Film-Forward

Political

Dancing in Jaffa

Directed by Hilla Medalia Produced by Diane Nabatoff, Neta Zwebner-Zaibert, and Hilla Medalia Written by Philip Shane and Medalia Released by Sundance Selects English, Hebrew, and Arabic with English subtitles USA. 88 min. Not rated In 1994, four-time ballroom dancing world champion Pierre Dulaine and his dance partner, Yvonne Marceau, started an educational program called […]

The New Black

Directed by Yoruba Riche Written by Ms. Richen and Erin Casper Produced by Richen and Yvonne Welbon USA. 75 min. Not rated The New Black film poses the question, are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues the new black? Is the struggle for marriage equality the forefront of civil rights in America today? The […]

The Unknown Known

Directed by Errol Morris Produced by Morris, Amanda Branson Gill and Robert Fernandez Released by RADIUS-TWC USA. 102 min. Rated PG-13 The Unknown Known gives you a front seat to recent history through the calculated point of view of one man who, astonishingly, was at the right hand of Republican power for almost 50 years. […]

Mitt

Produced & Directed by Greg Whiteley Streaming on Netflix USA. 91 min. Not rated Get ready to like Mitt Romney. The new documentary Mitt may make some of us regret how easily we dismissed him during the 2008 and, especially, the 2012 presidential campaigns. It’s a somewhat bitter catch-22, as it couldn’t have been released […]

Mercedes Sosa

Written & Directed by Rodrigo H. Vila Released by First Run Features English, Spanish, Portuguese & French with English subtitles Argentina. 93 min. Not rated The biographical documentary Mercedes Sosa: The Voice of Latin America is a fine introduction to—or, for those who are familiar with Mercedes, a welcomed reminder of—the major turning points of […]

Tribeca Odds & Ends

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 […]

Koch

Directed by Neil Barsky Produced by Jenny Carchman Released by Zeitgeist Films USA. 95 min. Not Rated Koch breezily looks back at the rise of New York City’s three-term 1980’s mayor, with insider views of the political and economic crises he pulled the city through and the ones that finally brought him down, while following […]

How to Survive a Plague

Directed by David France Written by France, T. Woody Richman & Tyler H. Walk Produced by Howard Gertler & France Released by Sundance Selects USA. 110 min. Not rated This powerful and highly charged documentary takes us through the pivotal years in the history of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, better known as Act […]

You’ve Been Trumped

Edited & Directed by Anthony Baxter Produced by Richard Phinney Written by Phinney & Baxter Released by International Film Circuit USA. 96 min. Not rated Hubris is on willing display in this modest exposé-documentary by Scottish filmmaker Anthony Baxter on billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump’s quest to build the world’s greatest golf course in […]