Category Archives: Releases

Opening next Wednesday, September 15: KINGS OF PASTRY

The latest film from the legendary documentary duo Chris Hegedus & DA Pennebaker screened at Sheffield Doc/Fest, IDFA, and Berlin, among other notable fests, documentary specific and otherwise.

With the tag line “16 chefs. 3 days. 1 chance.” KINGS OF PASTRY goes behind-the-scenes of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition, arguably the most prestigious pastry competition in the world, held every four years – a sort of Olympics for pastry chefs established in 1924. Never before filmed, the competition (literally “Best Craftsmen of France”) takes place over three days after years of training and preparation. Hegedus and Pennebaker, craftspersons themselves, follow three of the competitors and the delectable creations they concoct for the challenge. Even though audiences may have gotten used to food competition shows like TOP CHEF or FOOD NETWORK CHALLENGE, there’s a palpable sense imparted by the filmmakers of what’s at stake for these chefs, elevating KINGS OF PASTRY from simple entertainment.

The New York Times recently featured the film here.

Coming to POV on September 14: IN THE MATTER OF CHA JUNG HEE

Deann Borshay Liem premiered her sophomore film at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival ten years after her first documentary, FIRST PERSON PLURAL, debuted at Sundance. Like the latter film, which addressed Korean-born Borshay Liem’s adoption by an American family, her new project deals with the ghosts of her past.

When Borshay Liem came to the US, she was identified as Cha Jung Hee – but that wasn’t really her Korean name. While she played along, she’s always wondered why she had to assume a different identity and what happened to the real Cha Jung Hee. This film details her illuminating search, and emerges as an intriguing, involving, multi-layered story. While some personal films can easily slip off the edge into self-indulgence, that’s thankfully not the case here. Yes, this is very much the filmmaker’s story, but, at the same time, it will certainly resonate with other cross-cultural adoptees, as well as with anyone who likes a good mystery.

Jennifer Merin at About.com reviews the film here.

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

Now on DVD: VIDEOCRACY

Erik Gandini’s compelling exposé of Berlusconi’a Italy topped indieWIRE‘s critics poll after last year’s Toronto Film Festival, beating out COLLAPSE and THE ART OF THE STEAL to claim the Best Documentary spot. While it’s not exactly a film about the Prime Minister, it is about his media empire and its transformative, and detrimental, impact on Italian society, culture, and politics.

Described by some critics as a tragicomic “horror film,” VIDEOCRACY is a smartly constructed critique of Berlusconi, arguing that he exploited his media power to seize power, largely by training Italians to aspire to nothing more than to be or to gawk at celebrities. The viewer wants Gandini’s subjects – a clueless would be singing martial artist, a creepy agent to the stars, and a sleazy but beloved paparazzo/blackmailer/embezzler – to be satirical, Borat-like characters, but, disturbingly, they’re very much genuine. While I’ll admit to having a few guilty pleasure reality TV shows myself, seeing the depths ordinary people sink to for a taste of fame makes me think twice before watching that next show.

To order the DVD, click here.

Being released on DVD September 7: WHEN WE WERE BOYS

Sarah Goodman’s verité portrait of adolescence had its world premiere in its hometown at Hot Docs last year, and also screened in Beijing and at True/False. The film focuses on two friends in an elite private boys’ school and the quiet, subtle changes that happen between boys and their friendships as they transition into young men.

Writing about the film after its Hot Docs premiere, I noted that Goodman’s protagonists, Noah and Colin, become indelible. While they treat the camera as if it’s not even there, they’ve already been taught to suppress their emotions – there’s an entire world going on behind these boys’ public faces, revealed in small expressions and in the complex codes of junior high school cliques. Audiences are rarely provided with such a window into the mores of male adolescence, at least not with such subtlety.

To order the DVD, click here.

Coming to POV on August 31: WO AI NI (I LOVE YOU) MOMMY

Stephanie Wang-Breal’s moving debut film premiered at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in March before claiming the US Feature Grand Jury Prize at Silverdocs in June.

WO AI NI follows the adoption of an initially shy and reserved Chinese eight-year-old, Fang Sui Yong, by a Long Island Jewish couple, who name her Faith. While Wang-Breal shows the young girl’s initial meeting with her adoptive mother Donna in China, the film spends over a year and half on Faith’s assimilation – made difficult by her complete lack of knowledge of English, and the adopted family’s similar ignorance of Mandarin or Cantonese. As the months pass, the audience witnesses Faith’s rapid transformation from a tantrum-throwing, culture-shocked child to a very self-aware American pre-teen, and sees both the troubling and heartening effects of transracial international adoption.

indieWIRE has a profile of director Stephanie Wang-Breal for their FUTURES column here.

Update: POV writes about the film here.

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