Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will celebrate the life and career of the visionary documentary filmmaker Nancy Buirski with a special night of programming hosted by TCM’s Dave Karger on November 27, 2023, at 8pm ET. Buirski, who passed away at the age of 78 on August 29, 2023, founded the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in 1998 at Duke University and directed it for a decade. In 2011, she made her first documentary The Loving Story, which explored the case of Mildred and Richard Loving, a couple facing imprisonment due to their illegal, interracial marriage in 1958 Virginia.
Buirski went on to direct, produce, and write several films, including Afternoon of a Faun, A Crime on the Bayou (2021), and most recently Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy which premiered at the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals in 2022. In his Variety review of Desperate Souls, Dark City critic Owen Gleiberman described the film as a “rapt, incisive, and beautifully exploratory making-of-a-movie documentary.”
The following is a complete schedule for TCM’s on-air tribute to Nancy Buirski:
TCM Remembers Nancy Buirski – Monday, November 27
(All Times Eastern)
8:00 PM – Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy (2022) – Follows the behind-the-scenes odyssey to get Midnight Cowboy (1969) produced, as well as the tumultuous era in which the movie was released and embraced.
10:00 PM – The Loving Story (2011) – A racially-charged criminal trial and a heart-wrenching love story are covered in this documentary about Richard and Mildred Loving, set during the turbulent Civil Rights Era.
11:30 PM – Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq (2013) – Of all the great ballerinas, Tanaquil Le Clercq may have been the most transcendent. With a body unlike any before hers, Tanaquil mesmerized viewers and choreographers alike; her elongated, race-horse physique became the new prototype for the great George Balanchine.
1:15 AM – By Sidney Lumet (2015) – Film legend Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) tells his own story in a never-before-seen interview shot in 2008. With candor, humor, and grace, Lumet reveals what matters to him as an artist and as a human being.
3:15 AM – A Crime on the Bayou (2020) – A Black teenager, with the help of a young Jewish attorney, bravely challenges the most powerful white supremacist in 1960s Louisiana. Systemic racism meets its match in decisive courtroom battles, including the U.S. Supreme Court. While working together to challenge the systems put in place, a lifelong friendship is born.
