Category Archives: Releases

Opening at the IFC Center this Friday, October 8: MARWENCOL

I’ve already written about Jeff Malmberg’s exceptional documentary debut here.

Check out the official theatrical trailer and list of theatre engagements at the film’s website. Mark your calendar to see this doc when it opens in your area. No false hype here – this film is like nothing you’ve seen before. You won’t regret it.

Coming to POV on October 5: THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS

Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith’s film had its world premiere at Toronto last year and went on to win a Special Jury Award at IDFA a couple of months later. It was acquired by First Run Features, and released theatrically in February. The film was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature in the 2010 Academy Awards.

This riveting doc tells the story of the high-ranking Pentagon official who leaked top secret government documents about the Vietnam War to The New York Times – an act of conscience that helped turn the tide of public sentiment against both the war and the Nixon administration. Ehrlich and Goldsmith achieve a delicate balance – crafting not only a record of political history but also a veritable thriller, showing how one man, with the help of the media, could face off against a government and win.

To find out more about the POV screening on PBS, click here.

Opening this Friday, October 1: FREAKONOMICS

Producers Chad Troutwine, Chris Romano, and Dan O’Meara assembled a veritable dream team of documentary directing all-stars to tackle their film adaptation of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s bestselling book. The film premiered at Tribeca earlier this year and is being released by Magnolia this weekend, hoping to capitalize not only on the six directors’ followers, but on the rabid fanbase of the popular book, which combines pop culture with an incentives-focused view of economics.

Adapting notable examples from the source material, each director (or director team in the case of Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing) taking on a different chapter of the film. Like most omnibus projects, some segments are stronger than others. Eugene Jarecki’s exploration of the possible explanation for the unexpected drop in the crime rate in the 1990s, narrated by Melvin Van Peebles, is arguably the strongest. Grady & Ewing also deliver an entertaining, if light, look into a scheme to pay ninth graders to improve their grades. A light approach is also taken by Morgan Spurlock in his satirical musing on the impact of baby names, which, while well done, doesn’t go too far below the surface. The opposite extreme is found in Alex Gibney’s investigative journalism-like report on sumo wrestling corruption – much like its subjects, the segment is far too weighty compared to the rest of the film, and drags it down. Seth Gordon connects these episodes together with clever interstitials featuring Levitt and Dubner, perhaps the second best aspect of the project after Jarecki. While it be a mixed bag, the film is worthwhile for its basic concept – applying out-of-the-box economic approaches to make sense of human behavior.

Released on DVD earlier this week: RACING DREAMS

Director Marshall Curry’s follow up to the Academy Award nominated STREET FIGHT with this coming of age profile of three young go-kart racers, which won over audiences at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and also claimed the festival’s Best Documentary Award. It went on to claim additional jury and audience awards on its tour of the festival circuit since then. While the doc had only a limited theatrical run, DreamWorks hopes to tap into a larger potential audience through a dramatic feature adaptation that’s in development by the writers of the revitalized STAR TREK franchise.

Recognizing that the best sports documentaries are never just about the sport, Curry found three distinctive and engaging young subjects whose clearly-stated and understood goals are easy for a wide audience to connect with. Far from only appealing to niche fans, by positioning its 11-13-year-olds as Everymen facing a pivotal time when they must prove they have what it takes to take their juvenile hobby into an eventual professional adult career, the film transcends its apparent specificities to relate to any viewer who’s ever pursued a dream, whatever the context.

Opening this Friday, September 17 (in NYC): SWEETHEARTS OF THE PRISON RODEO

Bradley Beesley premiered his most recent feature documentary at last year’s SXSW (his earlier film, SUMMERCAMP!, is one of my first indieWIRE @ Hulu Docs picks). The film is being shown on a “Western Swing Tour,” hitting theatres for both one-off screenings and multiple day runs.

Focusing on female convicts at Oklahoma State Penitentiary participating in the US’ only prison-set rodeo, SWEETHEARTS profiles a number of women and the brief sense of mediated freedom participating in the event affords them. It’s a well-balanced character study, revealing the women behind the label of “prisoner,” while also providing the sheer visual spectacle of the antiquated prison rodeo, held at the OSP since 1940, but only allowing women to compete the year before the event featured in the film. Like Brian Hill’s SONGBIRDS, the lives of female convicts are allowed to go beyond stereotypes through a relatively unorthodox focus – for Hill’s film it’s music, and for Beesley’s it’s the rodeo, which allows the women to show off their athleticism, compete for prizes, and, for as long as they can stay on their horses, be the stars of the show.