2013 Human Rights Watch Film Festival: Interview With ‘In the Shadow of the Sun’ Director Harry Freeland
There’s never a film shown at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival that isn’t important. That’s part of the point of the event, which is held in different forms in multiple cities around the world. Co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and IFC Center, the New York City program is currently going on, and I consider one of …
Read MoreInterview: ‘Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer’ Directors Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin
This interview was originally published during the Sundance Film Festival on January 14, 2013. It is being reposted today as the film makes its television debut tonight on another network and will be screening at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, which begins Thursday. One of my most anticipated documentaries of this year’s Sundance Film Festival is Pussy Riot – …
Read MoreHot Docs 2013: An Experience All My Own (Because It’s Impossible to Comprehensively Cover All of This Great Doc Fest)
Part of the fun of any film festival is the choose your own adventure aspect. Even those fests that are more like showcases, screening a limited amount of titles one after the other, allow for attendees to be present or absent for each depending on their preference and scheduling. Of course, it’s more exciting the more options you have, as …
Read MoreHot Docs 2013 Interview: Shawney Cohen on Fest Opener ‘The Manor’ and Why It’s More Than Just a Film About a Strip Club
The 2013 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival opens tonight with a fresh new voice in nonfiction filmmaking. My initial reaction to Shawney Cohen‘s feature debut, titled The Manor, is that it’s like Crazy Horse as made by Ross McElwee. But while it is a personal film about Cohen’s family and the strip club they own and work at, it’s …
Read MoreThe National, Ricky Jay, Michael Haneke and Pet Preservation Are Subjects in New Documentary Trailers
With the Tribeca and Nashville film festivals beginning this week and Hot Docs kicking off the next, we’ve got trailers for films playing at all three events. There are also a few music-related films and features on magicians, aliens, the afterlife of animals, garbage men, soccer players and one of the best living filmmakers in the world. Watch them all …
Read MoreThe Joy of Les Blank: On Five Wonderful Docs By the Late Filmmaker
When I heard of Les Blank‘s death last Sunday, I felt rather embarrassed. I’d only seen one of his films, the most obligatory for all movie fans, Burden of Dreams. This “making of” doc on the production of Werner Herzog‘s Fitzcarraldo is one of the greatest about filmmaking ever made. Plus it’s easily seen, either by streaming online or on …
Read MoreInterview: Shola Lynch on Why Ronald Reagan and the FBI Aren’t the Villains of ‘Free Angela & All Political Prisoners’
This two-part interview was originally published during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, 2012. It is being reposted now that the film is opening in theaters. Yesterday, I posted the first part of my interview with Shola Lynch, director of Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, which premiered this week at the Toronto International Film Festival. That was …
Read MoreInterview: Shola Lynch on How Will Smith, Jay-Z and Vernon Reid Helped the Making of ‘Free Angela & All Political Prisoners’
This two-part interview was originally published during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2012. It is being reposted now that the film is opening in theaters. One of two documentaries premiering as part of the Gala Presentation at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival is Free Angela & All Political Prisoners. The film profiles legendary activist Angela Davis …
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