Category Archives: Releases

Coming to theatres this Friday, November 24:
BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY

Director:
Alexandra Dean

Premiere:
Tribeca 2017

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Jerusalem, Vancouver, Woodstock, Adelaide

About:
The story of the glamorous Hollywood actress, focused on her groundbreaking work as an inventor.

The film screened as part of the Nantucket Film Festival, for which our program notes read:
Good looks made Hedy Lamarr a 1940s Hollywood siren, but her beautiful mind earned her a spot in technology history. During World War II, the Austrian Jewish émigrée developed a secret communications system that she hoped would help defeat the Nazis – one that would later serve as the basis for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Weaving in archival interviews with the glamorous actress, this film for lovers of history, Hollywood, and science reveals Lamarr’s under-acknowledged role as a pioneering inventor.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, November 22:
BRIMSTONE & GLORY

Director:
Viktor Jakovleski

Premiere:
True/False 2017

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Sheffield, Docaviv, AFI Docs, Dokufest, DocuWest, Ambulante, San Francisco, Sarasota, Montclair, Guanajuato, Fantastic Fest, Margaret Mead, Antenna Doc, Philadelphia

About:
An immersion into Tultepec, a Mexican city known for its pyrotechnic festival.

Over the past 150 years, Tultepec’s industry has concentrated on fireworks, and the small city creates the bulk of the country’s supply. The community holds an annual week-long celebration of San Juan de Dios, a patron saint said to have saved people from a fire without being burned. Local townsfolk aren’t always so blessed, with fireworks accidents frequently claiming body parts, if not lives. Jakovleski loosely profiling some residents, including an adolescent boy demonstrating the parallel reverence and fear engendered by the explosives, and some of the designers behind the traditional centerpiece displays of the festivities, the Castle of Fire and the Burning of the Bulls, but the true focus and joy of the film is providing a visceral experience of the event. The filmmaker’s camera takes the viewer through explosions of light and sound, making an indelible, spectacular impression.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, November 21:
THE PULITZER AT 100

Director:
Kirk Simon

Premiere:
Hot Docs Doc Soup (June 2016)

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Denver, Documentary Edge

About:
An examination of the rich legacy of the Pulitzer Prize.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, November 21:
CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER

Director:
Doug Nichol

Premiere:
Telluride 2016

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Denver, Cleveland, Nashville, Big Sky Doc, Mill Valley, Documentary Edge, Woods Hole, SF DocFest

About:
An appreciation of a bygone but once ubiquitous technology.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, November 20:
BALTIMORE RISING

Director:
Sonja Sohn

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Urbanworld

About:
A candid look at a city as it reckons with a controversial death.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Actress Sonja Sohn was unforgettable in HBO’s THE WIRE as Detective Kima Greggs. Now she returns to Baltimore as a documentary filmmaker to explore the city in the tense period after Freddie Gray was killed while in police custody. Her film follows activists, police officers, community leaders, and gang affiliates struggling to hold Baltimore together. We witness people of varying backgrounds who discover a common humanity when they often saw each other only as adversaries.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, November 20:
SHADOW WORLD

Director:
Johan Grimonprez

Premiere:
Tribeca 2016

Select Festivals:
Edinburgh, San Francisco, Encounters, Durban, Guanajuato, New Zealand, Dokufest Kosovo, Vancouver

About:
An exploration of the dark connection between political power and the global arms trade.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to truTV this Sunday, November 19 and to VOD this Monday, November 20:
THE PROBLEM WITH APU

Director:
Michael Melamedoff

Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017

About:
A South Asian comedian humorously confronts the impact of a long-standing pop culture figure.

I previously wrote about the series for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Hari Kondabolu has had a nemesis for nearly his entire life, someone who has plagued the stand-up comedian since he was a child, subjecting him to ridicule and racist comments: Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, better known as the Indian owner of the Kwik-E-Mart on THE SIMPSONS. For Hari, Apu represents an outdated and offensive South Asian stereotype, made worse by being voiced by a white man, Hank Azaria. Hari sets out on a comedic quest to confront Azaria and make sense of the long-lasting cultural impact of his troublesome character.

Coming to SundanceTV for a two-night special event tomorrow, Saturday, November 18 and Sunday, November 19:
COLD BLOODED: THE CLUTTER FAMILY MURDERS

Director:
Joe Berlinger

Series Directors:
Kahane Cooperman and Allison Berg

Premiere:
Sundance TV (November 2017)

Select Festivals
DOC NYC (sneak preview), IDFA

About:
An intimate and at times humorous portrait of an unstoppable Holocaust survivor.

I previously wrote about the series for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s gripping SundanceTV docuseries reexamines the infamous 1959 murder of a Kansas family that Truman Capote explored in his landmark non fiction novel IN COLD BLOOD. Drawn from exhaustive research, including Capote’s notes and correspondence with the killers, as well as present-day interviews with figures involved with the case, the series offers an illuminating look at the tragic crime that continues to fascinate the American public. Part one explores the horrific crime and the extensive search for the killers, part two profiles suspects Perry Smith and Richard Hicock and details their interrogation, part three explores their confessions and the trial, as well as Truman Capote’s role in researching the case, while part four continues with Capote’s strange relationship with Smith, the convicted killers’ executions, the triumph of Capote’s book, and the aftermath for all involved.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, November 17:
ATOMIC HOMEFRONT

Director:
Rebecca Cammisa

Premiere:
AFI Docs 2017

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, St Louis, DocuWest, Hot Springs Doc

About:
Ordinary citizens uncover the atomic secrets of St Louis.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Rebecca Cammisa (WHICH WAY HOME, SISTER HELEN) explores the atomic secrets of St Louis MO documenting the history of a uranium processing center. The film investigates how government and corporate negligence led to the illegal dumping of Manhattan Project radioactive waste throughout North County neighborhoods. We witness the power of a citizens’ movement that confronts state and federal agencies in an effort to get to the truth and keep their families safe.