what (not) to doc

NYC’s Film Society of Lincoln Center turns the spotlight on music docs in their new Sound + Vision series, which runs this Friday, July 26 through Thursday, August 1. Covering a wide range of topics and approaches, the seventeen feature docs included in the program celebrates musicians as well as the power music has on our lives. Very generally speaking, it’s a genre that doesn’t always immediately strike a chord with me, but I would single out the following highlights:

Among the films that I’ve not had a chance to see yet but have been on my radar: Lily Keber’s BAYOU MAHARAJAH: THE TRAGIC GENIUS OF JAMES BOOKER (pictured), about the man known as the “Black Liberace;” Hark-Joon Lee’s 9 MUSES OF STAR EMPIRE, which follows the making of a K-pop girl group over a year; John Anderson’s BORN IN CHICAGO, the story of a group of middle-class white musicians who were inspired by Mississippi Delta black performers in the 1960s; Olallo Rubio’s GIMME THE POWER, a profile of the successful political activist Mexican band Molotov; and Désirée von Trotha’s WOODSTOCK IN TIMBUKTU: THE ART OF RESISTANCE (pictured), a look at a desert musical festival and its role in uniting the nomadic Touareg people.

Titles that I’ve seen elsewhere that are worth a look include: Jesse Acevedo’s VIVA CUBA LIBRE: RAP IS WAR!, also focuses on the ability of popular music to catalyze protest, through the story of Cuban rap duo Los Aldeanos; Greg “Freddy” Camalier’s Sundance alum MUSCLE SHOALS, on the famed Alabama recording studio; Doug Hamilton’s SXSW alum, BROADWAY IDIOT, on the adaptation of Green Day’s heralded album into a successful Broadway musical; and Bobbi Jo Hart’s I AM NOT A ROCK STAR, an intimate portrait of a gifted young Canadian pianist over eight years.

Beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, July 24 and running through Saturday, August 3, NYC’s AsianCinevision presents the 36th edition of the Asian American International Film Festival. The event, the longest-running of its kind in the US, annually celebrates the work of Asian and Asian-American filmmakers. This year, the festival presents more than two dozen features and over forty shorts from eighteen countries, in addition to workshops and other special events. Among its documentary feature offerings are a pair of Sundance alums: Evan Jackson Leong’s LINSANITY, making its East Coast premiere here as the Opening Night film; and Jason DaSilva’s WHEN I WALK, screening as a sneak preview.

Among the other docs on offer are Mona Lisa Yuchengco’s MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA: FILMMAKER ON A VOYAGE (pictured), an overview of the late Filipino director, whose 1983 KARNAL also screens this year; Hua Tien-hau’s GO GRANDRIDERS, about a Taiwanese senior citizen motorcycle club; Megumi Nishikura and Lara Perez Takagi’s HAFU: THE MIXED-RACE EXPERIENCE IN JAPAN, an exploration of Japanese biracial identity; and Benito Bautista’s HARANA, a search for a lost Filipino courtship tradition.