Festival:
The 15th Docville
Dates:
March 27-April 4
About:
More than 60 new and recent features make up the lineup of this nonfiction event based in Leuven, Belgium. Continue reading
Docville 2019 Overview
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On TV: A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES: PEACEKEEPERS
Coming to PBS as part of its WOMEN, WAR & PEACE II series tonight, Tuesday, March 26:
A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES: PEACEKEEPERS
Directors:
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Geeta Gandbhi
Premiere:
Toronto 2015
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Mumbai, RiverRun, Bentonville, Minneapolis-St Paul, Atlanta, NY African Diaspora
About:
A profile of UN peacekeepers in Haiti
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New Directors/New Films 2019: Documentary Overview
Festival:
The 48th New Directors/New Films
Dates:
March 27-April 7
About:
Once again, only four works of nonfiction are included within the 24 film feature lineup of this series co-curated by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
On TV: NAILA AND THE UPRISING
Coming to PBS as part of its WOMEN, WAR & PEACE II series tonight, Tuesday, March 26:
NAILA AND THE UPRISING
Director:
Julia Bacha
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017
Select Festivals:
IDFA, Dubai, Human Rights Watch, Movies That Matter, Cleveland, It’s All True, Fajr, Seattle, Durban, SF Jewish, Global Peace, St Louis
About:
The untold story of the women behind the First Intifada.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh, who played a key role in the nonviolent Palestinian uprising known as the First Intifada. When the uprising broke out in the late 1980s, Naila was living in Gaza. Faced with a choice between love, family, and freedom, she embraced all three, joining a clandestine network of Palestinian women who led a movement that put Palestinians on the map. The film inventively combines animation with archival images to explore this hidden history.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On TV: THE TRIALS OF SPRING
Coming to PBS as part of its WOMEN, WAR & PEACE II series tonight, Monday, March 25:
THE TRIALS OF SPRING
Director:
Gini Reticker
Premiere:
Human Rights Watch 2015
Select Festivals:
Traverse City, Athena, Sebastopol Doc
About:
An eye-opening look at the disturbing treatment of women during Egypt’s tumultuous revolution.
While the story of Egypt’s so-called Arab Spring – Tahrir Square, and what came after – has been the subject of numerous documentaries over the past eight years, few have given sufficient focus on the crucial role women played, nor on the incidents of sexual violence enacted upon female protestors and activists. Reticker profiles several women who recount their experiences, moving from the heady joy of standing up for their freedom, to disillusionment as democratic ideals fell by the wayside as factions emerged, to despair at the ill treatment they received from some male activists, including, in several horrific cases noted here, public molestation, humiliation, and physical violence. Compounding these abuses – sometimes officially sanctioned, such as so-called “virginity tests” – the women sometimes face legal charges, while their assailants manage to survive unscathed, making this provocative project a witness against such injustice.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Special Screening & In Theatres: THE BRINK
Coming to NYC’s Pure Nonfiction at IFC Center tomorrow, Tuesday, March 26 and to theatres this Friday, March 29:
THE BRINK
Director:
Alison Klayman
Premiere:
Sundance 2019
Select Festivals:
CPH:DOX, Cleveland, Docville
About:
Steve Bannon, post-White House.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On TV: WAVE GOODBYE TO DINOSAURS
Photo by Derek Speirs
WAVE GOODBYE TO DINOSAURS
Director:
Eimhear O’Neill
Premiere:
BBC broadcast (September 2017)
About:
The story of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, a women’s political party formed in 1996.
Against the backdrop of decades of political and sectarian violence in Northern Ireland colloquially known as The Troubles, a group of women emerged who demanded a seat at the bargaining table to seek peace. While their male political counterparts seemed unable or unwilling to forge relationships across religious lines, women like Monica McWilliams, a Catholic, and Pearl Sagar, a Protestant, were able to gather together others like themselves with the goal that women’s voices not be ignored as the nation attempted to broker peace. As O’Neill’s straightforward but interesting project reveals, they succeeded, to a point, securing two seats at the Northern Ireland Forum which led to the Good Friday Agreement. The film features organizers who reflect on the importance of their activism, and on the ultimate fate of the party – viewed as a peace party by many, rather than a sustainable group for women’s continued political engagement, they lost momentum once they met their primary goal, and eventually dissolved.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Special Screening: 16 BARS
Coming to NYC’s DCTV this coming Monday, March 25:
16 BARS
Director:
Samuel Bathrick
Premiere:
DocLands 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Miami, Big Sky Doc, Salem, Virginia, Milwaukee
About:
An acclaimed musician leads a transformative program in a Virginia jail.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Grammy-winning hip hop artist Todd Thomas – better known as “Speech” of the iconic group Arrested Development – leads a unique collaborative music workshop in the Richmond City Jail in Virginia. Striving to overcome their demons, four past and present inmates work side-by-side with Speech to transform their experiences, hopes, and fears into songs. Exploring cycles of addiction and incarceration through the power of music and storytelling, Samuel Bathrick’s inspiring film offers a window into rehabilitation.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations
In Theatres: ROLL RED ROLL
Coming to theatres today, Friday, March 22:
ROLL RED ROLL
Director:
Nancy Schwartzman
Premiere:
Tribeca 2018
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, New Orleans, Hot Docs, Traverse City, Hamptons, Denver, Göteborg, Guanajuato, Globe Docs, Sidewalk, Santa Barbara, Double Exposure, Bend, Tallgrass, Hot Springs Doc, Big Sky Doc, SF Jewish, Human Rights Watch
About:
An exploration of rape and its cover-up in a small town.
I previously wrote about the film for Nantucket’s program, saying:
After a teenage girl is raped by members of the Steubenville OH high school football team, a true-crime blogger investigates the social media generated during the incident and discovers shocking details about the crime – including the identities of both perpetrators and bystanders – and her reporting brings national attention to the small town. Powerful and topical in the era of Time’s Up and #MeToo, Nancy Schwartzman’s searing film speaks to an unconscionable culture of complicity and denial about sexual assault not only in Steubenville, but in society as a whole.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On DVD/VOD: THE OYSTER FARMERS
New to DVD and VOD this week:
THE OYSTER FARMERS
Director:
Corinne Ruff
Premiere:
Lighthouse 2017
Select Festivals:
Princeton Environmental, Garden State, Asbury Park
About:
A look at efforts to restore oysters to NJ’s Barnegat Bay, once a thriving ecosystem.
Ruff’s earnest, if overly staid, film focuses on modern day aquaculture and its role in trying to build up the lost oysters of coastal NJ. It briefly presents the history of oysters in the region – once so plentiful they were sold from streetcarts like hot dogs until their decline began in the 1920s due to man made pollution and other factors – but primarily focuses on several baymen and baywomen, most of them the latest in a generational lineage in the industry, as well as aquaculture farmers who are sourcing oyster seeds to plant and grow over the course of several seasons. These subjects discuss how the bay has changed, robbed of the natural filtering property of the oysters, and how recent efforts are helping to make oysters more plentiful and sustainable again, leading the way for both environmental and economic regeneration.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
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