Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, November 20:
QUIET HEROES
Directors:
Jenny Mackenzie, Jared Ruga, and Amanda Stoddard
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Frameline, BFI Flare, Portland QDoc, TLVFest
About:
A tribute to the only medical professionals in Utah who would treat patients with AIDS in the early years of the epidemic.
My pre-Sundance profile may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 20:
TVTV: VIDEO REVOLUTIONARIES
Director:
Paul Goldsmith
Premiere:
theatrical release (October 2018)
About:
The story of an early collective of videomakers in the 1970s.
With strong parallels to the Videofreex, chronicled in Jenny Raskin and Jon Nealon’s fascinating HERE COME THE VIDEOFREEX, TVTV was a West Coast analogue that operated between 1972-1977, first in San Francisco and later in Los Angeles. Short for the cheekily-named Top Value Television, TVTV was a loose collective of early adopters of Sony’s Portapak, the first commercially available videocassette recorder and camera. Full of youthful energy and brashness, with no one older then 25, the group started to offer an alternative to mainstream news coverage, working with public television to tape documentaries on current events, including the 1972 Republican National Convention, and used the novelty of their equipment to gain access to Washington DC parties and other coveted spots. After dabbling somewhat in entertainment journalism, including behind-the-scenes event coverage like the Super Bowl, TVTV relocated to Los Angeles and started to lose its journalistic focus, resulting in fractures within the group, eventually disbanding in 1979. Directed by TVTV mainstay Paul Goldsmith, there’s some clunkiness here, particularly in his narration and a general episodic structure, but it’s more or less made up for in the remarkable video footage he shares with the viewer – an impressive time capsule of burgeoning video journalism and entertainment coverage with early appearances by the likes of Bill Murray, Christopher Guest, and John Belushi, among others.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD/VOD today, Tuesday, November 20:
LIFE IN THE DOGHOUSE
Director:
Ron Davis
Premiere:
Provincetown 2018
Select Festivals:
Frameline, Newport, Sedona
About:
A gay couple turns their home into a dog rescue.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to the JCC Manhattan tonight, Monday, November 19 and to theatres this Wednesday, November 21:
THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR FEET
Director:
Jeremy Workman
Premiere:
SXSW 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Denver, IFF Boston, Nashville, RiverRun, Newport Beach, deadCENTER, Heartland, Bergen, Woodstock, Hot Springs Doc
About:
A man explores NYC by walking every single one of its streets.
The doc screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg and directed by DOC NYC alumnus Jeremy Workman (MAGICAL UNIVERSE), this film is at once a love letter to NYC and a reminder of the joy and wonder of discovery, as experienced by a man on a personal, if inexplicable, mission. For more than six years, Matt Green has been methodically walking the streets of the city with the goal of eventually covering every single block, more than 8,000 miles. He has happily given up virtually everything to enable this personal quest—including his engineering job, apartment and possessions. As revealed in this charming portrait, the discoveries the easygoing urban explorer makes along the way prove the best reward.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, November 20:
MORONI FOR PRESIDENT
Directors:
Saila Huusko and Jasper Rischen
Premiere:
Big Sky Doc 2018
Select Festivals:
Los Angeles, Frameline, Seattle Queer, DocuWest
About:
A gay ex-Mormon campaigns to lead the Navajo Nation.
Frustrated by a good old boys network and the lack of clear self-determination among his people, young academic Moroni Benally throws his hat in the ring for the presidency of the Navajo Nation, arguably the most powerful Native political position in the US. Facing off against an incumbent with deeper pockets and political connections, Moroni struggles to get his message across to voters, who seem more receptive to empty platitudes than to informed political engagement. Moroni’s sexuality and former religion, while discussed, are not a main focus of the campaign, but do serve to inform his character and context, with other gay Navajos also profiled through the course of this likeable film.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, November 19:
THE JUDGE
Director:
Erika Cohn
Premiere:
Toronto 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, One World, Tempo Doc, CPH:DOX, Salem, Full Frame, San Francisco, Cleveland, Calgary Underground
About:
A portrait of a pioneering woman in the male dominated world of Islamic law.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, November 16:
UNDER THE WIRE
Director:
Chris Martin
Premiere:
Sheffield 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Reykjavik, Cologne, Hamptons, AFI Docs
About:
The story of war correspondents Marie Colvin and Paul Conroy.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
War correspondent Marie Colvin repeatedly and selflessly put her life on the line to report the atrocities unfolding in conflict-ravaged Syria, specifically against its innocent civilians. This gritty adaptation of fellow correspondent Paul Conroy’s titular book puts the viewer under fire on the frontline alongside the intrepid journalists, using harrowing on-the-ground footage. A heart-gripping story of friendship and extraordinary courage, Chris Martin’s film is testament to journalists who risk it all and pay the ultimate price.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
A new docuseries coming to SundanceTV this weekend, Saturday, November 17 and Sunday, November 18:
JONESTOWN: TERROR IN THE JUNGLE
Director:
Shan Nicholson
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018
About:
A detailed look at the rise and fall of Jim Jones and Peoples Temple.
The first half of the series premiered as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Based on the best-selling book by investigative journalist Jeff Guinn, THE ROAD TO JONESTOWN: JIM JONES AND PEOPLES TEMPLE, and timed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre, this new series from SundanceTV chronicles the rise of Jim Jones, a charismatic preacher turned manipulative cult leader who ordered the deaths of his own followers. Chilling interviews with Peoples Temple survivors along with newly declassified archival material offer the definitive account of the tragedy that captivated the world.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
A MURDER IN MANSFIELD
Director:
Barbara Kopple
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, IDFA, Cleveland, Montclair, Sydney, AFI Docs, Traverse City
About:
A man confronts the lifelong legacy of the murder of his mother by his father.
I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s program, saying:
Two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple explores the legacy of the 1989 murder of Noreen Boyle in Mansfield, Ohio, and the life-changing impact this crime had on Boyle’s family. As a 12-year-old, Noreen’s son Collier took the stand in his mother’s murder trial and testified against his father, John. Nearly two decades later, Collier returns to Ohio to confront his imprisoned father, who still maintains a hold on him, in an attempt to free himself from the burden of this tragedy.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
A new docuseries coming to Showtime beginning this Sunday, November 18:
ENEMIES: THE PRESIDENT, JUSTICE & THE FBI
Directors:
Jed Rothstein (episodes 1-3) and Alex Gibney (episode 4)
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018
About:
About the complex, often-fraught relationship between US presidents Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and Trump with the FBI.
An episode of the series premiered as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
From Oscar and Emmy-winning director Alex Gibney, and inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tim Weiner’s book, ENEMIES: A HSTORY OF THE FBI, this new Showtime series explores the complex history of tension between American presidents and the FBI, from Watergate to the present day.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 