants between Latin America and the US.

As has been chronicled in numerous documentaries, the policies enacted by the US government to deter migrants from seeking to cross the southern border have not stopped desperate people from risking – and often losing – their lives. Raul O Paz Pastrana’s film looks at some of these individuals, a group of Nicaraguans taking a trail from southern Mexico to the US, and the makeshift community they’ve formed along the way. At the doc’s center, however, is Gustavo, a Nicaraguan who was shot by Mexican police, providing him with high profile media attention and grounds to seek asylum. To underscore the dangers of crossing, a second and not quite as compelling thread follows an American anthropologist, Jason, who recovers traces of migrants for the Undocumented Migration Project – from backpacks and clothes to human remains. As a whole, Pastrana’s film is a quiet but thoughtful reminder of the ordinary people impacted by xenophobic fearmongering.

Coming to select theatres and to virtual cinemas this Friday, December 4:
THE CHANGIN’ TIMES OF IKE WHITE

Director:
Daniel Vernon

World Premiere:
Camden 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Glasgow, Valladolid

About:
The unexpected story of a long-vanished jailhouse musician.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Ike White was a musical prodigy serving life in prison since age 19. His luck changed when he had the opportunity to record in prison the album Changin’ Times (1976) with WAR producer Jerry Goldstein. Decades later, filmmaker Daniel Vernon tracks down White out of prison, living in obscurity, and the story takes dramatic twists.

Coming to HBO and HBO Max tomorrow, Wednesday, December 2:
BABY GOD

Director:
Hannah Olson

World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (unscreened)

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nantucket, Double Exposure

About:
A fertility specialist is hailed a miracle worker until the advent of commercial DNA testing reveals his unexpected secret.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
For decades, Las Vegas fertility specialist Dr Quincy Fortier was celebrated for helping thousands of couples have babies. His secret? Impregnating women with his own sperm, unbeknownst to them. Using a consumer DNA test, a woman discovers that Dr Fortier is her biological father, setting in motion a quest to find her many half-siblings. Filmmaker Hannah Olson chronicles their struggle to understand the truth about themselves and the unusual man who fathered them all.

Coming to virtual cinemas tomorrow, Wednesday, December 2:
MAYOR

Director:
David Osit

World Premiere:
True/False 2020

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nantucket, CPH:DOX, IDFA, Hot Docs, Full Frame, Camden, Maryland, DokuFest

About:
A portrait of the Christian mayor of Ramallah, Palestine.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
David Osit’s compelling film offers a portrait of Musa Hadid, the affable mayor of Ramallah, the historically Christian city that serves as the administrative center of Palestine. Hadid has day-to-day concerns to handle, from increasing tourism to planning the annual Christmas celebrations, but the darker realities of life under occupation are never too far away. Balancing absurd humor with unforgettable moments of gravity, Osit’s profile reveals a side of Palestine rarely seen in Western media.

Coming to Investigation Discovery tonight, Tuesday, December 1:
THE WITMANS

Director:
David Petersen

World Premiere:
Philadelphia 2020

About:
A family contends with the loss of one son to murder and the other to the criminal justice system.

In October 1998, 13-year-old Gregory Witman was found brutally murdered in his family home. Police determined the prime suspect was his older brother, Zachary, 15, who, despite maintaining innocence and being a minor, was tried and convicted of the crime, and sentenced to life in prison without hope of parole. David Petersen’s film offers a thorough examination of the disturbing case and its unanswered questions, but ultimately focuses on parents Ron and Sue Witman’s defense of Zachary and their efforts to see him released from what they view as a wrongful conviction. While hewing closely to the true crime documentary subgenre, and featuring a distractingly heavy-handed score, the project is well handled and serves as a thought-provoking indictment of the flaws of the criminal justice system and how it handles minors.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 1:
HUMAN NATURE

Director:
Adam Bolt

World Premiere:
SXSW 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hot Docs, Full Frame, AFI Docs, CPH:DOX

About:
An exploration of the potential implications of a major DNA technology.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to Showtime this Sunday, November 29:
MY PSYCHEDELIC LOVE STORY

Director:
Errol Morris

World Premiere:
AFI Fest 2020

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC

About:
A profile of Joanna Harcourt-Smith and her life on the run with Timothy Leary.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris is drawn to larger-than-life characters, but Joanna Harcourt-Smith soars above them all. She’s a Scheherazade of sexual escapades and psychedelic tripping as she describes her life with the High Priest of LSD Timothy Leary through his period as an escaped convict who was recaptured in her company. Did she betray him as Allen Ginsburg and others suspected? Harcourt-Smith doesn’t hold back in questioning her own behavior in this humorous, outlandish chapter of 1970s excess.

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, November 27:
ZAPPA

Director:
Alex Winter

World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (unscreened)

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Camden, Montclair, Philadelphia

About:
The definitive portrait of musician Frank Zappa.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Through his pioneering band, Mothers of Invention, as well as his solo work, Frank Zappa embraced a variety of genres, from rock and jazz to experimental and classical music, ultimately producing more than 60 albums in a career spanning four decades. An outspoken critic of the status quo and staunch defender of free expression, he was an iconoclast who literally inspired a revolution in Czechoslovakia. Granted access to Zappa’s personal archives, including thousands of hours of unreleased music, films, and interviews, director Alex Winter has constructed the definitive portrait of the maverick musician. 

New to DVD this week:
CREEM: AMERICA’S ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MAGAZINE

Director:
Scott Crawford

World Premiere:
SXSW 2019 (under its original title, BOY HOWDY! THE STORY OF CREEM MAGAZINE)

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Freep, Cleveland, Maryland, Asbury Park

About:
The history of the influential Detroit-based rock publication.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD/VOD today, Tuesday, November 24:
THE WALRUS AND THE WHISTLEBLOWER

Director:
Nathalie Bibeau

World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2020

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, DOXA, Taipei Golden Horse, Hot Springs Doc, Melbourne Doc, Newburyport Doc

About:
A former marine animal park trainer wages a war to save his beloved walrus.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Phil Demers, an eccentric free spirit, becomes an unexpectedly popular trainer at Niagara Falls’ Marineland after forming a bond with the park’s first walrus, Smooshi. For the next decade Demers cares for Smooshi and other animals in increasingly decrepit conditions. After he quits as a result of these concerns—and is accused of plotting to steal a walrus—Demers takes to social media and the courts, waging war to save Smooshi. Unconventional and heart-wrenching, Nathalie Bibeau’s film follows Demers on his crusade for justice.