On the eve of her 98th birthday, the pioneering journalist Ruth Gruber got a standing ovation for the documentary about her life AHEAD OF TIME, presented to a sold out crowd for STF’s opening night. The film marks the directorial debut of Bob Richman, the acclaimed cinematographer of THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE. This was the first sneak preview for AHEAD OF TIME following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The audience included several members of Gruber’s family and many directors who have previously worked with Richman, such as Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER), and Gaylen Ross (KILLING KASZTNER). In the Q&A afterwards, Gruber regaled the audience with stories of meeting Eleanor Roosevelt, Virginia Woolf and other historical figures. A favorite moment of mine was when the 200+ person audience sang Ruth a round of “Happy Birthday”.
Tuesday night, Docurama launched its 10th Anniversary celebrations with a sold-out screening of the rare cinema verite classic JANE. The evening featured a star-studded Q&A (Bob Drew, D.A. Pennebaker and Hope Ryden) and audience of documentary all-stars (above photo, L to R: STF host Thom Powers, Susan Margolin (co-principal Docurama Films), filmmakers Hope Ryden and D.A. Pennebaker and Robert Drew (founder of the legendary doc company Drew Associates).
During the Q&A, Robert Drew spoke about how impressed he was with the filmmaking behind JANE. Watching the film anew, he appreciated how much of Hope Ryden and D.A. Pennebaker was in every shot and every cut. When discussing editing, D.A. Pennebaker said “the process of editing brings out your most tender. It’s actually very Jungian: the fabrication of a fantasy in your head that you must tell people about or you’ll die.”
Ryden and Pennebaker also discussed the challenges of filming in the early days of sync sound. While Pennebaker was capturing all the shots (often not even hearing what was being said), Ryden was trying to get as close as possible to the subjects with her mic. Ryden explained that when shooting this film, they went through everything with Jane Fonda. “Whether she was on a train, waking up or reading her review – we were there with her and she knew we cared.”
An interesting piece of documentary gossip – when Ryden (the only woman at Drew Associates) was tasked by Drew with making a film about a prominent women – there were two other female celebrities that were initial targets for this documentary: Raquel Welch and Liza Minnelli. With Welch, things didn’t work out; with Minnelli, her agents said she didn’t photograph well from every angle and tried to impose shot limitations. And then they met Jane Fonda and knew she would be a perfect subject. Ryden cleared the request with Actors Equity and they started shooting.
This fall, STF passholders can show their cards to attend Docurama’s weekend matinee series at the IFC Center free of charge. For a complete list of films and show-times, click here.
Eight days after CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY had its North American premiere at TIFF, the film had a special screening presented by the New York Film Festival on Monday night. Special guests were then bussed downtown to the Esquire Soho penthouse where we spotted a handful of documentary makers among the advertising and branding specialists who sponsored the shindig.
Michael Moore poses with TIFF and STF programmer Thom Powers
STF’s spring season ended with Ngawang Choephel’s incredible film TIBET IN SONG. For the second time in STF history, the film inspired a thundering standing-ovation (the first time being at the Spring 08 screening of THE AGRONOMIST when Jean Dominique’s widow Michele Montas came to the stage). To learn more about the film and future screenings, you can visit: http://www.tibetinsong.com.
Thanks everyone for another great season of STF! A special thanks to the 50 STF passholders who broke our previous record for number of season passholders. And thank you to 99 Below for all your yummy STF drink specials. See you in the fall!
On the eve of her 98th birthday, the pioneering journalist Ruth Gruber got a standing ovation for the documentary about her life AHEAD OF TIME, presented to a sold out crowd for STF’s opening night. The film marks the directorial debut of Bob Richman, the acclaimed cinematographer of THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE. This was the first sneak preview for AHEAD OF TIME following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The audience included several members of Gruber’s family and many directors who have previously worked with Richman, such as Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER), and Gaylen Ross (KILLING KASZTNER). In the Q&A afterwards, Gruber regaled the audience with stories of meeting Eleanor Roosevelt, Virginia Woolf and other historical figures. A favorite moment of mine was when the 200+ person audience sang Ruth a round of “Happy Birthday”.
Tuesday night, Docurama launched its 10th Anniversary celebrations with a sold-out screening of the rare cinema verite classic 
Michael Moore poses with TIFF and STF programmer Thom Powers
STF’s spring season ended with Ngawang Choephel’s incredible film