Documentaries and Halloween: What is the Scariest Kind of Nonfiction Film?
This post was originally published on October 31, 2011. It is being re-run today for this year’s Halloween. I don’t need to ask the question of whether or not documentary is scarier than any fiction horror film. There is absolutely no doubt that nonfiction has a way of frightening us for life, if not in the temporarily thrilling, jump-from-your-seat manner …
Read MoreDocumentaries and Halloween: Is It Okay to Dress Up as a Nonfiction Film Subject?
This post was originally published on October 31, 2011. It is being re-run today for this year’s Halloween. It is likely that most of you got your Halloween on over the weekend and today is a costume-free day for anyone other than children. Did you dress up as a movie character? If so, was it someone or something from a …
Read MoreDocs on DVD: "First Position" is a Magically Upbeat and Exhilerating Kid-Competition Film
Don’t think for a moment that you should disregard Bess Kargman’s First Position as just another kid competition doc involving dancing. We need such positive, entertaining nonfiction works, and they need you. This one takes us to the Youth America Grand Prix, basically the most important ballet competition in the nation, and follows six dancers in pursuit of scholarships. From …
Read MoreNew Documentary Festival in Singapore Calls for Inaugural Entries
There is always room for more events devoted to documentary around the world, and so it’s with open arms that I welcome the Endeavours Documentary Film Festival, which will be held for the first time in Singapore in May 2013. Over the course of three days, people in the Asian city-state will feast on nonfiction features, shorts and mini-shorts, the …
Read MoreWatch: Joseph Garner Discusses "Craigslist Joe" on DocTalk
Hitting DVD tomorrow is the new documentary Craigslist Joe, a first-person film of the sort I label “life-experiment doc.” Like Morgan Spurlock with Super Size Me or non-director Jeb Berrier in Bag It, it involves a guy who temporarily changes his life in order to prove a point related to an issue. But for filmmaker Joseph Garner (an associate producer …
Read More"She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry" to Chronicle Women’s Liberation Movement and Address the Modern War on Women
This is a post about an unfinished film and would include the usual “Docs of the Future” classification in the headline if that headline weren’t already long enough. And it deserves to have all that information if it’ll catch people’s eyes, because She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry promises to tackle a history and ongoing issue that is worthy of a …
Read MoreInterview: Katie Dellamaggiore on "Brooklyn Castle" and How it Transcends the Competition Doc Genre
For her feature directorial debut, Katie Dellamaggiore has accomplished a great feat with Brooklyn Castle, an award-winning documentary about a junior high chess team that covers a lot of territory without feeling overloaded. It’s a multi-character competition doc crossed with an issue film, but it’s also neither of those things so much as it’s just a heartfelt, crowd-pleasing movie about …
Read MoreCinema Eye Announces Change to Nominee Selection and Will Reveal Titles in Contention for the 2013 Honors Next Week
Nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors is something we doc fans really look forward to every fall, and I’ve just heard that this year’s announcement will be happening in about a week, on November 2. That’s a bit later than last year’s announcement, and it’s not the only change this year. Instead of being named from London through the partnership …
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