what (not) to doc

Coming to PBS’s Doc World this Sunday, October 28:
THE GUARDIANS

Directors:
Ben Crosbie, Tessa Moran

Premiere:
Washington DC Environmental 2018

Select Festivals:
RiverRun, DocLands, Mountainfilm, SF Green, Banff Mountain, Margaret Mead

About:
An indigenous community in Mexico tries to protect an ancestral forest important to the migration of the monarch butterfly.

In Donaciano Ojeda, the local indigenous community, recognizing the dangerous impact of logging on their forest, have collectively agreed to serve as stewards of the land, protecting it for generations to come. The traditional home to the monarch butterfly as it migrates south, saving the forest is essential to their survival, helping to curtail the dramatic population reduction the species has seen in the past twenty years. In their well-constructed film, Crosbie and Moran reveal the conflicting forces at play as the community, made up of former loggers, attempts to balance sustainable conservation with economic reality.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, October 26:
MONROVIA, INDIANA

Directors:
Frederick Wiseman

Premiere:
Venice 2018

Select Festivals:
Toronto, New York, Hamptons, London

About:
A wide-ranging portrait of a small midwestern town.

Wiseman’s latest focuses on the titular community, with a population less than 2000, roving around various activities and locations, from a local diner to a farm, an auction to a far-too-long funeral. The master filmmaker isn’t concerned with establishing characters, but in providing an impressionistic look at the daily life of rural America. It’s a largely apolitical portrait, with the most contentious issue debated by a planning board being a vague reference to concerns of a demographic change to the town. Otherwise, an impassioned discussion about whether the Lion’s Club should donate one or two benches to the local library is more the film’s speed. Though not one of Wiseman’s more notable efforts, the film nevertheless retains interest on the whole.

Coming to theatres and to Netflix this Friday, October 26:
SHIRKERS

Director:
Sandi Tan

Premiere:
Sundance 2018

Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Docs, CPH:DOX, Sheffield, Docaviv, AFIDocs, Full Frame, San Francisco, BAMcinemaFest, Vancouver, Gimli, Dallas

About:
The filmmaker recounts the tangled mystery of what happened to her first feature film.

I profiled the doc before Sundance here.