Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 28:
SWIMMING OUT TILL THE SEA TURNS BLUE
Director:
Jia Zhangke
World Premiere:
Berlin 2020
Select Festivals:
New York, IDFA, Thessaloniki Doc, Docs Against Gravity, Busan, San Diego Asian
About:
Three prominent Chinese authors create a tapestry of testimonies about the drastic changes in Chinese life and culture that began with the social revolution of the 1950s.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres and to VOD tomorrow, Friday, May 28:
MOBY DOC
Director:
Rob Gordon Bralver
World Premiere:
Theatrical/VOD release (May 2021)
About:
An idiosyncratic portrait of the musician and activist Moby.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to NYC’s IFC Center tomorrow, Friday, May 28:
DEREK DELGAUDIO’S IN & OF ITSELF
Director:
Frank Oz
World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Montclair, Philadelphia
About:
The illusionist’s acclaimed one-man show.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Discovery+ tomorrow, Thursday, May 27:
APOCALYPSE ’45
Director:
Erik Nelson
World Premiere:
USS Intrepid/Pearl Harbor screenings (August 2020)
About:
Two dozen veterans recount the last months of combat in the Pacific theater of World War II.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, May 25:
THAT’S WILD
Director:
Michiel Thomas
World Premiere:
International Wildlife 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
Florida, San Francisco Black, BronzeLens, American Black, Crested Butte, Montreal Black, Wildscreen, Planet in Focus, SCAD Savannah, DocUtah, Kansas, Los Angeles Pan African
About:
A group of underserved Black Atlanta teens go on a backpacking summer adventure in the Colorado wilderness.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to The WORLD Channel’s America ReFramed today, Tuesday, May 25:
HAMTRAMCK, USA
Director:
Razi Jafri, Justin Feltman
World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, DOXA, Sarasota, St Louis, CAAMFest, Melbourne Doc, Virginia
About:
An election in America’s first majority Muslim city splits the community along ethnic lines.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Formerly a solid Polish Catholic town, Hamtramck MI is America’s first majority Muslim city. During one election cycle, popular incumbent Karen Majewski faces Muslim challenger Mohammed Hassan for mayor, and the typically harmonious, culturally commingling community begins to split along ethnic lines. Going behind the scenes of small-town politics to explore the beauty and challenges that come with multiculturalism, Razi Jafri and Justin Feltman’s film is a heartwarming reminder that civility and respect can coexist in our political races.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to MUBI today, Monday, May 24:
THE TRIAL
Director:
Sergei Loznitsa
World Premiere:
Venice 2018
Select Festivals:
Toronto, IDFA, Haifa, Busan, Mar del Plata, Cinema du Reel, Docs Against Gravity
About:
An archival exploration of the public spectacle of Stalin-era Soviet show trials.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, May 24:
THE DONUT KING
Director:
Alice Gu
World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
Sidewalk, Nashville, Milwaukee, San Diego Asian, Los Angeles Asian Pacific, Philadelphia Asian, Calgary Underground
About:
A Cambodian refugee escapes genocide to build a donut empire on the West Coast, and a legacy for other immigrants to emulate.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to MUBI today, Friday, May 21:
STATE FUNERAL
Director:
Sergei Loznitsa
World Premiere:
Venice 2019
Select Festivals:
Toronto, New York, Minsk, Stockholm, Vienna, Rio, Glasgow, Sofia, Indielisboa, Docaviv, Hong Kong, Docs Against Gravity
About:
An exploration of Stalin’s cult of personality through the Soviet leader’s funeral.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 21:
FINAL ACCOUNT
Director:
Luke Holland
World Premiere:
Venice 2020
Select Festivals:
IDFA
About:
Interviews with the last living generation of Germans to have participated in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich – not the infamously chilling names in history books, but the everyday citizens who carried out the plans made by the architects of mass-scale genocide.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
what (not) to doc 