Coming to VOD today, Thursday, October 18:
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 VOD today, Thursday, October 18:
THE NEW FIRE
Director:
David Schumacher
Premiere:
Heartland 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Denver, Washington DC Environmental, Princeton Environmental, Cleveland, IFF Boston
About:
Can innovation of nuclear reactors be the solution to the world’s energy needs?
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Nuclear power has been vilified in popular culture as dangerous and harmful to the environment, but it may actually be the solution for the world’s future energy needs. Teams of nuclear engineers are developing next-generation reactors which can provide clean, safe energy to prevent global catastrophe due to climate change, and transform popular opinion about nuclear energy in the process. Could these audacious innovators be the agents of change the world has been waiting for? With unprecedented access, director David Schumacher has traveled the globe to show what youth and audacity can achieve in the face of impossible odds.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, October 17:
CHARM CITY
Director:
Marilyn Ness
Premiere:
Tribeca 2018
Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Human Rights Watch, Maryland, Nashville, Mill Valley, GlobeDocs
About:
A multifaceted exploration of the crisis of violence in Baltimore.
Charting three years in the beleagued city, beginning soon after the killing of Freddie Gray, Marilyn Ness’ film offers a nuanced look at the impact of violence on communities, and their own efforts to mitigate the crisis. Among several subjects, a notable focal point is Mr C, a well-respected elder who runs a community center and maintains a direct line to the neighborhood in the hopes of curbing violence, training proteges like Alex to resist the lure of gangs and drugs. They represent the street level response to violence. Broadening out for a macro view, Ness also profiles various individuals working within the official system, including police officers and a city councilmember, who offer contrasting, but not wholly incompatible, perspectives of the state of the city and what can be done to fix it.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
WHITNEY | Image © Stefano Baroni
Director:
Kevin Macdonald
Premiere:
Cannes 2018
Select Festivals:
Edinburgh, Sydney, Munich, Biografilm
About:
A candid exploration of the rise and fall of Whitney Houston.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, October 16:
THE DEVIL WE KNOW
Director:
Stephanie Soechtig
Co-Director:
Jeremy Seifert
Premiere:
Sundance 2018
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Vancouver, Santa Barbara, Lunenberg Doc, New Zealand, SF Jewish, Washington DC Environmental, Greenwich, Riverrun, Sun Valley, Martha’s Vineyard, Boulder, Philadelphia
About:
An exposé of a corporation’s widespread use of dangerous chemicals, despite their known impact on human health.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
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
