Coming to HBO this Thursday, December 7:
32 PILLS: MY SISTER’S SUICIDE
Director:
Hope Litoff
Premiere:
Hot Docs 2017
Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Provincetown, Biografilm, San Francisco Jewish, Woodstock, Denver, Cork, Rocky Mountain Women’s, Boston Jewish
About:
A filmmaker confronts her grief over the loss of her sister.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Festival:
The 14th Dubai International Film Festival
Dates:
December 6-13
About:
The UAE event, one of the premier festivals in the Arab world, showcases approximately 90 features, among them just 17 works of nonfiction, down from a slight uptick in last year’s program. Continue reading
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, December 6:
BILL FRISELL, A PORTRAIT
Director:
Emma Franz
Premiere:
SXSW 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Seattle, Nashville, Biografilm, New Zealand, Mill Valley
About:
A portrait of the acclaimed musician.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Bill Frisell is a widely inventive guitarist who crosses musical boundaries. This intimate character portrait “shows a self-deprecating master whose hands seem to float while shaping sonic lines and fields that always surprise with their weird clarity” (Georgia Straight). The eclectic list of musicians in the film includes Bonnie Raitt, Hal Willner, Paul Simon, Nels Cline, John Zorn, and Jack DeJohnette, who treat the audience to generous helpings of music that will be richly satisfying to Frisell’s admirers.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, December 5:
LIVING ON SOUL
Directors:
Jeff Broadway and Cory Bailey
Premiere:
Los Angeles Film Festival 2017
Select Festivals:
IDFA, Philadelphia
About:
Musicians affiliated with Daptone Records headline the Apollo Theater for a three-night concert series.
Broadway and Bailey’s concert film showcases performance that were part of the December 2014 event, which included the late Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley, as well as several other talented musicians – though unless the audience is well-versed in music, they likely will not recognize most of the other performers involved, which include Antibalas, Naomi Shelton, and the Como Mamas. The filmmakers successfully capture the energy of the performances, which make up the bulk of the film, but falter when it comes to providing enough background or behind the scenes footage to invest the viewer in the lesser known lights on camera vs the two headliners who have already had full-length films made about them – Jones in MISS SHARON JONES! and Bradley in CHARLES BRADLEY: SOUL OF AMERICA.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, December 5:
KARL MARX CITY
Directors:
Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker
Premiere:
Toronto 2016
Select Festivals:
New York, Chicago, Stockholm, Palm Springs, Guadalajara, CPH:DOX, Movies That Matter, Indielisboa, Docaviv, Durban
About:
A personal exploration of the legacy of the East German surveillance state.
The setting of this well-observed essay film is the city of Chemnitz, renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt during the decades of the GDR, and director Epperlein’s hometown. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the filmmaker moved to the states. Ten years later, her father committed suicide, perhaps as a response to threatening anonymous letters he received. Faced with the possibility that her father might have somehow been involved in the deep-rooted web of surveillance and informants controlled by the Stasi, the East German state security system, Epperlein begins an investigation, and, perhaps, a hoped-for exoneration. In addition to interviewing family members about her father, the filmmaker visits the Stasi archive, and, most strikingly, makes extensive use of surveillance footage the Stasi or their informants shot – banal in its content, but panoptic evidence of their oppressive control of society. Adopting the austere look of these quotidian recordings and the paranoid feel of of an espionage thriller, the film proves compellingly disturbing and surprisingly topical, despite its Cold War setting.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
This post is a pointer to the second lineup announcement for the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, revealing the Indie Episodic, Special Events, and Shorts program, which may be found here.
Earlier lineup announcements include the US and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic Competitions, NEXT, Documentary Premieres, Premieres, Midnight, Spotlight, and Kids sections.
Still to come is information on the New Frontier section.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 5:
THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN
Director:
Jennifer M Kroot
Co-Director:
Bill Weber
Premiere:
SXSW 2017
Select Festivals:
Cleveland, DOXA, Ashland, Nashville, Montclair, Martha’s Vineyard, Oxford, Provicnetown, Galway, Frameline, Outfest, LGBT fests in Boston, Tel Aviv, San Diego, Vancouver, Hong Kong
About:
On the life and work of the acclaimed author of the TALES OF THE CITY series.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 5:
A GRAY STATE
Director:
Erik Nelson
Premiere:
Tribeca 2017
Select Festivals:
Nantucket, Hot Springs Doc, Poland’s American Film Festival, Stockholm, Milwaukee, Melbourne
About:
An investigation into the seemingly suspicious death of a right-wing filmmaker.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to DVD tomorrow, Tuesday, December 5:
SANTOALLA
Directors:
Andrew Becker and Daniel Mehrer
Premiere:
Edinburgh 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Hamptons, IDFA, Cleveland, BAFICI, Austin, Thessaloniki Doc, Big Sky Doc, Krakow
About:
Neighbors in a remote idyllic community face off with dire consequences.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 1:
BIG TIME
Director:
Kaspar Astrup Schröder
Premiere:
Copenhagen Architecture Festival 2017
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Vancouver, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Milano Design
About:
A portrait of a renowned Danish architect as he embarks on a high profile project in NYC.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
Architect Bjarke Ingels made a name for himself and for his design firm BIG in his native Denmark, winning international acclaim for his bold, untraditional designs. Director Kaspar Astrup Schröder follows Ingels over six years as he takes on his largest project yet, relocating to New York City to create the new 2 World Trade Center. His insightful film looks at how the maverick genius balances his professional ambition and personal life when given the chance to change the city’s iconic skyline.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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