Category Archives: Releases

New to VOD this week:
MEN IN THE ARENA

Director:
JR Biersmith

Premiere:
Heartland 2016

Select Festivals:
St Louis, Mexico International

About:
A portrait of two Somali professional soccer players.

Against the backdrop of a civil war raging for decades, Somalia was further destabilized in the 2000s by the rise of radical groups like al-Shabaab, a terrorist organization linked to al-Qaeda which banned sports and the arts until they were pushed out of the capital, Mogadishu. Growing up in the shadow of conflict, young friends Saadiq and Sa’ad try to realize their soccer dreams and show a different side of Somalia to the world. Saadiq is a rising star playing in the Kenyan premiere league who receives the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance at an education in the US and recruitment by an American professional team. His friend Sa’ad, unfortunately, doesn’t fare as well, confined to Somalia as he struggles to make ends meet. Biersmith aims for the hopeful and inspirational, but the film struggles to find the proper balance between its two protagonists – Sa’ad’s story just doesn’t carry equivalent weight in comparison with Saadiq’s more compelling trajectory.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, April 11:
DAN AND MARGOT

Directors:
Chloe Sosa-Sims and Jake Chirico

Premiere:
Victoria 2016

Select Festivals:
Cinequest, mental health fests in Vancouver, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Toronto

About:
A young woman who has struggled with a stalker for years makes an unsettling discovery.

Several years ago, Margot found her life thrown into turmoil by Dan, a man who stalked and harassed her constantly. Eventually, however, she learned that Dan didn’t actually exist – he was instead a product of her undiagnosed schizophrenia. Sosa-Sims and Chirico follow Margot as she recounts her descent into depression and confusion while dealing with Dan’s presence for three years, and her attempts to recover a semblance of control in her life while still acknowledging the difficulties posed by her schizophrenia. While in need of some tightening up, the film benefits from its appealing subject, who doubles as an unreliable narrator, and offers welcome first-hand insight into the experiences of mental illness.

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, April 11:
GAZA SURF CLUB

Directors:
Philip Gnadt and Mickey Yamine

Premiere:
Toronto 2016

Select Festivals:
IDFA, MoMA Doc Fortnight, Dubai, Washington DC Environmental, Movies That Matter

About:
A portrait of Gaza City residents who find a small taste of freedom through surfing.

Gnadt and Yamine profile several individuals who are part of the small surf culture of the beleaguered city, including the 42-year-old Mohammad, a fisherman who provides a sense of surfing’s ragtag local development after it was witnessed on television, as well as 15-year-old student Sabah, who has been forced to stop the sport on religious grounds because of her gender. Neither subject’s thread is particularly well-developed, leaving the bulk of this smaller film instead to Ibrahim, a 23-year-old jack of multiple trades whose quest to grow surfing in the area leads him to seek help from Matthew, an American who he hopes will help him get a visa towards the eventual goal of importing surfboards and other equipment.

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Friday, April 7:
SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY

Directors:
Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz

Premiere:
Washington DC’s Environmental Film Festival 2016

Select Festivals:
Nashville, Rhode Island, Princeton Environmental, Sheffield, Florida, DOXA, Woods Hole

About:
An overview about efforts to preserve seed diversity.

I previously wrote about the doc here.