DOC NYC 2022 Short Takes: A WITCH STORY, RADICAL LANDSCAPES, HUNTING IN PACKS, HERMIT OF TRIEG and SPLICE HERE

RADICAL LANDSCAPES
Elettra Fiumi inherited her father Fabrizio Fiumi’s archives, revealing a life she knew nothing about, he was part of a group of radical architects who did more than design buildings but designed a wild future.  This is a wonderfully unexpected film that not old reveals Fiumi's father's life but opens the door to the ideas he was trying to get out into the world. Fuimi actually invites people to try and carry on her fathers ideas to amazing effect.

This is one of the hidden gems of this year's DOC NYC. I wish I had seen the film much earlier in the fest because this is a film that needs a second or third viewing to truly appreciate what it's doing.

Highly recommended.

HUNTING IN PACKS
A look at Pramila Jayapal, Michelle Rempel and Jess Phillips each of whom is running for political office in the UK, the US and Canada. It shows clearly the differences and problems that women face when running for office. This is a solid  political documentary that shows a side of campaigning we don't normally see. Recommended.

HERMIT OF TRIEG
A look at Ken Smith who lives off the grid in a cabin near Loch Trieg. Absolutely beautiful portrait of a man one with nature.  This is a wonderful meditation of life  that begs to be seen on a big screen.
recommended.

SPLICE HERE A PROJECTED ODYSSEY
Filmmaker Rob Smith love affair with film and the projected image. As Smith rebuilds a 70mm projector so that a screening of Hateful Eight can take place, we get a deep and heartfelt appreciation of cinema. This is a film for anyone who loves the movies, more so if you are crazy insane for them.  This is lovely film that's highly recommended (and going in my collection.)

A WITCH STORY
A descendant of one of the Salem Witch Trials charts her research on a book on witchcraft trials and who they were used to control women.  A this is a good look at how superstition was and is being used to control women.

DOC NYC Short takes: THE WIND BLOWS THE BORDER,MOTHER LODE, FATIS CHOICE and PATH OF THE PANTHER

 

PATH OF THE PANTHER
Photographer Carlton Ward uses motion triggered cameras to chart the lives of the Florida panther whose habitat is disappearing. Ward wants to make people aware about how endangered the animals are and that we are un intentionally bring the lives of the cats to an end.

Beautiful film will make you want to go out and do something to help these beasts, and it will make you wonder if we really need to build in the Everglades.

Highly recommended

FATIS CHOICE
A look at a woman who left her village for Europe for a better life with her children, only to return when she found it not as great as she thought. Struggling with the unhappiness of friends and family she instead does what she thinks is best for her family.  In an age where all the stories are about people leaving where they were to find a better life elsewhere FATIS CHOICE is a breath of fresh air since the film makes clear not it isn’t always rosy in the mythical promised land.

Recommended

KASH KASH – WITHOUT FEATHERS WE CAN’T LIVE
Meditation on life in Beirut through the lives of the men who play kash hamham with pigeons. It’s a game where the pigeons are caught and tossed away. It’s a metaphor for the lives of the people who come and go and return to the city.  This is a trip to a place most people in the United States have never been nor contemplated. Worth a look.

MOTHER LODE
Haunting black and white documentary follows Jorge as he leaves Lima to work in the gold mines in the Andes. One part verite documentary and one part moody meditation the film is a trip to another headspace and state of mind. See this big if you can

THE WIND BLOWS THE BORDER
A look at the fight on the border of Paraguay and Brazil where the authorities on all sides are looking to take the land from the indigenous people. A portrait of the greed and danger that is lurking in a part of the world most of us never gives  a thought about.

DOC NYC 2022 Short Takes: I'M PEOPLE,I'M NOBODY; ITHIKA and THE END OF THE WORLD

I'M PEOPLE, I AM NOBODY 

 Avant guard portrait of man waiting to go on trial told via voice recordings and seeming random images. Not for all audiences film is going to confuse anyone looking for a conventional telling of the story. Even those of us who don’t mind unconventional films may feel a bit lost with the rambling telling.

ITHIKA 

 A look at the father of Julian Assange of Wki-Leaks. He is speaking out because his son has been silenced by being in police custody. This is a good film whose interest to you will depend upon your interest in the Assange case. My interest in the case is minimal, and so my interest wandered. Your mileage may vary

THE END OF THE WORLD
Portrait of Bennington College and the writers who came from it in the early 80's (Brett Eason Ellis and Donna Tarr among them).  How you react to the film will be determined by your feelings for the writers profiled. I realized about half way in that the film was a bust for me since the film couldn't make me care about writers I never much cared for.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK & BLUES (2022) DOC NYC 2022

Apple’s Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues is a super look at the musician. Made up of tons of archival material, especially his own vast collection of reel to reel recordings, it’s probably the first film biography that presents Armstrong as being a much more complex person than we’ve seen before.

The reel to reel recordings I mentioned were daily recordings that Armstrong made of his life and thoughts. By all accounts he recorded a good chunk of his life, and the result is a record unlike any other about any person who ever lived. It seems it’s all there on tape if any one wants to listen.

Supplementing the recordings are the voices of friends and family. They fill in details that we couldn’t get through Armstrong’s recordings. For example thanks to Wynton Marsalis we get a sense of the how some blacks had a mixed feeling toward Armstrong. Some thought he was being an Uncle Tom,  but that wasn’t the case. Armstrong wasn’t trying to be anyone except himself. He intentionally didn’t speak out on hot button subjects publicly because he knew his words carried weight. However privately he spoke his mind.  Because of the recordings and the words of the people knew him we got to look behind the veil.

I liked this film a great deal. I liked that it threw open wide the life of a many I always liked. I liked that it isn’t an typical in it’s presentation. I love that we go into unexpected places, even to the point when we see some his most famous songs in versions we may not have seen before.

This film is a joy and a fitting tribute to a man who literally changed the world

Santa Camp (2022) DOC NYC 2022

Santa Camp disappointed me.

I didn’t catch the film at its DOC NYC screening but on HBO Max and it wasn’t worth the effort.

The film is about both a group of Santas going to Santa camp and the efforts to get men who are not white males to become Santas . It chronicles the trouble of both recruiting them and the negative reaction that some people have to non-white santas.

While the information in the film is dynamite, the film is so low key and so run of the mill in telling the film didn’t grab me. Perhaps it was the fact that I was seeing the film a week before Thanksgiving and really wasn’t in the Christmas mood,  but I just never connected. There wasn’t enough here for me to want to lean in.  

Worth trying in the Christmas season if you run across it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.

DOC NYC Short takes OUR MOVIE, CHILDREN OF LAS BRISAS, AFRICAN MOOT , KINGDOM OF DREAMS, and LOVE IN THE TIME OF FENTANYL

 

OUR MOVIE
Head trip film shows much of the last 40 year of the history of Columbia through TV News footage. Everything is reduced down to bite size morsals and the death and destruction rampant in the country weirdly flattens out and becomes unreal as the notion its all a TV show takes over. Watching it I drifted in and out of connection as so much of it seemed unreal and then I would snap back to reality as I dealt with the larger implications.

This is actually one of the great films of DOC NYC in that it's a film that forces to to engage with it. If you don't wrestle with what you're seeing then you really have to rethink how you view the world.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF FENTANYL
Portrait of the Overdose Prevention Society which came together in Vancouver in order to give drug addicts a safe place to shoot up. It was illegal, however the concern for addicts who had to one to watch over them when so many were dying because of fentanyl laced drugs made it a necessity. This is a moving film that gives a potential way to handle the drug crisis, which doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

KINGDOM OF DREAMS
A look at the fashion industry from the early 90's until now. Its a film that shows us how fashion changed and altered over the years and became what we know today. This is a good but kind of much too short  film that really should have been a miniseries on the history of fashion. I say this because while the film manages to tie the ebb and flow of the industry together, the film really doesn't cover some of the mover and shakers in the detail they deserve. I say this because a good number of the people profiled in the film have the subject of their own documentary films.  There were a couple of times where I thought more was needed and others when I was thankful I see as many fashion docs as I do.

Absolutely worth seeing especially for fashion fans.

AFRICAN MOOT
A good look at the Moot Court competition in  Africa. 

While I really enjoyed the film, I really wish that I had seen this outside of DOC NYC where the crush of 200 plus films made this film seem not as special as it probably is. I'm planning on seeing this again when I can see this on its own terms.

CHILDREN OF LAS BRISAS
Portrait of three children in the El Sitema program in Venezuela  where they are taught to play classical music. The program was set up to give kids something to look to beyond their normal lives. We follow the kids over a decade.

DOC NYC 2022 Short takes WHITE NIGHTS, SKATE DREAMS, DEAR THIRTEEN, BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE: CARRY IT ON and AFTERSHOCK

AFTERSHOCK
I’m coming to AFTERSHOCK after it spent the last year playing festivals across the country. Having seen the film I completely understand why this gut punch film is an award contender. The story of the alarming rate of Black material deaths in the US is a hidden plague. I was rocked.

Recommended

BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE: CARRY IT ON
Not high on my list going into DOC NYC I put this look at artist and philanthropist Sainte-Marie on because it was in the press portal. I should have jumped earlier to see this film because this is fantastic portrait of a woman I really never knew. Talk about a kick ass woman she’s done it all including teaching Big Bird about breastfeeding on Sesame Street. This is one of the great surprises of the festival and it’s highly recommended.

DEAR THIRTEEN
This is a good look at several 13 year olds across the globe. Showcasing a wide variety of experiences we see how being 13 is hard for everyone no matter where they live.

Worth a look

SKATE DREAMS
This is an excellent look at female skateboarders across the globe. Revealing the barriers they have had to cross to be take seriously (one young woman from Cambodia is delighted to be in America where there are so many similar women.) Containing lots of frank talk and some spectacular skating SKATE DREAMS is recommended.

WHITE NIGHT
Portrait of the Zoque community in Chiapas who are moved to try and excavate their village which was buried by a volcanic eruption 40 years ago. More a cinematic tone poem than straight narrative this is a film to see as big as possible in a theater where there are no distractions.  That way the magic can work best on your senses.

SOUTH BEACH SHARK CLUB (2022) DOC NYC 2022

This is a portrait of a bunch of guys who love to shark fish... 

....there is a little bit more to it than that  but I'm not certain that the film really sustains it's almost two hour run time.  Yea the stories are interesting, however there is a point at which I kind of disconnected since in a world where sharks are being hunted to extinction I'm kind of  bothered by a film about sport fishing sharks. 

Yes I know on some level I'm missing the point, and while I am not a crazed environmentalist the steady stream of dead sharks kind of turned me off to the film.

Brief thoughts on DUSTY AND STONES (2022) DOC NYC 2022

 

Two country music loving guys guys from Swaziland are invited to go to Texas to take part in a battle of the bands.

Utterly charming film about two guys following their hearts and having some adventure. I honestly don’t know what to say but this film made me smile and give these guys a big hug. What an absolute joy.

Recommended

Roberta (2022) DOC NYC 2022

ROBERTA is not going to be what a large number of people expect. It is not a film full of music that blindly replays the hits and the good times until it’s feel good ending. The reality is this is a complex film about one of the great singers of the last half century. It is a film that isn’t music centric, but focused on the woman herself. Yes there is a lot of music but there is much more talk with the result this is a music doc unlike any other.

I’ve seen ROBERTA a couple of times now and I’m still pondering it. I mean that in a good way.

I was sent a screener because I couldn’t get to the world premiere at DOC NYC. I plopped myself down to see it and was kind of taken aback. I was expecting a breezy film and instead I got a film where we really delve into Flack’s thoughts and feelings.  This is not typical for a film like this and when the movie ended I fired it up and watched it a second time.

My reaction to seeing the film was I wanted to go give Flack a hug. I just fell in love with her all over again. I also felt that  I understood he r music more. This is just a super portrait.

If there is any problem with the film it’s that the film runs only 87 minutes. Normally that would be fine but there is so much to Flack that as I was watching the time pass there was a moment when I realized that there was still a lot to cover and not a lot of time. I wished the film covered some more moments that weren’t “big” (Clint Eastwood, Donnie Hathaway)

I really liked this film a great deal and recommended it.

DOC NYC Short Takes: Cabin Music (2022) and Finding Her Beat (2022)

CABIN MUSIC
Pianist and filmmaker James Carson makes a one of a kind film that follows him as he leaves civilization for a cabin in the woods. It's one part documentary and one part musical poem. Or perhaps it's a visual album of the sort we don't see any more.  Then again it's a mediation on how music is made and why we are creative.  Actually it's many things, all of them good and compelling and demanding of our attention. 

This is a super film that's worth our attention

Recommended

FINDING HER BEAT
This is a very good look at the organizing of a show featuring all female Tiko drummers. Until relatively recently only men could perform as Taiko drummers, however women have finally been allowed to follow their hearts and the result are some stunning performances. The film profiles several of the drummers as they prepare to put on a performance.

If you like Taiko drumming this film is a must

ROBERT IRWIN A DESERT OF PURE FEELING (2022) DOC NYC 2022

Portrait of the artist and his work is going to thrill some and be a head scratcher for others since Irwin's pieces are ephemeral and installations and often don't look like things we would consider art in a conventional sense since they are about light and space.

A beautiful looking film it didn't really work for me. While I like and understand what Irwin is doing with many of his pieces, this films over the top reverence for the man and his pieces comes off as over the top. You kind of know you're in awkward territory when one of the first talking heads talks about how important Irwin is to the history of art while at the same time explaining most people have never seen his work because of the nature of what it is- being fleeting installations or projects that disappear over time. Having seen the film I still don't understand why he's so important despite really liking many of the works.

Forgive me this film needed someone to talk on a regular Joe level rather than guys in suits talking over everyone's head. 

Immediate Family (2022) DOC NYC 2022

They call themselves the greatest cover band but all the songs they play are songs they either wrote or produced.

If you want to know the stories behind a large number of the hits of the last 50 years you have to see this film. The story of Leland Sklar, Danny Kortchmar, Steve Postel, Russ Kunkel, and Waddy Wachtel will absolutely blow you away.  They were hired because the singer songwriters like James Taylor knew them and they  became legendary session men  because everyone wanted what they were adding to the music so they kept working and working.

Full of great music and great stories this film will put a huge smile on your face. This is a huge ball of nostalgia. Its a  that is full of the music of the last half century that had me humming and singing along.  What a joy.

I don't know what to say other thsn this is one of my favorite films of 2022. 

Highly Recommended

Category: Woman (2022) DOC NYC 2022

This is a look at World Champion runner Caster Semenya who, due to biology of birth has naturally high androgen levels which athletic governing bodies suddenly claim are not allowed since it gives her an unfair advantage. Forced to change her biology if she wants to compete the film examines what it means to be a woman.

Full disclosure: going into the film I had seen several news stories and documentaries on Semenya and the problem of people claiming the hormone levels some how makes her not a woman. I say this because those previous films covered most of what is here and as a result  my feelings for the film are different than had I just come in blind.

Had I gone in blind I would have loved this film so much more. I would have been made angry by the story about guys who don't understand biology making stupid pronouncements. On its own teerms, this is a great and an important film that lays everything out in ways that the shorts docs and stories could never do.

If you don't know this story the film is a must.

DOC NYC 2022 Short Takes: WISDOM GONE WILD, HAMLET SYNDROME,FOR YOUR PEACE OF MIND MAKE YOUR OWN MUSEUM,DESTINY, DARK LIGHT VOYAGE

 

DARK LIGHT VOYAGE
The director and his daughter travel across Vietnam to visit a friend.

Filmed Using the Hanoi Dogma rules (the director is the only crew. The film will never be screened 2 years after it was made) this is a very personal trip across the country. How you react to the film will be determined by your reaction to the very personal no-fi nature of the film. I liked portions but found during other portions my attention wandered.

DESTINY
A teenage girl whose mother has just died is left to care for her special needs dad. Things become complicated when she is accepted into university.  This is a small little story with larger implications. While the film tells the bittersweet story of a young woman and her handicapped father specifically in Iran, on a larger level it reveals a problem of what is a kid to do when they can’t really play caregiver to a special needs parent. I was moved.

FOR YOUR PEACE OF MIND MAKE YOUR OWN MUSEUM
One of a kind film has Senobia was a self-made artist, having her friends play her in a portrait of the artist. You either  go along with the conceit or you don’t. My attention waned after a while and I wondered if this really needed to be a feature

HAMLET SYNDROME 
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine five actors ponder Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” speech in the wake of their experience with war. This is a kick ass film that mixes literature with the hard truths od warfare. Less about the speech than the damage done by war this is a film that will rock you thanks to the march of current events. This is a small gem of a film.

WISDOM GONE WILD
Rea Tajiri looks at her mother as her dementia becomes more serious and she slips farther and farther away. This is a moving and bracing look at the tragedy some of us face when we or our loved one get older. I was moved and left kind of broken.

Recommended

DOC NYC Short Takes Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom (2022) and The Killing of the Journalist (2022)

FREEDOM ON FIRE: UKRAINE'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
Evgeny Afineevsky's look at the Russian invasion of Ukraine is  a moving look at the pain and suffering that the is being inflicted on the the Ukrainian people. This an in your face presentation of the war on the war on the ground. Its record of a people who refuse to give up and their enemy who refuse to understand they can't be broken.  It's a film so incredibly moving that Russian officials are afraid of it that they are trying to shut it down and discredit it by any means necessary. 

Recommended.

THE KILLING OF A JOURNALIST 
Matt Sarnecki investigates the killing of an investigative journalist and his fiancé in Slovenia.  Their murders became complicated when evidence was leaked that the government had a hand in the killings which were done at the behest of some very bad guys.

the dangers of being an investigative journalist in a world increasingly sliding toward oppression are highlighted in this gut punch film. Yes Ján Kuciak might have taken more precautions but when the Slovenian government was gunning for him as well there was no chance this was ever going to end well.

I was pissed off.

Recommended

Brief thoughts on Jerry Brown: The Disrupter (2022) DOC NYC 2022

 

Portrait of ex-California governor Jerry Brown and his presence on the American political scene.

Very good but by the numbers look at Brown and his place in American politics of the last 50 years. Its a film that explains why Brown matters, even today. It also gives us a clue as to why we may never see the like of someone like him when he's gone.

Worth a look.

Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill (2022) DOC NYC 2002

Portrait of the late singer song writer Judy Sill. Releasing only two albums in her brief life, she has been quietly influencing generations of singers and writers ever since.

This is an excellent portrait of a woman I don't think I had ever run across before.  Sill was a woman who desperately tried to live as best she could, despite being sidelined by life. 

There is a super film. I loved learning about Sill and her music. This is a testament to the compelling nature of the story since this was one of the few times ina film like this where I didn't particularly cared about the music. For me this was all about the people and the story and I loved it. 

Recommended.

DOC NYC 2022: Short Takes: GIRL GANG, IDINA MENZEL: WHICH WAY TO THE STAGE? and JEANETTE LEE VS

GIRL GANG  
Portrait of Leonie a young social media influencer . As she and her parents ride the wave they quickly realize that the  being all over social media is not with out it's cost and the beast needs to be fed constantly.

Good look at the monster that is social media. If you've ever wondered what it takes to be an influencer this film is for you since it's smaller focus makes it all real and relatable.  While this is not something I normally care about this film made me understand what was going on.

Worth a look.

IDINA MENZEL: WHICH WAY TO THE STAGE?  
Hagiographic portrait of the Broadway star best known for Rent, Wicked and Frozen.

This is a way too loving portrait of the actress and singer. Focusing on the 2018 tour that went across the country and ended at Madison Square Garden.  Hitting every expected cliche the film is exactly what you think it is going to be, so there are zero surprises here. Curiously the film talks about how Menzel was headlining at the Garden, leaveing out the fact that the tour was actually in support of Josh Groban, who did four songs with her during his set (I was at the concert). 

The film is so by the numbers it is only for fans.

JEANETTE LEE VS 
This is a very good 30 FOR 30 portrait of billiard player Jeanette Lee. Known as the Black Widow because of her love of black clothing she dominated the women's billiard tour for years.  The film is a warts and all look at Lee who has over come adversity, racism and jealous to be one of the most recognized female athletes of the last 30 years. 

As with almost every 30 FOR 30 film this one is highly recommended.

The film will be on ESPN on December 13

CLOSED CIRCUIT (2022) DOC NYC 2022

This is a recounting of the Sarona Market shooting in Tel Aviv in 2016. It is told via closed circuit security footage and the recounting of the survivors. We watch as the victims relive the events and reveal how they never really have gotten over the events.

One of my must see films for DOC NYC has turned into a slight disappointment.  It’s not that the film is in anyway bad, rather it’s more that the telling of the story ended up being a bit cold. The closed circuit footage blurs things at times pushing us out side of the events. It also doesn’t help that the victims are kept at a kind of distance from us. Where other documentaries would lean in  and bring us into the conversation director Tal Inbar keep us at a distance from the storytellers. We never are close we are simply watching them as they speak against a cold background of the market where the tragedy happened. This felt like a cold TV story instead of a tale told to friends.

I also grew kind of weary with the closed circuit footage as well.  After a certain point I disconnected as watching the same event repeated over and over stopped being emotional.

Its not bad but really cold.