Category Archives: Releases

Coming to PBS’s POV this coming Monday, September 9 and to DVD on Tuesday, September 10: PING PONG

Hugh Hartford’s look at senior table tennis champs had its world premiere at Hot Docs last year. It went on to screen at Sheffield, DOC NYC, Palm Springs, Vancouver, and Miami, among others, and came to theatres this past May.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 6: WE THE PARENTS

James Takata’s chronicle of the possibilities of parent power in education made its debut in limited theatrical release in Los Angeles last month. It now expands to NYC, with filmmakers using Tugg to set up potential screenings around the country based on demand.

In January 2010, California became the first state to pass a parent trigger law – essentially, a means by which parents can hold their school district to task for an underperforming school by closing the school, demanding a new administration, or converting it to a charter school. Takata’s film focuses on the efforts of the first group of parents who tried to invoke the law in California’s Compton school district by gathering petitions from more than half of their school’s parents, backed by Parent Revolution, the organization which fought for the parent trigger law in the first place, and which was eager to see it utilized. Not surprisingly, the Compton school district challenges the petition, necessitating a legal battle. While Takata’s film is fairly conventional in approach, and, clocking in at just about an hour, can’t hope to be comprehensive, it is decidedly successful in poignantly capturing the importance of this battle for several of the participants. The primarily Latino and African American parents profiled view the trigger law, and their involvement in Parent Revolution, as perhaps the first time they’ve felt empowered – as one mother notes, in handing the petition over the school district, she felt like she was on the same level as the administrators. That alone makes Takata’s film worth seeking out by parents, community organizers, and teachers alike.

Coming to NYC’s Filmwax for a screening in a taxi garage parking lot this Saturday, September 7 and to VOD this coming Tuesday, September 10: DRIVERS WANTED

Joshua Z Weinstein’s look at NYC taxi drivers made its premiere at Silverdocs last year. It has gone on to screen at DOK.Leipzig, the Southern Circuit Tour, DOC NYC, Big Sky, and Sebastopol Doc fests, among others, before a limited theatrical release last Fall. It comes to VOD next week via iTunes and Amazon.

I previously wrote about the film here.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 6: I AM BREATHING

Emma Davie and Morag McKinnon’s affecting look at a man’s impending mortality had its world premiere at IDFA last year. Its festival circuit included True/False, Hot Docs, Documentary Edge, DOK.fest Munich, DocsBarcelona, Cleveland, and Edinburgh, as well as a Global Screening Day in June that saw 36 countries host more than 170 screenings.

I included the doc in my IDFA coverage here.

Coming to NYC’s MIST Harlem tomorrow, Thursday, September 5 before expanding to the IFC Center and to LA’s Laemmle Playhouse 7 this Friday, September 6: BEST KEPT SECRET

Samantha Buck’s profile of a teacher at a Newark special needs high school made its world premiere at the Independent Film Festival Boston. Additional fest screenings have included Montclair and AFI Docs.

I previously wrote about the film out of AFI Docs here.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, September 3: THE REP

Morgan White’s look at the challenges of running a repertory cinema had its debut at last year’s Austin Film Festival. The doc has also screened at Kansas City’s Middle of the Map, Estonia’s Tartu Indiefest, and at rep theatres throughout Canada and the US, as well as special engagements in Germany and the UK. FilmBuff releases the film on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, YouTube, XBOX, Sony Playstation, Cinemanow and Vudu.

In a time of virtually unlimited home entertainment options, a struggling economy, and the phasing out of 35mm, the idea of starting a single-screen repertory cinema might not be the brightest move. Friends and business partners Charlie, Nigel, and Alex, however, do just that, taking on the seemingly Sisyphean task of opening the Toronto Underground Cinema, a long-abandoned screen located in the basement of an office building. Beyond the challenges of its location and lack of signage, the three are basically learning as they go along – and making a lot of mistakes. Initially conservative in their expectations, they get swept up in the unexpected success of their launch event, but fail to capitalize on the awareness generated by not having the rest of their initial programming set, resulting in a disastrously low turnout for regular business. White follows them as they try to course correct over their fledgling first year, when the stress of impending failure is exacerbated by interpersonal conflict, the inability to pay salaries and bills on time, and an audience seemingly uninterested in the kind of programming they want to offer – with the exception of a one-off Adam West BATMAN screening that comes off like gangbusters, despite last-minute behind-the-scenes chaos. What these three might lack in business chops they more than make up for in the love of the cinema going experience, something echoed by a string of interviewees representing film theatres around Canada and the US – including Bruce Goldstein from NYC’s Film Forum, Lars Nilson from Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse, and Mike Torgan of LA’s New Beverly Cinema, among others – and filmmakers John Waters, Kevin Smith, George Romero, and Atom Egoyan. The Underground’s partners make for appealing underdog protagonists, but White is wise to open up his film to include these other voices, universalizing the dilemmas they face and taking them out of a strictly Canadian context. While the doc has a rough-hewn look to it, it matches the scrappiness of the subject matter, underscoring just how challenging this endeavor actually is. The heartfelt ending, accompanied by images of the fates of several rep houses around the US and Canada, provides a sobering, but not unexpected, wrap to the story of the Underground.

Coming to theatres and to VOD this Friday, September 6: GOOD OL’ FREDA

Ryan White’s profile of the Beatles’ secretary had its world premiere earlier this year at SXSW. It went on to screen at Hot Docs, San Francisco, Cleveland, Full Frame, DOXA, Nashville, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, DocAviv, Dallas, and Sarasota, among others. After its release at Los Angeles’ Sundance Sunset Cinemas (and on VOD and iTunes) this Friday, it expands to NYC’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema, as well as Palm Desert and San Rafael, next Friday, September 13.

I included the doc in my SXSW coverage here.