Coming to HBO tomorrow, Saturday, April 9: NOTHING LEFT UNSAID: GLORIA VANDERBILT & ANDERSON COOPER
Liz Garbus’ profile of a famed socialite, via her equally famous journalist son, had its world premiere at Sundance at the beginning of the year. Additional berths have included the Miami and Martha’s Vineyard fests as well as part of year-round special programming at Newport and Nantucket.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres today, Friday, April 8: LOOK AT US NOW, MOTHER!
Gayle Kirschenbaum’s personal reckoning with mother/daughter relationships premiered at Sarasota last year. It has gone on to screen at DocAviv, Woods Hole, Rhode Island, Woodstock, Orlando, Mumbai, and Jewish fests in Toronto, Nashville, Atlanta, Palm Beach, Miami and Baton Rouge.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, April 5: MEET THE HITLERS
Matt Ogens’ exploration of the impact of an infamous name made its world premiere at New Orleans in 2014. Fest screenings followed at Big Sky, Cleveland, Cinequest, Manchester, Rhode Island, and Boston Jewish, among other events.
What’s in a name? Ogens’ film offers a meditation on this question through the examples of disprate people who (mostly) share the Führer’s surname, or a slight variation. While Adolf Hitler’s direct relatives changed their name and swore to never have offspring, Hitler, or Hittler, has lived on in other family trees, causing some shame, others inexplicable pride, and a few no discernible impression at all. In the latter category is teenager Emily, who adds little to the project in her numerous scenes. Also unnecessarily included is artist Jim Roswold, who doesn’t even fit the project’s stated brief, and has been included on the very tenuous ground that his artwork mocks Hitler to take away his power. That said, while the film, like most surveys, could have benefited from fewer profiles, other subjects presented here offer more poignancy, or at least space to consider their reasons for keeping a surname despite its forever-tarnished associations, from a white supremacist who is thwarted in naming his son after Adolph to a British journalist attempting to track down Hitler’s last confirmed living descendant.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 5: PRESCRIPTION THUGS
Chris Bell, Josh Alexander and GB Young’s examination of the consequences of overprescribed drugs had its world premiere at Tribeca last year. The doc also screened at Traverse City before its limited release earlier this year.
I previously wrote about the film here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 5: OF MEN AND WAR
Laurent Bécue-Renard’s raw exploration of the impact of PTSD on veterans debuted at Cannes in 2014. Screenings followed at IDFA, Göteborg, DocPoint, Documentary Fortnight, ZagrebDox, True/False, Full Frame, Visions du Réel, Documenta Madrid, San Francisco, DOXA, Sydney, AFI Docs, Human Rights Watch, and DOK.Fest Munich, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 5: HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Jerry Rothwell’s look at the early days of Greenpeace made its bow at Sundance last year, where it picked up the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award. Its fest circuit has also included Nantucket, Hot Docs, True/False, DOXA, San Francisco Green, Sebastopol Doc, Sydney, and Telluride Mountainfilm, among others.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, April 5: WHO TOOK JOHNNY?
David Beilinson, Suki Hawley, and Michael Galinsky’s investigation of a mother’s decades-long search for her missing son debuted at Slamdance in 2014. The doc also screened at Big Sky, Brooklyn, Maryland, Chicago Underground, and Newport Beach, among other events. FilmBuff now releases the film on VOD platforms.
Noreen Gosch has been searching for her son Johnny since the then twelve-year-old vanished from his Des Moines neighborhood during his paper route in 1982. Despite being the first missing child whose photo was featured on the side of a milk carton, Johnny was never found. Hampered by regulations that necessitated a 72-hour wait period, authorities turned up no clues and instead suspected he ran away, angering Noreen and setting her on a life-long quest to discover what happened. While sensitively exploring the toll of her mission on the still-grieving mother, the filmmakers also carefully detail the prevailing theory on Johnny’s fate – a disturbing conspiracy that suggests he, and other missing children, were the victims of a human trafficking ring catering to well-connected pedophiles. At the same time, a late revelation from Noreen introduces an intriguing ambiguity that colors the entire film, calling to mind other 1980s-era scares around child abduction and abuse – day-care hysteria, Satanic ritual panic – that have nevertheless left a lasting impact on parents of irrational fear and distrust.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Monday, April 4: ONLY THE DEAD
Michael Ware and William Guttentag’s first-hand portrait of war premiered at Sydney last year. Other festival engagements have included Melbourne, New Zealand, Adelaide, Telluride, and IDFA, while its recent HBO broadcast was under the longer title ONLY THE DEAD SEE THE END OF WAR. The doc now comes to iTunes.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, February 4 and to theatres this Friday, April 8: MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES
Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey’s look back at the impact of the controversial photographer’s work had its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. The doc went on to screen at Berlin, BFI Flare, and Miami.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to Independent Lens tonight, Monday, February 4: WELCOME TO LEITH
Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K Walker’s exploration of a white supremacist’s plan to takeover a community debuted at Sundance last year. Screenings followed at Nantucket, New Orleans, SXSW, IDFA, Hot Docs, Dallas, Cucalorus, Montclair, Sydney, AFI Docs, New Zealand, Melbourne, Docville, RIDM, and DMZ Docs, among many other events.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
