Box Office Mojo reported that AI WEI WEI: NEVER SORRY cleared $45,000 in five theaters over its opening weekend.
Alison Klayman’s film AI WEI WEI: NEVER SORRY has finally been released in theaters, after racking up festival laurels and media attention for months. Writing for the POV blog, Tom Roston interviewed Klayman, discovering that Ai was pleased with the way the film turned out. Christopher Campbell had his own interview with Klayman, who admitted that she didn’t realize when she began working on the film that it would touch on such a wide variety of issues—art, activism and freedom, to name a few.
Writing for Movies.com, Campbell also did an end-run around the political discussions surrounding THE DARK KNIGHT RISES to name NEVER SORRY the best superhero film of the summer, based largely on the incredibly fearless acts of dissent and political activism that Ai engages in in China. J.P. Sniadecki at Cinema Scope had an interview with Ai himself, and talked to him about the artist’s use of documentary techniques in his work, for a nice change of pace. And Ryan Lee Wong of The Margins magazine worked up a review of NEVER SORRY, writing that the film “traces the transformation of a controversial Chinese artist into an international icon of dissent.”
Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul’s SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN, one of the doc darlings of this year’s Sundance festival, also got its theatrical release this week. The film earned a critic’s pick from Manohla Dargis of the New York Times, who said of Bendjelloul, “Using a well-balanced mix of talking-head interviews, archival imagery and some dreamy animated sequences, Mr. Bendjelloul builds a narrative that simultaneously moves in two seemingly opposite if complementary directions.” And writing for the Wall Street Journal, Anthony Kaufman profiled SUGAR MAN producer Simon Chinn, who has also found success producing some other big budget docs, including MAN ON WIRE and THE IMPOSTER.
Lauren Greenfield’s THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES commanded heavy media attention prior to its theatrical release this week.
The doc that seemed to have a stranglehold on media attention this week was far and away Lauren Greenfield’s THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES, a portrait of timeshare mogul couple David and Jackie Siegel. At Indiewire, Nigel Smith on July 18 posted an interview with Greenfield. At the Documentary Channel blog, Christopher Campbell pointed readers toward a Doc Talk profile of the film. In this week’s Docutopia blog, Anthony Kaufman drew some parallels between the content in Christopher Nolan’s last installment of his Batman trilogy THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, and the doc. Filmmaker Magazine played host to a Susanna Locascio-penned review of the film, which it described it as “a complicated, fascinating, and humbling film, perfectly calibrated to the zeitgeist.” And the film’s DP, Tom Hurwitz, was kind enough to share some cinema verite shooting techniques he employed on the film.
The Sundance Institute on Monday, July 16 named 11 projects to its summer creative producing labs, five of which were documentaries. Those docs selected for the program were DIRTY WARS: THE WORLD IS A BATTLEFIELD with producing fellows Anthony Arnove and Brenda Coughlin; SOLARIZE THIS (working title) with fellow Shalini Kantayya; THESE BIRDS WALK with fellows Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq; THE NEW BLACK with fellow Yoruba Richen; an Untitled Gay Retiree Project with fellow PJ Raval; and WHO IS DAYANI CRISTAL? with fellow Lucas Ochoa. The fellows will be able to avail themselves of intensive workshops and meetings with executives for feedback and pitch sessions.
Filmmaker Magazine this past week also loosed its list of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film on the world. Included in the tally were a number of doc filmmakers, including Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari (California is a Place); Penny Lane and Brian Frye (OUR NIXON); Alexa Karolinski (OMA & BELLA); Chris Dapkins (THE SWELL SEASON); Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq (THESE BIRDS WALK); Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims (ONLY THE YOUNG); Terence Nance (AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY); Wu Tsang (WILDNESS); and Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall (CALL ME KUCHU).
BETTER THIS WORLD by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway was one of five films to garner an Emmy nomination for best documentary this week.
The The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences unleashed its list of nominations for its news and documentary awards this week. Those films nominated for best documentary were HOW TO DIE IN OREGON by Peter Richardson; ARMADILLO by Janus Metz; BETTER THIS WORLD by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway; ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath; and LAST TRAIN HOME by Lixin Fan. The PBS series POV made out pretty well, snagging a record 16 nominations, while Independent Lens picked up five nominations of its own.
Documentary filmmaker and father of public access television George Stoney passed away this week at the age of 96. Stoney’s approach to filmmaking was rooted in social justice and giving a voice to the dispossessed, and had an effect on generations of students he taught at New York University over some 40 years. After news of Stoney’s death broke, he was remembered by the International Documentary Association, as well as “script doctor” Howard Weinberg, among many others. Back in 2008, Stranger Than Fiction hosted a tribute to Stoney’s then-60 years of filmmaking.
Journalists this week haven’t just been spilling ink about Bart Layton’s film THE IMPOSTER, they’ve tipped the barrel over. At The Atlantic, Ian Buckwalter examined Layton’s use of reenactments in the film, and they’re commentary on the nature of truth (or maybe competing truths). At the Documentary Channel blog, Christopher Campbell posted a great interview with Layton that touched on the challenges a director faces in presenting the viewpoint of an unreliable subject, and expanded some of his thoughts into essay form for a piece posted on Movies.com. Anthony Kaufman’s Docutopia blog this week also focused on THE IMPOSTER. All of the attention seems to be paying off for the film at the box office—Indiewire on July 15 reported that it had cleared $20,643 after being released in only one theater. Distributor Indomina plans to expand its release in the upcoming weeks.
Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and Jafar Panahi’s film THIS IS NOT A FILM has won plaudits from a number of critics.
Indiewire subsidiary Criticwire on June 28 had published its mid-year list of the best indie films of 2012, noting that three of the top five were documentaries (THIS IS NOT A FILM, THE ISLAND PRESIDENT, and UNDER AFRICAN SKIES). Documentary Channel blogger Christopher Campbell responding by noting a few of his candidates for best film of the year thus far.
It also sparked a post by Criticwire writer Steve Greene, who kicked up a debate when he asked if film critics favored documentary films over fictional narratives, after noticing that a disproportionate number of docs populated the best film list. Greene came up with a list of four reasons why that might be, ending it with my favorite argument—that docs are simply better than fictional films. Writing for the POV blog, Heather McIntosh responded with four reasons of her own.
In another mid-year assessment, Indiewire on July 5 published its mid-year box office report, finding that docs are having a pretty good year so far. Topping the list were Lee Hirsh’s BULLY with $3.5 million, David Gelb’s JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI with $2.5 million, and Kevin Macdonald’s MARLEY with $1.4 million. But Christopher Campbell noted that these totals did not account for the expected doc blockbuster KATY PERRY: PART OF ME, which opened on July 5. In fact, on Sunday Box Office Mojo estimated that PART OF ME had grossed $10.3 million since its opening, easily outpacing its competition.
Docuweeks is set to run in August in New York City and Los Angeles.
The International Documentary Association (IDA) on Friday, June 27 named the films particpating in the 16th annual Docuweeks program. Writing for the Documentary Channel, Christopher Campbell took a look at the selections, with RICKY ON LEACOCK, a film about late direct cinema pioneer Richard Leacock jumping out at him. And at the LA Times, Julie Makinen rounded up capsule synopses of all the films.
Some recaps of Silverdocs, which ran June 18-24 came in this week, the most comprehensive arguably offered by Basil Tsiokos on his What Not to Doc blog. Tsiokos broke up his coverage into two posts, viewable here and here. Filmmaker Magazine’s Rania Richardson also had a wrap up, and Aviva Kempner on The Wrap blog wondered aloud why Cannes could not be more like Silverdocs in supporting female filmmakers.
Jonathan Caouette’s new film WALK AWAY RENEE was getting attention from a few different corners of the web. At the POV blog, journalist Tom Roston interviewed the director on his first feature-length film since 2004’s TARNATION. At Filmmaker Magazine, Howard Feinstein shared his thoughts on RENEE, and also spoke with Caouette. And this week’s Docutopia post, penned by Anthony Kaufman riffed on TARNATION as the expected bellwether for a rash of new personal docs conceived in the digital age.
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