Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Nicholas Broomfield
Nick Broomfield intimately reveals the love story behind the celebrated singer/songwriter and his muse.
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2019 Sundance Docs in Focus: MARIANNE & LEONARD: WORDS OF LOVE
Nick Broomfield intimately reveals the love story behind the celebrated singer/songwriter and his muse.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On VOD: FYRE FRAUD
New to Hulu this week:
FYRE FRAUD
Directors:
Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason
Premiere:
Hulu (January 2019)
About:
A chronicle of the disastrous 2017 music festival that was meant to rival Coachella.
Released just days before the Chris Smith helmed Netflix documentary FYRE: THE GREATEST PARTY THAT NEVER HAPPENED, Furst and Nason’s rival Hulu project gives its own spin on the debacle that was Fyre Festival. Conceived by Billy McFarland and musician Ja Rule, and heavily promoted to FOMO-averse, cash-flush Millennials by social media influencers, the Great Exuma, Bahamas music fest was sold as a generation-defining event, but instead generated global schadenfreude when reports spread about how ill-prepared organizers were for attendees. While dismissed by many as #whitepeopleproblems, the Fyre Festival disaster led to multiple lawsuits and accusations of fraud with serious jail time. The filmmakers back up from the epic fail everyone knows and loves to focus on McFarland, who is interviewed throughout, laying out his history of dodgy entrepreneurship – what many featured here instead call con jobs – and how he developed and mishandled Fyre. While delivering jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes details of the doomed event, the doc also offers surprising insight into the psychology of deception, the manipulation of perception, and the power of social media and branding.
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2019 Sundance Docs in Focus: LOVE, ANTOSHA
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Anton Yelchin
Garret Price presents a heartfelt portrait of the late Anton Yelchin.
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2019 Sundance Docs in Focus: THE INVENTOR: OUT FOR BLOOD IN SILICON VALLEY
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Drew Kelly
Alex Gibney examines the high-profile rise and fall of discredited health tech company Theranos.
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On DVD: THE INSUFFERABLE GROO
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, January 15:
THE INSUFFERABLE GROO
Director:
Scott Christopherson
Premiere:
Sheffield 2018
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Sydney Underground, Calgary Underground
About:
A behind-the-scenes look at the life and work of a low-budget auteur.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
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2019 Sundance Docs in Focus: HALSTON
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Berry Berenson Perkins
Frédéric Tcheng explores the life and legacy of America’s first celebrity designer.
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
On TV: RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens tonight, Monday, January 14:
RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE
Directors:
Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler, Jeff Springer
Premiere:
DOC NYC 2017
Select Festivals:
Full Frame, Big Sky Doc, Wild and Scenic, Oxford, Washington DC Environmental, Salem, Indie Grits, Freep, Sarasota, IFF Boston, RiverRun, Doc Edge, SF DocFest, Woods Hole, Sidewalk, DocUtah, Yale Environmental, Tallgrass, Hot Springs Doc
About:
A wide-ranging look at efforts to protect Louisiana from a giant swamp rat.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
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2019 Sundance Docs in Focus: THE GREAT HACK
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim present a disturbing investigation into data and privacy in the modern digital age.
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2019 Sundance Docs in Focus: THE BRINK
Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Alison Klayman follows Steve Bannon’s right-wing barnstorming efforts after his departure from the White House.
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Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Sundance
In Theatres: THE SILENCE OF OTHERS
Coming to theatres today, Friday, January 11:
THE SILENCE OF OTHERS
Directors:
Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar
Premiere:
Berlin 2018
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Sheffield, AFI Docs, Reyjkavik, Docs Against Gravity, Cairo, Hamptons, Mar del Plata, Los Angeles, Moscow
Notable Recognition:
The doc was shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
About:
Victims and survivors of Franco’s brutal regime take to Argentine courts to seek justice.
The regime of Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco was marked by arrests, disappearances, and executions. After his passing in 1975, and the establishment of democracy, policies were put into practice to encourage forgetting the past in order for Spain to move forward. As a result, while political prisoners were freed, the perpetrators of torture and murder were granted amnesty – a decision that has remained controversial ever since. In recent years, as detailed in Carracedo and Bahar’s project, with no legal recourse within Spain, survivors turned to the idea of universal jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, and filed suit in Argentine courts against Spanish perpetrators. The doc profiles several of the parties to the suit as the wheels of justice very slowly turn. While affecting at times, this conventionally told film includes far too many subjects, robbing it of focus, and, as it details an ongoing, unresolved lawsuit, ultimately feels unfinished.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
