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 INTERNET'S OWN BOY: THE STORY OF AARON SWARTZ will open this year's Hot Docs festival in Canada.
This week Hot Docs announced its lineup for 2014, with the Brian Knappenberger-helmed THE INTERNET’S OWN BOY: THE STORY OF AARON SWARTZ set to open the festival. At The Hollywood Reporter, Etan Vlessing reported on Hot Docs’ lineup, as did Adam Benzine of Realscreen and the Indiewire site.
The Ekathimerini news site reported on the awards handed out at this year’s Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, with ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD from director Claus Drexel taking home the top foreign feature award. At his What (Not) to Doc blog, Basil Tsiokos provided an overview of the docs screening at this year’s festival.
Writing for the New York Times, John Anderson profiled FINDING VIVIAN MAIER from directors John Maloof and Charlie Siskel. At Nonfics.com Dan Schindel penned a review of the film, giving it four stars.
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The film PINE RIDGE from director Anna Eborn was among the films selected to play at the Documentary Fortnight program this year.
The Museum of Modern Art’s Documentary Fortnight program began on Friday. Writing at his What (Not) to Doc blog, Basil Tsiokos provided an overview of the program. At Twitch, Christopher Bourne wrote up some capsule reviews for some Doc Fortnight films.
Ben Beaumont-Thomas of the Guardian reported on THE ACT OF KILLING’s win at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for best documentary. Writing for Filmmaker Magazine, Scott Macaulay reported that director Joshua Oppenheimer’s speech appeared to have been edited to eliminate criticism of the British and U.S. governments in a video posted by the BAFTAs.
In an open letter posted on Facebook, filmmaker Dawn Porter criticized the decision by Washington, D.C., PBS station WETA not to air her film SPIES OF MISSISSIPPI on Monday, Feb. 10 at 10 p.m. Peter Hart of the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) blog had additional reporting on the incident.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of the classic D.A. Pennebaker film MONTEREY POP at the IFC Center in Manhattan on Tuesday, February 18 at 8 p.m. The film immortalized the now-famous Monterey International Pop Festival held in the summer of 1967. Following the screening D.A. Pennebaker will be in attendance, along with a number of crew members on the film, including Albert Maysles. For more information or to buy tickets please go here.
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A Band Called Death from directors Jeff Howlett and Mark Covino bowed at theaters this week.
The film A BAND CALLED DEATH about Detroit’s proto-punk band Death from directors Jeff Howlett and Mark Covino hit theaters this week. Elisabeth Greenbaum Kassom interviewed Howlett and Covino for the International Documentary Association’s website, while Ben Edmonds covered the film for the Detroit Free Press. Jared Mobarak reviewed the doc for The Film Stage, while Eric Kohn wondered if a comparison between the film and SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN was apt at Indiewire. Mallika Rao of the Hufffington Post also spoke with Howlett and Covino about their film.
Writing for Realscreen, Adam Benzine covered the awards handed out at the first AFI Docs, with the Audience Award going to THE NEW BLACK from director Yoruba Richen. Ian Sandwell also had coverage of the festival’s awards in a piece for Screen Daily. Basil Tsiokos had coverage of the marriage of the festival and Washington politics in a piece for Indiewire, and provided additional coverage at his What (Not) to Doc blog. Ann Hornaday had news on the festival’s start for the Washington Post, and Patricia Aufderheide of American University’s Center for Social Media recapped a panel discussion she participated in on fair use issues.
In distro news, Adam Benzine of Realscreen reported that Sundance award-winner CUTIE AND THE BOXER from director Zachary Heinzerling was picked up by Dogwoof for UK theatrical distribution. His Realscreen colleague Kevin Ritchie reported that Sundance Selects had acquired North American rights for THE PUNK SINGER, Sini Anderson’s profile of musician and artist Kathleen Hanna. Benzine also had the news that Oscilloscope Laboratories had picked up North American rights for OFF LABEL, from directors Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher.
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Sarah Polley's festival darling STORIES WE TELL hit theaters this week.
Sarah Polley’s film STORIES WE TELL bowed at theaters this week, attended by a rash of coverage. Writing for the New York Times, Mary Jo Murphy spoke with Polley about the creative impulses that drove the making of the film. Danny King of The Film Stage shared a review of the film, as did Tom Hall at Hammer to Nail. Indiewire republished a review from Eric Kohn dating to the Telluride Festival, and Steve Erickson of Studio Daily interviewed Polley herself.
Ground was broken this week on New York City’s first documentary-specific theater at DCTV in Manhattan. Cristina A. Gonzalez of Indiewire had details on the event, as did Stewart Nusbaumer at Filmmaker Magazine and Jennifer Merin of About.com. Kelly Anderson covered the news event for Realscreen.
News on Hot Docs continued to make its way online, as writers loosed their listicles on the festival. Writing for Indiewire, Basil Tsiokos highlighted eight films from the festival’s forum to keep an eye out for. Tom Roston shared seven reasons to love Hot Docs on the POV blog. At Realscreen, Adam Benzine provided a full recap of the festival, while Robert Greene continued the discussion on whether we are in a documentary golden age at Hammer To Nail.
This week Stranger Than Fiction is hosting a screening of FOLLOW THE LEADER from director Jonathan Goodman Levitt on Tuesday, May 14 at 8pm at the IFC Center. The film is is a real-life coming-of-age story of three traditional American boys with Presidential dreams. Goodman Levitt will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening. For more information or to purchase tickets please go here.
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