Director: Ali Samadi Ahadi
Website: http://www.thegreenwave-film.com/
Summary: In early 2009, a new generation of Iranians hoped for change through the upcoming presidential elections. Fueled by youthful exuberance and media technology, a groundswell—the so-called Green Wave—emerged to challenge the status quo, and caused a seismic shift in the political climate. A new brand of revolution seemed to be at hand. All polls predicted challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi would be the country’s next president; however, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the victor, prompting a backlash of unparalleled violence and oppression and a massive surge of human-rights violations that continues today.
In this powerful and urgent documentary, filmmaker Ali Samadi Ahadi integrates animation with live-action footage, testimonials, and posts from courageous Iranian bloggers, who dared to tell the world about the anatomy of the movement and its devastating consequences. The Green Wave is a remarkable portrait of modern political rebellion, an exposé of government-sanctioned violence, and a vision of peace and hope that continued resistance may galvanize a new Iran.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 5 – Ahadi’s documentary promises a lot but it’s hard to tell if it can deliver. I’m currently torn between loving this idea and being underwhelmed by previous films of similar scope. Let’s hope Ahadi takes a cue from Ari Folman’s brilliant Waltz with Bashir.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Sundance Film: Hell and Back Again
Director: Danfung Dennis
Website: http://www.hellandbackagain.com/
Summary: In 2009, U.S. Marines launched a major helicopter assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Immediately upon landing, the marines were surrounded by insurgents and attacked from all sides. Embedded in Echo Company, filmmaker Danfung Dennis captures the action with visceral immediacy. As he reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris, Dennis’s film evolves from being a war exposé to becoming a story of one man’s personal apocalypse. From the bloody battlefields of Afghanistan, to his home in North Carolina, Harris struggles to conquer the physical and mental fallout of war. A shell of the man he once was, will Harris ever return to the happy life he shared with his loving wife, Ashley?
Contrasting the horrors of the battlefield with the battle back home, Hell and Back Again is a transcendent film that comes full circle as it lays bare the true cost of war.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 7 – At this point, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been covered Ad nauseam. Dennis film sounds like a combination of Restrepo and War Tapes, but will it succeed as those did or continue to beat the drum most audience are tired of hearing? A Grand Jury Prize is a good sign.
Website: http://www.hellandbackagain.com/
Summary: In 2009, U.S. Marines launched a major helicopter assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Immediately upon landing, the marines were surrounded by insurgents and attacked from all sides. Embedded in Echo Company, filmmaker Danfung Dennis captures the action with visceral immediacy. As he reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of 25-year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris, Dennis’s film evolves from being a war exposé to becoming a story of one man’s personal apocalypse. From the bloody battlefields of Afghanistan, to his home in North Carolina, Harris struggles to conquer the physical and mental fallout of war. A shell of the man he once was, will Harris ever return to the happy life he shared with his loving wife, Ashley?
Contrasting the horrors of the battlefield with the battle back home, Hell and Back Again is a transcendent film that comes full circle as it lays bare the true cost of war.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 7 – At this point, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been covered Ad nauseam. Dennis film sounds like a combination of Restrepo and War Tapes, but will it succeed as those did or continue to beat the drum most audience are tired of hearing? A Grand Jury Prize is a good sign.
Sundance Film: Knuckle
Director: Ian Palmer
Website: http://knucklethemovie.com/
Summary: Residing in Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom, the Travellers are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group with their own customs and a deep sense of clan pride, despite being interrelated by marriage within their small population. When conflicts arise, arguments are often settled through ritualized, bare-knuckle fighting.
Director Ian Palmer followed members of the Traveller community for 12 years and became privy to a decades-long family feud of Hatfield-McCoy proportions. At the center of the conflict is James, the confident, yet reluctant, defender of the Quinn McDonaghs, who is frequently challenged to fight his cousins, the Joyces. An outsider in a secretive world, Palmer waited years before he began to learn the reasons for the animosity between the rival clans.
Disturbingly raw, yet compulsively engaging, KNUCKLE offers candid access to a rarely seen, brutal world where a cycle of bloody violence seems destined to continue unabated.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 6 – Uncovering a seemingly more serious version of Mickey O’Neil’s character in Snatch, Knuckle has all the makings of a great film: unique subject, harsh conflict and a director dedicated to immersing himself in the story (12 years time!). There are several unknowns still tempering my excitement though (mainly a lack of footage/trailers for non-Sundance audiences to enjoy).
Website: http://knucklethemovie.com/
Summary: Residing in Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom, the Travellers are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group with their own customs and a deep sense of clan pride, despite being interrelated by marriage within their small population. When conflicts arise, arguments are often settled through ritualized, bare-knuckle fighting.
Director Ian Palmer followed members of the Traveller community for 12 years and became privy to a decades-long family feud of Hatfield-McCoy proportions. At the center of the conflict is James, the confident, yet reluctant, defender of the Quinn McDonaghs, who is frequently challenged to fight his cousins, the Joyces. An outsider in a secretive world, Palmer waited years before he began to learn the reasons for the animosity between the rival clans.
Disturbingly raw, yet compulsively engaging, KNUCKLE offers candid access to a rarely seen, brutal world where a cycle of bloody violence seems destined to continue unabated.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 6 – Uncovering a seemingly more serious version of Mickey O’Neil’s character in Snatch, Knuckle has all the makings of a great film: unique subject, harsh conflict and a director dedicated to immersing himself in the story (12 years time!). There are several unknowns still tempering my excitement though (mainly a lack of footage/trailers for non-Sundance audiences to enjoy).
Sundance Film: Position Among the Stars
Director: Leonard Retel Helmrich
Website: http://www.standvandesterren.nl/en/home.php?lang=EN
Summary: This final installment of the trilogy follows the award-winning documentaries The Eye of the Day and Shape of the Moon (winner of the World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival) as filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich concludes his in-depth portrait of Indonesia seen through the eyes of one family living in the slums of Jakarta. Grandmother Rumidjah, a poor old Christian woman, weathers a changing society and the influence of globalization reflected in the lives of her juvenile granddaughter, Tari, and her sons, Bakti and Dwi, who are Muslims. Modern-day Indonesia is entrenched in a tug-of-war between Christianity and Islam, young and old, rich and poor, and beset by encroaching globalization that threatens the simple life that Rumidjah knows so well.
Forgoing interviews and voice-over narration, Position Among the Stars allows each exquisite detail to come together and construct a rich mosaic of Indonesia today. The result is poignant, breathtaking, and a singularly stellar vérité triumph.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 7 - Helmrich’s Shape of the Moon won numerous festival awards, so his conclusion to the trilogy has been highly anticipated. Winning a Special Jury prize out of the gate is a good sign and while the trailer is a bit over the top, the visuals and story should be enough to pique audience interest.
Website: http://www.standvandesterren.nl/en/home.php?lang=EN
Summary: This final installment of the trilogy follows the award-winning documentaries The Eye of the Day and Shape of the Moon (winner of the World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival) as filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich concludes his in-depth portrait of Indonesia seen through the eyes of one family living in the slums of Jakarta. Grandmother Rumidjah, a poor old Christian woman, weathers a changing society and the influence of globalization reflected in the lives of her juvenile granddaughter, Tari, and her sons, Bakti and Dwi, who are Muslims. Modern-day Indonesia is entrenched in a tug-of-war between Christianity and Islam, young and old, rich and poor, and beset by encroaching globalization that threatens the simple life that Rumidjah knows so well.
Forgoing interviews and voice-over narration, Position Among the Stars allows each exquisite detail to come together and construct a rich mosaic of Indonesia today. The result is poignant, breathtaking, and a singularly stellar vérité triumph.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 7 - Helmrich’s Shape of the Moon won numerous festival awards, so his conclusion to the trilogy has been highly anticipated. Winning a Special Jury prize out of the gate is a good sign and while the trailer is a bit over the top, the visuals and story should be enough to pique audience interest.
Sundance Film: Project Nim
Director: James Marsh
Website: N/A
Summary: From the Oscar-winning team behind Man on Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who, in the 1970s, became the focus of a landmark experiment that aimed to prove an ape—if raised and nurtured like a human child—could learn to communicate using sign language. If successful, the consequences of the project would be profound, breaking down the barrier between man and his closest animal relative and fundamentally redefining what it is to be human. Combining the testimony of all the key participants, newly discovered archival film, and dramatic imagery, Project Nim tells the picturesque story of one chimpanzee's extraordinary journey through human society and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way.
Filmmaker James Marsh returns to the Sundance Film Festival with an unflinching, unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about Nim’s true nature—and indeed our own—is comic, revealing, and profoundly unsettling.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 10 – Marsh’s Man on Wire is a gem of the documentary genre and this director returns with another fascinating subject for audiences to enjoy. Audience can only hope this hits theaters soon.
Website: N/A
Summary: From the Oscar-winning team behind Man on Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who, in the 1970s, became the focus of a landmark experiment that aimed to prove an ape—if raised and nurtured like a human child—could learn to communicate using sign language. If successful, the consequences of the project would be profound, breaking down the barrier between man and his closest animal relative and fundamentally redefining what it is to be human. Combining the testimony of all the key participants, newly discovered archival film, and dramatic imagery, Project Nim tells the picturesque story of one chimpanzee's extraordinary journey through human society and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way.
Filmmaker James Marsh returns to the Sundance Film Festival with an unflinching, unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about Nim’s true nature—and indeed our own—is comic, revealing, and profoundly unsettling.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 10 – Marsh’s Man on Wire is a gem of the documentary genre and this director returns with another fascinating subject for audiences to enjoy. Audience can only hope this hits theaters soon.
Sundance Film: Senna
Director: Asif Kapadia
Website: http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/films/view/film/103/senna
Summary: The story of Ayrton Senna, perhaps the greatest race car driver who ever lived, is an epic tale that literally twists at every turn. In the mid 1980s, Senna, a young, gifted driver, exploded onto the world of Formula One racing. As a Brazilian in a predominantly European sport, a purist in a world polluted with backroom deals, and a man of faith in an arena filled with cynicism, Senna had to fight hard—both on and off the track. Facing titanic struggles, he conquered Formula One and became a global icon who was idolized in his home country.
Told solely through the use of archival footage, Asif Kapadia’s documentary is a thrill ride worthy of its daring subject. Adrenaline will be pumping as cameras from inside Senna’s car put you smack-dab in the driver’s seat. Buckle your seat belt; Senna will take you on a trip you do not want to miss.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 10 – I know, I’m a sucker for sports films, but a great story is a great story no matter what genre. Kapadia brings his cinematic background to documentaries and it appears he has made an excellent film.
Website: http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/films/view/film/103/senna
Summary: The story of Ayrton Senna, perhaps the greatest race car driver who ever lived, is an epic tale that literally twists at every turn. In the mid 1980s, Senna, a young, gifted driver, exploded onto the world of Formula One racing. As a Brazilian in a predominantly European sport, a purist in a world polluted with backroom deals, and a man of faith in an arena filled with cynicism, Senna had to fight hard—both on and off the track. Facing titanic struggles, he conquered Formula One and became a global icon who was idolized in his home country.
Told solely through the use of archival footage, Asif Kapadia’s documentary is a thrill ride worthy of its daring subject. Adrenaline will be pumping as cameras from inside Senna’s car put you smack-dab in the driver’s seat. Buckle your seat belt; Senna will take you on a trip you do not want to miss.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 10 – I know, I’m a sucker for sports films, but a great story is a great story no matter what genre. Kapadia brings his cinematic background to documentaries and it appears he has made an excellent film.
Sundance Film: Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure
Director: Matthew Bate
Website: http://www.shutuplittlemanfilm.com/
Summary: In 1987, Eddie and Mitch, two young punks from the Midwest, moved into a low-rent shithole of an apartment in the Lower Haight district of San Francisco. Through paper-thin walls, they were informally introduced to their middle-aged alcoholic neighbors, Raymond Huffman, a raging homophobe, and Peter Haskett, a flamboyant gay man. Night after night, the boys were treated to and terrorized by a seemingly endless stream of vodka-fueled altercations between the two unlikely roommates. Oftentimes nonsensical and always vitriolic, the diatribes of Peter and Ray were an audio goldmine just begging to be recorded and passed around on the underground tape market. For 18 months, Eddie and Mitch hung a microphone from their kitchen window to chronicle the bizarre and violent relationship between their borderline-insane neighbors.
Not satisfied with simply documenting these outlandish events, director Matthew Bate has concocted a darkly comedic exploration into the blurred boundaries among privacy, art, and exploitation.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 8 – As absurd and enjoyable as this film looks, I have one major fear: Bate normally handles documentary shorts and I’m not entirely sure this subject is worth his first feature length attempt.
Website: http://www.shutuplittlemanfilm.com/
Summary: In 1987, Eddie and Mitch, two young punks from the Midwest, moved into a low-rent shithole of an apartment in the Lower Haight district of San Francisco. Through paper-thin walls, they were informally introduced to their middle-aged alcoholic neighbors, Raymond Huffman, a raging homophobe, and Peter Haskett, a flamboyant gay man. Night after night, the boys were treated to and terrorized by a seemingly endless stream of vodka-fueled altercations between the two unlikely roommates. Oftentimes nonsensical and always vitriolic, the diatribes of Peter and Ray were an audio goldmine just begging to be recorded and passed around on the underground tape market. For 18 months, Eddie and Mitch hung a microphone from their kitchen window to chronicle the bizarre and violent relationship between their borderline-insane neighbors.
Not satisfied with simply documenting these outlandish events, director Matthew Bate has concocted a darkly comedic exploration into the blurred boundaries among privacy, art, and exploitation.
Excitement Scale (1-10): 8 – As absurd and enjoyable as this film looks, I have one major fear: Bate normally handles documentary shorts and I’m not entirely sure this subject is worth his first feature length attempt.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Sundance Film: We Were Here
Director: David Weissman
Website: http://wewereherefilm.com/
Summary: In the early 1970s, in the shadow of the Stonewall riots and the free-love movement, gay men and lesbians flocked to San Francisco to find acceptance. They formed a thriving, tight-knit community until the arrival of AIDS in the early 1980s drove them under siege.
Director David Weissman (The Cockettes screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival) chronicles this transformative era through the stories of five individuals who lived through the best and the worst of it. In the face of unheralded tragedy, these men and women relate how they were affected and the way their community united to help those suffering and prevent further deaths.
Elegiac but inspirational, We Were Here bears witness to the experiences of those who died—and, equally importantly, those who lived—in the earliest years of the AIDS epidemic. Its story is universal, showing the capacity for compassion and strength in all of us, even against unimaginable adversity.
Excitement scale (1-10): 7 – It’s been 9 years since David Weissman has made a documentary so you know his most recent film had to be compelling enough for him to jump back in. The idea itself seems to take a unique perspective in covering the history of the aids epidemic in our country and while I’m sure it’ll be insanely depressing, I think it’ll still be worth watching.
Website: http://wewereherefilm.com/
Summary: In the early 1970s, in the shadow of the Stonewall riots and the free-love movement, gay men and lesbians flocked to San Francisco to find acceptance. They formed a thriving, tight-knit community until the arrival of AIDS in the early 1980s drove them under siege.
Director David Weissman (The Cockettes screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival) chronicles this transformative era through the stories of five individuals who lived through the best and the worst of it. In the face of unheralded tragedy, these men and women relate how they were affected and the way their community united to help those suffering and prevent further deaths.
Elegiac but inspirational, We Were Here bears witness to the experiences of those who died—and, equally importantly, those who lived—in the earliest years of the AIDS epidemic. Its story is universal, showing the capacity for compassion and strength in all of us, even against unimaginable adversity.
Excitement scale (1-10): 7 – It’s been 9 years since David Weissman has made a documentary so you know his most recent film had to be compelling enough for him to jump back in. The idea itself seems to take a unique perspective in covering the history of the aids epidemic in our country and while I’m sure it’ll be insanely depressing, I think it’ll still be worth watching.
Sundance Film: Troubadours
Director: Morgan Neville
Website: N/A
Summary: Framed by the illustrious careers of James Taylor and Carole King, Troubadours delves into the quietly explosive singer-songwriter movement in Los Angeles during the early 1970s. From their home at impresario Doug Weston’s Troubadour club in West Hollywood, artists like Taylor, King, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, and Kris Kristofferson (the list goes on) wrote and performed songs with intimately personal lyrics, marking a transition from the politically focused songs of the ’60s. While some rock critics denigrated the music, the spirit among the musicians was one of collaboration and inspiration, and these singer songwriters flourished.
Morgan Neville creates a riveting chronicle of the time, weaving together archival footage, rare performances, and interviews from a veritable who’s who, including Elton John, Steve Martin, and Bonnie Raitt. Troubadours takes us deeply into the scene (and its inevitable demise) and celebrates the pure, timeless music and the undeniable legacy of these groundbreaking singer songwriters.
Excitement scale (1-10): 4 – Much like Sing Your Song, there is no specific reason to not be excited about this documentary, but alas, I just don’t see a reason to be excited. Though it covers great artists and features fascinating interviews, director Morgan Neville has been up this road before with little recognition for his work. Perhaps he tries something unique here though.
Website: N/A
Summary: Framed by the illustrious careers of James Taylor and Carole King, Troubadours delves into the quietly explosive singer-songwriter movement in Los Angeles during the early 1970s. From their home at impresario Doug Weston’s Troubadour club in West Hollywood, artists like Taylor, King, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, and Kris Kristofferson (the list goes on) wrote and performed songs with intimately personal lyrics, marking a transition from the politically focused songs of the ’60s. While some rock critics denigrated the music, the spirit among the musicians was one of collaboration and inspiration, and these singer songwriters flourished.
Morgan Neville creates a riveting chronicle of the time, weaving together archival footage, rare performances, and interviews from a veritable who’s who, including Elton John, Steve Martin, and Bonnie Raitt. Troubadours takes us deeply into the scene (and its inevitable demise) and celebrates the pure, timeless music and the undeniable legacy of these groundbreaking singer songwriters.
Excitement scale (1-10): 4 – Much like Sing Your Song, there is no specific reason to not be excited about this documentary, but alas, I just don’t see a reason to be excited. Though it covers great artists and features fascinating interviews, director Morgan Neville has been up this road before with little recognition for his work. Perhaps he tries something unique here though.
Sundance Film: Sing Your Song
Director: Susanne Rostock
Website: N/A
Summary: Wonderfully archived, and told with a remarkable sense of intimacy, visual style, and musical panache, Susanne Rostock’s inspiring biographical documentary, Sing Your Song, surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. From his rise to fame as a singer, inspired by Paul Robeson, and his experiences touring a segregated country, to his provocative crossover into Hollywood, Belafonte’s groundbreaking career personifies the American civil rights movement and impacted many other social-justice movements. Rostock reveals Belafonte as a tenacious hands-on activist, who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took action to counter gang violence, prisons, and the incarceration of youth.
Because of his beliefs, Belafonte drew unwarranted invasions by the FBI into both his personal life and career, which led to years of struggle. But an indomitable sense of optimism motivates his path even today as he continues to ask, at 82, "What do we do now?" His example may very well inspire you to action.
Excitement scale (1-10): 4 – I’m going to admit, I’m not excited by this. I’m not entirely sure why either. Belafonte is certainly not a boring figure and he has a story worth exploring. Plus, Susanne Rostock has a background in editing so it’s safe to assume it is a well pieced film, but there is nothing outstanding or original from this film. Perhaps if it had a trailer or website it would garner more attention, but for now I’m placing it on the backburner.
Website: N/A
Summary: Wonderfully archived, and told with a remarkable sense of intimacy, visual style, and musical panache, Susanne Rostock’s inspiring biographical documentary, Sing Your Song, surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. From his rise to fame as a singer, inspired by Paul Robeson, and his experiences touring a segregated country, to his provocative crossover into Hollywood, Belafonte’s groundbreaking career personifies the American civil rights movement and impacted many other social-justice movements. Rostock reveals Belafonte as a tenacious hands-on activist, who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took action to counter gang violence, prisons, and the incarceration of youth.
Because of his beliefs, Belafonte drew unwarranted invasions by the FBI into both his personal life and career, which led to years of struggle. But an indomitable sense of optimism motivates his path even today as he continues to ask, at 82, "What do we do now?" His example may very well inspire you to action.
Excitement scale (1-10): 4 – I’m going to admit, I’m not excited by this. I’m not entirely sure why either. Belafonte is certainly not a boring figure and he has a story worth exploring. Plus, Susanne Rostock has a background in editing so it’s safe to assume it is a well pieced film, but there is nothing outstanding or original from this film. Perhaps if it had a trailer or website it would garner more attention, but for now I’m placing it on the backburner.
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