Coming to virtual cinemas tomorrow, Friday, December 11: FINDING YINGYING
Director: Jiayan “Jenny” Shi
World Premiere: SXSW 2020
Select Festivals: DOC NYC, Chicago, Nashville, St Louis, Double Exposure, DocUtah, BendFilm, Los Angeles Asian Pacific
About: An unassuming Chinese student vanishes from her American college campus.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read: In June 2017, Chinese student Yingying Zhang’s dream of earning her PhD in America morphed into a nightmare when she disappeared from her college campus, sparking a desperate search for her whereabouts. Characteristically cautious, Yingying would not typically put herself in harm’s way—but what if trouble came looking for her? Fellow student and filmmaker Jiayan “Jenny” Shi joins forces with Yingying’s family on their quest for answers, sharing the hope and pain of finding their beloved daughter.
Coming to HBO and to HBO Max tomorrow, Wednesday, December 9: ALABAMA SNAKE
Director: Theo Love
World Premiere: Sidewalk 2020
About: A conflicting story of attempted murder in an Appalachian Pentecostal snake handling community.
In October 1991, police were called to a home in the small town of Scottsboro AL and learned of a stranger-than-fiction dispute between a husband and wife. According to Darlene Summerford, her husband, Glenn, a snake-handling Pentecostal preacher, angry at her for a supposed affair, forced Darlene at gunpoint to stick her hand into a box of poisonous serpents, resulting in a dangerous bite. Glenn, a convicted felon who claimed to have found redemption through religion, accused Darlene of being suicidal and unhinged, and that she had actually attempted to kill him. The lurid incident, and the sensational he said/she said trial that followed, drew media attention to the Summerfords’ snake-handling congregation and their strange practices. Director Theo Love revisits the case in detail, drawing from the research of local historian and folklorist Dr Thomas Burton and featuring extensive re-enactments that attempt to capture the story in all of its Southern Gothic excesses. It’s a compelling tale, but the over-dependence on the latter give the project an unwelcome UNSOLVED MYSTERIES vibe at times that may turn off some viewers.
Coming to virtual cinemas this Wednesday, December 9: SING ME A SONG
Director: Thomas Balmès
World Premiere: Toronto 2019
Select Festivals: DOC NYC, Docs Against Gravity, IDFA, AFI Docs, One World, Docville
About: A follow up to the director’s Bhutan-set film, HAPPINESS.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read: Ten years ago, director Thomas Balmèsfilmed in Bhutan with a seven-year-old Buddhist monk named Peyangki awaiting the arrival of electricity to his village. Now a decade later, Balmès returns to find Peyangki and the whole monastery obsessed with cell phones. With beautiful cinematography, the film captures nuance, humor, and humanity. Witnessing the effects of technology in Bhutan’s pristine landscape gives us a fresh lens to see what it means to our own lives.
About: A man dedicates his life to exonerate his parents, members of the Black revolutionary group MOVE.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read: In 1978, Philadelphia’s police department conducted a violent siege on the communal home of the Black revolutionary group MOVE. Nine members of MOVE went to prison over the resultant death of a police officer, despite forensic mysteries in the case. Two of the prisoners were the parents of Mike Africa, Jr., who dedicated his life to fighting for their release. Filmmaker Tommy Oliver interweaves the past and the present in this vital examination of the legacy of aggressive policing and the fight for justice.
Photo credit: Michael Ochs/Greenwich Entertainment
Coming to select theatres and to VOD today, Friday, December 4: BILLIE
Director: James Erskine
World Premiere: Telluride 2019
Select Festivals: Palm Springs, Tempo Doc, Boulder, Deauville, Glasgow
About: A portrait of Billie Holiday through the perspective of her would-be biographer.
In 1971, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl began research for a biography of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, who had died at the age of 44 in 1959. Kuehl spent the next seven years interviewing Holiday’s family, friends, bandmates, and partners, attempting to give due to Lady Day, whose reputation had been sullied by drug charges. The journalist didn’t shy away from the more risqué elements of Holiday’s background, including prostitution, drug use, and various sexual escapades, as well as the harsh reality she experienced as a Black woman in a time of open discrimination and racism. In 1978, before the biography was completed, however, Kuehl died in what was ruled as a suicide. Her family suspected foul play, but, in their grief, did not push for further investigation. While her research was used in subsequent Holliday biographies, James Erskine’s documentary is the first film that draws from it. Curiously, Erskine chooses to weave in Kuehl’s story in parallel with Holiday’s, though, thankfully, the singer still takes precedence. This approach is not wholly successful, with the Kuehl behind-the-scenes elements feeling like a distraction, and no theory sufficiently developed as to why she might have been killed, though learning a bit about the journalist helps to contextualize some of the more heated or revealing exchanges she captured on audio tape. A sequence in the film notes that Kuehl pointedly acknowledged her privilege and status as a white woman telling the story of a Black woman – which could make Kuehl somewhat of a surrogate for Erskine, a white filmmaker telling Holiday’s story – and more might have been done to parse out how this impacted her research, access, and approach to her biography. Still, despite its dual focus, the film provides viewers with intimate perspectives on Holiday that capture her complexity.
About: A portrait of the influential pop artist, who came to fame through his distinctive subway art in 1980s NYC.
Keith Haring outgrew his small Pennsylvania hometown to travel to NYC for art school in the 1970s. Seeking an outlet for his art, and wishing to make it accessible to as wide an audience as possible, he began to make chalk drawings on unused advertising spaces in the subway, creating a singular vocabulary of images of babies and dogs which would become iconic. Embraced by the downtown art scene, Haring emerged as a popular figure, gaining an international audience, and finding creative ways to promote his work, including opening his Pop Shop. At the same time, he was an activist, using art to create awareness of gay rights issues and the AIDS epidemic that would claim his life at the age of 31. While filmmaker Ben Anthony is somewhat limited by his project’s truncated run time, his use of Haring’s own recordings is particularly effective and affecting.
About: A profile of the lead singer and songwriter of The Pogues.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read: As the lead singer and songwriter of The Pogues, Shane MacGowan fused punk rock with Irish folk music to create timeless songs such as “Streams of Whiskey” and “Fairytale of New York,” while championing an unabashedly Irish identity. Filmmaker Julien Temple, who began his career making films with the Sex Pistols, is a perfect match to let MacGowan tell his own story, in revealing conversations with the likes of Gerry Adams and Johnny Depp. For any MacGowan fan, this is an essential portrait for understanding his complexity.
what (not) to doc 