In an effort to add some variety to the deluge of “best film” lists, I’ve approached the exercise a bit differently. In chronological order, here are my favorite personal documentary memories from the year…
1) January: FULL BATTLE RATTLE work-in-progress at STF – Before this film headed off to its premieres at Berlin and SXSW, directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss gave a special screening for their friends and STF Winter Season pass holders. Those enterprising viewers were the first to discover this surreal take on the war in Iraq. When the film later opened in the summer, David Edelstein wrote in New York Magazine, “The film is freaky, amusing, and sickening in equal measures – part fly-on-the-wall verite, part multiple-perspective Altmanesque tragicomedy.” Visit the film’s web site.
2) March: Cinema Eye Honors – Four months earlier, AJ Schnack called me with the idea of launching a documentary award. I thought he meant for the next year’s films. But he wanted to pull the trigger immediately. Indiepix Films jumped in as a sponsor and we benefited from the generous support of many others. From such modest beginnings, I think it’s fair to say the event at the IFC Center exceeded everyone’s expectations including my own. The presenters included documentary luminaries such as Barbara Kopple, Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky and Alan Berliner. The night was topped off by an unforgettable speech by Jason Kohn, accepting the best documentary award for MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET). You can watch here. After the show, AJ and I indulged ourselves with two-fisted drinking, pictured above.
3) March: Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant – The filmmaker Garrett Scott died much too young in 2006 . But his spirit lives on in this grant that enables directors working on their first film to attend the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. This was the second year that I joined Ian Olds and Rachael Rakes in judging the applications. It was my pleasure to make the calls informing three aspirants of their success. I later got an email from one of the recipients Rebecca Richman Cohen, the director of WAR DON DON set in Sierra Leone. She wrote, “The call was a triumphant moment – it was the first time that someone (who hadn’t known me for years) validated the project. It was a vote of confidence that assured me that I wasn’t alone in this wild endeavor.” The deadline for next year’s grant is Feb 6.
A completely sold out theater enthusiastically ate up PRESSURE COOKER, a film codirected by NY locals Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker. Powers introduced the film by saying “this is a film that pulls at your heart strings. And if you don’t feel moved, you have no heart.” A high bar to set, but luckily most audience members were relieved to discover that they did have a heart.
On the way out of the theater, one of our STF members caught a really sweet exchange between the film’s director Mark Becker and D.A. Pennebaker where Becker was telling Pennebaker how much Pennebaker’s films inspired him to get into documentary when he was a kid and Pennebaker was telling Becker how much he really loved the film (see photo below – Chris Hegedus, Mark Becker, D.A. Pennebacker)
A full house greeted the 87 year-old Richard Leacock as he made a special visit to Stranger Than Fiction from Paris. Among the luminaries in the audience were Albert Maysles and D.A. Pennebaker (see photo on left), Chris Hegedus, Robert Drew, George Stoney, Kevin Rafferty, and many others. Titled THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD LEACOCK, the evening was a sampling of various films and clips from Leacock’s illustrious career. The evening started out with a screening of Leacock’s very first film – CANARY BANANAS (1934) – shot when he was only 13 years old. This 7 minute short was intended to convey the “bliss” of his life in the Canary Islands to his classmates in his boarding school in England. “Instead”, he laughs, “it became a commercial for my father’s banana plantation”. The next film THE CHILDREN WERE WATCHING (1961) tells the story of a white New Orleans school legally forced to integrate four black students, and the surrounding hatred and racism of the situation. Leacock describes one scene, where he is in the house of a family supporting integration while outside the anti-integration people are banging on the windows and doors, as being “more frightening than being a combat photographer in WWII.” The last clip was from his most recent film MUSICAL ADVENTURE IN SIBERIA which he shot with his daughter Victoria in 1996.
In addition to his film career, Richard Leacock also discussed the book he has been writing for the last several years, describing the experience as “just as enjoyable as making films”. The electronic book will feature 97 films that can be interactively accessed while reading. We all impatiently await its release!
Do the math: you get 3 special screenings in Dec, plus the 10 regular season films in Jan – Mar. That’s 13 films for $95 or ~$7 per film.
But that’s not all! Your Winter Season pass also gets you these great perks:
1) two free DVDs from Docurama;
2) free popcorn at every STF show;
3) assurance that you never miss a sold out show;
4) the ability to transfer your pass to a friend, if you can’t come;
5) week-round drink specials at “99 Below”
A lush culinary feast accompanied the screening for the newly-HBO-acquired documentary A TABLE IN HEAVEN. True to expectation, the buffet style stations featured a mouthwatering menu of tender roasted beef, asparagus risotto, and a vast array of other savory items. As for the desserts – there were too many to count! In case there were any doubts, I must say that Le Cirque definitely lives up to its reputation.
Martha Stewart was one of many socialites and Le Cirque patrons in attendance
In an effort to add some variety to the deluge of “best film” lists, I’ve approached the exercise a bit differently. In chronological order, here are my favorite personal documentary memories from the year…
Martha Stewart was one of many socialites and Le Cirque patrons in attendance