Freakonomics the movie!

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s (seriously, they couldn’t agree on the spelling of their first name? It’s beyond confusing to make sure you have the right spelling with the right person. Geez!) book Freakonomics has been out for nearly five years now and more or less continues to cause worldwide debate and intrigue with their ideas. I would dare say it’s the most influential book of the new millennium if it wasn’t for, you know, the Harry Potter and Twilight

But what does their book have to do with documentaries? Well it seems some wise producer decided to take the book’s idea, hire a bunch of highly regarded directors and make a documentary about Levitt and Dubner's opinions. Freakonomics (the movie!) will premier at the Tribecca Film Festival at the end of this month followed by a theatrical release later in the year.

For those of you curious enough, the film hired Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room; Taxi to the Dark Side), Morgan Spurlock(Super Size Me), Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady(Jesus Camp) to direct portions of the film with Seth Gordon (The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters) piecing together the entire documentary.Raise your hand if you’re excited!


Editor’s note: no longer able to write due to overwhelming excitement (i.e. both hands currently raised).

Trailer: Casino Jack and the United States of Money

Alex Gibney is back to doing what he does best: covering major political and financial scandals (yes, I know he won an Oscar for Taxi to the Dark Side, but I enjoyed Enron so much more, deal with it). I'm sure most of you already know about his upcoming film Casino Jack and the United States of Money, but in case you need more proof to see this film there's now a trailer posted over at Apple.com/trailers.

The trailer looks spectacular and I personally couldn't be more excited for its May 7th release date.

If you're not aware, Casino Jack covers former Washington super lobbyist Jack Abramoff from the beginning of his career to his ultimate imprisonment. It might sound boring, but Gibney is known for turning thousands of pages of documents into the most fascinating and enthralling stories imaginable. Don't miss this one!

Theatrical Releases

Every Friday we update you all with the week's theatrical documentary releases. Now, this is not a perfect process as our beloved genre prefers the rolling/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 and we'll correct the mistake).

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


The Sun Behind the Clouds – (88% rating) updates the struggle for Tibetan independence, focusing upon the March 2008 demonstration against Chinese rule, the largest ever since the 1959 take-over of that nation. The Dalai Lama, living in exile in Northern India, is interviewed extensively and given the opportunity to explicate his “middle way,” a compromise position he has to date been unsuccessful in getting the Chinese to accept. Supporters of Tibetan independence who are devoted to the Dalai Lama, but who nonetheless feel “the middle way” is an ineffective solution, appear in the film, detailing their more militant position.(Rottentomatoes.com)

Breath Made Visible: Anna Halprin – (no rating provided) the first feature length film about the life and career of Anna Halprin, the American dance pioneer who has helped redefine our notion of modern art with her belief in dance's power to teach, heal, and transform at all ages of life. This cinematic portrait blends recent interviews with counterparts such as the late Merce Cunningham, archival footage, including her establishment of the first multiracial dance company in the U.S., and excerpts of current performances such as “Parades and Changes” at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, to weave a stunning, inspiring account of one of the most important cultural icons in modern dance. (Rottentomatoes.com)

Doc News Bits of the Day

There are a few short but sweet documentary news nuggets out there today so lets dive into them:

Part of the team behind Oscar winning sensation The Cove isn't wasting time getting back into the documentary genre in one of the broadest reaching projects I can recall. Fisher Stevens and Mark Monroe are partnering with former NBC Universal co-chairman Ben Silverman to develop a documentary on decision making. Sounds a bit to 'metaphysical' right? Well the idea actually might work as the group will send 20 cameras to follow 20 people across the globe (from a man on death row to a wealthy home buying couple) who are all making life altering decisions in a single day. Sure it's a crazy idea, but crazy sometimes turns out awesome!

In the "more likely to be awesome than the previous story" news, the great/bizarre director Michel Gondry has taken time away from his Hollywood path to turn the camera on his own family in his documentary The Thorn in the Heart. If there is one thing the documentary genre needs, it's the inventiveness of Gondry and his imagination is in full effect in this personal narrative. There is a trailer posted on Youtube and I must say it just might be a 'must see' for film fans everywhere.

Trailer: Babies

Probably the highlight of my day came with watching the trailer for the upcoming documentary Babies. The trailer for this delightful little film will just brighten your day as it is filled with baby images to warm the heart while Sufjan Stevens plays throughout.

If you want specifics, this visually impressive documentary from director Thomas Balmès follows four babies around the world for one year (from Mongolia, Namibia, San Francisco and Tokyo). Babies captures the earliest stages (from birth on!) of life that are both unique and universal to us all.

Seriously, it's about babies. Check it out! Babies hits theaters in early May.

8 Billion Lives worth watching

One of the coolest websites I've seen in the past several weeks is called 8 Billion Lives. It has an extremely simple but fascinating idea: "8 Billion Lives is a platform for short documentary films. Each film features a day in the life of a real person."

Better yet, they want everyone to be their filmmakers. How cool is that?!? Seriously, go grab a camera shoot your best friend Dave who you swear everyone should be friends with, slap together some cuts and dissolves and bam! Your work could be on this website. Sweet!

Of course, if you're not into film-making, just film-observing, you can always head to http://www.8billionlives.com and watch the shorts already posted. It's a great way to waste five minutes... an hour... a day... to be honest, the combination of films and director biographies makes this an addicting website for documentary fans everywhere.

So stop reading and head over to http://www.8billionlives.com then tell us what's your favorite film!



An unrelated but equally wonderful site: http://futurestates.tv/episodes/plastic-bag. It's a film about a plastic bag on a quest and it's narrated by Werner Herzog. Do I need to continue?

DirectTV signs the Documentary Channel

Sweet news for all you documentary fans with a satellite dish. The Documentary Channel, the first and only channel dedicated to airing documentaries 24 hours a day 7 days a week, will be added to DirectTV's channel line up. This more than doubles the number of potential viewers as the Documentary Channel is already on the smaller, but just as enjoyable Dish Network.

For those who don't know about this great channel, it's "the USA's first 24-hour television network exclusively devoted to documentary films and the independent documentary filmmaker, providing viewers with round-the-clock opportunities to see fascinating, eclectic and award-winning documentary films of all lengths and genres." In addition to films, the website is also a great resource for upcoming festivals and a great place to buy DVDs of the films you love.

See, that's pretty awesome! If you have DirectTV check out Channel 263 beginning March 31. Or if you want to learn more, head over to http://www.documentarychannel.com.

Doc News Round Up

So this week's theatrical releases were quite few in number (only one?!?) so I felt the need to give you all a quick look at what's going on in the documentary world.

First up, for you political junkies Sarah Palin will star in a new eight part documentary series about Alaska. The bright and shining face of the state (was that Emory student who died in the wood's the previous face of Alaska?) has been shopping the project around to major networks before Discovery Communications (owns the Discovery Channel, TLC, etc) bought the rights. According to Peter Liguori, Discovery’s chief operating officer, the series (titled Sarah Palin’s Alaska) promises to "reveal Alaska’s powerful beauty as it has never been filmed, and as told by one of the state’s proudest daughters."

In a totally different news direction, HBO's Hard Knocks NFL training camp documentary has selected the New York Jets for its five-week series. It will be the fourth consecutive season Hard Knocks has profiled a team during training camp: the Chiefs (2007), Cowboys (2008) and Bengals (2009) were previously showcased. If you're a Jets fan or just interested in what running a lot in the hot sun looks like, tune into HBO in August.

In the "receiving positive buzz from local reviews" showcase, Sweetgrass (directed by Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor) appears to be garnering quite the praise from critics. Personally, this is a surprise considering it's a film about sheep herding in Montana and carries precisely zero narration, but clearly there's something enchantingly beautiful with this documentary. If you get a chance, be sure to check it out!

Theatrical Releases

Every Friday we update you all with the week's theatrical documentary releases. Now, this is not a perfect process as our beloved genre prefers the rolling/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 and we'll correct the mistake).

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


Dancing Across Borders – (33% rating) A new feature documentary which chronicles the intimate and triumphant story of Sokvannara Sar who was discovered by Anne Bass on a trip to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, in 2000 and brought to the ballet stage in America. A longtime patron of dance in the U.S., Bass arranged for Sy to visit New York and audition for the prestigious School of the American Ballet (SAB). What unfolds in Dancing Across Borders is a tentative negotiation between Sy and the world of American ballet and culture—from the serene countryside of Southeast Asia to the halls of SAB, to the stage of the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. The film follows Sy’s unusual development as a dancer and offers a remarkable behind-the-scenes look into the world of American ballet. At its heart, Dancing Across Borders is an extraordinary story of growth, adaptation, and belonging as well as of the development of talent and the mastery of an art form.(Rottentomatoes.com)

Trailer: An Inconvenient Tax

So April 15th is near and as an American I'm struggling through my taxes to make sure I don't, you know, get thrown in jail for tax evasion. While taking a break I found a trailer for the upcoming documentary An Inconvenient Tax.

Now, I know what you're thinking, the Flat Tax people are at it again. But political documentaries are a chance for groups to argue their beliefs and as long as they do it coherently and (because I'm a child) entertainingly, I'm all for it. Plus, how often do you get to see both Noam Chomsky and Neal Boortz agree on something?

Admittedly, a film about the tax code sounds quite boring so it'll be interesting to see how director Christopher Marshall can pull it off. Then again, Marshall's previous documentary explored the phenomenon of PEZ collecting, so I'm gonna give him a shot. Plus, in a move of sheer marketing genius, An Inconvenient Tax will premier nationwide on April 15th- the day taxes are due (Note: I actually chuckled when I saw this).

Head on over to http://aninconvenienttax.com to see a trailer and learn more about the film. And don't be afraid to post your comments about the upcoming film below!