Category Archives: Releases

Coming to NYC’s Ace Hotel, Maysles Cinema, and Park Slope Food Co-Op for special screenings and filmmaker Q&As this Sunday, May 8 (Ace), Monday, May 9 (Maysles), and Tuesday, May 10 (Park Slope), in conjunction with a DVD release on Tuesday, May 10: BANANAS!*

Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten’s exploration of the case of Nicaraguan banana plantation workers against Dole generated headlines before its scheduled world premiere in competition at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival when Dole threatened to sue both Gertten and the LAFF for slander. While the film screened, it was removed from competition, and Gertten went on to be sued individually. Ultimately, the case was dismissed, and Gertten was awarded legal fees of nearly $200,000 due to the frivolous nature of Dole’s complaint. In the meantime, BANANAS!* went on to screen at notable festivals around the world, including IDFA and Thessaloniki Documentary, and was eventually picked up for US release by Oscilloscope, who organized the screenings and are releasing the DVD next week.

The film details alleged cases of sterility, cancer, and other medical conditions in plantation workers as the result of a pesticide employed by Dole despite their knowledge of its dangers. Adding to the controversial nature of the documentary, a central figure is the workers’ lawyer, Juan Dominguez, who brings suit against Dole in California court. Known as a personal injury lawyer, his nickname “Accidentes” underscores popular sentiment that he’s an ambulance chaser – an opinion which later took on added relevancy when Dominguez himself was found to be under contempt charges for allegedly defrauding the court by coaching his witnesses against Dole to lie (earlier this year he was exonerated). With court cases both in the film and around the film against its subjects and filmmaker, BANANAS!* sharply demonstrates the power of corporations, often at the expense of their most modestly-paid employees, and the limits that they may be willing to go to in order to avoid acknowledging any potential wrongdoing. Like Joe Berlinger’s CRUDE, the film’s smartly structured David vs Goliath narrative gives cause for hope, though the complicated developments around the film’s exhibition threaten the reality of workers’ ability to attain social justice.

Now on DVD: SYNC OR SWIM

Cheryl Furjanic’s debut feature doc had its world premiere at Slamdance in 2008 and went on to have a healthy festival run, including screenings at Silverdocs, Hot Springs, Big Sky, and MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight. It also picked up the Billie Award for Journalism from the Women’s Sports Foundation in 2009.

I’ve known Cheryl since NewFest programmed her clever short, BAR TALK, in 2002. Her labor of love, SYNC OR SWIM, follows synchronized swimmer hopefuls in their quest to make the 2004 Olympics team, detailing the entire process, from training for the qualifying trials to making the final team and competing in the Olympic Games. Along the way, Furjanic covers the origins of the sport, still the subject of derision, and includes the patron saint of synchronized swimming, Esther Williams. Unexpected drama comes in the form of one teammate’s involvement in a fatal car accident, which leads to media scrutiny and additional stress for the entire team before their trip to Athens. While regular readers of this blog know I’m no big fan of sports docs, this particular sport is still so marginalized that this insider look is appreciated. The Olympics make for a fitting structuring device – even if fans of the sport already know the outcome, new converts may not have paid much attention to the Games’ results, and SYNC OR SWIM certainly should function as a goodwill ambassador for the sport.

Now on DVD: STONEWALL UPRISING

SOUTHERN COMFORT’s Kate Davis and her WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON directing partner David Heilbroner premiered their in-depth look at Stonewall at last year’s Frameline in San Francisco. It screened on PBS’ AMERICAN EXPERIENCE series, who has also released the documentary on DVD.

Using archival material, and, most-affectingly, first-person accounts from Stonewall veterans and other participants and observers, including an NYPD officer who was involved in the raid and a Village Voice journalist who was present and covered the event, STONEWALL UPRISING is a comprehensive account of the June 1969 raid on NYC’s Stonewall Bar and the riots that resulted that unexpectedly sparked the beginnings of the LGBT movement in the US and around the world. Given the access that Davis and Heilbroner have, the film offers new perspectives even to those viewers who already feel they know the story, and is must-see for those who are unfamiliar with this pivotal part of modern history.

Now playing at NYC’s IFC Center through next Thursday, May 5: BEAUTIFUL DARLING

James Rasin’s documentary on the Warhol Superstar premiered at last year’s Berlinale before going on to screen at New Directors/New Films and a number of other festivals. The film opened theatrically at the IFC Center last week, where it has been held over, and has a number of additional engagements coming up in May, June, and July, from Los Angeles and Washington DC to San Francisco and Atlanta, among others.

The rare subcultural star to crossover into the mainstream consciousness, trans Warhol Superstar Candy Darling was an inspiration to Lou Reed, Tennessee Williams, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Avedon, and Cecil Beaton, appearing in films, plays, and photographs in the late 1960s and early 1970s before leukemia cut her life short in 1974. In the moving BEAUTIFUL DARLING, director Rasin and producer and longtime friend Jeremiah Newton have assembled a treasure trove of archival material and interviews to tell the fascinating story of Darling’s life on the wild side while simultaneously capturing both her humanity and a palpable sense of the long-gone NYC milieu in which she lived.

Out on DVD today, Tuesday April 26: LUCKY

Jeffrey Blitz’s lottery documentary premiered at Sundance last year – his second film there following 2007’s Narrative Director Award winner ROCKET SCIENCE. Of course, his acclaimed first doc, SPELLBOUND, premiered at SXSW in 2002 before its acquisition and successful theatrical run.

In LUCKY, Blitz looks at lottery winners, and on the effect the jackpot has on their lives. Focusing on a number of stories – from a curmudgeon who can’t hold on to this winnings, to an immigrant who joined his co-workers in playing the lucky numbers – look at both the good and bad sides of suddenly coming into wealth. While the subjects may not have the natural charm of Blitz’s spelling bee participants, they are diverse and engaging. More could have been done to explore more extreme personalities such as lottery addicts who are briefly addressed, but the film still offers access to a life-altering situation that statistically very few individuals will ever directly experience – no matter how often they purchase a lottery ticket.

Coming to theatres this Friday, April 29: CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

I previously wrote about the incomparable Werner Herzog’s 3-D doc on the Chauvet caves as part of my initial roundup of Toronto docs. Take a look here.

Opening in NYC for an exclusive two-week run at the Film Forum next Wednesday, April 27: THE ARBOR

Clio Barnard picked up the Best New Documentary Filmmaker award at last year’s Tribeca and additional awards at the BFI London Film Festival and Sheffield for her unique hybrid doc about the British playwright Andrea Dunbar and her daughter. I wrote about the film in my coverage of True/False for indieWIRE last month, saying:

The artifice is immediately apparent in the deeply affecting THE ARBOR – the film’s opening explains that actors lipsynch actual documentary recordings throughout the film. During the Q&A, Barnard explained that this innovative technique was inspired by a play that incorporated the verbatim interviews of residents of the titular housing project where her subjects, playwright Andrea Dunbar and her daughter Lorraine, lived. This practice, together with staged re-enactments from Dunbar’s writing, serves to distance the viewer and highlight rather than elide the manipulations that go into non-fiction filmmaking.

Note: Barnard will be present for a Q&A after the Friday, May 6 8PM screening. The 1987 comedy written by Andrea Dunbar, RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO!, will screen at 6PM on April 30-May 1 and May 7-8.

Coming to theatres this Friday, April 22: POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD

Merry prankster/provocateur with a movie camera Morgan Spurlock self-reflexively sells out his newest film. Read my preview post from Sundance here.

Coming to NYC’s IFC Center tomorrow, Friday, April 15: ARMADILLO

My praise for Janus Metz’s complex, harrowing portrait of a platoon of Danish soldiers in Afghanistan may be found in my roundup from last year’s Toronto here.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, April 12: I’M DANGEROUS WITH LOVE

My thoughts on Michel Negroponte’s provocative profile of a former addict turned experimental rehab mentor can be found here.