EPICENTRO | Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Hubert Sauper
Hubert Sauper offers a meditation on postcolonial Cuba.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Austria/France/USA
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2020 Sundance Docs in Focus: EPICENTRO
Hubert Sauper offers a meditation on postcolonial Cuba.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2020 Sundance Docs in Focus: THE EARTH IS BLUE AS AN ORANGE
THE EARTH IS BLUE AS AN ORANGE | Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Iryna Tsilyk observes a Ukrainian family as they process life in a war zone by making films about their experience.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Ukraine/Lithuania
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On DVD: ROTHKO: PICTURES MUST BE MIRACULOUS
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, January 7:
ROTHKO: PICTURES MUST BE MIRACULOUS
Director:
Eric Slade
World Premiere:
American Masters (October 2019)
About:
A biography of the influential abstract expressionist artist.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
2020 Sundance Docs in Focus: ACASA, MY HOME
ACASA, MY HOME | Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Mircea Topoleanu
Radu Ciorniciuc follows a Romanian family forced to leave their self-sufficient life off the grid for the city.
Festival Section:
World Cinema Documentary Competition
Country:
Romania/Germany/Finland
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2020 Sundance Docs in Focus: WHIRLYBIRD
WHIRLYBIRD | Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Los Angeles News Service
Matt Yoka tells the story of a marriage’s fraying against the backdrop of cutthroat news reporting in 1990s Los Angeles.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2020 Cinema Eye Honors Winners
The 13th annual Cinema Eye Honors, recognizing achievements in non-fiction film from 2019, were celebrated at the Museum of the Moving Image at a ceremony last evening.
Below is the full list of winners announced at last night’s ceremony, which was hosted for the first year by documentarian Yance Ford (STRONG ISLAND). I once again served on the Nominations Committee for features. Congratulations to all the winners, nominees, and the hard-working Cinema Eye organizers.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
AMERICAN FACTORY
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
Produced by Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, Jeff Reichert, and Julie Parker Benello
Audience Choice Prize
THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM
Directed by John Chester
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert for AMERICAN FACTORY
Outstanding Achievement in Editing
Todd Douglas Miller for APOLLO 11
Outstanding Achievement in Production
Waad Al-Kateab for FOR SAMA & Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær for THE CAVE (tie)
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma for HONEYLAND
Outstanding Achievement in an Original Music Score
Matt Morton for APOLLO 11
Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
Patrick Cederberg, Matthew Hornick, and Ash Thorp for THE GREAT HACK
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MY MOTHER
Directed by Beniamino Barrese
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Film Made for Broadcast
LEAVING NEVERLAND
Directed by Dan Reed, HBO
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Series Made for Broadcast
TRICKY DICK
Directed by Mary Robertson, CNN
Outstanding Achievement in Editing in a Nonfiction Film or Series for Broadcast
David Tillman for APOLLO: MISSIONS TO THE MOON, NatGeo
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Nonfiction Film or Series for Broadcast
Mark Ritchie, Julian Klincewicz, Dikayl Rimmasch, and Irie Calkins for HOMECOMING, Netflix
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
GHOSTS OF SUGARLAND
Directed by Bassam Tariq
Spotlight Award
PRESENT.PERFECT.
Directed by Shengze Zhu
Heterodox Award
THE SOUVENIR
Directed by Joanna Hogg
Legacy Award
KOYAANISQATSI
Directed by Godfrey Reggio
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
2020 Sundance Docs in Focus: WELCOME TO CHECHNYA
WELCOME TO CHECHNYA | Courtesy of Sundance Institute
David France reveals a state-sanctioned policy to rid Chechnya of LGBTQ+ individuals, and those brave enough to risk their lives to help the embattled community.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On TV: MCCARTHY
Coming to PBS’s American Experience tonight, Monday, January 6:
MCCARTHY
Director:
Sharon Grimberg
World Premiere:
American Experience (January 2020)
About:
A comprehensive account of the rise and fall of notorious Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy.
Director Sharon Grimberg effectively if conventionally recounts how Joseph McCarthy went from humble farm family beginnings to defeat a seemingly unbeatable incumbent, becoming the junior senator from Wisconsin, and go on to become a feared household name in Washington DC. In February 1950, capitalizing on Cold War tensions, McCarthy fabricated the possession of a list of known communists in the US State Department at an unassuming political event in West Virginia. Once the press fell for the story, the Red Scare was on, and, seeking continued attention, McCarthy needed to keep the lies going, ruining countless lives in the process. McCarthy’s reign of terror continued until the famously televised Army-McCarthy hearings of June 1954, when the Republican establishment finally had enough of the senator’s showboating and publicly censured him. While this did not end the larger anti-communist or anti-homosexual crusade, it did effectively end popular interest in the senator, who continued to serve until his death in 1957. Though Grimberg didn’t intend to create parallels with a present-day unlikely politician prone to outrageous lies and addicted to media attention, the connections are there for those viewers wishing to see them, making this biography resonant with today’s political circus.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
2020 Sundance Docs in Focus: US KIDS
US KIDS | Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Kim A Snyder follows the young survivors of the Parkland school shooting over a transformative year and a half.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
2020 Sundance Docs in Focus: TIME
TIME | Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Garrett Bradley presents a longitudinal portrait of a marriage and a family separated by incarceration.
Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
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