photo by Lauren Greenfield
Director:
Lauren Greenfield
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Berlin, SXSW, CPH:DOX, Docville, Full Frame, San Francisco, Sarasota, IFF Boston, Transilvania, Ambulante, Jeonju, Dallas, Docs Against Gravity, Greenwich, Provincetown
About:
A film essay and career retrospective examining society’s preoccupation with materialism.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, October 15 and to Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow, Tuesday, October 16:
THE SENTENCE
Director:
Rudy Valdez
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, DOC NYC, Locarno, Traverse City, Montclair, Sarasota, Urbanworld, Thin Line, Provincetown, LA Latino, Aspen Ideas, SF Jewish, Freep, GlobeDocs
About:
A filmmaker reveals the personal impact of mandatory minimum laws on his own family.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s American Masters this Sunday, October 14:
ITZHAK
Director:
Alison Chernick
Premiere:
Hamptons 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Palm Springs, Jewish fests in Miami, Palm Beach, Atlanta, and Phoenix
About:
A deeply intimate portrait of acclaimed violin master, Itzhak Perlman.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Discovery tomorrow, Saturday, October 13:
ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA’S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW
Director:
Rory Kennedy
Premiere:
Sarasota 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, AFI Docs, Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard, GlobeDocs
About:
A celebration of the pioneering and continuing work of NASA.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Netflix today, Friday, October 12:
FEMINISTS: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
Director:
Johanna Demetrakas
Premiere:
Big Sky Doc 2017
Select Festivals:
RiverRun, California Women’s, New Haven Docs,
About:
A look at feminism’s past and present.
In 1977, Cynthia MacAdams published Emergence, a book of portraits of self-identified feminists, ranging from influential activists and celebrities to artists and everyday women. On the occasion of a photographic exhibition of those images, Feminist Portraits: 1974-1977, filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas, herself one of the book’s subjects, revisits various women pictured within. As she meets with the likes of Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Laurie Anderson, Meredith Monk, Judy Chicago, and Kate Millett, the filmmaker engages with an expansive set of concerns, both historical and all too topical. Interviewees recall dawning consciousness of sexism, early fear of identifying as “feminists,” and ways they rebelled; the emergence of the second wave of feminism and the fractures within it, felt especially by women of color; political organizing around reproductive freedom and around the ERA; and personal stories that run the gamut of women’s experiences of the 1970s. At the same time, the film introduces younger, modern-day voices, like filmmaker Wendy JN Lee, who recalls being treated as an afterthought during an award ceremony for her own project, the statuette handed to her male actor instead – underscoring the inequality that still remains. While taking on a bit too much, with an at times cursory, episodic feel as a result, Demetrakas’ project is a worthwhile and engaging one as it reminds viewers of the gains made when passionate women worked together to demand change.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, October 12:
OVER THE LIMIT
Director:
Marta Prus
Premiere:
IDFA 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Moscow Doc, Visions du Reél, DOK.fest Munich, DocsBarcelona, Zagreb Dox, Krakow, Docpoint, Göteborg, Thessaloniki Doc, One World, Ambulante
About:
A brutally candid look at a rhythmic gymnast’s Olympic training.
Prus’ observational portrait focuses on Margarita Mamun, facing high expectations to win the gold medal for Russia at the 2016 Summer Olympics, her last. Subject to a rigorous training regimen, she barely is shown outside of the gym here, save for a few moments talking remotely via FaceTime to her boyfriend, another Olympian, or dealing with family matters. But fears that this would result in a dull film are quickly dismissed when Irina Viner-Usmanova the head coach of Russia’s national gymnastics program, makes her presence known. A larger-than-life figure, prone to extravagant hats, Viner-Usmanova doesn’t mince words – instead she swears, berates, and verbally uses her young athletes to a shocking degree, and, here, Mamun seems to take the brunt. Her unrelenting abuse is tempered to some degree by Mamun’s personal coach, Amina Zaripova, but it’s clear that the young gymnast is miserable, but still she perseveres. Though not always an easy watch, Prus’ well-constructed film offers a provocative inside look at the pressures facing a world-class athlete and questions if it’s all worth it in the end.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, October 12:
THE SENTENCE
Director:
Rudy Valdez
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, DOC NYC, Locarno, Traverse City, Montclair, Sarasota, Urbanworld, Thin Line, Provincetown, LA Latino, Aspen Ideas, SF Jewish, Freep, GlobeDocs
About:
A filmmaker reveals the personal impact of mandatory minimum laws on his own family.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
New to DVD and VOD this week:
CATWALK: TALES FROM THE CAT SHOW CIRCUIT
Directors:
Michael McNamara and Aaron Hancox
Premiere:
Toronto theatrical premiere (March 2018)
Select Festivals:
Seattle, Milwaukee
About:
An inside look at the world of competitive cat shows.
Following one season in the Canadian cat show circuit, filmmakers McNamara and Hancox craft a playful, at times knowingly self-deprecating look at the fortunes of two felines in the running to win it all. Kim’s Turksih Angora, Bobby, is poised for victory, but then frenemy Shirley comes around with the fluffy Persian, Oh La La, setting the judges’ hearts atwitter, and the race is on. The cats’ owners, helped by some simple animation, explain and track the scoring system and reveal the high stakes – bragging rights on the southern Ontario circuit. Never taking themselves too seriously, they’re mostly having fun – though Kim really wants to win. While on the whole the production feels more suited for the small screen, and should have cut back on the overly goofy score, it’s an enjoyable exploration of a subculture – and the cats are fun to watch.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, October 10:
LIYANA
Directors:
Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp
Premiere:
Los Angeles 2017
Select Festivals:
BFI London, Mill Valley, Citizen Jane, Durban, Hot Springs Doc, Denver, Bahamas, Palm Springs, Oxford, Southern Circuit, Toronto Black, Zagreb Dox, Miami, NY Children’s, Ashland, Cleveland, Montclair, NY African, Blackstar
About:
Swaziland orphans collectively create an adventure folk tale.
The Kopps’ film centers on a storytelling workshop run by Gcina Mhlophe at a rural home for orphans. Drawing from their own harrowing experiences, several of the young residents develop the titular character, and spin her narrative, one involving starkly realistic travails like violence and HIV, the death of the heroine’s parents, and an adventure to rescue her brothers from kidnappers. As they tell the camera their story, the very cute kids often ham it up, while semi-animated sequences (sort of) bring Liyana’s adventure’s to life – the effect, even if deliberate, is not wholly successful and seems unfinished. The film’s approach to covering otherwise wellworn and dark territory is certainly creative, though a little of this goes a long way, and the filmmakers don’t complete trust in the audience to fill in the blanks themselves.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, October 9:
DARK MONEY
Director:
Kimberly Reed
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Big Sky, Full Frame, AFI Docs, Boulder, Martha’s Vineyard, Florida, Ashland, Cleveland, Freep, Montclair, Dallas, Nashville, Telluride Mountainfilm
About:
Montana serves as a case study for the dangerous impact of Citizens United on politics.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
what (not) to doc 