These Could Be the Best Documentaries of 2013
It’s really time to put 2012 behind us already. Searching for Sugar Man won the Producers Guild Award in the Documentary Motion Picture category Saturday night, and while the PGA winner hasn’t matched the Oscar since 2009, I’m still pretty certain this film is a lock for the Academy Award. So, let’s move on to 2013. Many of the documentaries …
Read MoreSundance ’13 Interview: ‘Gideon’s Army’ Director Dawn Porter on the Importance of the 6th Amendment and Courtroom Access
One of the documentaries I keep hearing about at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival is Gideon’s Army, which has reportedly been receiving standing ovations from audiences all week. I previously wrote about the film, which follows three public defenders in the South, in a posting of its two trailers, and since then I’ve had the chance to see it and …
Read MoreTakePart’s Parent Company Announces New TV Network
http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/12/18/takeparts-parent-company-announces-new-tv-network
Read MoreSundance ’13 Exclusive Clip: ‘The Stuart Hall Project’
There is no official trailer for The Stuart Hall Project, a new documentary from John Akomfrah (The Nine Muses), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend. But we’ve been given a clip — or extract — from the film to share with you all. First, a bit about the whole: The Stuart Hall Project is an archive-heavy portrait …
Read MoreAs Promised, the ‘Detropia’ DVD Has an Insane Amount of Wonderful Bonus Scenes
Last fall, when I interviewed Detropia co-director Heidi Ewing, she noted that the DVD of the film would include 80 minutes of additional and extended scenes. It’s “insane,” she told me. “It’s almost as long as the movie. And they’re great extras.” Well, now the DVD is out today, and in addition to including one of the best documentaries of …
Read MoreSundance ’13 Trailer: ‘Muscle Shoals’
If you’ve heard of only one documentary about a famous recording studio premiering at Sundance this year, that film is probably Dave Grohl‘s Sound City. But there’s another, and it’s called Muscle Shoals, named for the small Alabama town that’s home to legendary combination of FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Its own first-time director, Greg ‘Freddy’ Camalier, may not …
Read MoreAlison Klayman and Lauren Greenfield Among DGA Documentary Nominees
While the Academy Awards are under fire this year for their lack of female directorial nominees, even in the Best Documentary Feature category, the Directors Guild of America has recognized two incredible women filmmakers with this year’s nominations for their Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries Award. Alison Klayman, whose Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry profiles an artist who might just be …
Read MoreWhy Kickstarter Could Be a Well of Opportunity for Right-Wing Documentary
The pro-fracking documentary FrackNation (which I wrote about in April) opens in New York and Los Angeles today, and while it’s receiving a balanced mix of critical responses, it seems the most important aspect of its release is mostly going ignored. In some reviews there is mention of how the film was financed through a crowdfunding website, but there isn’t …
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