Coming to theatres Thursday, January 27:
THE CONDUCTOR
Director:
Bernadette Wegenstein
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2021
Select Festivals:
SF Jewish, United Nations Association, Luneberg Doc, Global Peace
About:
Leonard Bernstein’s protégée Marin Alsop reveals how she smashed the glass ceiling to become an internationally renowned conductor.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD next Tuesday, January 25:
HAMTRAMCK, USA
Director:
Razi Jafri, Justin Feltman
World Premiere:
SXSW 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, DOXA, Sarasota, St Louis, CAAMFest, Melbourne Doc, Virginia
About:
An election in America’s first majority Muslim city splits the community along ethnic lines.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Formerly a solid Polish Catholic town, Hamtramck MI is America’s first majority Muslim city. During one election cycle, popular incumbent Karen Majewski faces Muslim challenger Mohammed Hassan for mayor, and the typically harmonious, culturally commingling community begins to split along ethnic lines. Going behind the scenes of small-town politics to explore the beauty and challenges that come with multiculturalism, Razi Jafri and Justin Feltman’s film is a heartwarming reminder that civility and respect can coexist in our political races.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to OVID.tv Friday, January 28:
PRISM
Director:
Eléonore Yameogo, An van Dienderen, Rosine Mbakam
World Premiere:
New York 2021
About:
The lighting for movie cameras has always been calibrated for white skin; three filmmakers collectively explore the literal, theoretical, and philosophical dimensions of that reality in this discursive, playful, and profound work of nonfiction.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD Tuesday, January 25 and to OVID.tv Friday, January 28:
GORBACHEV. HEAVEN
Director:
Vitaly Mansky
World Premiere:
IDFA 2020
Select Festivals:
Visions du Réel, Docaviv, Dokufest, Tallinn Black Nights, Sofia, Hong Kong, BelDocs, Docs Against Gravity
About:
Gorbachev, the architect of glasnost and perestroika, but condemned by his own people, lives out the last days of his life in an empty house in the suburbs near Moscow.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to MUBI Tuesday, January 25:
THERE WILL BE NO MORE NIGHT
Director:
Eléonore Weber
World Premiere:
Indielisboa 2020
Select Festivals:
IDFA, Camden, Cinema du Reel, Jihlava, DOXA
About:
Footage from the frontlines of the French and American armies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, are explored with pilot Pierre V as he examines – and admits – his emotions. This cinematic experiment unveils the darker secrets of that which can be seen through the unique lens of the military viewfinder.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD via The Criterion Collection Tuesday, January 25:
DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD
Director:
Kirsten Johnson
World Premiere:
Sundance 2020
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, True/False, CPH:DOX, Doc10
About:
The filmmaker approaches her father’s mortality with inventiveness and dark humor.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD Tuesday, January 25:
BECOMING HELEN KELLER
Director:
Michael Pressman
World Premiere:
American Masters PBS broadcast (October 2021)
About:
An exploration of the complex life and legacy of the author, advocate, and human rights pioneer, Helen Keller, who used her celebrity and wit to champion rights for women, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD Tuesday, January 25:
WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR
Director:
Kier-La Janisse
World Premiere:
SXSW 2021
Select Festivals:
Rotterdam, Fantasia, Melbourne, Fantastic Fest, Nashville, Vancouver, Sitges
About:
An expansive history of folk horror, from the 1960s to today.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to PBS’s POV on Monday, January 24:
NOT GOING QUIETLY
Director:
Nicholas Bruckman
World Premiere:
Tribeca 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
SXSW, Oxford, Cleveland, Annapolis, Provincetown, San Francisco Jewish
About:
When a young father chances to meet a powerful senator on an airplane, their exchange goes viral, sparking one of the most unlikely political movements in a generation.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to MUBI this Saturday, January 22:
WHIRLYBIRD
Director:
Matt Yoka
World Premiere:
Sundance 2020
Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Full Frame, Calgary, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Sun Valley
About:
The story of a marriage’s fraying against the backdrop of cutthroat news reporting in 1990s Los Angeles.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
what (not) to doc 