Category
Sundance
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07.07.10Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald team up for crowdsourcing documentary Life in a DayThere have been several filmmakers exploring crowdsourcing within documentary. Great recent examples are Brett Gaylor's RIP!: A remix manifesto and Jeff Deutchman's 11/04/08 (review coming soon). To see filmmakers like Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald explore this idea is really exciting. Teaming up with YouTube, Kevin Macdonald will be taking the helm, with Ridley Scott producing, to document one day as seen through the eyes of people around the world. They have chosen July 24th and they are asking people to capture a snapshot of their lives on that day, with the final film premiering at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. ...
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02.01.10Short Doc: The S from HellThere are certain annoying habits you have that you have no idea where they came from. One of mine has always been the need to name the various production/distribution companies as their logos appear at the beginning of films. Lovable trait, no, plain annoying, yes. It was only as I sat down to watch Inglorious Basterds this Christmas with my Dad and hearing him shout out the logos with a smug sense of pride did I realise it was sadly an inherited trait, thanks for that. However, now a documentary exists that's tailor made for my nerd-tendencies. The S from Hell ...
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01.31.10Sundance Documentary Winners: Restrepo & The Red Chapel win Grand Jury PrizesAs it's 4am here in England this post is brought to you by severe jet lag and copious amounts of tea. It may be the only time I'm ever grateful for the loopy wide-eyed effects of adjusting to timezones as it was fun to watch the Sundance awards being announced, and I got far too excited when Restrepo, Enemies of the People and Wasteland won (I'm never usually patriotic but for some reason this struck a nerve). Lucy Walker's win for Wasteland added to her incredible achievement of having two documentaries at the festival, the other being Countdown to Zero. ...
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01.30.10Sundance Review: Last Train HomeLast Train Home is the most recent film from EyeSteelFilm who are just hitting it out of the park with one great documentary after the other. They made one of my favourite documentaries of last year, Antoine, which I highly recommend checking out and the hugely successful, and extremely fun, RiP: A Remix Manifesto. Add to that the multiple award-winning Up the Yangtze and they are a force to be reckoned with. Last Train Home seemingly burst out of nowhere when it premiered at IDFA winning Best Feature. The film saw its US premiere a few days ago at Sundance and ...
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01.29.10Sundance Review: The OathThere are two things that immediately struck me about The Oath. The first being the incredible access to the main character and the second being that it was made by a woman. I don’t like it when a filmmaker’s gender is unnecessarily remarked upon (let’s face it this only happens when it is a woman) but I can’t help comment on this, as it is a factor in how huge an achievement this film is. Considering how dangerous it is to film in Yemen, with little to no press freedom, and the candid and comfortable nature of the interviews with ...
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01.28.10Sundance Review: 12th & DelawareYou would be hard pushed to make a film about abortion that wasn’t controversial and didn’t evoke a response. It is one issue of which people generally feel strongly about one way or another. Five minutes into 12th & and Delaware and I was absolutely furious. From the makers of Jesus Camp, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, 12th & Delaware plants itself on the street of its title which is home to the bizarre setup of having an abortion clinic on one side of the street and a pro-life facility on the other. Unfolding over one year this is truly a war ...