Edited, Written & Directed by Malik Bendjelloul Produced by Simon Chinn & Bendjelloul Released by Sony Pictures Classics Sweden/UK. 85 min. Rated PG-13 In this entertaining musical mystery tour, pop culture crosses politics and geographical borders to remarkably touch the lives of an artist and his fans in unexpected ways. From the wide open spaces […]
Written & Directed by Yung Chang Produced by Bob Moore, Peter Wintonick, Han Yi & Zhao Qi Released by Zeitgeist Films Chinese & Sichuanese with English subtitles China/Canada. 89 min. Not rated At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, three Chinese boxers won gold, silver, and bronze medals, almost 50 years since Mao banned boxing, declaring it […]
Directed & Written by Kirby Dick Produced by Amy Ziering & Tanner King Barklow Released by Cinedigm Entertainment/Docurama Films USA. 97 min. Not rated The human resources difficulties in today’s stretched U.S. military have made headlines for years—untreated and mistreated posttraumatic stress, inadequate and unresponsive veterans’ services, and unbecoming conduct. The Invisible War documents how […]
Directed by Matthew Akers Produced by Jeff Dupre & Maro Chermayeff Released by HBO Documentary Films/Music Box Films. USA. 105 min. Not rated This celebratory and fascinating documentary tops off what have been two very good years for the Yugoslavian-born artist Martina Abramovic. Her 2010 blockbuster retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, “The […]
Directed by Léa Pool Produced by Ravida Din Written by Pool, Nancy Guerin & Patricia Kearns, based on Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy by Samantha King Released by First Run Features Canada. 98 min. Not rated Pink Ribbons, Inc. is a timely warning about the political message behind the philanthropic-corporate […]
Produced & Directed by Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi Produced by Burnat, Davidi, Christine Camdessus & Serge Gordey Released by Kino Lorber Arabic, English & Hebrew with English subtitles Israel/Palestinian Territories/France/Netherlands. 90 min. Not Rated It’s not unusual for the father of a newborn to get a camera and take a lot of photographs as […]
Directed by Andrew Shea Produced by Shea, David D’Arcy & Barbara Morgan Written by Shea & D’Arcy Released by Seventh Art Releasing USA/Austria. 90 min. Not Rated Portrait of Wally is a real-life thriller that starts out as an historical legacy from the Holocaust, then ratchets up into a contemporary scandal with rich villains suavely […]
Socially conscious documentaries at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival perceptively examined female roles and the culture wars, and brought well-deserved attention to unconventional heroes. Nisha Pahuja’s The World Before Her, the festival’s Best Documentary Feature winner, adds considerable depth to the usual superficial contrasts of Indian women as either Bollywood stars or slumdogs. The beautiful […]
During its final days, the Tribeca Film Festival world premiered three New York-centric fine arts documentaries. The most penetrating of the trio, Wagner’s Dream is an engrossing look behind the curtain of the Metropolitan Opera, and is the perhaps best film about that art form, fictional or otherwise, though it may have that field all […]