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News
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12.04.11Trailer: Indie Game: The Movie Looks at the Creative Process of Video Game DevelopersAs someone who worked in the video game industry for three years or so (and is still friends with a lot of people who continue to work on games), I always thought that a documentary on the making of a video game would be pretty interesting. Having experienced it first hand, I can attest to the long hours and stress that goes into creating a product that attempts to bring art, storytelling, and technology together in a fresh and exciting way. Canadian filmmakers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot's decided to document this process in their film Indie Game: The Movie, ...
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11.30.11‘Splinters’ Official Trailer: Indigenous Surfing in Papua New GuineaNon-fiction fans have their fair share of surfing documentaries to choose from nowadays and sometimes it can be tough to weed out the good from the bad. I've never surfed in my life, but I'm certainly not against the idea of watching a great film on the subject. It's just tough to find one that's got a good story behind all of the glossy, slow-motion surfing footage. The trailer for director Adam Pesce's Splinter looks to be about more than just the sport and has definitely caught my attention. It's a unique story of indigenous surfing in Papua New Guinea ...
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11.28.11Trailer: The Rep, a Feature Documentary on Repertory CinemasThere's nothing better than hitting up a rep cinema and watching one of your favourite movies on the big screen with an enthusiastic audience. Recently I had the pleasure of seeing Tom Holland's original 1985 film Fright Night -- a childhood favourite of mine -- on the big screen with a large audience at the Toronto Underground Cinema, and it was a total blast. Now, that very theatre is featured in Morgan White's documentary The Rep, which looks at the culture of rep cinemas and highlights some of the famous theatres -- some active, some closed down -- throughout North ...
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11.21.11The Academy Awards Non-Fiction Shortlist: Why Are We Still Surprised??It's that time of year again! The Oscar shortlist for best documentary feature has been released, and as usual, non-fiction fans are steaming over some pretty glaring omissions. I have such little interest in the Academy Awards that I feel it's insincere to even be posting about this, but the documentary nominations have been a recurring issue within the non-fiction community for years now. Most famously, Steven James' Hoop Dreams was snubbed back in 1994, drawing criticism from Roger Ebert (among others), who was an aggressively vocal supporter of the film. Now, 17 years later, Steve James is once again ...
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11.10.11Kickstarter Campaign: Bending SteelIt's been a while since we've highlighted a Kickstarter campaign here at The Documentary Blog, so I thought I would throw up a post in support of a film that looks like it has a lot of heart and could be a "tonne" (clever, right?) of fun to watch. Bending Steel is the story of Chris Schoeck, a Queens native training to become a professional strongman. Here's the synopsis: “Bending Steel” documents Chris’ personal journey, as a strongman in training, to find acceptance and fulfillment through his initiation in to a world of strength and showmanship. With the help of Chris ...
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10.17.11The DocBlog Recommends Five Must-See Portraits of MusiciansDISCLAIMER: This post is sponsored by Lionsgate, but all thoughts are our own. The DVD of Martin Scorsese's documentary George Harrison: Life in the Material World has been released in the UK and is set to come out in the near future here in North America. I've yet to see the film, but I thought (with a little convincing from the fine folks at Lionsgate) that it would be fun to recommend five other great docs that profile musicians. There are TONS of music inspired documentaries to choose from, but I thought I would focus on the ones that look at ...