Results tagged “Documentary”

How to Fix a Drug Scandal is the dictionary definition of infotainment. It's thrilling, suspenseful, entertaining, and profoundly informative. I might just use my new-found knowledge in dinner-table conversations with my family to sound intellectual. It's such a meticulously researched tale that deeply explores the subject matter. Directed and produced by Erin Lee Carr (Thought Crimes: The Case of Cannibal Cop and Mommy Dead and Dearest), the limited series is on the same lines of Netflix’s earlier releases - The Devil Next Door, The Confession Killer, and The Trails of Gabriel Fernandez - which revolve around one particular incident subsequently

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice is a biographical documentary that Ronstadt was involved with as she introduces the telling of her story and reveals she no longer sings because she has Parkinson's, although she was later diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy. As I put the disc in the player, I realized I hadn't heard much of Ronstadt's music on the radio in years. As I watched the film, I couldn't understand why because she has a collection of hits that should be staples on rock and country radio stations. But don't take my word for it as the

Press release: Following a successful theatrical run, grossing over $1 million at the box office, Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool - produced by Firelight Films for Eagle Rock Entertainment and American Masters Pictures in association with BBC Music - will be released as a Blu-ray+DVD and 2DVD with bonus Montreux concert footage and a 16-page hardcover book, as well as digital formats on April 10. A historic pillar of music history, Miles Davis is wholly revered for his immeasurable contributions as a trumpet player, bandleader, and composer. This consummate innovator and trendsetter not only broke evolutionary ground in jazz

Antonio Gaudí, a film by Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara (1927-2001), is a tone poem of Gaudí, Barcelona, and art - filled with vibrant color and music. The restored 72-minute film from 1984 is not your typical artist biography. There is barely any dialogue. Or narration. Or biography. Teshigahara instead creates a collage of dazzling images featuring the unique architecture of Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926). Teshigahara, the first Asian director to be nominated for an Academy Award and probably best known for his avant garde feature film Woman in the Dunes (1964), started his career in documentary film. Here, he seamlessly melds

Available on iTunes and Amazon on March 10, 2020, comes a new documentary film from Electrolift Creative Productions, Marcel Duchamp: The Art of the Possible. Directed by Matthew Taylor and produced by Michelle Taylor, the 90-minute film mixes biography and opinion to create an intriguing portrait of artist Marcel Duchamp. Marcel Duchamp was born in Normandy, France in 1887. The film begins with family photos and a quick introduction to Duchamp's youth and then, like the artist himself, quickly sets off for Paris and the art world. Duchamp's primary artistic mentors were his older brothers, artists Raymond Villon and Jacques

Tread is more of a cinematic recreation of real events than a documentary. It's so cinematic that if it wasn't a true story it would have been a perfect revenge thriller. It's what I would call the marriage of tragedy and a vigilante revenge thriller. Marvin Heemeyer, the subject, is treated as the tragic hero with a proper hero's arc. All he wants is a peaceful life free of hurdles but when the world throws hindrances at him and keeps doing that for over 13 years, it's time for the working-class hero to pick up his weapon and fight back.

Press release: The new documentary Chasing Whiskey - The Untold Story of Jack Daniel’s premieres in movie theaters across the country as a one-night event on May 11. More than a simple narrative of the origins and impact of Jack Daniel’s, the documentary joins Tim Matheson, Shooter Jennings, Eric Church, John Grisham, Tina Sinatra and more, on a 57,000 mile journey across five countries and 17 time zones that is equal parts thought provoking, insightful, moving and hilarious. Tickets for “Chasing Whiskey” can be purchased at www.FathomEvents.com and participating theater box offices. Fathom Events and Movie City Films, in association

If For Sama is a painting, pain is the brush. If it is a book, anguish is the pen. If it's metamorphosized into a human, a mother's love suffuses its heart while the fear and anger fill the mind. For Sama is beyond a personal film. Beneath the evident horrors intimately captured by the Waad Al-Kateab, the subject, narrator, and co-director of the film, lies a mother's confession letter to her daughter. "Heart-wrenching" is a milder word to describe the horrors, while befittingly construes a mother's agony. The agony is personal, but it resonates with the world, being the profoundly

Next to the director, the cinematographer is one of the most essential components to making great art. Cinematography can capture emotion and depth with vision, almost always better than words can ever do. Many of film history's greatest masters of light, including Roger Deakins, Karl Struss, Gordon Willis, Gregg Toland, Sven Nykvist, and Haskell Wexler, among others, have successfully demonstrated how images can truly increase the impact of any film, even if certain movies themselves, are not particulary meaningful. However, if there was one who somehow continues to be forgotten in the annals of the history of the medium, it

Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll pays tribute to the man many consider the King of Rock 'n' Roll, through testimonials from peers and famous fans, from a drunken Jerry Lee Lewis, who makes the claim for he and his mama, to John Lennon appearing through archival footage on The Michael Douglas Show. The film also documents the 60th birthday celebration concert held in his honor, which takes up the last half of the film. Unfortunately, it doesn't paint a complete picture of Berry's life as he cuts interviews short when touchy subjects are broached. In 1986, Berry was

I've always wondered how individuals feel after reaching a peak of success in their respective fields, I mean, don't the tremendous achievements create a sense of satisfaction leading to fulfilment? If not, then I have to change the way I look at success and its fruits. It takes some time to get familiar with the vibe it creates, but after its opening moments, Free Color profoundly replicates the art form, which the film's subject and artist, Carlos Cruz-Diez, dreams to create. Now, we have only seen color being a part of an art form. In painting, color decorates, creates a

Before anything, I'm craving to grasp how filmmaker Ed Perkin persuaded the subjects of Tell Me Who I Am to share their darkest secrets, not just with him, but with the entire world. For that case, I have a stronger desire to listen to their conversations before they captureded a single second of the film. It isn't a kind of concept that lets a documentary filmmaker meet the subjects, spend some time, get to know them and start filming. That doesn't apply here because Perkins set out answer questions which were weighing heavy on Alex Lewis, one of the subjects,

The more brutal and tragic our world gets, the deeper and interesting the films based on it get. It is cruel of me to expect a cold and callous world, but when a filmmaker captures the chaos and catastrophe with purity, we can't help but immerse into the story. Filmmakers Zhang Lynn and Nanfu Wang tell a powerful personal story with their own voice (literally) in One Child Nation. The film studies China's One-Child Policy, which restricted Chinese citizens to have only one child. And more than the policy itself, the film throws light on the aftermath by investigating the

When a news anchor displays disbelief in his claims of sleeping less than 30 hours a month, Bikram Choudhury replies, "I'm the weirdest man you'll ever come across". This plausibly is the only accurate statement about Bikram's persona out of the myriad self-appreciating comments he makes over the 90-minute runtime of the film and most likely, his entire life. Eva Orner's documentary, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator follows the standard investigative exemplar as it explores the highly public life of the bad boy of yoga, Bikram, the founder of 'Bikram Yoga', well, at least that's what he claims to. A significant

I'll Never Forget You: The Last 72 Hours Of Lynyrd Skynyrd is the second recent documentary about Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd and the plane crash that claimed the lives of singer Ronnie Vant Zant and five other members of the band and the crew in 1977. The 2018 documentary, If I Leave Here Tomorrow, covered the entire history of the band in depth. It was narrated by Gary Rossington, the last surviving member of the original lineup, and had lots of archival footage of the band. I'll Never Forget You deals with the last three days of the original

Decades before we were deluged with a never-ending stream of “reality” TV shows, a British TV crew selected a group of 14 seven-year-old schoolchildren as documentary subjects, initially as a study of how social class impacted their upbringing. Every seven years since, a new installment has been filmed with the same subjects, all under the direction and narration of esteemed feature-film director Michael Apted. While Apted was just a young researcher on the original installment who took part in selecting the subjects, he’s been the lynchpin of the entire project for every subsequent film, taking such a personal approach that

Press release: Cinema Sentries has teamed up with Shout! Factory to award one lucky reader Turtle Odyssey: Bunji’s Big Adventure 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray, which will be available, as well as on DVD, on December 3, 2019 . For those wanting to learn more, read the press release below: Journey through tropical oceans with one of the sea’s most intriguing creatures, a sea turtle. Russell Crowe narrates Turtle Odyssey: Bunji’s Big Adventure this December from Shout! Factory. The film utilizes the new IMAX Enhanced technology, which offers an expanded aspect ratio and immersive sound for an incredible home viewing

Though not always the case, animated movies have a presumption of innocence, providing a movie-going experience for the whole family. Let me say this first: Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles is not a family film. Salvador Simó’s film depicts violence, death, and much heavier topics than usually seen in the animated genre. It’s not even completely animated, as the film follow Luis Buñuel’s journey in making his 1933 documentary Land Without Bread, a depiction of the very poor Las Hurdes region in Spain. This 2019 film combines real footage of that documentary with an animated plotline of Buñuel

We've all heard of Jackie Robinson. He changed baseball forever. He changed sports forever. He is a chief sports hero of the 20th century, a man that continues to deserve recognition. There have been movies, documentaries, and plays written about him, and his story has been told countless times. Up until one week ago, the name Willie O'Ree had never touched my ears. A new documentary titled Willie explores Willie O'Ree's life, accomplishments, and attempt to enter into the Hockey Hall of Fame. If you're like me and have never heard O'Ree's name, his story is one to behold. Willie

Press release: The American Film Institute (AFI) announced today the films that will play in the World Cinema section and the inaugural Documentary section of AFI FEST 2019 presented by Audi. The World Cinema section showcases the most anticipated and celebrated international films of the year and features 16 titles representing 19 countries. The section includes five official International Feature Film Oscarsubmissions screening at this year’s festival: Sweden's AND THEN WE DANCED (DIR Levan Akin), Canada's ANTIGONE (DIR Sophie Deraspe), Poland's CORPUS CHRISTI (BOŻE CIAŁO) (DIR Jan Komasa), Italy's THE TRAITOR (DIR Marco Bellocchio), and Romania's THE WHISTLERS (DIR Cornlieu