This past week, doc filmmakers have been accorded quite lovely news on various fronts. After much public debate and industry outcry over whether or not INDEPENDENT LENS or POV would continue to feature in PBS’s primetime slots, the decision has been made to not only keep them, but to bolster their promotional support, according to reports from both Variety’s James Rainey and Kevin Ritchie at Realscreen. Just the day prior to the announcement, Ritchie had written a fortuitously timely, extensive feature at Realscreen on the incredible success of the non-fiction format on television, while the following day Esquire’s Nick Schager wrote at length on HBO’s primetime success this year – the breaking news seeming only to echo their claims.
Not only this, but Doug Block’s essential doc filmmaker’s online resource, The D-Word, has been given a major face-lift with its crowd funded 3.0 upgrade. Not only is it easier to keep track of all the topics pertinent to you, the site looks a lot cleaner and is now much easier to browse from mobile devices. A full list of new changes to the site can be found here. In addition, Indiewire’s Paula Bernstein caught up with Block to discuss The D-Word’s long gestating upgrade.
Tomorrow, Stranger Than Fiction continues with director Daisy Asquith’s immensely personal story of her mother’s conception after a dance in the 1940s on the remote west coast of Ireland in AFTER THE DANCE. The film screens at 8 pm at the IFC Center and will be followed by a Q&A with Asquith.
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Paul Almond in 1971 (Photo by Norma James, Toronto Star via Getty Images)
With so much attention being paid to Richard Linklater’s twelve year project BOYHOOD last year while other (possibly more deserving) long term doc equivalents like Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson’s AMERICAN PROMISE fly confidently under the radar, it’s important to remember where the seed for these projects was originally planted: Michael Apted and Paul Almond’s half-century spanning UP series. Sadly, this passed week Paul Almond died of complications of a recent heart attack at the age of 83. Margalit Fox of the New York Times wrote a profile of the man’s life and work, as did David Colker of the LA Times and Mike Barnes of The Hollywood Reporter. The Guardian’s Ben Beaumont-Thomas and Realscreen’s Kevin Ritchie also reflected on Almond’s filmmaking career.
We at Stranger Than Fiction are playing host to a pair of film screenings this week in Tuesday’s work-in-progress showing of director Howard Weinberg’s NAM JUNE PAIK & TV LAB: LICENSE TO CREATE, which explores the collaborative collisions of the TV LAB through the prism of one of the giants of 20th century video art, and Thursday’s showing of director Nick Broomfield’s AILEEN: LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER, the follow-up work to his clear-eyed profile of America’s first female serial killer and the greed and paranoia that surrounded her case in AILEEN WUORNOS: THE SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER. Both filmmakers will be on hand for Q&As at the IFC Center for their respective screenings.
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Albert Maysles at DOC NYC 2014 where he received the Visionaries Tribute Lifetime Achievement Award
Last week I said I’d be skipping the Monday Memo until next week due to the fact that I’d be at True/False Fest all weekend, but despite being thoroughly drained from the incredible films I took in and festivities I took part in, there is yet news that must be addressed, albeit briefly. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Albert Maysles, a documentary pioneer whose work includes such classics as GREY GARDENS, SALESMAN and GIMME SHELTER, passed away late last Thursday night, just after it was announced that IN TRANSIT, what will now be his final film, will have its world premiere next month at the Tribeca Film Festival. Word spread like wild fire both on Twitter and through the various Qs throughout True/False Friday morning. During the festival’s celebratory March March through downtown Columbia, MO, filmmakers took to the streets with portraits of Maysles and film stills from his monumental oeuvre pinned to their jackets in tribute to their fallen hero.
Mourning the loss, articles revealing the news of his death and detailing the filmmaker’s life and career showed up at The New Yorker in a loving piece by Richard Brody, in an article by Matt Schudel in the Washington Post, the New York Times thanks to Anita Gates, as well as at The Dissolve in an obituary by Keith Phipps. For Slate, Charles Loxton wrote a piece on the filmmaker’s passing, while Matt Zoller Seitz wrote up a list of 8 things about Al over at RogerEbert.com. For this week’s Indiewire Podcast, Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson discuss why Maysles mattered. Christopher Campbell also paid tribute and passed along the statement released from the Maysles Documentary Center over at Nonfics.
Maysles died just prior to the theatrical rerelease of GREY GARDENS, which Alex Simon of The Huffington Post had recently interviewed him about. Andrew O’Hehir had also reported on the film’s restoration for Salon, while Katey Rich of Vanity Fair released a 2001 Phone Call Between Little Edie of GREY GARDENS and Maysles earlier in the week. Just prior to boarding a plane to True/False and hearing the news of Maysles passing, Farihah Zaman had submit an article on GREY GARDENS to The Talk House.
Over the years, Al Maysles was a guest of and mentor to Stranger Than Fiction and it is with great sadness that we must say our goodbyes. Our conversations with Al about SALESMAN and GREY GARDENS can be viewed at the links.
This week is rare in that we hosting a double header with SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION playing tonight at 8 pm, while A DANGEROUS GAME will screen Thursday at 8 pm, both at the IFC Center with post-screening Q&As, as usual.
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The film OUT OF MIND, OUT OF SIGHT from director John Kastner took home the award for best Canadian feature doc at this year's Hot Docs.
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.
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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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