Category Archives: Releases

Coming to VOD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 24: HUNGRY

Jeff Cerulli and Barry Rothbart’s look at the world of competitive eating had its world premiere at DOC NYC last year. FilmBuff now releases the doc on iTunes and various VOD platforms.

I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
How many hot dogs could you eat in 10 minutes? Follow the jaw-dropping exploits of several competitive eaters, including the world famous Takeru Kobayashi, known for his six consecutive wins at the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest in Coney Island. After a contract dispute with Major League Eating, the organization that holds a veritable monopoly on the sport, Kobayashi is banned from their events, but fights back to restore his tarnished reputation.

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed on The WORLD Channel tomorrow, Tuesday, June 24: BROKEN HEART LAND

Jeremy and Randy Stulberg’s look at the impact of a homophobia on a small town just had its official world premiere at Frameline this past weekend. Sneak previews have also taken place in Norman and Oklahoma City OK.

In 2010, Zach Harrington, a young gay man in Norman OK, committed suicide. One week prior, Norman’s city council meeting was the site of unexpected controversy, as conservative community members spoke out against a proposal to recognize LGBT History Month in the town, often spouting anti-gay rhetoric and fear-mongering misinformation. The Stulbergs’ poignant film focuses on Zach’s sad action – including revelations from his diary – and its aftermath, as revealed through the unexpected politicization of his conservative Republican parents, who begin to campaign for LGBT-supportive candidates. While the Harringtons are genuine, relatable subjects who try to make their private tragedy into an impetus for larger community transformation, the film shines most when Zach’s story is instead allowed to take center stage, rather than haunting the background of the campaign.

Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, June 24: AFTERNOON OF A FAUN: TANAQUIL LE CLERCQ

Nancy Buirski’s tale of the tragedy that felled a dancer premiered last year at the New York Film Festival. Its fest circuit also included Berlin, Palm Springs, Full Frame, and Bermuda, and was released theatrically and on VOD last week.

I wrote about the doc upon its release last week here.

Coming to PBS’s American Masters and to VOD this Friday, June 20: AFTERNOON OF A FAUN: TANAQUIL LE CLERCQ

Nancy Buirski’s portrait of the tragic dancer debuted at last year’s New York Film Festival. It went on to screen at Berlin, Palm Springs, Full Frame, and Bermuda, among others. In conjunction with its broadcast debut, the doc is also expected to be released on iTunes.

In the early 1950s, ballerina Le Clercq, known familiarly as Tanny, captivated audiences – and the legendary George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins – until she was stricken with polio at the age of 26, never to dance again. Buirski’s haunting portrait captures not only the biographical and personal, but also a sense of a bygone era when the mainstream accepted – and appreciated – modern dance and ballet. While the film features numerous colleagues and confidantes of Le Clercq, invaluable in offering insight into her personality, relationships, and, critically, her ability to cope with tragedy, it is the footage of her dancing that is the heart of Buirski’s profile. Utilizing just enough of the latter to demonstrate the dancer’s artistry – and, in its age-worn softness, a sense of time long past – but not so much that it becomes inaccessible to non-dance fans, the film succeeds in conveying Le Clercq’s allure to new audiences.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 17: ADJUST YOUR TRACKING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE VHS COLLECTOR

Dan Kinem and Levi Peretic’s survey of VHS fanatics made its debut last year at Los Angeles’ Days of the Dead convention. Since then, it’s screened at a variety of fan conventions, college campuses, one-off events, and fests around the US and beyond, including Sydney Underground, Albuquerque’s Dark Matters, and New Orleans’ Chalmette Movies.

This ode to obsession and nostalgia shares much in common with REWIND THIS!, Josh Johnson’s similarly themed, yet more expansive, exploration of present-day VHS lovers. Where the slicker latter film offers often interesting history and analysis, Kinem and Peretic’s film is more deliberately rough around the edges, visually approximating the degraded look of the format that their subjects effusively praise, and tends to place its focus more squarely on these collectors and their love/mania for collecting what others view as obsolete junk. Utilizing an unfussy talking heads survey approach, peppered with clips from several only-available-on-VHS dubious “classics,” and occasional collector profiles, the film successfully conveys unapologetic film geekery, as interviewees discuss their collections, how they organize their prized possessions (by tape size? genre? alphabetically?), and the excitement they experience when on the hunt for new acquisitions – even if it’s against the sad backdrop of shuttering video stores. Arguments about the collectors’ role in preserving film culture go a bit too far, as virtually every movie noted is low-budget, forgettable, and looks downright bad, so the fact that they haven’t been released on DVD/Blu-Ray is hardly a surprise and largely forgiveable. More compelling is that these men (and one lone woman) simply find pleasure in this hobby, and community in the subculture of which they’re a part.