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.

Continue reading…

---

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.

Continue reading…

---

Stranger Than Fiction, the weekly documentary film series hosted by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen and presented by IFC Center, begins on Tuesday with a retrospective screening of SANS SOLEIL (May 6), Chris Marker’s 1983 masterpiece. Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum names it one of the key nonfiction films of our time and describes it as “a film about subjectivity, death, photography, social custom, and consciousness itself.” The screening will be accompanied by a conversation with filmmaker Jem Cohen, who cites Marker as a key influence on his own work. This presentation coincides with a month-long retrospective “Chris Marker & His Legacy” on Sundance NOW Doc Club, also curated by Powers.

The season bring many new films from STF alum to the IFC Center. Joe Berlinger‘s WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (May 13) follows the trial of the infamous gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, using the courtroom action as a springboard to examine accusations of multi-faceted corruption within our nation’s law enforcement and legal systems. Acclaimed documentarian, Doug Block, has supported his career over the last two decades with a side business of videotaping weddings. In 112 WEDDINGS (June 3), he tracks down and interviews the more memorable of his 112 wedding couples. Marina Zenovich‘s ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED (June 17) revisits the key players involved Polanski’s controversial and complex sexual abuse conviction.

9-MAN (May 20) gives a glimpse into Chinese-American community through an athletic game that has been played exclusively Chinatowns across America since the 1930s. THE FRONT MAN (Thurs, May 29) is a non-fiction rock ‘n roll comedy love story about an everyman middle-class musician burdened by the desire for stardom.

The spring season closes with a special Wednesday screening of THE PLEASURES OF BEING OUT OF STEP (Wed, June 25), director David L. Lewis’ portrait of Nat Hentoff, a pioneer in music criticism, who has spent more than six decades championing jazz in the pages of the Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal, Down Beat, and numerous other publications. A New York story, the film won the DOC NYC Metropolis Grand Jury Prize in 2013.

The STF spring/summer season will take place weekly at the IFC Center for the next eight weeks. All screenings are Tuesday night at 8:00 pm, besides the special Thursday, May 29 screening of THE FRONT MAN, and the Wednesday, June 25 screening of THE PLEASURES OF BEING OUT OF STEP. Each event includes a discussion with the filmmakers, followed by a gathering at a nearby bar. The STF titles for May 27 and June 10 will be announced shortly.

Tickets are available for individual shows or season passes can be bought for $99 for 9 films.

With a season pass, you receive many perks including a free DVD from Docurama; free popcorn at every STF show; assurance that you never miss a sold out show (as long as you arrive by 15 min. prior); and the ability to transfer your pass to a friend, if you can’t come.

Click here to buy the Spring/Summer Season Pass.

---

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.

Continue reading…

---

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.

Continue reading…

---