what (not) to doc

FOR SAMA

Directors:
Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts

World Premiere:
SXSW 2019

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Cannes, Sheffield, Hot Docs, AFI Docs, Traverse City, Riverrun, Minneapolis-St Paul, Seattle, Biografilm, Belfast, deadCENTER, Maryland, New Zealand, Guanajuato, Munich, Galway, Melbourne, Mountainfilm

About:
An intimate chronicle of life during war.

I previously wrote about the doc for the Nantucket program, saying:
Filmmaker Waad al-Kateab courageously captures life in Syria through five years of civil war, bearing witness to the brutal conflict. During this time, she falls in love with a young doctor, marries, and has a daughter, Sama. Once a mother, al-Kateab must decide between remaining in Syria to fight for her country’s freedom or leaving to protect her child against the threat of constant danger.

Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, July 24:
ANGELS ARE MADE OF LIGHT

Director:
James Longley

World Premiere:
Telluride 2018

Select Festivals:
Toronto, IDFA, New York, CPH:DOX, Docs Against Gravity, Cleveland, Istanbul, Double Exposure, Camden

About:
A look at daily life in Afghanistan, centered around a school in Kabul.

Filmed between 2011-2014, James Longley’s portrait blends footage of students and teachers at the Daqiqi Balkhi school, where instruction seems almost exclusively tied to the Koran, and in other quotidian activities, with an almost ever-present voiceover offering reflections from the participants. The focus mainly falls on three brothers who try to balance study with work in their father’s tin shop, but expands to include other students as well as adults. The latter offer the most historical context in their interviews, referencing the Afghanistan of the past and how it has changed due to British, Soviet, and Taliban influence, then, of course American occupation, played out against affecting archival footage. For the youth, their concerns largely remain apolitical, though a pivotal election has its impact late in the film. While Longley’s storytelling approach here leads to some meandering sequences, it works more than it doesn’t in revealing Afghanistan through the eyes of its ordinary citizens and children.