Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 11:
MY LIFE IN CHINA
Director:
Kenneth Eng
Premiere:
San Diego Asian Film Festival 2014
Select Festivals:
Florida, St Louis, Bahamas, and Asian/Asian American fests in Dallas, Boston, and Seattle
About:
A personal look at the sacrifices made by the filmmaker’s father, an immigrant to the US from China.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, July 11:
CONTEMPORARY COLOR
Directors:
Bill Ross and Turner Ross
Premiere:
Tribeca 2016
Select Festivals:
IDFA, Hot Docs, New Orleans, San Francisco, Montclair, Seattle, Sydney, Bonnaroo, AFI Docs, Guanajuato, Melbourne, Sidewalk, Camden, Denver, St Louis, Indie Memphis, Sound Unseen
About:
A chronicle of a one-night-only musical collaboration conceived by David Byrne celebrating color guard.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 11:
HOTEL DALLAS
Directors:
Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang
Premiere:
Berlin 2016
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Dallas, Docaviv, Maryland, Docs Against Gravity, Sidewalk, Raindance, Hot Springs Doc, Ann Arbor
About:
A hybrid portrait of a Romanian father/daughter duo obsessed with the 1980s American nighttime soap opera.
Drawn from her upbringing in 1980s Cold War-era Romania, Ungur, working with husband Huang, sort of tells the story of the unintended aspirational consequences of allowing Western television programs to infiltrate the Romanian consciousness. Unlike the far more straightforward CHUCK NORRIS VS COMMUNISM, here the idea is used as a launching pad into a phantasmagorical reverie that is far more experimental narrative/art project than documentary, encapsulating the possibly true story of the replica of Southfork built by Ungur’s father, a sunflower oil magnate; narration by a character played by DALLAS’s Patrick Duffy; and disturbing re-enactments by child actors dressed as Communist youth of scenes from both the soap opera and Romania’s troubled past. It’s frankly largely a headscratcher, likely to irritate many viewers with its deliberate obfuscation and quirkiness even as its freeflowing creativity might delight others.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, July 11:
ALL THESE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Director:
Michał Marczak
Premiere:
Sundance 2016
Select Festivals:
True/False, IDFA, CPH:DOX, San Francisco, Hot Docs, Karlovy Vary, Sarajevo, Bergen, Zurich, Singapore, Stockholm, Full Frame, Ambulante
About:
A hybrid profile of Warsaw twentysomethings living in the now.
I profiled the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed this coming Tuesday, July 11:
OXYANA
Director:
Sean Dunne
Premiere:
Tribeca 2013
Select Festivals:
DOXA, IFF Boston, SF Docfest
About:
A portrait of a community besieged by addiction.
I previously wrote about the film out of Tribeca here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS’s POV this coming Monday, July 10:
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO
Director:
Feras Fayyad
Co-Director:
Steen Johannessen
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Full Frame, Sarasota, Movies That Matter, Istanbul, Nashville
About:
A chronicle the lives of Aleppo’s White Helmets, the city’s volunteer civil defense team.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, July 7:
SWIM TEAM
Director:
Lara Stolman
Premiere:
Hot Springs Doc 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Napa Valley, Oxford, Glasgow, Big Sky Doc, Boulder, Reel Abilities, SXSWedu, San Diego Latino, Sarasota, RiverRun, Nashville, Montclair, Berkshire, Greenwich, SF Docfest
About:
A portrait of three teenage swimmers, all on the autism spectrum.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Demonstrating the power of inclusion to transcend disability, Lara Stolman’s triumphant film profiles members of the Jersey Hammerheads, a competitive swim team made up of a diverse group of teens on the autism spectrum, based in the state with the highest rate of autism in the country. Through training and competition, star athletes Mikey, Robbie and Kelvin gain self-confidence and social skills that serve them both in and out of the pool.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, July 7:
SANTOALLA
Directors:
Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer
Premiere:
Edinburgh 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hamptons, IDFA, Cleveland, BAFICI, Austin, Thessaloniki Doc, Big Sky Doc, Krakow,
About:
Neighbors in a remote idyllic community face off with dire consequences.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Seeking a quieter life without rules, Martin and Margo leave the bustle of Amsterdam to set up a farm in Santoalla, located in remote Spanish Galicia. Like many rural communities, the crumbling village has seen its population dwindle. When the Dutch couple arrives, the only other residents are their neighbors, the Rodríguez family. Initial friendliness soon gives way to disagreements and then a full-fledged feud that lasts a decade… until Martin’s mysterious disappearance. Becker and Mehrer expertly craft a whodunnit with a limited number of suspects in this surprising, atmospheric true crime tale.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, July 4:
SAVE MY SEOUL
Director:
Jason Y Lee
Premiere:
LA Asian Pacific 2017
Select Festivals:
Asian American fests in New York and Silicon Valley
About:
Korean-American filmmaking brothers investigate the illegal but condoned culture of prostitution in Korea.
While visiting Korea, brothers Jason and Eddie naively begin an undercover investigation, using hidden cameras and sound recording equipment while they visit the red light district. Interviews with police about how brothels are able to operate yield only evasive answers, but when the Lees convince former working girls Crystal and Esther to speak on camera, they learn details about their negative experiences, later bolstered by access to a working pimp who defends his profession. Supplementing these compelling figures are frequent and superfluous vox pops with ordinary Korean citizens, which drag out the proceedings for what is a well-intentioned but often clumsy project that would have benefited from the overzealous filmmakers not including themselves on camera.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to theatres this Friday, July 7:
CITY OF GHOSTS
Director:
Matt Heineman
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Tribeca, CPH:DOX, San Francisco, Hot Docs, Jeonju, Sheffield, AFI Docs, Jerusalam, Seattle, Montclair, Traverse City
About:
A courageous group of citizen journalists risk their lives to expose the truth behind ISIS.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
