Recommended Documentaries

It's one of my favs!

Yes!

Thoroughly enjoyed Page One. Caught it recently at a special screening at a brunch event for Film Forum supporters. David Carr and Brian Stelter are brilliant. As a lifelong journalist, it thrilled me. Two of my favorite docs this year take place behind-the-scenes at The Times– this one and Bill Cunningham NY.

Barbara, the trailer reads like a fiction. The soundbites are phenomenal.

Loved it, Danielle.

here's a newfangled 'interactive documentary' supported by our good friends from the north, the NFB. it's a look at a small town in Canada that was closed! http://pinepoint.nfb.ca/#/pinepoint

it's part photo album, documentary and oral history. real interesting stuff.

That is FASCINATING! Thanks.

1. Capitalism: A Love Story
2.

In reply to Kurt Engfehr's post on Tue 14 Jun 2011 :

how interesting! thanks for the rec!

Hi everyone,

Not sure if I should ask here or somewhere else. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a "first person" documentary film? Meaning, the film is about a person but it is filmed from their perspective. For example, I'm the director, the film is about my story and I film everything from my view.

There's a whole slew but a seminal work in this genre is Ross McElwee's Sherman's March.

In reply to Reid B. Kimball's post on Sat 18 Jun 2011 :
Hi Reid, I know this isn't the place for self-promo, but in answer to your question, my film A Lot Like You is a first person doc...

Yay! Thank you Ramona and Eliaichi, I will check both of these out today.

Well, most of the films directed by D-Word founder Doug Block are first-person docs...

In reply to Reid B. Kimball's post on Sun 19 Jun 2011 :

Tarnation.

My pick would be AMERICAN HARDCORE.

As a lifelong music freak (and former employee of WNEW-FM NYC, the world's GREATEST rock station ever) it moved me in ways no other film has. I always thought punk rock was noise, but this film really got me into the artistry of it, the characters involved, and after I watched it, I bought more songs on iTunes than I had in a long time by bands I never knew much about-Bad Brains, Dead Boys, Minor Threat, etc.

Most touching of all was the story of how Johnny Ramone stole Joey's girlfriend and married her-it was a scar the shy/sociall awkward Joey carried with him until he died-really showed that these artists are dimensional and above all, very human. I couldn't recommend this film more highly.....

Got to give it up to just a few of my favorite films with the word "Devil" in the title: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qtFPOxDMs4

Part II: The Devil's Miner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqk-Scp6Lw8

I have just watched Danfung Dennis's 'Hell and BAck Again' – WOW! It raises the bar for camera and editing. In the recent glut of war docs this one really holds its own.

I'll re-rec IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS and add a few others to the list:

THE GLEANERS AND I (Anges Varda)
F IS FOR FAKE (Orson Wells)
MONDO VINO (Jonathan Nossiter)
GASLAND (Josh Fox)
THE UP SERIES (Michael Apted)

Hi Reid! i would recommend, "The Gleaners and I" and the "Queen and I"In reply to Reid B. Kimball's post on Sat 18 Jun 2011 :

Alternative list compiled by London doc producer John Wyver to the current Morgan Spurlock/Current TV series: 50 (more) docs before you die

In reply to Scheffee Wilson's post on Tue 14 Jun 2011 :

+1 on Capitalsim: A Love Story

unbelievably heartbreaking.

D-Worders may remember that we did a special topic two years ago on the controversy surrounding the release of Fredrik Gertten's film, BANANAS!*.

For those of you who (like me) didn't have a chance to see the film on the festival circuit, you can now watch it on Distrify – and finally make up your own minds.

Highly recommended!

Congratulations to distrify for having Bananas on the platform (which is looking terrific, by the way – I always loved the triangles as their logo)!

It's more of a matter of Dogwoof partnering with Distrify for their entire online distribution. Fredrik didn't even know BANANAS!* was up there. :-)

I#m just wondering if the above rental works anywhere or whether it's been geo-blocked for UK availability only?

I clicked on the rent and it put a "sign up for email notification for when it's available in your area" notice. So, I think it is geo-blocking...

Yeah, I did too and that sign-up notice appeared and that made me not want to continue. I sort of tune off sites that ask for my emails for basic access.. was that just because of geo-blocking? or do users have to register to watch a film?

Eli – At the moment, it's even doing that here in the UK although Dogwoof is a UK distributor. I've emailed Peter to find out.

Pablo – What do you mean, "for basic access"? You need to register in order to make a purchase (VoD or DVD) or to access your previous VoD purchase. You don't need to register to watch the trailer.

Update: the bug is fixed, but the film may still not be available in all territories. (You might have to empty your cache before you try again.)

In reply to Ben Kempas's post on Wed 21 Sep 2011 :

Fair enough.. I guess I just sort of expected to be directed to a page with a slot for a credit card number and then to the film in two simple steps. Its a great service, don't get me wrong... Thing is i just unconsciously seem to close pages that ask for email addresses up front..

Glass is a 1958 Dutch short documentary film by director and producer Bert Haanstra. The film won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1959. (thanks to my former student Anna in Barcelona for sending this)

It's great – where did I see this before?
Only I can't stand the sound of jazz vibraphone in film soundtracks. But the editing is pretty terrific.

Then check out Broadway by Light by William Klein, 1958 – prepare to be blown away)

Here's the final one of the three this evening: Portrait of Ga by Margaret Tait (1955) – also a gift from Anna

lovely indeed.

Whoever has not seen 5 broken cameras DO IT (if for no other reason than to question your humanity)

That always packs 'em in. People love to question their humanity.
That's an amazing film, though, all joking aside. See it if you can.

Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere (I tried searching) but Jane Weiner is trying to raise funds for her film Ricky On Leacock over on Kickstarter and the deadline is January 1st. The film is only around 30% funded so far and it's an incredibly important project about a towering figure in documentary filmmaking. Please check it out and, if you can, support it with a pledge: http://kck.st/sSwdQs

I second your recommendation, James. Jane's an old friend of mine and we've worked together on 3 films as producers (including my own Home Page). But separating that out, it's a project well worth supporting. Leacock is, indeed, a towering figure in doc history.

In reply to Marj Safinia's post on Thu 17 Mar 2011 :

I'm honored to see La Mancha (which I edited) in such esteemed company. It was a tough edit. At times it seemed like our film, too, would suffer the fate of Gilliam's!

In reply to John Burgan's post on Sat 10 Dec 2011 :

Thanks so much for putting up this link to "Glass." I've looked for it online before and never found it.

A recent one that really impressed me was "Better This World", which was on POV last season. Wow. An amazing story, and inspired use of archival and reenactments.

Just saw SENNA....was very impressed w the storytelling, more so w the fact that no orig footage was shot for it....

One of my favorite docs is "Lake of Fire," directed by Tony Kaye. I'm reminded of it, because of his recent narrative feature, "Detachment," which will soon have a theatrical release.

http://www.tonykaye.com/index.php/films/detail/lake_of_fire_trailer/

i will never forget "The land of wandering souls" by Cambodian Rithy Panh

A historical curiosity rather than a great work, but fascinating nonetheless: painter Edvard Munch's home movies, shot in Spring 1927 on a Pathé-Baby with a 9,5 mm. film cassette

Munch's "The Scream" just sold for $120m at auction

A wealth of fascinating archive has recently been put online by The British Council

This is not as self promotion, but for "friendship" promotions.

My good friend and former co-producer, Waise Azimi, made this interesting documentary a few years back. It's called STANDING UP and its about an Afghan military unit as they go through recruitment. (I don't want to give too much away).

It's been around in the festival circuit and finally got picked up by a distribution company.

If you want to see another perspective on war, catch STANDING UP!

Here is the official website: http://www.standingupthemovie.com/index.htm

You can purchase the DVD on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Standing-Up-Taking-Over-The/dp/B0064EGS66

According to several Indonesian environmental NGOs (REDD-Monitor and
WatchIndonesia) “Cari Hutan" might be the most informative, educative,
yet thrilling and amusing documentary ever made in Indonesia about the
subject of deforestation. “Cari Hutan” is, above all, a road movie
that takes the audience on an adventurous journey, by hitchhiking and boat, through
Kalimantan in search of the last remaining forests. The filmmaker looks into the issue of deforestation, its causes, its effects on the country and what we can do to improve the situation. Eventually it
follows the traces of destruction to Jakarta and Germany. Not only
locals, the inhabitants of the forests, farmers and loggers are being
interviewed, but also prominent journalists, scientist and most
importantly Prof. Bungaran Saragih, former Minister of Agriculture and
Forestry of Indonesia, who is responsible for a large part of the
destruction.