BETTER THIS WORLD by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway was one of five films to garner an Emmy nomination for best documentary this week.
The The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences unleashed its list of nominations for its news and documentary awards this week. Those films nominated for best documentary were HOW TO DIE IN OREGON by Peter Richardson; ARMADILLO by Janus Metz; BETTER THIS WORLD by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway; ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath; and LAST TRAIN HOME by Lixin Fan. The PBS series POV made out pretty well, snagging a record 16 nominations, while Independent Lens picked up five nominations of its own.
Documentary filmmaker and father of public access television George Stoney passed away this week at the age of 96. Stoney’s approach to filmmaking was rooted in social justice and giving a voice to the dispossessed, and had an effect on generations of students he taught at New York University over some 40 years. After news of Stoney’s death broke, he was remembered by the International Documentary Association, as well as “script doctor” Howard Weinberg, among many others. Back in 2008, Stranger Than Fiction hosted a tribute to Stoney’s then-60 years of filmmaking.
Journalists this week haven’t just been spilling ink about Bart Layton’s film THE IMPOSTER, they’ve tipped the barrel over. At The Atlantic, Ian Buckwalter examined Layton’s use of reenactments in the film, and they’re commentary on the nature of truth (or maybe competing truths). At the Documentary Channel blog, Christopher Campbell posted a great interview with Layton that touched on the challenges a director faces in presenting the viewpoint of an unreliable subject, and expanded some of his thoughts into essay form for a piece posted on Movies.com. Anthony Kaufman’s Docutopia blog this week also focused on THE IMPOSTER. All of the attention seems to be paying off for the film at the box office—Indiewire on July 15 reported that it had cleared $20,643 after being released in only one theater. Distributor Indomina plans to expand its release in the upcoming weeks.
Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and Jafar Panahi’s film THIS IS NOT A FILM has won plaudits from a number of critics.
Indiewire subsidiary Criticwire on June 28 had published its mid-year list of the best indie films of 2012, noting that three of the top five were documentaries (THIS IS NOT A FILM, THE ISLAND PRESIDENT, and UNDER AFRICAN SKIES). Documentary Channel blogger Christopher Campbell responding by noting a few of his candidates for best film of the year thus far.
It also sparked a post by Criticwire writer Steve Greene, who kicked up a debate when he asked if film critics favored documentary films over fictional narratives, after noticing that a disproportionate number of docs populated the best film list. Greene came up with a list of four reasons why that might be, ending it with my favorite argument—that docs are simply better than fictional films. Writing for the POV blog, Heather McIntosh responded with four reasons of her own.
In another mid-year assessment, Indiewire on July 5 published its mid-year box office report, finding that docs are having a pretty good year so far. Topping the list were Lee Hirsh’s BULLY with $3.5 million, David Gelb’s JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI with $2.5 million, and Kevin Macdonald’s MARLEY with $1.4 million. But Christopher Campbell noted that these totals did not account for the expected doc blockbuster KATY PERRY: PART OF ME, which opened on July 5. In fact, on Sunday Box Office Mojo estimated that PART OF ME had grossed $10.3 million since its opening, easily outpacing its competition.
Docuweeks is set to run in August in New York City and Los Angeles.
The International Documentary Association (IDA) on Friday, June 27 named the films particpating in the 16th annual Docuweeks program. Writing for the Documentary Channel, Christopher Campbell took a look at the selections, with RICKY ON LEACOCK, a film about late direct cinema pioneer Richard Leacock jumping out at him. And at the LA Times, Julie Makinen rounded up capsule synopses of all the films.
Some recaps of Silverdocs, which ran June 18-24 came in this week, the most comprehensive arguably offered by Basil Tsiokos on his What Not to Doc blog. Tsiokos broke up his coverage into two posts, viewable here and here. Filmmaker Magazine’s Rania Richardson also had a wrap up, and Aviva Kempner on The Wrap blog wondered aloud why Cannes could not be more like Silverdocs in supporting female filmmakers.
Jonathan Caouette’s new film WALK AWAY RENEE was getting attention from a few different corners of the web. At the POV blog, journalist Tom Roston interviewed the director on his first feature-length film since 2004’s TARNATION. At Filmmaker Magazine, Howard Feinstein shared his thoughts on RENEE, and also spoke with Caouette. And this week’s Docutopia post, penned by Anthony Kaufman riffed on TARNATION as the expected bellwether for a rash of new personal docs conceived in the digital age.
ONLY THE YOUNG by Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims follows two young skateboarders in California.
Directors Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims on Saturday June 23 were named the winners of the Silverdocs Documentary Festival’s Sterling Award for best U.S. feature for their film ONLY THE YOUNG, about a pair of young Christian skateboarders navigating the complications of life. The award for best world feature went to Seungiun Yi’s PLANET OF SNAIL, a portrait of a the deaf and blind poet Young-Chan, and his relationship with his wife, Soon-Ho. Silverdocs this year also played host to its own hack event, aptly titled Silverhacks, intended to pair filmmakers with coders in order to envision a new way to tell stories.
Some news related to the Sheffield Doc/Fest, which concluded on June 17, continued to trickle in over the past week. On Monday, June 18 came the announcement that Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi’s film 5 BROKEN CAMERAS, about a Palestinian farm laborer’s opposition to Jewish settlements, had won the festival’s audience award. Sophie Brown, writing for Dazed Digital, had a slew of capsule reviews of some of the festival’s offerings. And at the Shooting People blog, Helen Jack provided a more diaristic take on her Doc/Fest experience. Nigel Smith at Indiewire kindly underscored the highlights of a panel discussion on how to become a better documentary editor.
Also, the Los Angeles Film Festival June 24 named its award winners, with DROUGHT by Everardo González taking home the honors for best documentary. The audience award for best documentary feature went to BIRTH STORY: INA MAY GASKIN AND THE FARM MIDWIVES, directed by Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore. SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN by Malik Bendjelloul was also named the best international feature at the festival.
From left, STF Artistic Director Thom Powers, subject Don Baker and director David Van Taylor. Photo by Simon Luethi.
“This film started out as a joke,” claims A PERFECT CANDIDATE director David Van Taylor. The joke being that after Oliver North served a slap on the wrist stint in prison for selling arms to the Iranians and lying to Congress about it, he’d be out and soon running for office. When that joke—cracked during North’s trial—became reality, the directors felt obligated to cover the race. The 1994 Virginia Senate race pitted an embattled Democratic incumbent against two independents with niche constituencies and North, a dark horse conservative with a far-right friendly past as a felon.
Incumbent Chuck Robb is a caricature of a late-20th century Democrat on the national stage: a well-meaning geek with vague positions and a handful of sex scandals who we first see onscreen wandering alone in the empty aisles of a supermarket looking for someone to shake hands with. He is gaffe-prone and easy prey in the sound-bite era of politics. At one point, he somehow thinks its a good idea to start his answer to a debate question with “I’d take food from the mouths of widows and orphans…”
Ollie North comes across as something else altogether: a god-and-country golden boy for whom his arms smuggling past isn’t a liability but a mark of his patriotism. As Van Taylor put it in the Q&A following the screening, “Ollie is the Godzilla ranging across the countryside in this film and Robb is the scientist you wish understood what the problem is a little better.”
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