Coming to PBS’s AfroPoP this coming Monday, February 6:
BLACK OUT
Director:
Eva Weber
Premiere:
IDFA 2012
Select Festivals:
Paris’ International Environmental Film Festival, One World, Movies That Matter, Full Frame, Planete+ Doc, Aljazeera, Doxa, Los Angeles, Open City Docs
About:
Guinean students struggle to study despite a lack of consistent electric power.
I previously included the doc in my IDFA coverage here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD this week:
HIGHLY STRUNG
Director:
Scott Hicks
Premiere:
Adelaide 2015
About:
The travails of a string quartet underscore the world of high-end classical musical instruments.
At the center of Hicks’ film is the Australian String Quartet, whose composition, at this project’s outset, are Kristian Winther and Ioana Tache on violin, Stephen King on viola, and Sharon Draper on cello. With the support of their patron, Ulrike Klein, the foursome are provided with a rare set of Guadagnini instruments, among the most legendary in the world, and valued at millions of dollars. The viewer eventually comes to learn that egos are in no short supply in this group, with Winther and Tache, fast becoming a romantic couple and marrying, prompting a disastrous split. But while this clash of artistic temperaments could likely have served as the focus of Hick’s doc, the director instead chooses to take a more peripatetic approach that doesn’t altogether work, shifting from the ASQ to an extended consideration of the construction of stringed instruments by following an Italian craftsman commissioned to make a Guadagnini cello, to a reality-TV sequence with an over-the-top family of filthy rich New York City siblings who dream of selling diamond-covered Stradivariuses, and more. While there’s definite interest in parts of Hicks’ film, the various parts don’t ever synchronize into a satisfying whole.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Coming to VOD via iTunes today, Friday, February 3:
BRIGHT LIGHTS: STARRING CARRIE FISHER AND DEBBIE REYNOLDS
Directors:
Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens
Premiere:
Cannes 2016
Select Festivals:
Telluride, New York, Chicago, AFI Fest
About:
A portrait of the beloved and recently departed mother/daughter celebrities.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to VOD via Amazon today, Friday, February 3:
TOMORROW WE DISAPPEAR
Directors:
Jimmy Goldblum and Adam Weber
Premiere:
Tribeca 2014
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Melbourne, Austin, Aspen, Hot Springs Doc, Camden
About:
A community of Indian artists and performers find their longstanding home threatened by development.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to Showtime tonight, Friday, February 3:
TRUMPED: INSIDE THE GREATEST POLITICAL UPSET OF ALL TIME
Directors:
Banks Tarver, Ted Bourne, and Mary Robertson
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
About:
An incisive look back at the unlikely, tragic ascendancy of Donald J Trump.
My pre-Sundance profile of the doc may be found here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, February 3:
THIS IS EVERYTHING: GIGI GORGEOUS
Director:
Barbara Kopple
Premiere:
Sundance 2017
About:
A candid portrait of a YouTube star as she finds her true self.
I previously profiled the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
New to VOD this week:
ELEPHANT’S DREAM
Director:
Kristof Bilsen
Premiere:
DOK Leipzig 2014
Select Festivals:
IDFA, DocPoint, Hot Docs, Docville, Docs Against Gravity, DOK.fest Munich, Dokufest, Camden, Margaret Mead, Cork, Cinema Verité, Big Sky Doc, Taiwan Doc, Traverse City
About:
A portrait of modern-day Congo through its broken-down institutions.
Bilsen expertly crafts a quiet but poetic sense of place in this observational profile of three state-run institutions in Kinshasa and the people that work there. Henriette works at the crumbling post office, but she never seems to have any customers, and hasn’t received her full wages in ages. Middle-aged Simon guards the rail station, but, given the lack of trains, he mostly just whiles away the time with his coworker, a protege who is getting too big for his britches. Kasono and his fellow firefighters train, but when faced with a real fire they lack proper equipment and even water pressure to make much of a difference. These individuals serve as a microcosm of Congo, persevering within their positions and hoping that the economic situation will improve someday to make them feel productive once again.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, February 3:
A GOOD AMERICAN
Director:
Frederich Moser
Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2015
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Palm Springs, Rotterdam, Portland, Sedona, Diagonale, Movies That Matter, Cleveland, RiverRun, DOXA, Docs Against Gravity, Biografilm, Dokufest
About:
The little-known story of how the NSA abandoned an effective intelligence-gathering system before the 9/11 attacks.
I previously wrote about the film for DOC NYC’s program, saying:
The explosion of information in the digital age left government agencies like the NSA struggling with bureaucracy and technology to keep up with the changing times. Responding to the challenge, NSA technical director Bill Binney and a small team of codebreakers develop ThinThread, an astonishingly effective data collecting and sorting program that also protects privacy. Despite its success, ThinThread is discontinued just weeks before September 11, 2001. After Binney and fellow intelligence officials challenge this decision, they find their world upended.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
New to VOD this week:
THE RETURN
Directors:
Kelly Duane De La Vega and Katie Galloway
Premiere:
Tribeca 2016
Select Festivals:
San Francisco
About:
A consideration of how newly-released prisoners reintegrate into society.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Coming back to theatres tomorrow, Friday, February 3 (after an initial qualifying run in early December):
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
Director:
Raoul Peck
Premiere:
Toronto 2016
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, New Orleans, New York Film Festival, the Hamptons, Chicago, Virginia, AFI Fest, Philadelphia
Notable Recognition:
The doc has been nominated for the Academy Awards.
About:
James Baldwin’s unfinished book on three key civil rights leaders prompts an all-too timely reflection on the state of race relations in America.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
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