As the son of Turkish immigrants to Germany, writer/director Fatih Akin specifically cites Istanbul-born Elia Kazan’s America America (1963), with its bitter scenes of the Turks’ oppressive treatment of minorities during the end of Ottoman control, as inspiring him to more fully portray the devastation of the Armenian people during World War I.
The Cut is […]
Written and Directed by Alex Gibney
Produced by Viva Van Loock and Gibney
Released by Magnolia Pictures
USA. 127 min. Rated R
Alex Gibney models his critical analysis of the veneration of Steve Jobs on Citizen Kane by opening his documentary with the innovator’s death at the age of 56 in 2011. Over TV news clips of virtual […]
Written and Directed by Arne Birkenstock
Produced by Birkenstock, Helmut G. Weber, Thomas Springer & Edward MacLiam
Released by KimStim
German with English subtitles
Germany. 93 min. Not rated
Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery is more straightforward than earlier explorations of skullduggery in the art market, from Harry Moses’s Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? (2006) to last year’s Art […]
Written and Directed by Hubert Sauper
Produced by Sauper and Gabriele Kranzelbinder
Released by BBC Worldwide North America
English, French, Chinese, Arabic, Dinka, Nuer, Bari, and Zande with English subtitles
France/Austria. 110 min. Not rated
Austrian filmmaker Hubert Sauper has spent years exploring the heart of darkness: colonialism’s impact on Africa. We Come as Friends completes his observant trilogy. In […]
Produced and Directed by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht
Released by Kino Lorber
USA. 65 min. Not Rated
With Happy Mother’s Day (1963), directed by Richard Leacock and Joyce Chopra (26 min.)
In a bit more than an hour, How to Smell a Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock in Normandy provides a leisurely, insightful history of documentaries that […]
Directed by Roger Allers, Gaetan Brizzi & Paul Brizzi, Joan Gratz, Mohammed Saeed Harib, Tomm Moore, Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Joann Sfar, and Michal Socha
Produced by Salma Hayek-Pinault
Written by Allers, based on The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Released by Gkids
USA/France/Lebanon/Qatar. 84 min. Rated PG
With the voices of Hayek, Liam Neeson, Quvenzhane Wallis, John Krasinski, Frank […]
Written and Directed by Nadav Lapid
Produced by Carole Scotta, Osnat Handelsman-Keren and Talia Kleinhendler
Released by Kino Lorber
Hebrew with English subtitles
Israel. 119 min. Not Rated
With Sarit Larry, Avi Shnaidman, Lior Raz, Ester Rada, Guy Oren, Yehezkel Lazarov, and Dan Toren
The Kindergarten Teacher poses fascinating and unsettling questions about the arts in modern society, in general and […]
Directed by William Gazecki
Produced and Written by Susan and Lloyd Ecker
Released by Menemsha Films
USA. 96 min. Not rated
The Outrageous Sophie Tucker takes a breezy, mostly chronological tour through the on- and off-stage life of the singular entertainer, whose singing career extended from the birth of vaudeville to the rise of television. The biodoc is strongest […]
Directed by Christian Petzold
Produced by Florian Koerner, Von Gustorf, and Michael Weber
Written by Petzold and Harun Farocki, based on Return from the Ashes by Hubert Monteilhet
Released by Sundance Selects
German with English subtitles
Germany. 98 min. Rated PG-13
With Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, and Imogen Kogge
With Phoenix, New Wave German director Christian Petzold comes the closest […]
