Theatrical Releases

Every Friday we will update you all with the week's theatrical documentary releases. Now, this will not be a perfect process as our beloved genre prefers the limited release schedule instead of a big nationwide or international-wide release. So apologies if a film isn't out in your area, or if you are a filmmaker and we missed the boat on announcing your documentary's big day (if that is the case, please let us know as we try to refine and hone this weekly post).

Now, with that introduction out of the way, here's this weekend's releases with their current rating on the amazing website Rottentomatoes.com:


Michael Jackson's This Is It - (80% rating) Michael Jackson's This is It will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London's O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from April through June, 2009, the film draws from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. (Rottentomatoes.com)

Labor Day- (no rating available) - Two-time Oscar nominee Glenn Silber captures the exuberance and urgency of the 2008 Election in his feature documentary. Labor Day follows a group that played a pivotal role in helping to elect Barack Obama: the SEIU (Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation’s fastest-growing labor union, with more than two million members. Labor Day is a chronicle of this union’s engagement and mobilization to ensure a Democratic victory in 2008. (Rottentomatoes.com)

You Cannot Start Without Me: Valery Gergiev, Maestro - (no rating available) - Directed by Academy Award winner Allan Miller, this film offers viewers an intimate look into the demanding life of Valery Gergiev, widely acclaimed as one of the leading conductors of our time. This rich musical film offers rare insight into the talent, training and concentration required of a great conductor and reveals how Gergiev combines an impossible international conducting schedule with his job as Director of the legendary Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. (Rottentomatoes.com)