New to OVID this week:
LOURDES
Director:
Alban Teurlai, Thierry Demaiziere
World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2019
Select Festivals:
Docville, Hof
About:
A portrait of the French pilgrimage site.
Streaming: LOURDES
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Streaming: TRUST NO ONE: THE HUNT FOR THE CRYPTO KING
Coming to Netflix today, Wednesday, March 30:
TRUST NO ONE: THE HUNT FOR THE CRYPTO KING
Director:
Luke Sewell
World Premiere:
Netflix (March 2022)
About:
When the young founder of a collapsing cryptocurrency exchange dies unexpectedly, irate investors suspect there’s more to his death than meets the eye.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
Streaming: INTO THE NIGHT: PORTRAITS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Coming to OVID today, Wednesday, March 30:
INTO THE NIGHT: PORTRAITS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Director:
Helen Whitney
Premiere:
FilmColumbia 2017
Select Festivals:
Austin, Hamptons Take 2 Docs
About:
Nine diverse perspectives on dying, death, and the afterlife.
I previously wrote about the doc here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On VOD: NORTH BY CURRENT
Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, March 29:
NORTH BY CURRENT
Director:
Angelo Madsen Minax
World Premiere:
Berlin 2021
Select Festivals:
Tribeca, Sheffield, Krakow, Melbourne, AFI Docs, Camden, Frameline, Outfest, Sidewalk, Freep, Doclisboa, Montclair
About:
In this personal essay about motherhood, grieving, and transgender masculinity, the unexplained death of his niece leads the director back to his family.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On DVD: WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA
Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 29:
WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA
Director:
Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler
World Premiere:
SXSW 2021
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, AFI Fest, Seattle, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Woodstock
About:
ACLU lawyer Jeffery Robinson’s shattering talk on the history of US anti-Black racism is interwoven with archival footage, interviews, and Robinson’s story, exploring the legacy of white supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
Streaming: SINCE I BEEN DOWN
Coming to SundanceNOW today, Monday, March 28:
SINCE I BEEN DOWN
Director:
Gilda Sheppard
World Premiere:
Cleveland 2020
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Big Sky, Freep, Sebastopol Doc, Portland, Thin Line, Montreal Black
About:
Despite serving life without parole, a man works to improve others’ lives.
The doc previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read:
Kimonti Carter is serving life without parole in a Washington state prison based on a harsh 1990s three-strikes law, but rather than accept this condemnation, he has worked to transform inmates’ lives through education. His experience brilliantly elucidates the dehumanization and trauma that accompany incarceration, but also demonstrates the possibility of redemption even among those society has called irredeemable. Gilda Sheppard’s profound and revealing film represents a 12-year journey to investigate the circumstances and inequities that have landed a whole generation of African-American youth in prison.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
On TV & Streaming: HOW TO SURVIVE A PANDEMIC
Coming to HBO and HBO Max tomorrow, Tuesday, March 29:
HOW TO SURVIVE A PANDEMIC
Director:
David France
World Premiere:
CPH:DOX 2022
About:
The incredible story of the world’s biggest health science project: the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Recommendations, Releases
On TV: WRITING WITH FIRE
Coming to PBS’s Independent Lens this coming Monday, March 28:
WRITING WITH FIRE
Director:
Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
World Premiere:
Sundance 2021
Select Festivals:
DOC NYC, Nantucket, IDFA, CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, RIDM, BlackStar, Guadalajara, DocsMX, Double Exposure, Sydney, Yamagata Doc, Ambulante, Denver, San Diego Asian, Hawaii, Bergen, San Francisco, Krakow, Seattle, Thessaloniki Doc, One World, Shanghai
Notable Recognition:
The doc has been nominated for the Academy Awards.
About:
A chronicle of the trailblazing work of India’s only news outlet run by Dalit women–once known as “untouchable.”
I previously wrote about the doc before Sundance here.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Recommendations, Releases, Sundance
On DVD: THE MONOPOLY OF VIOLENCE
New to DVD this week:
THE MONOPOLY OF VIOLENCE
Director:
David Dufresne
World Premiere:
Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals:
New York, Sheffield, Brussels, Toronto, Melbourne
About:
This exploration of police violence in contemporary France examines the ways in which a government justifies brutal acts against its own citizens, enacting totalitarian methods to keep the populace under its control.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Releases
CPH:DOX 2022 Overview
Festival:
The 19th CPH:DOX
Dates:
March 23-April 3
About:
More than 160 new and recent features are included in this first-class Danish nonfiction event.
Filed under Documentary, Film, Film Festivals, Overviews, Recommendations
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