what (not) to doc

Coming to theatres today, Friday, January 10:
EARTH

Director:
Nikolaus Geyrhalter

World Premiere:
Berlin 2019

Select Festivals:
IDFA, Sheffield, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, Dokufest, BAFICI, Guanajuato, Camden, Hamptons, Diagonale, Moscow, San Francisco Green

About:
An exploration of terrestrial locations impacted by humanity in the Anthropocene.

Geyrhalter’s work is known for its careful composition and static camera, creating often breathtaking tableaux. In his latest film, he visits seven sites of large-scale mining and construction in the US, Canada, and various locations in Europe, including a salt mine turned into a radioactive waste storage repository. In addition to capturing the massive nature of these locations, and the dramatic changes wrought by humanity on their landscapes, Geyrhalter zeroes in on a more microlevel, interviewing various construction workers, engineers, and, in the final stretch, an indigenous Canadian protestor, about their roles relative to this transformative – and largely destructive – activity. Through his gentle probing, he yields philosophical and ethical reflection, in addition to frankly practical acknowledgement of the world’s insatiable desire for more as the main driving force for the scale of such work.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, January 10:
AFTERWARD

Director:
Ofra Bloch

World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018

Select Festivals:
San Francisco Jewish, Santa Barbara, RiverRun, Greenwich, Tel Aviv Human Rights, Big Muddy, Cleveland, Sarasota, Minneapolis-St Paul

About:
The filmmaker confronts her personal demons around Germany, Israel, and Palestine.

I wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Ofra Bloch, a New York-based psychoanalyst specializing in trauma, was born in Jerusalem to a Jewish family that emigrated to Palestine in the 1920s. Disturbed by the resurgence of fascism and anti-Semitism around the world, Ofra travels to Germany, Israel, and Palestine to confront her own deep-seated feelings about Germans and Palestinians, and the tensions between the Holocaust and the Nakba. In the process, she explores the nature of resistance and the possibility of hope.

New to VOD this week:
RED DOG

Directors:
Luke Dick and Casey Pinkston

World Premiere:
SXSW 2019

Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Lone Star, deadCENTER, Nashville, San Antonio

About:
A musician explores the history of the infamous Oklahoma City strip club in which he grew up.

The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Once upon a time, in downtown Oklahoma City, a seedy strip club called the Red Dog Saloon was an emblem of the 1970s oil boom. It also served as the childhood home of award-winning musician Luke Dick and his infamous go-go dancing mother Kim. Combining funky animation, archival footage, and interviews with Red Dog regulars, this quirky, high-spirited film reconstructs the culture and times of the strip club, as well as the circumstances that led to Kim and Luke’s unorthodox life there.