Category Archives: Releases

Coming to theatres today, Friday, September 21:
95 AND 6 TO GO

Director:
Kimi Takesue

Premiere:
Doclisboa 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, CPH:DOX, RIDM, BAFICI, FIDM, Open City, DOK Leipzig, Indie Memphis, San Diego Asian, Hawai’i, CAAMFest, LA Asian Pacific, Sarasota, Krakow

About:
A creative portrait of the filmmaker’s grandfather.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In this affectionate portrait, filmmaker Kimi Takesue finds an unlikely collaborator while visiting her grandfather Tom in Hawai’i. A recent widower in his 90s, Tom seems content to go about his daily routines until he shows surprising interest in his granddaughter’s screenplay. In alternately funny and poignant discussions, Kimi’s fictional love story – and Tom’s creative revisions – soon serve as a vehicle for his past memories of love and loss to surface.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 21:
LOVE, GILDA

Director:
Lisa D’Apolito

Premiere:
Tribeca 2018

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, Montclair, AFI Docs, San Francisco Jewish, Boston Jewish, Seattle, Sidewalk

About:
An intimate, personal portrait of the legendary Gilda Radner.

I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s program, saying:
In this deeply intimate portrait, alternately touching and uproarious, Lisa D’Apolito reveals the personal side of Gilda Radner. Told largely through the comedian’s own words via intimate recordings and private journal entries read by admirers like Amy Poehler and Melissa McCarthy, the film relates how Radner emerged from the world of improv to become one of the members of the original cast of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. There, gifted with an uncanny ability to create unforgettable characters, she introduced the world to Roseanne Roseannadanna, Emily Litella, and many others, while confronting both the perils and pleasures of instant celebrity. But neither success nor her romance with actor Gene Wilder could prepare the spirited comedian for her biggest challenge – a battle with ovarian cancer.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, September 19:
GARRY WINOGRAND: ALL THINGS ARE PHOTOGRAPHABLE

Director:
Sasha Waters Freyer

Premiere:
SXSW 2018

Select Festivals:
San Francisco, New Zealand, Thin Line, Vancouver, Haifa

About:
A history and appreciation of acclaimed street photographer.

Garry Winogrand was known for a body of work that encompassed street photography as well as acclaimed publications of American life in Texas and California in the 1960s. Though prone to montages, Freyer makes good use of a rich archive of Winogrand’s striking images in this watchable but fairly straightforward artist portrait, while the photographer himself, who died of cancer in 1984, is represented largely through a frank audio interview with fellow photographer Jay Maisel. Admirers help position his work among those photographers who changed popular understanding of photography from a discipline that illustrated magazine articles to an art form. Taking on particular resonance is work that was produced later in his career, including photo books WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL, which was met with scorn, seen as emblematic of the male gaze coming at the height of feminism; and PUBLIC RELATIONS, focused on the creation of images rather than notable events themselves, a sort of harbinger of the selfie generation.

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, September 17:
93QUEEN

Director:
Paula Eiselt

Premiere:
Hot Docs 2018

Select Festivals:
San Francisco Jewish, Marfa, Charlotte Jewish

About:
A driven woman faces controversy when she sets out to form the first all-female Hasidic EMT corps.

I previously wrote about the doc here.