Coming to VOD via OVID.tv today, Friday, August 9:
EL VELADOR
Director:
Natalia Almada
World Premiere:
New Directors/New Films 2011
Select Festivals:
Cannes, Silverdocs, FIDM, Jihlava, IDFA
About:
A meditation on life and death in Mexico.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD this week:
RISKING LIGHT
Director:
Dawn Mikkelson
World Premiere:
Cinequest 2018
Select Festivals:
Melbourne, Cleveland, Minneapolis-St Paul
About:
Three stories explore resilience and forgiveness.
Director Dawn Mikkelson’s film interweaves three unrelated but thematically linked stories of injustice, grief, anger, and, ultimately, redemption. The strongest and most impactful of the three involves Mary, whose 21-year-old son Laramium was killed in 1993 by 16-year-old O’Shea. Years later, Mary lets go of years of anger and forges an unexpected bond with O’Shea as part of a restorative justice program, helping to heal both. The other threads in Mikkelson’s project involve Debra, the daughter of a mixed Aboriginal and white Australian couple, who was forcibly place by federal assimilationist policy into an abusive foster care system; and Kilong, a victim of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge who escaped from slave labor to become a refugee in the US, where he suffered from PTSD. While the latter two strands are not quite as well-developed as Mary’s, there’s certainly cumulative power in the film’s hopeful message, making this an imperfect but worthwhile project.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, August 9:
ONE CHILD NATION
Directors:
Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang
World Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, True/False, Tribeca, Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, Sheffield, Full Frame, AFI Docs, DOXA, San Francisco, Seattle, Doc10, Docville, Florida, Sarasota, Sydney, New Zealand, Montclair, Biografilm, Human Rights Watch
About:
An expose of the unseen consequences of China’s one-child policy.
I profiled the film before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
New to DVD this week:
A NEW COLOR: THE ART OF BEING EDYTHE BOONE
Director:
Marlene “Mo” Morris
Premiere:
Mill Valley 2015
Select Festivals:
Pan African, Sebastopol Doc, Through Women’s Eyes, Oakland, IFF Boston, SF Jewish, Harlem, Sarasota, San Diego and Nashville Black film festivals
About:
A portrait of an African-American mural artist and activist.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
New to VOD this week:
THE PROPOSAL
Director:
Jill Magid
Premiere:
Tribeca 2018
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Sheffield, Rotterdam, Dokufest, New Orleans, Camden, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, Ambulante, Antenna, RIDM, Palm Springs, Hamptons, Vancouver, Göteborg, Portland, Salem, DocPoint
About:
The artist/filmmaker engages in a polite battle of wills over access to – and the legacy of – a celebrated Mexican architect’s work.
I previously wrote about the film hereL.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Festival:
The 72nd Locarno Film Festival
Dates:
August 7-17
About:
This long-running Swiss A-list fest presents 30 documentaries among its line-up of approximately 90 new and recent features. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
photo by Berry Berenson Perkins
Director:
Frédéric Tcheng
Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Tribeca, Seattle, Montclair, Sarasota
About:
An exploration of the life and legacy of America’s first celebrity designer.
My pre-Sundance doc profile may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming DVD and VOD today, Tuesday, August 6:
AMAZING GRACE
Realized and Produced by:
Alan Elliott
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018
Select Festivals:
Berlin, SXSW, True/False, AFI Fest, Full Frame, Pan African
About:
A landmark Aretha Franklin music concert film is released over forty years after it was filmed.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to PBS’s American Experience and to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, August 6:
WOODSTOCK: THREE DAYS THAT DEFINED A GENERATION
Director:
Barak Goodman
Premiere:
Tribeca 2019
Select Festivals:
Seattle, DocLands
About:
An immersive reflection on how organizers defied the odds to stage the seminal music event.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Starz tonight, Monday, August 5:
THE KLEPTOCRATS
Directors:
Havana Marking and Sam Hobkinson
World Premiere:
DOC NYC 2018
Select Festival:
CPH:DOX, Docville, Sydney, Cleveland, Docs Against Gravity, Sonoma
About:
An investigation into an audacious financial scandal.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
what (not) to doc 