Directed by Mark Covino & Jeff Howlett Produced by Covino & Howlett, Scott Mosier, Matthew Perniciaro, Kevin Mann & Jerry Ferrara Released by Drafthouse Films USA. 96 min. Not rated The road to rock ‘n’ roll fame is littered with failed bands, but the tale of A Band Called Death grabs attention for its unusual […]
Written & Directed by Markus Imhoof Produced by Thomas Kufus, Helmut Grasser, Pierre-Alan Meier & Imhoof Released by Kino Lorber Germany/Austria/Switzerland. 91 min. Not rated English, German, Swiss-German & Mandarin with English subtitles More Than Honey, a delectable nature documentary of the secret life of bees, is also a philosophical rumination on the past, present, […]
Some of Tribeca Film Festival’s lesser-known documentaries and fiction films were the strongest I’d seen in the program. There were certainly standouts, films that had what seemed like impossible footage of an event—Alias Ruby Blade shares secrets firsthand from within the heart of a country’s rebellion—or feature films that explore familiar territory with nuance and […]
The more than two dozen documentaries at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival aimed for hearts and minds and many succeeded as audience pleasers. This year’s selections, in and out of competition and as special events, straddled the world, and are notable for their timeliness, for celebrating people at a surprising variety of work, and for […]
Produced & Directed by Beth Gage & George Gage Written by Beth Gage Released by First Run Features USA. 73 min. Not rated Listening to the passionate and eloquent message of Tim DeChristopher, I was reminded of the famous Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing. A transcendentalist, Channing preached about man’s innate goodness and his ability to […]
Directed by John Kirby & Robbie Gemmel Produced by Daniel Coffin, Gemmel, Libby Handros & Josh Levin Written by Daniel Coffin Released by the Electron Project USA. 87 min. Not rated Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle entertainingly accomplishes an impossible task: fairly documenting the facts and foibles behind both sides of a hot environmental […]
Directed by Dan Setton Produced by Setton & Elise Pearlstein Released by Participant Media English, Arabic & Hebrew with English subtitles Israel/USA. 98 min. Rated PG The Gatekeepers last year revealed a consensus for a two-state solution with the Palestinians among the intelligence chiefs who had been in charge of Israel’s security. Now it seems […]
Written & Directed by Sarah Polley Produced by Anita Lee Released by Roadside Attractions Canada. 108 min. PG-13 So many fiction films open with the set-up of a faux biographer or documentarian sitting down with an old man and asking a question like: “Tell me the whole story of your marriage.” But in Stories We […]
Written & Directed by Tanner King Barklow & Gil Kofman Produced by Francis Krow Released by Seventh Art Releasing/Antidote Films USA/China. 90 min. Not rated Unmade in China tells a story that is both entertaining and unsurprising, tracking the trials and tribulations of Gil Kofman, an American director (The Memory Thief) trying to make a […]