The film ELENA from director Petra Costa hit theaters this week.
This week the expressionist doc ELENA from Brazilian director Petra Costa bowed at the IFC Center for a theatrical run. At the New York Times, Stephen Holden reviewed the film. John Anderson of Indiewire also wrote a review of the doc.
Writing for the New York Times, Brooks Barnes reported on a new short film series from Morgan Spurlock and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen focused on the economy. Melina Gills of Indiewire also reported on the new project. And Variety’s Todd Spangler reported that American Express had sponsored a doc about families struggling in the current economic climate set to debut on the Young Turks YouTube and Hulu channels.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of the Doug Block film 112 WEDDINGS on Tuesday, June 3 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan. The film visits several couples for whom Block shot a wedding video. Following the screening Block and several film subjects will be in attendance for a Q&A. You can find more information and purchase tickets here. Writing for Canada’s POV Magazine, Marc Glassman penned a review of the film.
Stranger Than Fiction has also confirmed THE LAST MOGUL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LEW WASSERMAN for its June 10 screening. The film, directed by Barry Avrich, is a doc biopic of Wasserman. Avrich will be in attendance following the screening for a Q&A. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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Filmmaker Andrew Valentim Almeida won the Doc Alliance Selection Award at this year's Cannes International Film Festival.
Filmmaker Andre Valentim Almeida took home the Doc Alliance Selection Award at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival for his film A CAMPANHA DO CREOULA; writing for Screen Daily, Wendy Mitchell had the details. Also, the Doc Alliance site had an interview with Almeida. In other Cannes news, Jay Weissberg of Variety reviewed Wim Wenders’ new doc THE SALT OF THE EARTH. At the Thompson on Hollywood blog at Indiewire, Tom Christie reviewed THE GO-GO BOYS from director Hilla Medalia. Over at Nonfics.com, Daniel Walber reviewed THE FLOOD, a Cannes award winner from 1947 made by filmmaker Jerzy Bossak. Writing for Sight and Sound Magazine, Isabel Stevens reviewed the Frederick Wiseman film NATIONAL GALLERY. Jordan Cronk of Reverse Shot also reviewed the new Wiseman film.
This week saw the launch of the new VOD platform Docurama from Cinedigm. Paula Bernstein of Indiewire reported on the development, as did Sahil Patel of Video Ink.
The first West Coast edition of the POV Hackathon took place last week. The POV blog had a report from Michael S. Scherotter on the making of one of the prototypes yielded by the Hackathon.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of the film THE BEACHES OF AGNES, an autobiographical essay from director Agnes Varda. The screening takes place on Tuesday, May 27 at 8:00 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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This week SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN director Malik Bendjelloul passed away.
This week the documentary community lost the Oscar-winning filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul, who died from an apparent suicide at the age of 36. Bruce Weber of the New York Times penned an obit of Bendjelloul, while Realsceen’s Adam Benzine rounded up some tributes made to the director. Adam Schartoff released an interview conducted with Bendjelloul on his Filmwax Radio podcast. At Indiewire, Paula Bernstein also reported on Bendjelloul’s passing. Michael Dunaway remembered the director in an encomium published at Paste Magazine, and Xan Brooks did the same at The Guardian.
At Screen Daily, Colin Brown took a look at the doc lineup at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival. Daniel Walber of Nonfics.com had a great piece on the festival’s history of ignoring docs, and Basil Tsiokos provided an overview of docs screening there for his What (Not) to Doc blog.
At Nonfics.com, Christopher Campbell had a chance to interview director Joe Berlinger about his new documentary television series on Al Jazeera America, The System. At Realscreen, Kelly Anderson also spoke with Berlinger about The System, and at the International Documentary Association (IDA) website, Darianna Cardilli also profiled the series.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of the film 9 MAN from director Ursula Liang about a streetball game often played in Chinatown. The film will screen on Tuesday, May 20 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan, and will be followed with a Q&A with director Liang. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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The new film FED UP reached theaters this week.
This week the new doc FED UP from director Stephanie Soechtig bowed at theaters, drawing a fair amount of attention in the process. At Variety, Malina Saval had a capsule review and a quote from Soechtig, while The Economist reviewed the film. Nathan Rabin pulled the same duty at The Dissolve. And Jordan M. Smith of Ion Cinema interviewed Soechtig and producers Laurie David and Heather Reisman.
Netflix again made news this week by acquiring a new slate of docs, among them E-TEAM from directors Ross Kauffman and Kate Chevigny. At Realscreen, Adam Benzine had the details, as did the Associated Press. At the Los Angeles Times, Joe Flint focused on the acquisition of THE BATTERED BASTARDS OF BASEBALL.
In other distro news, Manori Ravindran of Realscreen reported that Lionsgate was in talks to release the film AMERICA: IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT HER from filmmaker John Sullivan and writer Dinesh D’Souza. Realscreen colleague Kevin Ritchie had the news that Kino Lorber had snagged North American rights for the the new Alex Gibney film, FINDING FELA.
This week Stranger Than Fiction hosts the new Joe Berlinger film, WHITEY: THE UNITED STATES V. JAMES J. BULGER at the IFC Center on Tuesday, May 13 at 8 p.m. The film follows the trial of gangster James “Whitey” Bulger. Berlinger will be in attendance for a Q&A session following the film. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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The film OUT OF MIND, OUT OF SIGHT from director John Kastner took home the award for best Canadian feature doc at this year's Hot Docs.
The Hot Docs festival finished out its 2014 incarnation on Sunday. At Indiewire, Paula Bernstein reported that OUT OF MIND, OUT OF SIGHT from John Kastner had won the award for best Canadian feature at the festival, and had details on other award winners. The Toronto Star’s Peter Howell wrote on the trend of festival docs that blurred the line between fact and fiction. In a piece for the Huffington Post, director Kevin McMahon wrote on the changes to the doc landscape currently being wrought. Writing for Realscreen, Manori Ravindran profiled the film MEET THE PATELS from directors Ravi and Geeta Patel. Paula Bernstein also had a piece for Indiewire that culled advice from Hot Docs filmmakers on finding a directorial voice. Back at Realscreen, Manori Ravindran profiled the film CASE AGAINST 8.
At Ion Cinema, Jordan M. Smith reviewed FED UP. Smith also reviewed EVERYTHING WILL BE and JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING. Back at Indiewire, Peter Knegt spoke with LOVE HOTEL directors Philip Cox and Hikaru Toda. Indiewire colleague Paula Bernstein wrote a piece on the keys to a successful doc pitch. Bernstein also had a piece that rounded up tips on how to make your first documentary film. Writing for the POV blog, Tom Roston shone a light on the film PINE RIDGE from director Anna Eborn. Canada’s POV Magazine thoughtfully put all of their festival coverage on one page for easy access.
In Tribeca Film Festival coverage, Daniel Walber of Nonfics.com issued a piece naming the festival’s seven best docs. Kevin Ritchie of Realscreen reported that KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON from director Alan Hicks had won the documentary audience award. Writing for the International Documentary Association (IDA), Patricia Aufderheide recapped the festival’s docs. In a separate post at the CMSi blog, Aufderheide wrote about cinema verite at Tribeca and South by Southwest. At Indiewire, John Anderson recapped a work-in-progress screening of the latest Alex Gibney doc, this one about James Brown. In a post at the POV blog, Liz Nord interviewed CLOUDS creators Jonathan Minard and James George. Patricia Aufderheide recapped the interactive exhibits at Tribeca this year in a post at the CMSi site. And in a separate post, Aufderheide considered the way work was represented in Tribeca films.
Stranger Than Fiction (STF) kicks off its Spring Season on Tuesday, May 6 at 8 p.m. at the IFC Center in Manhattan with a screening of Chris Marker’s seminal cinematic essay SANS SOLEIL. Filmmaker Jem Cohen (INSTRUMENT, MUSEUM HOURS) will be in attendance following the screening for a discussion about the film. STF’s Spring Season features a stellar lineup, including Joe Berlinger’s WHITEY: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES J. BULGER (May 13); Doug Block’s 112 WEDDINGS (June 3), and Marina Zenovich’s ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED (June 17). Tickets are available for individual shows, and season passes that include a free Docurama DVD, free popcorn and guaranteed admission are available for $99.
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