All these wonderful things

SXSW 2008: New Films From Steve James & Peter Gilbert, Liz Mermin, Erik Nelson, David Redmon & Ashley Sabin

Festival coverage sponsored by IndiePix.

Yesterday, we introduced the eight documentary features in competition in Austin this year.  Now, here's a look at all the non-music documentary titles screening at SXSW (we're saving the best for last - tomorrow).  As before, descriptions are furnished by the festival, notes are from yours truly.

EMERGING VISIONS

'BAMA GIRL
Directed by Rachel Goslins

A charismatic black woman at the University of Alabama runs for Homecoming Queen, going up against a century of ingrained racial segregation, internal black politics, and a secret association of all-white fraternities. (World Premiere)

Of further note: Goslins worked as a story producer on "Dog the Bounty Hunter".

FLYING ON ONE ENGINE
Directed by Joshua Z Weinstein

The documentary story of an Indian-American surgeon who, despite being critically ill himself and living in a one-room Brooklyn apartment, travels back to India every year to perform marathon surgery "camps" where he repairs the cleft lips of 700 children in a week. (World Premiere)

Of further note: Weinstein also can make a stop at the screening of Scorsese's SHINE A LIGHT - he was a camera assistant on that feature.

IN A DREAM
Directed by Jeremiah Zagar

The chaotic story of Julia Zagar and her husband Isaiah Zagar, a renowned mosaic artist, who for the past 30 years has covered more than 40,000 square feet of Philadelphia top to bottom with tile, mirror, paint, and concrete. (World Premiere)

Of further note:  As one might expect from the shared surnames, the director is the son of the subjects.  Zagar's most recent short film, which also featured his father, was CONEY ISLAND, 1945.

ONE MINUTE TO NINE
Directed by Tommy Davis

A haunting and touching documentary look at one family, thrown into the disturbing reality that follows a history of domestic abuse, as one member prepares to serve a jail sentence. (North American Premiere)

Of further note:  ONE MINUTE TO NINE debuted last August in Locarno.  Davis was at SXSW in 2004 with MOJADOS: THROUGH THE NIGHT.

The Docs of Sundance 2008: Triumphs For Margaret Brown and James Marsh (Conclusion)

Festival coverage sponsored by IndiePix.

The page has almost turned from Sundance 2008, what with the announcement of line-ups for SXSW and True/False coming this week, but the films of Sundance will remain, particularly two films that struck me as the best that I saw, Margaret Brown's THE ORDER OF MYTHS and James Marsh's MAN ON WIRE.

Many in Park City were looking forward to Margaret Brown's second feature after her well-regarded music doc BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT, but Brown exceeded expectations with her remarkably assured THE ORDER OF MYTHS.  Beautifully shot by Lee Daniel and Michael Simmonds and expertly edited by Brown, Michael Taylor and Geoffrey Richman, the film examines the time-honored tradition of Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, where celebrations remain segregated between white and black residents.

With a deft, observant touch, Brown does what several recent acclaimed nonfiction films have done (STREET FIGHT and CAN MR. SMITH GET TO WASHINGTON ANYMORE? among them) by approaching issues of race from a side angle.  But Brown surpasses her predecessors with a level of craft that stuns. And it's clear from screenings here that THE ORDER OF MYTHS has the potential to spur conversations about race relationships that are simmering beneath the surface.

At a Q&A following the film's second public screening, a spirited debate broke out when one of the film's white subjects -- Brittain Youngblood -- described growing up in Mobile with two families, her immediate family and the black caretakers who helped raise her. Filmmaker Michelange Quay, whose EAT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY, is screening in Sundance's New Frontier Section, spoke up and argued that Youngblood's black family were, in fact, subordinates. As Youngblood got emotional, Joseph Roberson, the king of the African-American Mardi Gras, rose to her defense.

Speaking after the screening, Brown agreed that the film gave audience members a forum to discuss issues of race. "One of the purposes of the film is to open it up to talk, not to provide an answer, because I wouldn't know what that is," Brown said. "The open nature of the film allows you to bring your own experiences, your own feelings and thoughts to it."

Under Construction: The Docs of Sundance 2008 and the Nonfiction New Wave (Part One)

Festival coverage sponsored by IndiePix.

At the end of a recent blog posting, Premiere film critic Glenn Kenny wondered aloud about some of the documentaries he’d seen at the Sundance Film Festival. Summing up his thoughts on Nanette Burstein’s hit AMERICAN TEEN, Kenny wrote:

“Burstein’s trim, fast-moving film utilizes tricks and techniques that would give old-schoolers such as Wiseman and the Maysles Brothers rage attacks. The pop soundtrack, the voiceovers, the graphic collages, the ANIMATION SEQUENCES illustrating the dreams and desires of some of its subjects…none of it’s a surprise, coming as it does from the co-director of the Bob Evans fantasia The Kid Stays in the Picture, but all of it does raise the question of just how documentary is defining itself these days.”

Kenny’s questioning reflects a decades-old discussion, often fueled by film critics (and sometimes by journalists or by some within the documentary community) over the use of construction – created or recreated content - within the context of nonfiction filmmaking. Often this is accompanied with a similar name check of a veteran filmmaker, with the implicit understanding that construction represents a shift in tradition within the genre.

In fact, you can travel back to the earliest days of documentary filmmaking to find construction - from Flaherty’s staging of scenes in NANOOK OF THE NORTH to Vertov’s use of enhanced techniques such as fast-cuts, split screens and, yes, animations. Despite the existence of construction from the earliest days of nonfiction cinema, some - more recently - have come to think of documentary as an offshoot of journalism, in which the camera, the director and the editor serve as invisible observers (and reflectors) of real events.

And as Frederick Wiseman himself has noted, “There are lots of different ways to make film. I don’t believe there has to be any orthodox way to making movies., or any rules. It’s what works for the filmmaker, and, theoretically, the audience.” Rage attacks, indeed.

Where once this debate was seemingly contained between the two dominant schools of nonfiction in the mid-1900s – direct cinema (where invisibility is the goal and the ideal) and cinema verite (which implicitly recognizes that the camera’s very presence alters the reality), over the past few years we have seen a Nonfiction New Wave that rejects dogmatic strictures of form and that is, ironically, a return to the genre’s roots.

This Nonfiction New Wave not only embraces every kind of stylistic tool (and is especially fond of animation and graphic design), it also seems not to fear that space between truth and fiction, between documentary and narrative. And it was on full display at this week’s Sundance Film Festival, which, over the past several years (as seen in 2007's MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET), ZOO and CHICAGO 10, among others) has been a leading proponent of the movement.

Wednesday Afternoon at the SLC Airport

Festival coverage sponsored by IndiePix.

Another Sundance Film Festival has come to a close for me and it was great to see so many friends and colleagues and meet so many new people.

Yesterday was the first day that I really took time out to go to a few parties, as the Sundance Channel, the International Documentary Association and Film Independent held their annual get-togethers. Ended the evening with an impromptu BritDocs condo party, blasting Anvil's "Metal on Metal" and toasting the soon-to-be-announced AMERICAN TEEN deal with Paramount Vantage.

Saw two films yesterday - Stacy Peralta's MADE IN AMERICA and Morgan Spurlock's WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN - and like the PATTI SMITH film I saw the night before, I felt the films had strong openings but then they began to lose me as they went along. MADE IN AMERICA has a particularly great start - introducing South Central LA with graphic maps and a nearly 30 minute history lesson that I really loved. Peralta is truly an expert chronicler of Southern California life.

Today, I saw what is, along with Margaret Brown's THE ORDER OF MYTHS, one of my favorite films of the festival - Christopher Bell's BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER*. I was not at all prepared for how this film would start with a small, first-person family story of steroid use in one family of three boys and gradually expand into a comprehensive look at how performance-enhancing drugs fit squarely within the American cultural myths of the past few decades. It's exceptional.

More on all the films I saw at Sundance in the coming days. For more on THE ORDER OF MYTHS and ANVIL: THE STORY OF ANVIL, check out the piece I wrote for indieWIRE.

IN DEPTH: The Nominees for the 2008 Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking

Brazilian corruption, the US misadventure in Iraq, abortion and tales of two very different monasteries are the themes of the five films nominated for the top prize at the inaugural CINEMA EYE HONORS FOR NONFICTION FILMMAKING. With Sunday’s announcement in Park City, the CINEMA EYE HONORS, a new award for nonfiction filmmaking that grew out of debate here over the Academy’s shortlist in November, stands prepared to exist not as a counter-punch to another organization but as a new tradition within the nonfiction community and an important New York-based annual event for documentary excellence.

Together with my co-chair (and the chair of the esteemed nominating committee) Thom Powers (who by day is Documentary Programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival) and filmmaker Margaret Brown (director of this year’s Sundance competition doc THE ORDER OF MYTHS as well as the well-regarded BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT), the nominations were revealed at a press conference in Park City, sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and our presenting sponsor, IndiePix.

Jason Kohn’s MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET) and Philip Gröning’s INTO GREAT SILENCE led all films with six nominations each. Tony Kaye’s LAKE OF FIRE has five. All three films were nominated in the categories of Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking, Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Production and Outstanding Cinematography.

Joining those films in the top category are Pernille Rose Gronkær’s THE MONASTERY – MR VIG AND THE NUN and Charles Ferguson’s NO END IN SIGHT.

Sunday Morning at Sundance: Docs are Hot Again!

Festival coverage sponsored by IndiePix.

As morning breaks in Park City, the talk is all docs and the almost nonstop rumors of pending theatrical deals. indieWIRE has a piece this AM that talks about possible deals for ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, AMERICAN TEEN, SECRECY and THE RECRUIT. Anne Thompson is reporting that the POLANSKI doc went to HBO. While there is talk of pending deals for narrative films (and stories that Cha Cha - the new festival text messaging service - is sending out breaking news of deals that haven't been done), it's striking that even in the aftermath of a down year at the box office for documentary, nearly all talk of acquisitions is in the nonfiction realm.

I took in SECRECY and Margaret Brown's THE ORDER OF MYTHS yesterday, and while I wasn't a fan of SECRECY, I thought that THE ORDER OF MYTHS was truly great. More on both films later. (Full disclosure: Margaret will be a presenter at the nominations announcement this afternoon.)

Speaking of the new awards for nonfiction - we will have a full list of nominees later tonight after the announcement here in Park City.

IN DEPTH: The Competition Docs of Sundance 2008

Festival coverage sponsored by IndiePix.

With just days before the independent film world makes their annual pilgrimage to Park City, a crop of 15 nonfiction films are set to be unveiled as part of this year's Sundance Documentary Competition Line-up.

The films are mix of styles and subject matter, with fresh looks at the effects of Hurricane Katrina, the energy crisis, steroids, Iraq, debt and a trio of looks at famous figures - Patti Smith, Roman Polanski and the late Hunter S. Thompson.

Here are the festival's descriptions of each film, with current screening times and links to interviews when available:

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER
Directed by Edet Belzberg

Five years into the war in Iraq, with no mandatory draft to fill its depleting ranks, the United States Army is more dependent than ever on persuasive recruiters to lure young would-be soldiers to the front lines. Enter Sergeant First Class Clay Usie--one of the most successful Army recruiters in America today. Filmmaker Edet Belzberg travels to Usie’s hometown of Houma, Louisiana, to track his day-to-day life over a nine-month period. What emerges is a double-edged portrait of a man entirely dedicated to his mission. Usie succeeds because he believes in what he is doing, he genuinely cares about the young people in his charge, and he is a hell of a salesman.

Belzberg focuses on four of Usie’s new recruits. To these high-schoolers, Sergeant Usie is a true role model. He becomes their personal trainer, motivator, shrink, and surrogate father. After graduation, the recruits head off to basic training, where they transition to soldiers, awaiting deployment to Iraq. A new squad of innocents face their mortality.

Sundance veteran Belzberg (Children Underground) brings the unflinching immediacy of her vérité style to the phenomenon of military recruitment sweeping the nation. An American Soldier brilliantly defies partisanship, allowing audiences to draw their own conclusions. Uncle Sam wants you; An American Soldier shows us how much.

Screenings:
Fri. January 18, 2:30pm, Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Sat. January 19, 10:00am, Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Sun. January 20, 6:45pm, Broadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
Wed. January 23, 3:15pm, Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
Fri. January 25, 11:30am, Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City

Sundance 2008: New Docs from Nanette Burstein, Alex Gibney, Patrick Creadon and Margaret Brown Amongst Competition Line-Up

The first glimpse of the documentary class of 2008 was just announced as the Sundance Film Festival unveiled its Documentary Competition and World Documentary Competition Lineups.  Amongst the famous names coming to Park City are Oscar nominees Nanette Burstein, who debuts her A&E IndieFilms feature AMERICAN TEEN, and Alex Gibney, who brings his bio GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON.  Also, Patrick Creadon, who made a big splash at Sundance 2006 with WORDPLAY, returns with I.O.U.S.A., Margaret Brown, who made the acclaimed Townes Van Zandt doc BE HERE TO LOVE ME, brings THE ORDERS OF MYTHS and acclaimed cinematographer Ellen Kuras will screen NERAKHOON (THE BETRAYAL), a film 23 years in the making.

Here's the Documentary Competition Line-Up, with descriptions furnished by the festival:

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER
Directed by Edet Belzberg
Uncle Sam really wants you! A compelling exploration of army recruitment in the United States told through the story of Louisiana Sergeant, First Class Clay Usie, one of the most successful recruiters in the history of the U.S. Army. World Premiere   

AMERICAN TEEN
Directed by Nanette Burstein
This irreverent cinema verite chronicles four seniors at an Indiana high school and yields a surprising snapshot of Midwestern life. World Premiere      

BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER*
Directed by Christopher Bell
A filmmaker explores America’s win-at-all-cost culture by examining his two brothers' steroids use...and his own. World Premiere      

FIELDS OF FUEL
Directed by Josh Tickell
America is addicted to oil and it is time for an intervention. Enter Josh Tickell, a man with a plan and a Veggie Van, who is taking on big oil, big government, and big soy to find solutions in places few people have looked. World Premiere      

FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER
Directed by Irena Salina
Water is the very essence of life, sustaining every being on the planet. FLOW confronts the disturbing reality that our crucial resource is dwindling and greed just may be the cause.  World Premiere   

GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON
Directed by Alex Gibney
Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true "free  lance," goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs.   Focusing on the good doctor's heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts. World Premiere      

THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO
Directed by Lisa F. Jackson
Jackson travels to remote villages in the war zones of the Congo to meet rape survivors, providing a  piercing, intimate look into the struggle of their lives. World Premiere      

I.O.U.S.A.
Directed by Patrick Creadon
Few are aware that America may be on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. explores the country’s shocking current fiscal condition and ways to avoid a national economic disaster. World Premiere      

NERAKHOON (THE BETRAYAL)
Directed by Ellen Kuras; Co-Director: Thavisouk Phrasavath
The epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Kuras has  spent the last 23 years chronicling the family's extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic, and emotional film. World Premiere      

THE ORDER OF MYTHS
Directed by Margaret Brown
In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated...and complicated.  Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether. World Premiere      

PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE
Directed by Steven Sebring
An intimate portrait of music icon Patti Smith that mirrors the essence of the artist herself. World Premiere      

ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED
Directed by Marina Zenovich
Marina Zenovich's new documentary examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States. World Premiere      

SECRECY
Directed by Peter Galison, Robb Moss
Amidst the American hunger for instantaneous news and up-to-date “facts,” this unflinching film uncovers the vast, invisible world of government secrecy. World Premiere   

SLINGSHOT HIP HOP
Directed by Jackie Reem Salloum
The voice of a new generation rocks and rhymes as Palestinian rappers form alternative voices of resistance within the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. World Premiere   

TRACES OF THE TRADE: A STORY FROM THE DEEP NORTH
Directed by Katrina Browne; Co-Directors: Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray
History finally gets rewritten as descendants of the largest slave-trading family in early America face their past, and present, as they explore their violent heritage across oceans and continents. World Premiere      

TROUBLE THE WATER
Directed by Tia Lessin
An aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, armed with a video camera, show what survival is all about when they are trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, and seize a chance for a new beginning.   
World Premiere 

Here are the films screening in the World Cinema Documentary Competition:   

ALONE IN FOUR WALLS (ALLEIN IN VIER WANDEN)
Directed by Alexandra Westmeier
Germany
Adolescent boys struggle to grow up in a home for delinquents in rural Russia where life behind bars may be better than the release to freedom. North American Premiere   

THE ART STAR AND THE SUDANESE TWINS
Directed by Pietra Brettkelly
New Zealand
Vanessa Beecroft is obsessively determined to adopt Sudanese twin orphans. Her consuming passion drives her marriage to a breaking point and fuels her controversial art, raising troubling questions about exploitation, culture clash, and the imposition of the West on Africa.  World Premiere   

BE LIKE OTHERS
Directed by Tanaz Eshaghian
UK
An intimate and unflinching  look at life in Iran, seen through the lens of those living at its fringes, BE LIKE OTHERS is a provocative look at a generation of young Iranian men choosing to undergo sex change surgery.  World Premiere   

A COMPLETE HISTORY OF MY SEXUAL FAILURES
Directed by Chris Waitt
UK
Chris is a useless boyfriend. Determined to find out  why, he consults his ex-girlfriends, medical practitioners, producers, and mother to find out how   women really see him. Has this journey made him potential boyfriend material or is he staring a life  of loneliness square in the face? World Premiere   

DEREK
Directed by Isaac Julien
UK
A film involving two courageous and innovative artists—one the subject and one the filmmaker—provides a cinematic journey that illuminates the work and enduring importance of the late Derek Jarman. World Premiere      

DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT
Directed by Sabiha Sumar and Sachithanandam Sathananthan
Pakistan
From on-the-street interviews to audiences with religious leaders to dinner with the President of Pakistan, the film takes the temperature of a culture on issues from politics to women’s rights. U.S. Premiere      

DURAKOVO: THE VILLAGE OF FOOLS (DURAKOVO: LE VILLAGE DES FOUS)
Directed by Nino Kirtadze
France
Russian nationalism percolates in a castle outside Moscow, where Mikhail Morozov rules autonomously over young initiates, laying the groundwork for a rapidly growing right-wing movement. North American Premiere   

IN PRISON MY WHOLE LIFE
Directed by Marc Evans
UK
A curious young filmmaker attempts to understand the true story behind award-winning journalist Mumia Abu Jamal’s death row sentence, and comes to startling realizations about American history and its justice system. With William Francome, Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Mos Def, Smoof, Snoop Dogg, Angela Davis. North American Premiere      

MAN ON WIRE
Directed by James Marsh
UK
In 1974, Philippe Petit, a young Frenchman, dances on a wire suspended between New York's Twin Towers.  Consequently, Philippe is arrested and thrown into jail for what would become known as “the artistic crime of the century.” World Premiere   

pUUJEE
Directed by Kazuya Yamada
Japan
Against the backdrop of a magnificent but harsh natural landscape, a Japanese photojournalist encounters puujee, a young girl who tames wild horses on the Mongolian plains. North American Premiere   

RECYCLE
Directed by Al Massad
Jordan
A Jordanian family man living in the hometown of Muslim leader Al-Zarqawi struggles to support his family and define his identity in a tense political climate. World Premiere   

STRANDED: I’VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS
Directed by Gonzalo Arijon
France
For the first time ever, survivors of the famous 1974  Andes plane crash tell in their own words their harrowing story of survival. North American  Premiere   

TRIAGE: DR. JAMES ORBINSKI’S HUMANITARIAN DILEMMA
Directed by Patrick Reed
Canada
Acclaimed doctor James Orbinski, former head of Doctors Without Borders, returns to Africa to confront the harsh reality of conditions there and explores what it means to be a  humanitarian. North American Premiere      

UP THE YANGTZE
Directed by Yung Chang
Canada
At the edge of the Yangtze  River, not far from the Three Gorges Dam, young men and women take up employment on a cruise  ship, where they confront rising waters and a radically changing China. U.S. Premiere         

THE WOMEN OF BRUKMAN (LES FEMMES DE LA BRUKMAN)
Directed by Isaac Isitan
Canada
Amidst Argentina’s financial collapse, workers take over a Buenos Aires men’s clothing factory and continue producing clothing on a self-management model. As the formerly poor become business managers, their lives are changed forever. U.S. Premiere   

YASUKUNI
Directed by Li Ying
Japan
Controversy abounds as Japanese officials  honor the deceased at the legendary Yasukuni shrine, where swords used to kill Chinese soldiers  were famously forged. Few know about the shrine’s eerie past and the mysterious sword inside. Cast:  Kariya Naoji, Sugawara Ryuken,Gaojin Sumei. North American Premiere