It looks like Charles Ferguson is going to make a name for himself tackling huge issues from every which way possible. His last film, Oscar nominated No End in Sight took aim at the Iraq War and the back story within the Bush Administration and this time around he’s delving into the mess of the financial crisis and its perpetrators. Narrated by Matt Damon, Inside Job appears to go that one step further by not only trying to get those responsible on camera, but also looking into the culture of Wall Street by talking to a different kind of insider such as Kristin Davis, a madam to investment bankers. Several films have tried to tackle the state of the economy over the last few years in different ways from Patrick Creadon’s I.O.U.S.A, to Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story and Danny Schechter’s Plunder: A Crime of Our Time. I have to say I still don’t really understand what a derivative or a sub prime mortgage is or means, but from the rave reviews coming out of Cannes it looks like we may have the closest to a definitive account of the cause and situation that resulted in near economic collapse.

Official synopsis:

From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson (“No End In Sight”), comes INSIDE JOB, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs.

Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, INSIDE JOB traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

Narrated by Academy Award® winner Matt Damon, INSIDE JOB was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Inside Job had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and will be released in the U.S. later this year by Sony Pictures Classics.

The official website is here

Congratulations to Ryan Kerr of Cuyahoga Falls, OH, who’s just won a copy of Pawn Stars Season 2 on DVD! Also, a big thanks to everyone who entered! Stay tuned for more contests in the near future.

If you’re still itching to get your hands on a copy of Pawn Stars Season 2, just head over to Amazon.com where 12 hours of pawn shop ecstasy is a mere click (and credit card charge) away!

I think it’s almost time to set up a regular Kickstarter section here at The Documentary Blog. It seems like this form of crowd-source funding has become quite popular and there are a number of great projects looking for your help in one way or another. The latest film to grace my email inbox focuses on two-time Academy Award nominated animator Bill Plympton. ‘Adventures in Plymptoons!’ is a feature length documentary profiling Plympton’s career and offering a look at his unusual body of work. I would imagine it would be a great primer for those unfamiliar with his work but also an interesting watch for his hardcore fans. Here’s a little info from the Kickstarter page:

When it comes to independent animators, Bill Plympton is the undisputed king. When Plympton began his animation career over 25 years ago, he was already an acclaimed syndicated illustrator and cartoonist. Since then he has become a major name in the animation and film world. Plympton has earned two Academy Award nominations, and brings hundreds of loyal fans to each convention and film festival which he attends all over the world. Without Plympton paving the way, there wouldn’t be countless aspiring animators, film makers and artist point to and say, “Yes! You can be independent AND make a career doing this!”

Adventures In Plymptoons! is a year and half in the making and is currently in post production. Anastasio followed and interviewed Plympton around New York City, San Diego Comic Con, his hometown of Portland, Oregon, various film festivals and universities where he would perform his master class. Interviews in the documentary, include Terry Gilliam, Keith Carradine, Martha Plimpton, Matthew Modine, Michael Showalter, Ed Begely Jr., “Weird Al” Yankovic and Moby, as well as family members, colleagues, long time friends and many more.

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Being a huge Werner Herzog fan, it’s a total bonus that such a prolific filmmaker can manage to remain so consistent when it comes to the quality of his output. It doesn’t surprise me that, with the TIFF premiere of his 3D documentary ‘Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ (coinciding with the DVD release of one of the two films he premiered at TIFF last year, ‘My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done?’), Herzog has already started talking about multiple upcoming projects. On the non-fiction side, he’s teaming up with filmmaker Dmitry Vasyukov for a project that will find Herzog working as narrator, writer, producer and editor. ‘Happy People: A Year in the Taiga’ is a feature documentary which focuses on hunters in the Siberian Taiga. Interestingly, this version will be culled from Vasyukov’s original four and a half hour cut of the film (about which I could find no info). Based on the footage in the teaser trailer, it looks to be appropriately epic and should work well with Herzog’s voice supporting it.

On the drama side, Werner is pursuing a biopic on Gertrude Bell, which he describes as “a big epic feature that I’m plowing on.”  This, along with a Texas prison picture, should make for another solid appearance at TIFF 2011!

You know how documentaries like The Cove and Man on Wire have been drawing influences from genre filmmaking in their non-fiction storytelling? Well, I wonder if Bradley Beesley’s Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo draws any inspiration from the ‘women in prison’ sub-genre… I’m guessing not. Regardless, based on the trailer and Beesley’s solid track record (he directed Okie Noodling and The Fearless Freaks, co-directed Summercamp! with Sarah Price and helped shoot Ben Steinbauer’s Winnebago Man), I’m totally sold! Check out the official synopsis below:

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. From 1940 – 2008, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary held an annual ‘Prison Rodeo’. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it was one of the last of its kind – a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud.

You can check out the trailer embedded above or head over to Apple trailers to see it in glorious 1080p high definition. Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo hits limited theatres on September 17th, 2010 and will embark on what is described as a nationwide ‘Western Swing Tour’ in which director Bradley Beesley will accompany the film at various screenings across the US. For more information on this tour and a schedule of venues and times, visit the official website. If you don’t see any screenings close to your town, you’re in luck; the DVD is set to hit stores October 25th! Until then, check out the trailer and share your thoughts in the comments section.

If you were a fan of Mark Hartley’s fantastic documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!, well, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re going to dig his next film as well. Machete Maidens Unleashed! is another investigation into the outrageous low budget genre movies of a particular country, this time focusing on the Philippines. The movie features interviews with John Landis, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, and Sid Haig and looks at the making of such cult classics as Blood Island, Cleopatra Wong and For Y’ur Height Only.

Although this might seem like a rehash of the same kinds of movies and stories featured in Not Quite Hollywood, I don’t think anyone is complaining. Personally I think Hartley has positioned himself perfectly to make an endless series of documentaries about b-movies from every corner of the globe… and I’d watch every single one. Machete Maidens Unleashed! plays at TIFF next month although it does not have a theatrical release date yet. The trailer is embedded after the jump, and it is definitely NSFW… but would you want it any other way?

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