Category Archives: Releases

Coming to OVID today, Wednesday, March 30:
INTO THE NIGHT: PORTRAITS OF LIFE AND DEATH

Director:
Helen Whitney

Premiere:
FilmColumbia 2017

Select Festivals:
Austin, Hamptons Take 2 Docs

About:
Nine diverse perspectives on dying, death, and the afterlife.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, March 29:
NORTH BY CURRENT

Director:
Angelo Madsen Minax

World Premiere:
Berlin 2021

Select Festivals:
Tribeca, Sheffield, Krakow, Melbourne, AFI Docs, Camden, Frameline, Outfest, Sidewalk, Freep, Doclisboa, Montclair

About:
In this personal essay about motherhood, grieving, and transgender masculinity, the unexplained death of his niece leads the director back to his family.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 29:
WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA

Director:
Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler

World Premiere:
SXSW 2021

Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, AFI Fest, Seattle, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Woodstock

About:
ACLU lawyer Jeffery Robinson’s shattering talk on the history of US anti-Black racism is interwoven with archival footage, interviews, and Robinson’s story, exploring the legacy of white supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it. 

Coming to SundanceNOW today, Monday, March 28:
SINCE I BEEN DOWN

Director:
Gilda Sheppard

World Premiere:
Cleveland 2020

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Big Sky, Freep, Sebastopol Doc, Portland, Thin Line, Montreal Black

About:
Despite serving life without parole, a man works to improve others’ lives. 

The doc previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Kimonti Carter is serving life without parole in a Washington state prison based on a harsh 1990s three-strikes law, but rather than accept this condemnation, he has worked to transform inmates’ lives through education. His experience brilliantly elucidates the dehumanization and trauma that accompany incarceration, but also demonstrates the possibility of redemption even among those society has called irredeemable. Gilda Sheppard’s profound and revealing film represents a 12-year journey to investigate the circumstances and inequities that have landed a whole generation of African-American youth in prison.

New to DVD this week:
THE MONOPOLY OF VIOLENCE

Director:
David Dufresne

World Premiere:
Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2020 (unscreened)

Select Festivals:
New York, Sheffield, Brussels, Toronto, Melbourne

About:
This exploration of police violence in contemporary France examines the ways in which a government justifies brutal acts against its own citizens, enacting totalitarian methods to keep the populace under its control.