Category Archives: Releases

Coming to PBS’s American Experience tonight, Tuesday, August 2: THE BOYS OF ’36

Margaret Grossi’s chronicle of the US rowing team that upset Hitler’s plans for Olympic gold makes its debut on the long-running public television strand. Special promotional screenings have been held in Seattle, Chicago, and Los Angles over the past month.

Timed to correspond with the upcoming Summer Olympics, and inspired by the New York Times bestselling THE BOYS IN THE BOAT by Daniel James Brown, Grossi tells the tale of the nine young men from the University of Washington’s rowing team who participated in the contentious 1936 Games, hosted by Nazi Germany, and their coach and shell builder who led them to victory. While the sport was widely popular across America at the time, this Pacific Northwest team differed from their East Coast counterparts, coming largely from poor and working-class backgrounds. Individual biographies, like that of Joe Rantz, reveal particularly poignant histories of poverty, abandonment, and resilience, in many ways serving as a microcosmic representation of a nation still contending with the Great Depression. While hewing close to the PBS strand’s conventional storytelling format, the film zeroes in on the U of W’s underdog story, revealing how the team beat the odds – even with stroker Don Hume nearly incapacitated by sickness – to claim the gold medal over Hitler’s Aryan athletes.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 2: LITTLE WHITE LIE

Lacey Schwartz’s personal uncovering of family secrets debuted at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in 2014. Screenings followed at DOC NYC, New Orleans, Sidewalk, Black Harvest, BlackStar, Martha’s Vineyard African American, and Philadelphia Jewish fests, among other events.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tomorrow, Tuesday, August 2: T-REX: HER FIGHT FOR GOLD

Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari’s profile of a female boxer’s Olympic dreams premiered at SXSW last year. Its festival circuit also included Hot Docs, New Orleans, San Francisco, Traverse City, Camden, Hot Springs Doc, DOK Leipzig, Cucalorus, Athena, and Atlantic, among others.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, August 1: IRIS

Al Maysles’ profile of a NYC style icon debuted at the New York Film Festival in 2014. The doc went on to screen at the Hamptons, San Francisco, Tallinn Black Nights, Palm Springs, Miami, Ashland, Full Frame, Sarasota, and Belfast fests.

I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, July 29: MISS SHARON JONES!

Barbara Kopple’s profile of a musician’s resilience debuted at Toronto last year. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, Nantucket, Montclair, Dallas, Sarasota, Sydney, DocPoint, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, New Zealand, SXSW, IDFA, and AFI Docs, among other events.

I previously wrote about the doc for Nantucket’s program, saying:
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple crafts a stirring portrait of soul singer Sharon Jones. Dubbed “the female James Brown,” Jones left a career as a correctional officer in her forties to find success with the R&B funk band The Dap-Kings. Just as the band is poised to launch a new album, Sharon is diagnosed with cancer, upending all of their plans. Kopple follows the singer over a tumultuous yet inspirational year of resilience and healing, culminating in an electrifying comeback show.

Coming to theatres this Friday, July 29: HOMO SAPIENS

Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s catalogue of ruin and reclamation debuted at Berlin earlier this year. Screenings followed at Cinéma du Réel, Honk Kong, BAFICI, Docville, DOK.fest Munich, Docs Against Gravity, and DocAviv, among other events.

Like his earlier work, Geyrhalter’s latest is a stunningly composed series of tableaux, focusing on sites that once were inhabited by the titular species but now are apparently abandoned, left to nature to reassert its dominance. Schools, hospitals, movie theatres, military bunkers, churches, office buildings, shopping malls, and amusement parks, apparently from all around the world – the film never identifies locations, and is absent any dialogue or commentary – are presented, showing signs of past use, but now in a decayed state. The effect on the viewer is mesmerizing and contemplative, affording space to consider the impact of mankind on the natural world, and, as if offering an opportunity of time travel to some post-apocalyptic era, what will likely remain when we’re gone.

Coming to theatres this Friday, July 29: CAN WE TAKE A JOKE?

Ted Balaker’s look at the impact of outrage culture on comedy had its world premiere at DOC NYC last year. Screenings followed at Anthem, RiverRun, and Sarasota, among other events.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In the age of social media, outrage has become commonplace. While individuals have always found something to be offended by, their ability to organize a groundswell of opposition to – and public censure of – their offender has never been more powerful. Balaker’s timely film offers a thought-provoking and wry exploration of outrage culture through the lens of stand-up comedy, with notables like Gilbert Gottfried, Lisa Lampanelli, and Adam Carolla detailing its stifling impact on everyone’s free speech and the exchange of ideas.