Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, January 12: THE LOOK OF SILENCE
Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion to THE ACT OF KILLING made its premiere at Venice in 2014. Screenings have followed at DOC NYC, the New York Film Festival, Toronto, Human Rights Watch, True/False, Hamptons, SXSW, and Abu Dhabi, among other fests. It has been shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, January 12: THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Avi Lewis’ climate change re-think debuted at Toronto last year. Other festival screenings have included Vancouver, Stockholm, CPH:DOX, and Atlantic.
I previously wrote about the doc upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, January 12: MAKING ROUNDS
Muffie Meyer’s exploration of hands on cardiac care debuted theatrically this past Fall. First Run Features now releases the doc on DVD.
I previously wrote about the film upon its theatrical release here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, January 8: TROUBLEMAKERS: THE STORY OF LAND ART
James Crump’s look at a radical revolution in art practice debuted at Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art last Fall. It went on to screen at DOC NYC, New York Film Festival, St Louis, Milan’s Fondazione Prada, and Art Basel Miami, among others.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In the 1960s and ‘70s, a group of NYC-based artists abandoned the constraints of gallery spaces and the demands of the marketplace, moving to the expanse of the American Southwest to engage in a radical reconceptualization of their artistic practice. Turning to nature, acclaimed artists like Michael Heizer (Double Negative) and Robert Smithson (Spiral Jetty) changed accepted notions of scale and exhibition by producing monumental creations out of the earth itself. Crump’s archive-rich film reveals their breathtaking work and their fascinating process.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD today, Thursday, January 7: JE SUIS CHARLIE
Daniel Leconte and Emmanuel Leconte’s tribute to Charlie Hebdo made its debut at Toronto this past Fall. It has gone on to screen at CPH:DOX, Berlin’s French Film Week, Rio, and the Hong Kong French Film Festival. Netflix now releases the doc on the one-year anniversary of the attack that left eleven magazine staffers dead.
Making its debut less than eight months after the shooting, the Lecontes’ film would seem a hasty response, were it not for the fact that Daniel, the father of the father-son helming duo, had already made a doc on the satirical publication in 2007. This provides ample interview footage of the fallen cartoonists to supplement the newly-filmed testimony of the survivors which greatly benefits the project, and also speaks to the rapport the elder director felt for his subjects, which manifests in an unfortunate – and largely unnecessary – narration that bogs down the film, and too much of an insider’s viewpoint which to some degree assumes that all viewers are intimately familiar with Charlie Habdo‘s personalities. Still, the filmmakers do offer a rundown of the various controversies the paper invited through its brash provocations – including the defiant stand the surviving staffers took in their very next issue – providing a context for the attack and the free speech debate that followed internationally. Ultimately, the Lecontes succeed in paying tribute, even if their realization stumbles at times.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, January 5: AMERICAN COMANDANTE
Adriana Bosch’s profile of an American embroiled in the Cuban Revolution premiered on PBS as part of American Experience this past Fall.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, January 5: A BRAVE HEART: THE LIZZIE VELASQUEZ STORY
Sara Hirsch Bordo’s profile of an unexpected activist bowed at SXSW last year, where it won an audience award. The film’s fest circuit has included Traverse City, Newport Beach, Rhode Island, Lower East Side, and Bentonville, among others.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD: GOOD PEOPLE GO TO HELL, SAVED PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN
Holly Hardman’s exploration of Christian evangelicalism and the apocalypse had its world premiere at the 2012 IDFA. Screenings followed at St Louis, Knoxville, and Berkshire, among other fests and special events. The film was released on VOD just before the New Year on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Instant.
I previously wrote about the film out of IDFA here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, January 4: CHUCK NORRIS VS COMMUNISM
Ilinca Calugareanu’s exploration of the subversive role played by VCRs in the Cold War made its debut at Sundance last year. Screenings followed at Nantucket, Hot Docs, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, Denver, Stockholm, Leeds, Hamptons, and Seattle, among other fests.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to A&E tonight, Monday, January 4: CARTEL LAND
Matthew Heineman’s visceral exploration of Mexican cartel violence had its world premiere at Sundance last year, where it won two awards. It went on to screen at Nantucket, DOC NYC, True/False, Full Frame, Dallas, Sarasota, Tribeca, IFF Boston, Documenta, Docville, Seattle, Sydney, Human Rights Watch, AFI Docs, and Sheffield, among others. The film has been shortlisted for the Documentary Feature Academy Award.
My pre-Sundance doc profile may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
