In recent years there has been a real boom in documentaries surrounding popular culture. Films such as Electric Boogaloo, Video Nasties, The Search for Weng Weng and Adjust Your Tracking have captured the zeitgeist of fans across the globe, and in turn inspired more people to create their own documentaries about pop culture subjects that matter to them…
But not all these documentaries see the same success. Having been on something of a documentary kick lately, I thought I’d break down the ten of the best little-known, or better yet little-discussed, pop-culture documentaries from the many, many examples I have been watching. So here they are and, for once, they’re in order:
1) Slaughter Nick For President
There’s a good reason this film is at the top of my list. This is the documentary that kicked off my exploration of pop culture documentaries (eventually ending up at compliling this list) and,...
But not all these documentaries see the same success. Having been on something of a documentary kick lately, I thought I’d break down the ten of the best little-known, or better yet little-discussed, pop-culture documentaries from the many, many examples I have been watching. So here they are and, for once, they’re in order:
1) Slaughter Nick For President
There’s a good reason this film is at the top of my list. This is the documentary that kicked off my exploration of pop culture documentaries (eventually ending up at compliling this list) and,...
- 8/18/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
This return to a real-life Fast Times at Ridgemont High shows what happened to some of the documentary’s original interviewees.
In 1984, director Keva Rosenfeld made a documentary about life at a high school in Torrance, southern California; a sort of real-life Fast Times at Ridgemont High, that screened on public television in the States and sank quickly into obscurity. Thirty years later, the film – now a time-capsule of embarrassing 80s fashions and mobile-phone-free lifestyles – has been freshened up with a 20-minute coda showing what happened to some of the interviewees. Somewhat predictably, rebels have become cops, preppie girls with Princess Di haircuts have become lefty educationalists, cheerleaders work in marketing, stoners regret not studying more, and almost no one is pursuing the career they’d imagined in high school. At least the cheerful Finnish exchange student, the original film’s narrator, seems settled and contented. Neither the 80s material...
In 1984, director Keva Rosenfeld made a documentary about life at a high school in Torrance, southern California; a sort of real-life Fast Times at Ridgemont High, that screened on public television in the States and sank quickly into obscurity. Thirty years later, the film – now a time-capsule of embarrassing 80s fashions and mobile-phone-free lifestyles – has been freshened up with a 20-minute coda showing what happened to some of the interviewees. Somewhat predictably, rebels have become cops, preppie girls with Princess Di haircuts have become lefty educationalists, cheerleaders work in marketing, stoners regret not studying more, and almost no one is pursuing the career they’d imagined in high school. At least the cheerful Finnish exchange student, the original film’s narrator, seems settled and contented. Neither the 80s material...
- 7/2/2015
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
It may be trying too hard to be a bit Boyhood, but Keva Rosenfeld’s doc-about-a-doc is part of a revealing strand of Us culture
In any grading of high-school movies, Fast Times At Ridgemont High would earn a distinction. That 1982 comedy comes packed with charismatic performances from such ripening-on-the-tree stars-to-be as Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Phoebe Cates. Leigh prepared by taking a job at the pizza parlour where her character works; Penn was so Method about playing stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli that he later wrote: “Was I being Jeff or Sean? I felt like there was no Sean. I was immersed.”
That immersion is shared by the book that inspired the film, a non-fiction work of the same name by Cameron Crowe, later to become the writer-director of his own teen gem, Say Anything. Crowe, then 22, went undercover for a year at Clairemont High School, San Diego,...
In any grading of high-school movies, Fast Times At Ridgemont High would earn a distinction. That 1982 comedy comes packed with charismatic performances from such ripening-on-the-tree stars-to-be as Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Phoebe Cates. Leigh prepared by taking a job at the pizza parlour where her character works; Penn was so Method about playing stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli that he later wrote: “Was I being Jeff or Sean? I felt like there was no Sean. I was immersed.”
That immersion is shared by the book that inspired the film, a non-fiction work of the same name by Cameron Crowe, later to become the writer-director of his own teen gem, Say Anything. Crowe, then 22, went undercover for a year at Clairemont High School, San Diego,...
- 6/29/2015
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Comedy documentary, featuring Tom Hanks among others, premiered at Sundance.
Kaleidoscope Film Distribution (Kfd) has acquired Sundance documentary Misery Loves Comedy for UK release. The film asks more than 50 comedians “Do you really have to be miserable to be funny?”.
Directed by Kevin Pollak and featuring Tom Hanks, Matthew Perry, Jon Favreau, Jimmy Fallon, Judd Apatow, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Smith and more, it aims to provide a first-hand insight into just what makes a comedy mind tick.
Misery Loves Comedy was previously acquired for the Us by Tribeca Film, and will preview at MipTV before screening at Cannes, alongside Kfd’s other new documentary acquisitions, All American High Revisited and Hustlers Convention.
All American High Revisited goes back to 1984 when director Keva Rosenfeld spent 12 months documenting a foreign exchange student’s journey through her senior high school year.
The result was cult documentary All American High. ‘Revisited’ tracks down its stars 30 years later.
Hustlers Convention is the...
Kaleidoscope Film Distribution (Kfd) has acquired Sundance documentary Misery Loves Comedy for UK release. The film asks more than 50 comedians “Do you really have to be miserable to be funny?”.
Directed by Kevin Pollak and featuring Tom Hanks, Matthew Perry, Jon Favreau, Jimmy Fallon, Judd Apatow, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Smith and more, it aims to provide a first-hand insight into just what makes a comedy mind tick.
Misery Loves Comedy was previously acquired for the Us by Tribeca Film, and will preview at MipTV before screening at Cannes, alongside Kfd’s other new documentary acquisitions, All American High Revisited and Hustlers Convention.
All American High Revisited goes back to 1984 when director Keva Rosenfeld spent 12 months documenting a foreign exchange student’s journey through her senior high school year.
The result was cult documentary All American High. ‘Revisited’ tracks down its stars 30 years later.
Hustlers Convention is the...
- 4/1/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Amy Berg's An Open Secret
While the world premiere of Marjorie Sturm's The Cult Of Jt Leroy joins Doc NYC, Amy Berg's An Open Secret is still up in the air.
Gracie Otto's The Last Impresario on Michael White, Andrea B. Scott's Florence, Arizona, Keva Rosenfeld's All American High Revisited, Thomas Wirthensohn's Homme Less, Dave Jannetta's Love And Terror On The Howling Plains Of Nowhere, Norah Shapiro's Miss Tibet: Beauty In Exile, Rich Hill by Tracy Droz Tragos, Little White Lie by Lacey Schwartz and Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden's Almost There, connect with Richard Gere's performance in Oren Moverman's Time Out Of Mind, Marion Cotillard in Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's Two Days, One Night to Michael Keaton's Birdman in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance, turning questions of identity into passages of time.
While the world premiere of Marjorie Sturm's The Cult Of Jt Leroy joins Doc NYC, Amy Berg's An Open Secret is still up in the air.
Gracie Otto's The Last Impresario on Michael White, Andrea B. Scott's Florence, Arizona, Keva Rosenfeld's All American High Revisited, Thomas Wirthensohn's Homme Less, Dave Jannetta's Love And Terror On The Howling Plains Of Nowhere, Norah Shapiro's Miss Tibet: Beauty In Exile, Rich Hill by Tracy Droz Tragos, Little White Lie by Lacey Schwartz and Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden's Almost There, connect with Richard Gere's performance in Oren Moverman's Time Out Of Mind, Marion Cotillard in Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's Two Days, One Night to Michael Keaton's Birdman in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance, turning questions of identity into passages of time.
- 11/12/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Sundance just ended, and we are already preparing for the next big film festival, South By Southwest. Not too long ago, the festival announced a few of the films premiering this year, but now they’ve announced the main slate. The midnight selections and some inevitable late-breaking additions are still to be announced, but this should be more than enough to get you excited. Along with many World Premieres, and Sundance favorites like Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2, the line up also includes an anniversary screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and an extended Q&A screening of The Grand Budapest Hotel with Wes Anderson. SXSW 2014 runs March 7 through 15 in Austin, Texas. Check out the line up after the jump.
****
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,324 films submitted to SXSW 2014. Films screening in Narrative...
****
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,324 films submitted to SXSW 2014. Films screening in Narrative...
- 1/31/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Today the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced a diverse features lineup for this year’s Festival, the 21st edition and running March 7 – 15, 2014 in Austin, Texas. The 2014 program expands on SXSW tradition of embracing a range of genres and span of budgets, featuring a wealth of vision from experienced and developing filmmakers alike.
For more information visit http://sxsw.com/film.
Listed in the announcement are 115 of the features that will screen over the course of nine days at SXSW 2014. The lineup below includes 68 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 76 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres and 7 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 2,215 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,540 U.S. and 675 international feature-length films. With a record number of 6,482 submissions total, the overall increase was 14% over 2013. The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 5, with the complete...
For more information visit http://sxsw.com/film.
Listed in the announcement are 115 of the features that will screen over the course of nine days at SXSW 2014. The lineup below includes 68 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 76 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres and 7 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 2,215 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,540 U.S. and 675 international feature-length films. With a record number of 6,482 submissions total, the overall increase was 14% over 2013. The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 5, with the complete...
- 1/31/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
After announcing earlier this month that Jon Favreau’s Chef and the Veronica Mars movie will be making their world debuts at SXSW this year, the festival has revealed its full line-up, including further very promising world premieres, alongside appearances from some of the year’s most high-profile films.
The Midnight programme will be announced early next month, along with the Shorts line-up, and the complete Conference slate a little later as well.
Led by Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, Nicholas Stoller’s anticipated R-rated comedy, Neighbors, will be making its world debut at the festival, notably marked out as a ‘work-in-progress’ ahead of its theatrical release in May.
David Gordon Green’s acclaimed Joe will make its Us premiere, having bowed at Venice and then Toronto last year. Early reviews have Nicolas Cage giving one of the finest performances of his career, with Tye Sheridan (Mud) excellent alongside him.
The Midnight programme will be announced early next month, along with the Shorts line-up, and the complete Conference slate a little later as well.
Led by Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, Nicholas Stoller’s anticipated R-rated comedy, Neighbors, will be making its world debut at the festival, notably marked out as a ‘work-in-progress’ ahead of its theatrical release in May.
David Gordon Green’s acclaimed Joe will make its Us premiere, having bowed at Venice and then Toronto last year. Early reviews have Nicolas Cage giving one of the finest performances of his career, with Tye Sheridan (Mud) excellent alongside him.
- 1/30/2014
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Not sure if there is a Short Term 12 equivalent in this year’s Narrative Feature Comp, but on paper SXSW programmers are serving up a mean (and the usual lean group of 8 out of a whopping 1,324 film entries) for the upcoming competitiuon of eight which includes notable entries (that we’ve been tracking for a good time now) such as Zachary Wigon’s The Heart Machine, John Magary’s The Mend, Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns and Lawrence Michael Levine’s Wild Canaries. Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated docs of the year, on the non-fiction side we find Margaret Brown’s The Great Invisible. Below you’ll find a breakdown of the other sections (notable world preems in We’ll Never Have Paris and Faults (see Mary Elizabeth Winstead above), some Sundance items with Texan connections and other nuggets.
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight...
Narrative Feature Competition
Eight world premieres, eight...
- 1/30/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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