Coming to Discovery+ tomorrow, Friday, February 26:
SKI BUM: THE WARREN MILLER STORY
Director:
Patrick Creadon
World Premiere:
Slamdance 2019
Select Festivals:
Big Sky Doc, Seattle, Boulder, Calgary Underground, Breckenridge, BendFilm
About:
A portrait of the influential ski filmmaker.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to OVID.tv tomorrow, Thursday, February 25:
WINTER NOMADS
Director:
Manuel von Stürler
World Premiere:
Berlin 2012
Select Festivals:
IDFA, San Francisco, Thessaloniki Doc, ZagrebDox, Flahertiana, Reykjavik, Goteborg, Guth Gafa
About:
A grizzled veteran shepherd and a newcomer lead their flock all over the Swiss countryside to fatten them up before slaughter.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Releases
Coming to virtual cinemas today, Wednesday, February 24:
MY DARLING SUPERMARKET
Director:
Tali Yankelevich
World Premiere:
IDFA 2019
Select Festivals:
Thessaloniki Doc, Visions du Reel, Guadalajara, Doc Fortnight, DOXA, Big Sky Doc
About:
Profiles of the workers in a São Paulo supermarket.
Gliding through the aisles of Supermercado Veran, filmmaker Tali Yankelevich’s camera shows off a perfectly organized, well-stocked grocery store, her careful compositions making an almost hyper-real artscape out of the mundane space. But real people work here, and while shoppers might give them – or their counterparts in markets around the world – little thought, Yankelevich turns her attention to them in a series of playful and sometimes surprising observations and interviews. Amidst commentary about their jobs or relationships with co-workers, they’re more apt to discuss their extra-curricular interests and activities, from playing video games and cosplay to Orwell and quantum physics. The result is an unexpectedly charming glimpse at the interior lives of workers and how they view their time at work.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, February 23:
COLLECTIVE
Director:
Alexander Nanau
World Premiere:
Venice 2019
Select Festivals:
Sundance, DOC NYC, Toronto, IDFA, Zurich, Goteborg, Thessaloniki Doc, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, Docville, Moscow, Hamptons, Montclair
Notable Recognition:
The doc has been shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
About:
An investigation reveals disturbing corruption in Romanian state agencies following a fatal nightclub fire in Bucharest.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Available free to stream in the US via Vice’s Short List:
TWO GODS
Director:
Zeshawn Ali
World Premiere:
Full Frame 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, BlackStar, Montclair, Hot Docs, Camden
About:
A Black Muslim casket maker mentors two boys.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
In Newark, NJ, a mortician takes two troubled teenage boys under his tutelage. Teacher and students alike learn the meaning of tradition, hard work, and forgiveness through instruction in the ways of traditional Muslim burial. Shot in stark black and white, this beautiful look at a unique craft shows the importance of a bond forged through mentorship.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, February 22:
MR SOUL!
Director:
Melissa Haizlip
Co-Director:
Sam Pollard
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2018
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, True/False, AFI Docs, New Orleans, Rotterdam, Durban, BlackStar, Urbanworld, Pan African, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, London, Indie Memphis, Woodstock, Heartland
About:
A portrait of the pioneer behind SOUL!, the acclaimed African-American public television cultural variety show.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Available free to stream in the US via Vice’s Short List:
DOPE IS DEATH
Director:
Mia Donovan
World Premiere:
True/False 2020
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Hot Docs, Denver
About:
The story of a pioneering acupuncture detoxification program led by the Black Panthers and the young Lords in 1970s South Bronx.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
With blight ravaging New York City in the 1970s, the Young Lords and Black Panthers fought for radical change in their communities. Through the leadership of Dr Mutulu Shakur—Tupac Shakur’s stepfather—these activists created the first acupuncture detoxification program in the United States. While the legacy of the program has long been maintained by the residents of the Bronx and Upper Manhattan, the individuals responsible for its creation have suffered from decades of state-sanctioned persecution.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Showtime beginning this Sunday, February 21:
SUPERVILLAIN: THE MAKING OF TEKASHI 6IX9INE
Director:
Karam Gill
World Premiere:
Showtime broadcast (February 2021)
About:
A docuseries exploring the rise and fall of the notorious SoundCloud rapper.
Over the course of three episodes, filmmaker Karam Gill delves into the transformation of Daniel Hernandez into the attention-seeking Tekashi 6ix9ine, a wildly successful rapper who cultivated an audience – and an over-the-top persona – via social media only to find himself convicted of felony charges related to his gang association. As noted by the series’ title, Gill frames Hernandez’s story through the lens of a comic book origin, but with the rainbow-hued performer in the position of the Joker more than of Batman – a larger-than-life personality that revels in the dark side, illustrated via segments showing the construction of an action figure version of 6ix9ine. These sequences also attempt to structure the proceedings through the various elements of Hernandez’s supervillain schtick – trauma, appearance, mission, weaponry, etc – which doesn’t always work, but keeps the proceedings colorful. Ultimately, Gill convincingly shows that Hernandez’s story is one of garnering fame, using the tools of social media to tap into an audience hungry for the latest sensation, and demonstrating a willingness to escalate his efforts to hold on to them at any cost. While 6ix9ine has a demonstrably large following, it’s a fairly specific one, leading one to wonder if a more general viewership either knows or cares enough about him or his aggressively obnoxious antics to tune in for close to three hours.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to virtual cinemas today, Friday, February 19:
17 BLOCKS
Director:
Davy Rothbart
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2019
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Karlovy Vary, Traverse City, AFI Docs, Zurich, Melbourne Doc, Milwaukee, Nashville, Woods Hole, Heartland, Hot Springs Doc, Antenna Doc, Woodstock
About:
A longitudinal portrait of an African American family in Washington DC.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, February 19:
TRUTH TO POWER
Director:
Garin Hovannisian
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2020 (unscreened)
About:
A profile of the outspoken frontman of System of a Down, with a focus on his activism.
Filmmaker Garin Hovannisian offers a portrait of fellow Armenian-American Serj Tankian, a musician most popularly known for the band System of a Down, but who has become a surprisingly influential social activist, particularly around issues related to Armenia and the genocide perpetrated against its people by the Ottoman Empire – an event still officially denied by the modern Turkish government. The film blends a fairly standard rock biography with the more compelling, if sometimes overly laudatory, activist focus, demonstrating how Tankian pushed for official American recognition of the genocide, and, most notably how a 2015 System of a Down reunion concert in Armenia helped inspire opposition leaders to peacefully unseat the country’s authoritarian government three years later. These latter elements, however, often get somewhat lost in the doc’s more conventional behind the music thread, which will appeal most to Tankian’s existing fans and limit its potentially larger appeal.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
what (not) to doc 