Documentary Insider

In between opening Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? for it’s theatrical debut in St. Louis, MO and going to San Diego Comic Con to work the booth for DKE Toys (I’m married to the owner, so it’s a week of toy mongering and hanging out with cool people), I made a film sale, which we can’t talk about yet, but it’s pretty exciting. And on top of that news, Mr. Smith is finishing up its third week at the Tivoli in St. Louis. And! We just booked Palm Desert for a week starting September 29th. With Boston, DC, St. Louis and Columbia we just need 3 more cities to complete the Oscar 8 city eligibility requirement. And it seems it will be all the easier to book even more cities than that before the end of the year. Plus, Homemade Hillbilly Jam had its Springfield, Missouri premiere tonight as well as a screening at the Dallas Film & Video Festival. So…while I’ve been reading the news, I’ve been a little slackery on reporting.

So…here’s a quick and dirty update…

The International Documentary Association announced their line-up for the Academy qualifying DocuWeek. It’s a solid slate. Tickets are available here. Their annual kick-off party takes place this coming Thursday night with doc screenings starting on Friday morning. As per usual each film playing DocuWeek plays once a day for all 7 days of the theatrical documentary showcase. Films include Toots, Black Gold, Jesus Camp, Deliver Us From Evil, This Film is Not Yet Rated and The Ground Truth. DocuWeek (along with its previous incarnations InFACT and DOCtober) has a great track record of spitting films into the Oscar pipeline of shortlist, nomination and win. So, get out of the global warming and into the chilly Arclight (my favorite place to see a movie on earth) and catch what could be the next Documentary Oscar winner.

Toronto announced their doc roster also. I’ll be heading there a few days of the fest. Watch for daily updates. AJ’s got a nice entry about it.

The 28th annual IFP Market gets underway September 17th and will announce their slate of docs soon. I’ll find out Monday if I’ll be heading there to check it out first hand.

Also, I’m deep into screening for AFI Fest 2006. I started earlier than ever before (April!) and now we’re quickly careening towards the end. Each week I pick up a bag of practically unmarked tapes and DVDs. I’m having an easier time digesting some of the more fun docs and then when I get down to the bottom of the bag it’s all war and disease. No wonder I’ve been eating more chocolate than normal…anyway, it’s a good batch of films this year and I’m excited to see how the final lineup will shake out.

Heading towards the end of the summer already so I can feel a little less guilty about spending so much time indoors watching movies.

Check out At Risk Films playing in your city…

Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?
Plays Thursday, July 27 through August 3 in St. Louis, MO at the Tivoli. Tickets here.
More cities coming soon!

Homemade Hillbilly Jam
Opens the Rural Route Film Festival at the Anthology Film Archive in NYC this Friday, July 28. Tickets here. HHJ will also have its Springfield, MO premiere on August 12 at Jordan Valley Park.
More dates coming in late August and September!

Wednesday afternoon there was an incredible audience for Mario’s Story. It was the second screening of the competition doc, but it still felt like a home-town crowd. The film follows Mario Rocha, a young man sentenced to life in prison for a murder he did not commit. The filmmakers have been following him for 7 years and are deeply involved in both the filmmaking and Mario and his families real life struggle to get him out of prison.

The Mario’s Story crew chats up the crowd at the Q&A.

Sunday I hid in the film festival’s old home, the Laemmle Sunset 5, for The Creek Runs Red preceded by short Under the Roller Coaster and then Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater. Under the Roller Coaster has been playing around, but this was my first time catching it. “My favorite thing about Mae is that she would invite you over for tea and when you got there, there wasn’t any teabags, no hot water, just a six-pack of beer,” says one friend of the roller coaster lady. Mae lived under, Thunderbolt, the roller coaster on Coney Island, for most of her life. This sweet and well-shot short doc is a nice slice of life. A little sad, a little quirky with a healthy dose of Americana thrown in, Lila Place’s short is just what the doctor ordered for a Sunday afternoon. Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked The Creek Runs Red. In fact, I thought it was pretty great. But, what was it doing with Under the Roller Coaster. Just a strange pairing.

The Creek Runs Red is scary. Picher, Oklahoma is one of 1300 superfund sites in America. The lead in the water and soil is off the charts. At one time Picher had some of the largest lead and zinc mines in the country. Now 43% of the population has diabetes, there’s all kinds of cancer and there’s one issue that’s dividing Picher; there are the people who want to relocate and the people who want to save the town. Some people will never move, but most, can’t afford it. It’s a national problem that is identified and personifies through this well-made case study.

Next was Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater. Barry Goldwater was a senator from Phoenix, AZ. He was a republican. But more than that he stood up for what he believed in even if it was frowned upon. He ran for President against Johnson in 1964 and lost by a landslide, mostly because he spoke his mind. The film is produced by Goldwater’s granddaughter CC and I think in some way that really limited the access. It will air on HBO September 18th.

Winners were announced in two ceremonies. The following is edited down from the press release. The Target Documentary Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Deliver Us From Evil written/directed by Amy Berg. The film explores both the corruption of the Catholic Church and Father Oliver O’Grady who molested countless children in Northern California during the 70s.

The Documentary Competition Jury stated that they selected the film for “the filmmaker’s ability to balance the exploration of indefensible evil – both in one man and in those who would seek to conceal the truth – and the battle to hold on to one’s faith in the face of the worst possible betrayal.” The Target Documentary Award carries an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 funded by Target, offering the financial means for filmmakers to transfer their vision to the screen.

The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Mario’s Story directed by Jeff Werner and Susan Koch. The filmmakers will receive a full tape to film blow-up donated by Technicolor.

The Audience Award for Best International Feature went to Paper Dolls written/directed by Tomer Heymann. In one of Tel Aviv’s most conservative neighborhoods, a small group of gay Filipino immigrants working as caregivers devote themselves to their elderly Jewish charges — around the clock — except on the nights they perform in drag as the Paper Dolls. Director Tomer Heymann spent nearly five years exploring the Dolls’ seemingly incongruous, often tender relationships with their employers, as well as their struggles with immigration authorities and the local gay community. The resulting film is a sensitive, complex portrait of men who are perpetual outsiders, at home and abroad.

Best Documentary Short Film went to Gesture Down (I Don’t Sing) by Cedar Sherbert. “A rare treat of a film that skillfully sneaks up behind you, reaches through your back, and grabs your heart. Playful and full of empathy, the film pushes the boundaries of the documentary medium while presenting an insightful look at a Native American man’s reclaiming of his heritage. The closing shot of the passing of the torch is as evocative an image as we’ve seen at the Festival,” said the Shorts Competition Jury.

Here’s today’s K Chronicles by Keith Knight. He’s awesome. He’s got a blog and quite the full featured website. Don’t know if I’m gonna get busted for posting this, so read it before I have to take it down.

In what appeared from first glance to be a bold move, the Los Angeles Film Festival moved from it’s central location at the Laemmle Sunset 5 and DGA to Westwood Village. It’s not unusual in LA to stay in your neighborhood and to be quite snooty about traveling across town for any reason. The Sunset 5 is incredibly convenient to my house and when I found out LAFF would be in Westwood for 2006 I was bummed. But, after spending a few days around the fest it’s actually quite nice. The theaters are scattered across the UCLA adjacent cluster of restaurants and shopping and nearly everything is in walking distance. Not to give up parking secrets, but I’ve found free or metered parking everyday at the fest and can proudly say I haven’t spent more than $1 a day on storing my vehicle. And it’s easy to spot the good places to grab grub as they’re all bustling with students hanging around for the summer. LAFF takes full advantage of the movie theaters and even the streets as Broxton is closed off and turned into Popcorn Alley (free popcorn from fest sponsor Pop Secret) for open-air screenings. Friday night they showed West Side Story and every seat was full. The fest will also host a family day that culminates in a screening of The Incredibles this coming Saturday night.

I stopped by to pick up my pass and check out the layout of the fest on Friday afternoon. It was sunny and warm, but it didn’t stop folks from hitting the screenings. I started my fest off with one of the fest’s free screenings, SP!T, a doc about poetry slam by Rotimi Rainwater. The film follows several poets as they write, perform, travel to the national competition and of course, spit. The performances are lively and the opening sequence of the film plays out like a music video. After the film a few of the poets performed across the street at the Hammer Museum during the Diversity Expo, a showcase for film support organizations and film festivals.

Monday I went to see Alison Chernick’s Matthew Barney: No Restraint. Matthew Barney is the epitome of looking like you know what you’re doing so everyone is into it. His art is abstract, greasy and probably not for everyone. The film follows Barney on a whaling ship in Japan as he creates a new work, Drawing Restraint 9. The piece and the film also feature Bjork, another otherworldly being. The two are friends and the film shows how well they work together. They understand each other.

Yesterday, Tuesday I participated in the festival’s speed dating activity. This is such a great thing to do at a festival for both filmmakers and the participating industry folks. In an incredibly smoothly run event, each industry person has a table and the filmmakers go from table to table every 10 minutes so that they get to meet each industry person, pitch, get information and hang out. Following the 2-hour meet and greet marathon the festival hosted a lunch so everyone could chat more and nourish themselves.

Inspired by meeting filmmakers David Edwards and Gregory Whitmore at the speed dating I went to see their film Kabul Transit. The film plops the viewer in Kabul immediately. It’s as if the viewer is walking around listening to bits and pieces of people’s stories, meeting Afghans and getting to know them very quickly. The film is nonlinear in every way with no narrator or guide. It’s almost as if the viewer is abandoned and forced to look at the war torn country surrounding them. The final shot of the film shows two men on a bicycle flying past ruins, but smiling and singing. The subtitle to the song he sings says, “There’s no place for sorrow.” It’s quite touching.

From there I walked around for an hour before I headed back into the dark for James Moll’s Inheritance. When I read the description of Inheritance I knew I had to see it. The film introduces Monika, the daughter of Amon Goeth, a Nazi war criminal responsible for the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. Monika wants to meet Helen, a Holocaust survivor who was, during the war, her father’s servant. The film explores a new side of the Holocaust and something that clearly touched the audience in every way as the sounds of sniffling could not be stifled.

I’m about to head out…back to Westwood (sigh) to see Mario’s Story. There are, as per usual at LAFF, docs in all categories and with the fest only half over there’s plenty of time to see something. The 11 docs in the documentary competition plus summer previews including Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, This Film is Not Yet Rated and Who Killed the Electric Car?. There’s a screening Saturday of The Filth and the Fury live at the Ford Amphitheater and a special screening of Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis. There are few docs in the international showcase, a special screening of Boffo! Tinseltown’s Bombs and Blockbusters tonight. Additionally several free screenings and a smattering of short docs that are interspersed throughout the short programs. LAFF is truly making this year out to have something for everyone and every age.

Los Angeles Film Festival kicked off last Thursday with a gala screening of The Devil Wears Prada. Nothing says independent quite like that. Anyway, after studying the catalog, the true indies screening in and out of the documentary competition look pretty good. I’ll report back with my findings as the week progresses. Tonight it’s Matthew Barney: No Restraint.

If you missed the Audience Award winning doc at Silverdocs come to the New York Screening Wednesday night:

INDIEPIX.NET & WOODSTOCK IN THE CITY proudly present a screening of:
CAN MR. SMITH GET TO WASHINGTON ANYMORE?

Wednesday, June 28, 7:30 pm at Makor Screening Room, 35 West 67th Street, NYC, NY (click here for directions)

Followed by a Q & A with the filmmaker Frank Popper and a reception, hosted by Indiepix.net at 9 pm

Click here to purchase tickets.

Just came across this article by Christy Lemire on CNN.com. Looks like docs are the best movies of the year, no surprise there!

Silverdocs was an incredibly busy time, but I managed to snap a few photos.

Jim Jarmusch and Martin Scorsese hang out for a conversation about film.

A special poster outside the AFI Silver Theater.

The Marquis at the Silver kept changing, featuring World Premieres and Special Events.

Nick Broomfield chats with AFI Fest’s Nancy Collette after the US Premiere of His Big White Self.

The Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? crew Campaign Manager Artie Harris, Director Frank Popper, WAMU radio personality Kojo Nnamdi and the film’s subject Jeff Smith gather after the screening.

Hey, I did some coverage for indieWIRE about the 2006 SILVERDOCS: AFI Discovery Channel Documentary Festival. Read it here.