New to VOD this week:
GRIT
Directors:
Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander
World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Full Frame, Hamptons, Big Sky Doc, Bergen, One World, Mill Valley, GlobeDocs, Hawaii, Movies That Matter, Ashland, Doc Edge, Salem, Atlanta, Environmental fests in Washington DC, Princeton, and Yale
About:
In East Java, Indonesia, a mother and daughter battle a corporation over a man-made catastrophe.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD this Friday, May 22:
ANBESSA
Director:
Mo Scarpelli
World Premiere:
Berlin 2019
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, Hot Docs, Thessaloniki Doc, Durban, Mountainfilm, RiverRun, Maryland, Woods Hole, Cleveland, Cucalorus, Washington DC Enviro, San Francisco DocFest
About:
A young Ethiopian boy turns to his imagination to reckon with the urbanization of his home.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to virtual theatrical this Friday, May 22:
THE GHOST OF PETER SELLERS
Director:
Peter Medak
World Premiere:
Venice 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Telluride, Raindance, Oldenburg, Gent, Sao Paulo
About:
A revisitation of the director’s experience making an ill-fated 1970s Peter Sellers comedy.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
In 1973, director-on-the-rise Peter Medak nabbed notoriously difficult comic genius and box-office star Peter Sellers for his new pirate comedy, GHOST IN THE NOONDAY SUN. Outrageously, Sellers immediately began sabotaging the film. While the actual behind-the-scenes shenanigans were often funnier and more bizarre than the film itself, the filmmaking was an excruciating experience that threatened the sanity and career of its director. Medak revisits the ill-fated production to exorcise his demons in this tragicomic documentary.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to virtual theatrical and VOD this Friday, May 22:
THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF
Director:
Benjamin Ree
World Premiere:
Sundance 2020
Select Festivals:
Rotterdam, Full Frame, One World, San Francisco
About:
A dual portrait of an artist and the thief who stole her art but becomes her friend.
I profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, May 19:
THE VENERABLE W
Director:
Barbet Schroeder
Premiere:
Cannes 2017
Select Festivals:
Locarno, Telluride, New York, London, IDFA, CPH:DOX, Docslisboa, Jihlava, Docs Against Gravity, Jerusalem, Melbourne, New Zealand, Helsinki, Moscow, Vancouver, Rio, Mill Valley, Mar del Plata, Singapore
About:
A portrait of a Buddhist monk who has fomented Islamophobia in Burma.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, May 19:
THE GENE: AN INTIMATE HISTORY
Directors:
Chris Durrance and Jack Youngelson
World Premiere:
PBS broadcast (April 2020)
About:
A far-ranging history of the discovery and research into the human genome.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s American Experience tonight, Tuesday, May 19:
MR TORNADO
Director:
Michael Rossi
World Premiere:
Salem 2020
About:
A profile of pioneering meteorologist Tetsuya Theodore Fujita.
Tetsuya Fujita trained as an engineer in pre-WWII Japan, but had a keen interest in meteorological phenomena. In the aftermath of the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fujita conducted damage surveys, laying the groundwork for his future work. With Japan’s postwar economy in ruins, his research opened a path to relocation to Chicago, working on a government-supported weather project. Fujita soon turned his attention to tornados, becoming a leader in their study and developing a scale to measure their intensity, earning him the film’s titular nickname. His studies of other weather-related destruction – notably a mysterious airplane crash at JFK in 1975 – led to his discovery of microbursts, resulting in important advances in aeronautic safety. While director Michael Rossi never strays from the standard American Experience format, he offers an informative look at an acclaimed scientist.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19:
THE COMPETITION (LE CONCOURS)
Director:
Claire Simon
Premiere:
Venice 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, IDFA, True/False, CPH:DOX, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, London, Göteborg, Taipei
About:
An inside look at a French film school and its next generation of hopeful filmmakers.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19:
THE RAFT
Director:
Marcus Lindeen
World Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2018
Select Festivals:
IDFA, London, Melbourne, Chicago, Doclisboa, Sao Paulo, Bergen, Antenna Doc, Dokufest, Haifa, Zurich, Athens, RiverRun
About:
A look back at an unusual social experiment from 1973.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD:
REPEAT ATTENDERS
Director:
Mark Dooley
World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017
Select Festivals:
DocEdge
About:
A look at the lives and obsessions of musical superfans.
The film previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
In London, Sally has spent £40,000 watching LES MISERABLES every two weeks for much of her life. German Gudrun regularly cosplays as her favorite STARLIGHT EXPRESS character. In California, Christine has assembled the largest collection of CATS memorabilia in the world. For these superfans, musical theater is an obsession, a refuge, and a place where they belong. They’ve spent years in the audience, and now Mark Dooley’s affectionate profile finally puts them in the spotlight.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 