This year's Hot Docs began with a screening of the film THE INTERNET'S OWN BOY: THE STORY OF AARON SWARTZ.
The Hot Docs film festival kicked off last week in Toronto. At the POV blog, Tom Roston shared 10 of his picks for the festival, while Adam Nayman of Canada’s POV Magazine previewed the event. The Dork Shelf staff turned out its own guide to Hot Docs, and Basil Tsiokos provided an overview at the What (Not) to Doc blog. Jason Gorber of Moviefone had an interview with Joe Berlinger about his new film, WHITEY: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES J BULGER, and director Daniel Vernon was interviewed at the True/False blog about his film MIRACULOUS TALES. Adam Benzine of Realscreen interviewed Hot Docs Executive Director Brett Hendrie, as well as THE OVERNIGHTERS director Jesse Moss about his film. Realscreen’s Manori Ravindran covered the screening of THE INTERNET’S OWN BOY: THE STORY OF AARON SWARTZ. Andrew Parker of Dorkscreen reviewed THE HOMESTRETCH, and Olivia Ward of The Toronto Star highlighted 10 films at the festival in search of justice.
At Realscreen, Kevin Ritchie reported that Marshall Curry had taken home the best doc feature prize at Tribeca for his new film POINT AND SHOOT. In a podcast, Tribeca’s Jason Guerrasio interviewed Curry about his film, while John Anderson reviewed the film for Indiewire. Writing for Nonfics.com, Daniel Walber reviewed the film. Walber also reviewed VIRUNGA from director Orlando von Einsiedel. Eric Kohn of Indiewire also reviewed VIRUNGA. At The Hollywood Reporter, John DeFore reviewed 1971 from director Johanna Hamilton. And at Filmmaker Magazine, David Felix Sutcliffe interviewed Hamilton about her film. Back at the Tribeca blog, Jason Guerrasio interviewed D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus about their new film UNLOCKING THE CAGE. In a piece at Indiewire, Anthony Kaufman wondered if Tribeca would be better off completely abandoning fictional narrative films in favor of docs.
This week documentarian Michael Glawogger, perhaps best known for his “globalization trilogy” unexpectedly passed away from malaria while working on his latest film in Africa. At the New York Times, Douglas Martin penned an obit for the filmmaker. Manori Ravindran reported on the news at Realscreen, while Film Society of Lincoln Center programmer Dennis Lim remembered the filmmaker in a piece. Scott Roxborough of The Hollywood Reporter also reported on Glawogger’s passing, and David Hudson of Fandor also gathered some writings about the filmmaker.
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The doc on rapper Nas, TIME IS ILLMATIC, opened up this year's Tribeca Film Festival.
The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival started this week with a screening of the new Nas doc TIME IS ILLLMATIC. At Indiewire, Eric Kohn reviewed the new film from director One9 as did Scott Foundas of Variety. Associated Press writer Jake Coyle had coverage of the Tribeca opening night film for his press outlet. Basil Tsiokos provided an overview of the docs screening at the festival at his What (Not) to Doc blog. At DocGeeks, Emma Norton had a list of must-see docs at the festival. Writing for Nonfics.com, Daniel Walber previewed 10 of the festivals most anticipated docs. Walber also penned a review of the Tribeca film BALLET 422 from director Jody Lee Lipes and one of DIOR AND I from director Frederic Tcheng. Steve Pond of The Wrap had an interview with BEYOND THE BRICK: A LEGO DOCUMENTARY filmmakers Daniel Junge and Kief Davidson at The Wrap.
This week Chicago-based documentary production non-profit Kartemquin Films announced that it would collaborate with network Al Jazeera America to produce a six-part documentary series on the struggles of those on low incomes in the U.S. Sergio had coverage of the development for Indiewire’s Shadow and Act blog, while Deadline also covered the news.
Nikita Stewart of the New York Times reported that New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced that Cynthia Lopez, co-executive producer of the PBS doc series POV, had been appointed the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Todd Cunningham of The Wrap also covered the appointment, as did Marisa Guthrie and Tatiana Siegel of The Hollywood Reporter and Shipra Gupta of Indiewire.
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The film ANNA from directors Alberto Grifi and Massimo Sarchielli is among the films screening at this year's Art of the Real program at Lincoln Center.
This week the first Art of the Real program at Lincoln Center kicked off. Writing for Artforum, Nick Pinkerton profiled the program, as did Jillian Steinhauer at Hyperallergic. The Brooklyn Rail republished a piece from Colin Beckett on Thom Andersen’s non-fiction films, and Fernando F. Croce previewed the Art of the Real at Mubi.com. Writing for Film Comment, Max Nelson did the same, as did Paul Dallas of Indiewire. Daniel Walber of Nonfics.com had a write-up on the series, and Basil Tsiokos recapped the lineup in a post at his What (Not) to Doc blog. In a piece for Slant Magazine, Ela Bittencourt reviewed a handful of the films screening at Lincoln Center. In a piece for the Wall Street Journal, Steve Dollar profiled the film ACTRESS from director Robert Greene, which closes out the film series.
The PBS documentary show POV announced that it had expanded its digital documentary initiatives with a new co-producing funding mechanism as well as a call for short web-native docs. In a post for the Knight Foundation, POV Digital Director Adnaan Wasey explained the impetus behind the push for digital content. Paula Bernstein covered the development for Indiewire, while Kevin Ritchie pulled similar duties at Realscreen.
POV this week also opened up its call for entries for the 2015 season.
Writing for Indiewire, Anthony Kaufman wrote on why the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival remained relevant in a crowded festival marketplace. In a piece for Nonfics.com, Jesse Paddock named his top five films from this year’s Full Frame. Over at the International Documentary Association (IDA) website, Angelica Das also submitted coverage of this year’s fest.
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Darius Clark Munroe's film EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL took home a pair of awards from this year's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival concluded yesterday with an awards ceremony at which EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL from director Darius Clark Munroe took home the grand jury award. Writing for the News & Observer, Daniel Cook Johnson reported on the awards ceremony. Also writing for the News & Observer, Lewis Beale covered the festival’s honoring of the career of documentary filmmaker Steve James. In a piece for Filmmaker Magazine from March, Sarah Salovaara interviewed Munroe about his film.
At Indiewire, Eric Kohn had a recap of this year’s New Directors/New Films program held at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). In a piece for the Frieze blog, Ela Bittencourt also covered some of the nonfiction film screened at ND/NF.
Richard Brody of the New Yorker had some coverage of the upcoming Art of the Real program at Lincoln Center. And Eric Hynes also previewed the series in a piece for the New York Times.
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The well-regarded film FINDING VIVIAN MAIER reached theaters this week.
This week the film FINDING VIVIAN MAIER from directors John Maloof and Charlie Siskel hit theaters. In a piece for The Hollywood Reporter, Chris O’Falt relayed the story of how the film came to be made. Writing for Ion Cinema, Jordan M. Smith reviewed the film, as did Scott Tobias at The Dissolve. Anthony Kaufman, writing for Indiewire, questioned the ethical implications of making a film about the reclusive Maier.
The PBS television show POV announced the second portion of its lineup for its upcoming season, which includes festival darlings AFTER TILLER and THE ACT OF KILLING. Kevin Ritchie of Realscreen also reported on the lineup.
Filmmaker Magazine writer Scott Macaulay wrote a piece this week on whether filmmakers should also stream their festival premiers on VHX, taking a cue from the Steve James film LIFE ITSELF. Also at Filmmaker Magazine, Michael Murie interviewed 20 FEET FROM STARDOM director of photography Nicola Marsh.
In a post at Indiewire, Melina Gills rounded up a list of 10 approaching deadlines for documentary film grants.
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