The 55th New York Film Festival will debut a starry roster of documentaries featuring giants of the art and literary worlds as well as Alex Gibney’s postponed “No Stone Unturned,” a critical investigation into the 1994 Loughinisland massacre in Ireland, which was pulled from Tribeca in April.
Other new works include films from directors Abel Ferrara, Sara Driver, Nancy Buirski, Mathieu Amalric, and Barbet Schroeder; Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut “Sea Sorrow,” which played at Cannes; and films featuring Joan Didion, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jane Goodall, plus stories about racism, American immigration, and the global refugee crisis.
Three documentaries spotlight acclaimed writers, including the world premiere of Griffin Dunne’s “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” returning Nyff filmmaker Rebecca Miller’s tender portrait of her father, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” and the World Premiere of Myles Kane and Josh Koury’s “Voyeur,” tracking journalist Gay Talese...
Other new works include films from directors Abel Ferrara, Sara Driver, Nancy Buirski, Mathieu Amalric, and Barbet Schroeder; Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut “Sea Sorrow,” which played at Cannes; and films featuring Joan Didion, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jane Goodall, plus stories about racism, American immigration, and the global refugee crisis.
Three documentaries spotlight acclaimed writers, including the world premiere of Griffin Dunne’s “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” returning Nyff filmmaker Rebecca Miller’s tender portrait of her father, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” and the World Premiere of Myles Kane and Josh Koury’s “Voyeur,” tracking journalist Gay Talese...
- 8/23/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The 55th New York Film Festival will debut a starry roster of documentaries featuring giants of the art and literary worlds as well as Alex Gibney’s postponed “No Stone Unturned,” a critical investigation into the 1994 Loughinisland massacre in Ireland, which was pulled from Tribeca in April.
Other new works include films from directors Abel Ferrara, Sara Driver, Nancy Buirski, Mathieu Amalric, and Barbet Schroeder; Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut “Sea Sorrow,” which played at Cannes; and films featuring Joan Didion, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jane Goodall, plus stories about racism, American immigration, and the global refugee crisis.
Three documentaries spotlight acclaimed writers, including the world premiere of Griffin Dunne’s “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” returning Nyff filmmaker Rebecca Miller’s tender portrait of her father, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” and the World Premiere of Myles Kane and Josh Koury’s “Voyeur,” tracking journalist...
Other new works include films from directors Abel Ferrara, Sara Driver, Nancy Buirski, Mathieu Amalric, and Barbet Schroeder; Vanessa Redgrave’s directorial debut “Sea Sorrow,” which played at Cannes; and films featuring Joan Didion, Arthur Miller, Gay Talese, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jane Goodall, plus stories about racism, American immigration, and the global refugee crisis.
Three documentaries spotlight acclaimed writers, including the world premiere of Griffin Dunne’s “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold,” returning Nyff filmmaker Rebecca Miller’s tender portrait of her father, “Arthur Miller: Writer,” and the World Premiere of Myles Kane and Josh Koury’s “Voyeur,” tracking journalist...
- 8/23/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The current crop of acclaimed Quebec filmmakers shooting feature films south of the border speaks to an unprecedented infatuation on Hollywood’s part with French-Canadian directors.
Among the heavy hitters: Jean-Marc Vallée (“Wild,” “The Dallas Buyers Club,” HBO’s upcoming “Big Little Lies”), Philippe Falardeau (“The Bleeder,” “The Good Lie”), Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Sicario,” the forthcoming “Blade Runner” sequel), not to mention Xavier Dolan, who’s currently shooting his star-studded English-language debut, “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.”
But there’s another remarkably prolific, genre-bending Montreal filmmaker – an award-winning festival regular who has clocked in nine features, one medium-length production and shorts to spare over the last decade – who’s never shown much enthusiasm about dipping his toes in the American studio system. No matter how many prizes or festival selections his films rack up (Berlin, Cannes, Locarno and Sundance among them) or how many retrospectives film societies program about his work,...
Among the heavy hitters: Jean-Marc Vallée (“Wild,” “The Dallas Buyers Club,” HBO’s upcoming “Big Little Lies”), Philippe Falardeau (“The Bleeder,” “The Good Lie”), Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Sicario,” the forthcoming “Blade Runner” sequel), not to mention Xavier Dolan, who’s currently shooting his star-studded English-language debut, “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.”
But there’s another remarkably prolific, genre-bending Montreal filmmaker – an award-winning festival regular who has clocked in nine features, one medium-length production and shorts to spare over the last decade – who’s never shown much enthusiasm about dipping his toes in the American studio system. No matter how many prizes or festival selections his films rack up (Berlin, Cannes, Locarno and Sundance among them) or how many retrospectives film societies program about his work,...
- 11/11/2016
- by Michael-Oliver Harding
- Indiewire
The strand will be bookended by Alice Lowe’s Prevenge and Xander Robin’s Are We Not Cats [pictured].Scroll down for line-up
The Venice International Film Festival’s (Aug 31 - Sept 10) 2016 Critics’ Week line-up has been revealed.
The independent section of the festival – dedicated to features from debut directors – includes seven titles from five continents.
Opening the strand with be UK director Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (out of competition), which stars Lowe as a pregnant woman on a killing spree and will have its world premiere at the festival.
Lowe was co-writer and co-star of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers. The film is a Western Edge Pictures/Gennaker production and was shot in Wales last year.
Closing will be Xander Robin’s Are We Not Cats, which was one of three genre titles to screen as a work-in-progress at the Cannes Marche this year as part of an inaugural partnership between genre market Frontières and the Cannes Film Festival...
The Venice International Film Festival’s (Aug 31 - Sept 10) 2016 Critics’ Week line-up has been revealed.
The independent section of the festival – dedicated to features from debut directors – includes seven titles from five continents.
Opening the strand with be UK director Alice Lowe’s Prevenge (out of competition), which stars Lowe as a pregnant woman on a killing spree and will have its world premiere at the festival.
Lowe was co-writer and co-star of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers. The film is a Western Edge Pictures/Gennaker production and was shot in Wales last year.
Closing will be Xander Robin’s Are We Not Cats, which was one of three genre titles to screen as a work-in-progress at the Cannes Marche this year as part of an inaugural partnership between genre market Frontières and the Cannes Film Festival...
- 7/25/2016
- ScreenDaily
Boris Sans Beatrice
Director: Denis Côté
Writer: Denis Côté
French Canadian auteur Denis Côté fluctuates steadily between feature films and documentary, tending to win critical acclaim in either category. After winning Best Director at Locarno in 2008 for All That She Wants and again in 2011 for Curling he went to Sundance with the 2012 documentary Bestiaire and then scooped up the Alfred Bauer Award in Berlin for Vic+Flo Saw a Bear (2013). His latest, Boris Sans Beatrice concerns businessman Boris Malinovsky, who falls into a spiritual and moral funk when visited by a mysterious stranger (the enigmatic Denis Lavant).
Cast: James Hyndman, Denis Lavant, Simone-Elise Girard
Production Co./Producers: Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil & Nancy Grant (Mommy)
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. Tbd (domestic). Films Boutique (international).
Release Date: Cote will be competing in competition at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.
Director: Denis Côté
Writer: Denis Côté
French Canadian auteur Denis Côté fluctuates steadily between feature films and documentary, tending to win critical acclaim in either category. After winning Best Director at Locarno in 2008 for All That She Wants and again in 2011 for Curling he went to Sundance with the 2012 documentary Bestiaire and then scooped up the Alfred Bauer Award in Berlin for Vic+Flo Saw a Bear (2013). His latest, Boris Sans Beatrice concerns businessman Boris Malinovsky, who falls into a spiritual and moral funk when visited by a mysterious stranger (the enigmatic Denis Lavant).
Cast: James Hyndman, Denis Lavant, Simone-Elise Girard
Production Co./Producers: Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil & Nancy Grant (Mommy)
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. Tbd (domestic). Films Boutique (international).
Release Date: Cote will be competing in competition at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.
- 1/10/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The 9th annual Wndx Festival of Moving Image will showcase new experimental media from all over the world — including short films, installations and live cinematic performances — at several locations across the city of Winnipeg on September 24-28.
Special events at Wndx this year include the fest’s annual One Take Super 8 Event, where 30 filmmakers will screen their in-camera edited masterpieces for the first time along with the audience. Plus, there’s a two-part celebration of the work of Denis Côté, featuring his two films Joy of Man’s Desiring and Bestiaire, with the filmmaker in attendance.
There will also be a live film performance by filmamker Karl Lemieux with sound artists Roger Tellier-Craig and Alexandre St-Onge; and Freya Björg Olafson’s dance/film hybrid HYPER_.
Short films to be on the lookout throughout the fest include Mike Olenick‘s Red Luck, which won the Best Looking Film award at the...
Special events at Wndx this year include the fest’s annual One Take Super 8 Event, where 30 filmmakers will screen their in-camera edited masterpieces for the first time along with the audience. Plus, there’s a two-part celebration of the work of Denis Côté, featuring his two films Joy of Man’s Desiring and Bestiaire, with the filmmaker in attendance.
There will also be a live film performance by filmamker Karl Lemieux with sound artists Roger Tellier-Craig and Alexandre St-Onge; and Freya Björg Olafson’s dance/film hybrid HYPER_.
Short films to be on the lookout throughout the fest include Mike Olenick‘s Red Luck, which won the Best Looking Film award at the...
- 9/23/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Squeezed between his lavishly received, Sundance preemed docu-portrait of zoo life in Bestiaire, and Joy of Man’s Desiring, a genre blending meditation on factory work which had its debut at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Canadian auteur Denis Côté took home the Alfred Bauer Award from the Berlinale last year for his latest work of intricately haunting fiction, Vic + Flo Saw A Bear. It seems the stark visual sense found in Côté’s documentary work has carried over to his latest narrative. Squarely framed against spare backdrops within the rural cabin they’ve shacked up in, Pierrette Robitaille and Romane Bohringer, who play middle-aged lesbian ex-con couple Vic and Flo, respectively, are trying their hand at the monotony of a normal life, but sooner than later they swiftly find that they can not for all their efforts escape the horrors of one’s past.
Côté’s interests lie...
Côté’s interests lie...
- 7/8/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
All Work and No Play Makes Côté Toy With Factory Observation
After a sultry opening monologue from a mystery woman that resonates with a statement that ‘Everything has a price. Not always money’, Denis Côté’s latest erupts in an anxiety inducing symphony of rhythmic industrialization, the pounding and clanging increasing in both proximity and volume as the camera slowly dollies in on a montage of machinery in operation. It is this harsh repetitiveness of mechanization and it’s mixed relationship with the people that engage with it that Joy of Man’s Desiring manages to encapsulate, the human cost of mass consumer factory production.
Excluding the various to-camera portrait shots and lyrical anecdotes that are increasingly sprinkled throughout, much of the film feels akin to the output of the rising stars of Harvard’s Sensory Ethnology Lab. Mixing its focus of physical labor a-la Leviathan with the stringent observation of Manakamana and Sweetgrass,...
After a sultry opening monologue from a mystery woman that resonates with a statement that ‘Everything has a price. Not always money’, Denis Côté’s latest erupts in an anxiety inducing symphony of rhythmic industrialization, the pounding and clanging increasing in both proximity and volume as the camera slowly dollies in on a montage of machinery in operation. It is this harsh repetitiveness of mechanization and it’s mixed relationship with the people that engage with it that Joy of Man’s Desiring manages to encapsulate, the human cost of mass consumer factory production.
Excluding the various to-camera portrait shots and lyrical anecdotes that are increasingly sprinkled throughout, much of the film feels akin to the output of the rising stars of Harvard’s Sensory Ethnology Lab. Mixing its focus of physical labor a-la Leviathan with the stringent observation of Manakamana and Sweetgrass,...
- 4/26/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Quebecois filmmaker Denis Côté makes an unassuming, unabashedly regional kind of cinema, drawing on the rhythms and landscapes of his native province. It’s taken him a long time to get attention south of the border – I had to travel to the Toronto Film Festival to see his first film, Drifting States. He seemed to have a breakthrough of sorts in the U.S. with Curling, which at least got some attention on the festival circuit and was acquired by New Yorker Films, who never released it. Bestiaire, a semi-documentary shot in a Montreal zoo, got him more attention, and Vic […]...
- 2/4/2014
- by Steven Erickson
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Quebecois filmmaker Denis Côté makes an unassuming, unabashedly regional kind of cinema, drawing on the rhythms and landscapes of his native province. It’s taken him a long time to get attention south of the border – I had to travel to the Toronto Film Festival to see his first film, Drifting States. He seemed to have a breakthrough of sorts in the U.S. with Curling, which at least got some attention on the festival circuit and was acquired by New Yorker Films, who never released it. Bestiaire, a semi-documentary shot in a Montreal zoo, got him more attention, and Vic […]...
- 2/4/2014
- by Steven Erickson
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear could best be called a nervous drama. Not quite plot-driven enough to be confused with a conventional thriller, this tense character study from French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté (Bestiaire) leaves us feeling that something ominous is about ready to happen at any moment. The anxiety of that moment’s arrival hangs heavy, and when Côté finally delivers his payoff, it’s considerably disturbing—but it’s almost something of a relief, as well. At least the gnawing anticipation has finally subsided....
- 11/13/2013
- Pastemagazine.com
Perhaps the one word that best describes the Currents New Media Festival, an annual event hosting an international array of artists that steams into Santa Fe for the last half of June, is “overwhelming.” This year cutting edge-curious New Mexicans and tourists alike are being treated to futuristic video installations and interactive artwork, art-apps and animation, multimedia performances and experimental documentaries (including Denis Côté’s disturbing study in the banality of human evil towards animals, Bestiaire) – all taking place inside El Museo Cultural, a cavernous warehouse in the Railyard District. Then there are the satellite happenings. Digital Dome screenings – …...
- 6/22/2013
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
(Bestiaire had its World Premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. It is being distributed theatrically in America by KimStim and screens in L.A. at the Cinefamily, Feb. 21 – 27, 2013. ) The first animals we see in Bestiaire are humans, observing something with great attention. The scene resolves in a funny anti-climax: it’s revealed that they’re sketching in an art class, and all that intense focus is directed at a small, taxidermied deer. By starting his film looking at the viewer, director Denis Côté suggests that what we’re about to experience will be as much about ourselves and …...
- 2/21/2013
- by Paul Sbrizzi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
With his new narrative feature Vic+Flo Saw a Bear playing at this years Berlinale (read Twitch review here) and snatching the Alfred Bauer Prize/Silver Bear, the adventurous Québécois film critic turned director Denis Côté's intriguing little documentary Bestiaire gets a one-week theatrical run at Cinefamily in Los Angeles, February 19-27, after making the rounds at various film festivals (Sundance, Tiff, Canadian Front) last year. The documentary starts in an art class, where a group of students is sketching an inanimate object. They stare at the object intently. The whole sequence is tense and serious. It turns out that the object is a stuffed deer (or is it a baby antelope?). We are looking at the spectators looking at their subjects. Then we move on to...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/20/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Those of us who saw Denis Côté’s latest brilliant documentary Bestiaire (which had its premiere at Berlinale 2012) definitely should see the Canadian director's newest feature film, Vic and Flo Saw a Bear. If you weren’t one of the lucky ones and did not have opportunity to watch the doc it would be good to, at least, imagine it. From what I’ve heard, the people who saw Vic and Flo... without prior knowledge of Bestiaire had a more than slightly different experience during the screening -- more or less, they were bored. Yet, they could have been blown away if they only knew that Côté is looking at his two main heroines exactly the same way he captures the animals in Bestiaire. He puts his camera in one place and lets the animals wander back and forth. The images that found his camera during the shooting time (I...
- 2/11/2013
- by Anna Bielak
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
★★☆☆☆ Denis Côté's Vic and Flo Saw a Bear ( Vic et Flo ont vu un ours, 2013) is the follow-up to the experimental French Canadian director's zoo doc, Bestiaire (2012). A detached and ultimately soulless portrayal of the rehabilitating limbo of post-prison reintegration, Côté's offbeat and darkly comic drama is a near-impenetrable enigma of a film. We meet Vic (Pierrette Robitaille) as she arrives at an isolated bus stop, where she encounters two young boys, one of whom plays her an off-tune rendition of Farrah Shamek on his shabby-looking trumpet. She refuses to pay him anything for his rotten performance, yet the boys can't quite understand why.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 2/11/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
DVD Release Date: Feb. 19, 2013
Price: DVD $29.99
Studio: KimStim/Zeitgeist
The eyes have it in Denis Côté's Bestiaire.
The 2012 documentary film Bestiaire is a unique cinematic examination on humans’ fascination with animals
Directed by Denis Côté, Bestiaire offers a mesmerizing meditation on the relationships between animals and people as seen through multiple seasons at a Quebec safari park. A deceptively simple visual essay about the act of looking, the film lacks a traditional narrative as it blurs the line between observer and observed. Still, there is a sense of dramatic tension in each of the film’s carefully framed shots: a cage door under attack from a growling lion; the scurrying striped legs of zebras in a pen; the long stare of a bull, straight into camera.
Directed by Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté, the striking and contemplative Bestiaire, a example of “pure cinema’ if ever there was one, was recently...
Price: DVD $29.99
Studio: KimStim/Zeitgeist
The eyes have it in Denis Côté's Bestiaire.
The 2012 documentary film Bestiaire is a unique cinematic examination on humans’ fascination with animals
Directed by Denis Côté, Bestiaire offers a mesmerizing meditation on the relationships between animals and people as seen through multiple seasons at a Quebec safari park. A deceptively simple visual essay about the act of looking, the film lacks a traditional narrative as it blurs the line between observer and observed. Still, there is a sense of dramatic tension in each of the film’s carefully framed shots: a cage door under attack from a growling lion; the scurrying striped legs of zebras in a pen; the long stare of a bull, straight into camera.
Directed by Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté, the striking and contemplative Bestiaire, a example of “pure cinema’ if ever there was one, was recently...
- 2/4/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Sorry Oscars. But after the Indie Spirit Awards, the number two spot in terms of Award Season importance are the Cinema Eye Honors. Seems like it was only yesterday when Aj Schnack & Thom Powers teamed up for one basic, logical concept: an event that would reward yearly output of documentary film in a rightfully sound manner. With the wind in their sails, the 6th annual edition was held last night and deservingly so, adding to its double wins at the Idfa and Sundance, it is 5 Broken Cameras that took the top honors for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking. Co-directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi – political activism via you guessed it, five video cameras. The film was released via Kino Lorber.
The night’s only double winner, could be regarded as the silver medal doc film of the year: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Detropia grabbed the Outstanding...
The night’s only double winner, could be regarded as the silver medal doc film of the year: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Detropia grabbed the Outstanding...
- 1/10/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Vic & Flo ont vu un ours
Director/Writer: Denis Côté
Producer(s): Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil, Stéphanie Morissette (Camion)
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Marc-André Grondin, Romane Bohringer, Marie Brassard, Pierrette Robitaille
Ever since his docu-like essay in 2005′s Les états nordiques, Denis Côté has treated us to a body of minimalist work that defies classification with his last item Bestiaire (Sundance, Tiff) best exemplifying his preference for unique observational points and for fringe characters (this case it’s animals, but his other films are populated with the exotic of the human kind). While his 7th film is looking to be his most accessible yet (in the realms of Curling), which comparatively means its still counter-flow to the norm, this will surely have dna from his previous films (offbeat characters enclosed in natural spaces).
Gist: This is the portrait of two recently released prisoners (Pierrette Robitaille and Romane Bohringer...
Director/Writer: Denis Côté
Producer(s): Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil, Stéphanie Morissette (Camion)
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Marc-André Grondin, Romane Bohringer, Marie Brassard, Pierrette Robitaille
Ever since his docu-like essay in 2005′s Les états nordiques, Denis Côté has treated us to a body of minimalist work that defies classification with his last item Bestiaire (Sundance, Tiff) best exemplifying his preference for unique observational points and for fringe characters (this case it’s animals, but his other films are populated with the exotic of the human kind). While his 7th film is looking to be his most accessible yet (in the realms of Curling), which comparatively means its still counter-flow to the norm, this will surely have dna from his previous films (offbeat characters enclosed in natural spaces).
Gist: This is the portrait of two recently released prisoners (Pierrette Robitaille and Romane Bohringer...
- 1/10/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The Toronto Film Critics Association blessed Paul Thomas Anderson's film The Master with four awards this year. And three very different Canadian films have the chance to win the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award: Bestiaire, directed by Denis Côté; Goon, directed by Michael Dowse, and Stories We Tell, directed by Sarah Polley. That makes it two documentaries and a hockey movie that tapped into the Canadian psyche like a Maple tree at the end of Winter. Other titles and acting talent familiar to Twitch readers will also receive awards at the January 8th gala. See the full press release below to find out who they are.The Tfca honours Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master with four awardsBESTIAIRE, Goon and Stories We Tell compete for Rogers $100,000 Best Canadian Film Award Toronto -- The Master, Paul...
- 12/18/2012
- Screen Anarchy
"The Imposter" and "Searching for Sugar Man" each received 5 nods from the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking. 31 features and 5 shorts will vie for the best of the best in documentary filmmaking. Check out the full list of nominees below including the Audience Award and Heterodox Award.
Winners of the 6th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced on January 9, 2013 as Cinema Eye returns for a third year to New York City.s Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
5 Broken Cameras
Directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
Produced by Christine Camdessus, Serge Gordey, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
Detropia
Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
Produced by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady and Craig Atkinson
The Imposter
Directed by Bart Layton
Produced by Dimitri Doganis
Marina Abramović The Artist is Present
Directed by Matthew Akers
Produced by Jeff Dupre and Maro Chermayeff...
Winners of the 6th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced on January 9, 2013 as Cinema Eye returns for a third year to New York City.s Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
5 Broken Cameras
Directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
Produced by Christine Camdessus, Serge Gordey, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
Detropia
Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
Produced by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady and Craig Atkinson
The Imposter
Directed by Bart Layton
Produced by Dimitri Doganis
Marina Abramović The Artist is Present
Directed by Matthew Akers
Produced by Jeff Dupre and Maro Chermayeff...
- 12/11/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Once considered by many as either high art, propaganda or educational videos, documentary film has developed into a popular and visible form of entertainment, sometimes breaking into the mainstream, and often having a greater effect on society. Every year it seems more and more docs are produced and thus not even our hard working staff can manage to get around to watching them all. But we try our best, and so every year we publish a list of the docs that received high praise from our team. This year, the films appearing range from poetic, semi-expository, strictly observational, participatory, reflexive and even groundbreaking. Here are the 20 best documentaries of 2012, list in alphabetical order, with one special mention. Enjoy!
****
5 Broken Cameras
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
5 Broken Cameras is a cinematic achievement, a homemade movie and an extraordinary work of political activism. Co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi,...
****
5 Broken Cameras
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
5 Broken Cameras is a cinematic achievement, a homemade movie and an extraordinary work of political activism. Co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi,...
- 12/6/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Editor’s note: With Bestiaire hitting limited release, here is a re-run of our Berlin Film Festival review, originally published on February 15, 2012. Before the screening of Bestiaire, writer/director/producer Denis Côté relayed a story about an audience member who approached him at Sundance and told him that she felt like the movie was less about animals and more “a movie about an audience watching a movie.” Even without planting the seed of this idea, it would have become obvious within a few minutes of watching the semi-staged documentary. It has an eerie ability to make you aware that you’re in an audience watching something, yet it does so magically without taking you out of the movie. The surrounding people are more obvious, but the images up on the screen are still transfixing. The simple way to describe this convention-bucking flick is that it’s a little over an hour of animals. That...
- 10/20/2012
- by Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Dear Fern,
I'm glad you caught Oliveira's Gebo and the Shadow too, and inadvertently placed it next to To the Wonder. I felt like those were inverse films of each other: one constantly floating, the other firmly rooted; one whose spoken words are all offscreen, the other who's words are all stringently, theatrically on camera; the Malick repeating abstractions on light and love, the Oliveira on loss and misery. And each resolutely, repetitiously dedicated to these methods of presentation, fluid, searching philosophy in flitting figures vs. the concrete weight of bodies, age, poverty. Gebo, based on a play by Raul Brandão, saves its magic for outside of its single setting house, a glimpse of a Virgin Mary on a street corner, the flat, computer generated harbor you mention that opens the film, hands coming out of the shadows to grasp at the audience like the gunfighter who ends Edwin S. Porter...
I'm glad you caught Oliveira's Gebo and the Shadow too, and inadvertently placed it next to To the Wonder. I felt like those were inverse films of each other: one constantly floating, the other firmly rooted; one whose spoken words are all offscreen, the other who's words are all stringently, theatrically on camera; the Malick repeating abstractions on light and love, the Oliveira on loss and misery. And each resolutely, repetitiously dedicated to these methods of presentation, fluid, searching philosophy in flitting figures vs. the concrete weight of bodies, age, poverty. Gebo, based on a play by Raul Brandão, saves its magic for outside of its single setting house, a glimpse of a Virgin Mary on a street corner, the flat, computer generated harbor you mention that opens the film, hands coming out of the shadows to grasp at the audience like the gunfighter who ends Edwin S. Porter...
- 9/16/2012
- MUBI
As I mentioned in the preface to the first part of my Wavelengths preview (the one focusing on the short films), there are significant changes afoot in 2012. Until last year, the festival had a section known as Visions, which was the primary home for formally challenging cinema that nevertheless conformed to the basic tenets of arthouse and/or “festival” cinema (actors, scripting, 70+minute running time, and, once upon a time, 35mm presentation). This year, Wavelengths is both its former self, and it also contains the sort of work that Visions most likely would have housed. While in some respects this can seem to result in a kind of split personality for the section, it also means that Wavelengths, which has often been described as a sort of “festival within the festival,” has moved front and center. Films that would’ve occupied single slots in the older avant-Wavelengths model, like the...
- 9/12/2012
- MUBI
Above: Ernie Gehr's Auto-Collider Xv.
The vast bulk of Tiff's 2012 has been announced and listed here, below. We'll be updating the lineup with the previous films announced, as well as updating links to specific films for more information on them in the coming days. Of particular note is that the Wavelengths and Visions programs have been combined to create what is undoubtedly the most interesting section of the festival. Stay tuned, too, for our own on the ground coverage of Tiff.
Galas
A Royal Affair (Nikolai Arcel, Demark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany)
Argo (Ben Affleck, USA)
The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, USA)
Dangerous Liaisons (Hur Jin-ho, China)
Emperor (Peter Webber, Japan/USA)
English Vinglish (Gauri Shinde, India)
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (Shola Lynch)
Great Expectations (Mike Newell, UK)
Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, UK)
Inescapable (Ruba Nadda, Canada)
Jayne Mansfield's Car (Billy Bob Thorton, USA/Russia)
Looper (Rian Johnson,...
The vast bulk of Tiff's 2012 has been announced and listed here, below. We'll be updating the lineup with the previous films announced, as well as updating links to specific films for more information on them in the coming days. Of particular note is that the Wavelengths and Visions programs have been combined to create what is undoubtedly the most interesting section of the festival. Stay tuned, too, for our own on the ground coverage of Tiff.
Galas
A Royal Affair (Nikolai Arcel, Demark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany)
Argo (Ben Affleck, USA)
The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, USA)
Dangerous Liaisons (Hur Jin-ho, China)
Emperor (Peter Webber, Japan/USA)
English Vinglish (Gauri Shinde, India)
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (Shola Lynch)
Great Expectations (Mike Newell, UK)
Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, UK)
Inescapable (Ruba Nadda, Canada)
Jayne Mansfield's Car (Billy Bob Thorton, USA/Russia)
Looper (Rian Johnson,...
- 8/22/2012
- MUBI
In the last major update for the Toronto International Film Festival 2012 slate, they’ve announced their Canadian features. The line-up includes Sarah Polley’s upcoming documentary Stories We Tell, coming off her Take This Waltz this summer (which also premiered at Tiff). The other major films include two we’ve seen at Cannes,one being Brandon Cronenberg‘s Antiviral, which premiered alongside his father’s Cosmopolis. We disliked it (full review), saying it came off as an “an amateurish, high-budget student film.” The other major title is Xavier Dolan‘s Laurence Anyways, which we loved (full review), calling it a major step forward for the filmmaker. Check out the rest of the titles below, which I’m sure will include many discoveries.
Antiviral Brandon Cronenberg, Canada/USA North American Premiere
Syd March is an employee at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans.
Antiviral Brandon Cronenberg, Canada/USA North American Premiere
Syd March is an employee at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans.
- 8/8/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Following up an already stellar initial line-up, the Toronto International Film Festival 2012 has announced additional sections including Midnight Madness, Documentaries and Vanguard. When the clock strikes 12, some titles one will be able to see include the highly anticipated Seven Psychopaths, from In Bruges director Martin McDonagh. There’s also the world premiere of the horror anthology The ABCs of Death, as well as Dredd and Eli Roth‘s Aftershock and new films from Rob Zombie and Barry Levinson.
The documentary section brings new films from Alex Gibney, Ken Burns and an interesting one titled How to Make Money Selling Drugs, featuring interviews with 50 Cent, Eminem and more. Rounding out the Vanguard section is many titles screened elsewhere, including the excellent documentary on The Shining, Room 237, as well as the next from Kill List director Ben Wheatley, Sightseers (Cannes review). We also have Luis Prieto‘s Pusher remake, and Michel Gondry...
The documentary section brings new films from Alex Gibney, Ken Burns and an interesting one titled How to Make Money Selling Drugs, featuring interviews with 50 Cent, Eminem and more. Rounding out the Vanguard section is many titles screened elsewhere, including the excellent documentary on The Shining, Room 237, as well as the next from Kill List director Ben Wheatley, Sightseers (Cannes review). We also have Luis Prieto‘s Pusher remake, and Michel Gondry...
- 7/31/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Cannes is now over which means it’s time to move to Britain as the Edinburgh Film Festival kicks off!
We’ve just been sent the full line-up for the 2012 Edinburgh Film Festival which is now in it’s 66th year. We have our people (Jamie, Steven and Emma) on the ground at the event right now ready to catch as many films as they possible can throughout the next wee or two as we get to see 121 new features and 19 world premieres.
I’ll let the full press release below do the talking but let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments section below.
World Premieres:
Berberian Sound Studio Borrowed Time Day Of The Flowers Exit Elena Flying Blind Fred Future My Love Guinea Pigs Here, Then Leave It On The Track The Life And Times Of Paul The Psychic Octopus Life Just Is Mnl...
We’ve just been sent the full line-up for the 2012 Edinburgh Film Festival which is now in it’s 66th year. We have our people (Jamie, Steven and Emma) on the ground at the event right now ready to catch as many films as they possible can throughout the next wee or two as we get to see 121 new features and 19 world premieres.
I’ll let the full press release below do the talking but let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments section below.
World Premieres:
Berberian Sound Studio Borrowed Time Day Of The Flowers Exit Elena Flying Blind Fred Future My Love Guinea Pigs Here, Then Leave It On The Track The Life And Times Of Paul The Psychic Octopus Life Just Is Mnl...
- 5/30/2012
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The full programme for the 66th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), which runs from 20 June to 1 July, has been officially announced and will feature nineteen World premieres and thirteen International premieres.
The Festival will showcase one hundred and twenty-one new features from fifty-two countries, including eleven European premieres and seventy-six UK premieres in addition to the World and International premieres. Highlights include the World premieres of Richard Ledes’ Fred; Nathan Silver’s Exit Elena and Benjamin Pascoe’s Leave It On The Track and European premieres of Lu Sheng’s Here, There and Yang Jung-ho’s Mirage in the maiden New Perspectives section; and the International premiere of Benicio Del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Gaspar Noé, Juan Carlos Tabio and Laurent Cantet’s 7 Days In Havana and the European premiere of Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America in the Directors’ Showcase. In addition to the new features presented,...
The Festival will showcase one hundred and twenty-one new features from fifty-two countries, including eleven European premieres and seventy-six UK premieres in addition to the World and International premieres. Highlights include the World premieres of Richard Ledes’ Fred; Nathan Silver’s Exit Elena and Benjamin Pascoe’s Leave It On The Track and European premieres of Lu Sheng’s Here, There and Yang Jung-ho’s Mirage in the maiden New Perspectives section; and the International premiere of Benicio Del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Gaspar Noé, Juan Carlos Tabio and Laurent Cantet’s 7 Days In Havana and the European premiere of Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America in the Directors’ Showcase. In addition to the new features presented,...
- 5/30/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
HollywoodNews.com: Today the Los Angeles Film Festival, in conjunction with Presenting Media Sponsor the Los Angeles Times and Host Partner L.A. Live, announced the Closing Night film and official Us and international selections for the 2012 Festival. Guest Director, Artists in Residence and Conversations with special guests will be announced later this month. The 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival will screen a diverse slate of nearly 200 feature films, short films, and music videos, representing more than 30 countries, along with signature programs such as the Filmmaker Retreat, Poolside Chats, Coffee Talks, music events and more. As previously announced, Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love will be Opening Night, sponsored by Virgin America, and Lorene Scafaria’s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild were selected for the Galas section.
Returning to downtown Los Angeles and headquartered at L.
Returning to downtown Los Angeles and headquartered at L.
- 5/1/2012
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
Revision
There'll be more notes and roundups over the next few days, but before tonight's presentation of the Bears, I thought I'd rank the films I managed to see at this year's Berlinale. Note that these are not awards predictions but rather personal preferences, for what they're worth. In order (for the moment):
Outstanding
1. Barbara (Christian Petzold), Competition (see the notes and roundup).
2. Tabu (Miguel Gomes), Competition (notes and roundup).
3. Revision (Philip Scheffner), Forum.
Very Good
4. Bestiaire (Denis Côté), Forum (notes and roundup).
Good
5. Sister (Ursula Meier), Competition.
6. Death Row (Werner Herzog), Berlinale Special.
7. War Witch (Kim Nguyen), Competition.
8. Aujourd'hui (Alain Gomis), Competition.
9. Everybody in Our Family (Radu Jude), Forum.
10. Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present (Matthew Akers), Panorama Dokumente.
11. Golden Slumbers (Davy Chou), Forum.
Just Above The Middle Line
12. Mercy (Matthias Glasner), Competition.
13. Captive (Brillante Mendoza), Competition (notes and roundup).
14. Francine (Brian M Cassidy and Melani Shatzky), Forum.
There'll be more notes and roundups over the next few days, but before tonight's presentation of the Bears, I thought I'd rank the films I managed to see at this year's Berlinale. Note that these are not awards predictions but rather personal preferences, for what they're worth. In order (for the moment):
Outstanding
1. Barbara (Christian Petzold), Competition (see the notes and roundup).
2. Tabu (Miguel Gomes), Competition (notes and roundup).
3. Revision (Philip Scheffner), Forum.
Very Good
4. Bestiaire (Denis Côté), Forum (notes and roundup).
Good
5. Sister (Ursula Meier), Competition.
6. Death Row (Werner Herzog), Berlinale Special.
7. War Witch (Kim Nguyen), Competition.
8. Aujourd'hui (Alain Gomis), Competition.
9. Everybody in Our Family (Radu Jude), Forum.
10. Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present (Matthew Akers), Panorama Dokumente.
11. Golden Slumbers (Davy Chou), Forum.
Just Above The Middle Line
12. Mercy (Matthias Glasner), Competition.
13. Captive (Brillante Mendoza), Competition (notes and roundup).
14. Francine (Brian M Cassidy and Melani Shatzky), Forum.
- 2/19/2012
- MUBI
Bestiaire
Directed by Denis Côté’s
Screenplay by Denis Côté’s
2012, Canada
Denis Côté is Quebec cinema’s king of art-house filmmaking. Since his debut feature Les états Nordiques was released in 2005, Côté has, in a very short amount of time, climbed the ranks of the Quebec film scene and has already become one of the most important contemporary directors of Quebec cinema. To say that Côté’s films are accessible would be somewhat of a lie. His long and still camera shots will often test his audience’s patience and his narrative experimentations blurring the lines between fiction films and documentaries can seem very odd to anyone who is not familiar with his work. Yet these, somewhat alienating, aspects of his films are also what make him a very fascinating and intriguing filmmaker.
Denis Côté’s latest film opens on a series of close up shots of people’s faces,...
Directed by Denis Côté’s
Screenplay by Denis Côté’s
2012, Canada
Denis Côté is Quebec cinema’s king of art-house filmmaking. Since his debut feature Les états Nordiques was released in 2005, Côté has, in a very short amount of time, climbed the ranks of the Quebec film scene and has already become one of the most important contemporary directors of Quebec cinema. To say that Côté’s films are accessible would be somewhat of a lie. His long and still camera shots will often test his audience’s patience and his narrative experimentations blurring the lines between fiction films and documentaries can seem very odd to anyone who is not familiar with his work. Yet these, somewhat alienating, aspects of his films are also what make him a very fascinating and intriguing filmmaker.
Denis Côté’s latest film opens on a series of close up shots of people’s faces,...
- 2/11/2012
- by Alex Moffatt
- SoundOnSight
As Godard once said of Jerry Lewis, Denis Côté is "a very good framer, like great painters. He has a lot of sense of geometry." In Bestiaire, Côté trains the viewer's eye right from the opening sequence, in which three artists, one sitting, the other two standing before their easels on either side of her, sketch a doe. It might take a moment for the realization to sink in that the doe is dead; she's been stuffed and mounted in an eerily life-like pose. I have to wonder, too, if the artists weren't chosen for their radically different approaches. One concentrates on establishing the form of the animal, another on the texture of the fur.
What follows is a series of compositions whose dominating principle is the frame. For the most part, Côté does not set out to arrange these compositions in such a way that they'll kick the mind...
What follows is a series of compositions whose dominating principle is the frame. For the most part, Côté does not set out to arrange these compositions in such a way that they'll kick the mind...
- 2/10/2012
- MUBI
Die Lage (Condition)
For many, myself included, this is the Berlinale lineup we anticipate most each year: "The 42nd Berlinale Forum will be showing 38 films in its main program, including 26 world premieres and 8 international premieres." There'll be special screenings, too, which we'll be hearing about later, but for now, the main program with synopses from the festival:
Al Juma Al Akheira (The Last Friday) by Yahya Alabdallah, Jordan/United Arab Emirates - International Premiere. "Taxi driver Yousef is forced to bring some order into his failed existence. This lovingly photographed film casts a laconic and occasionally humorous gaze on daily life in the Jordanian capital Amman."
Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (The Woman in the Septic Tank) by Marlon N Rivera, the Philippines. "In this biting satire, three young filmmakers do everything in their power to obtain international fame. They are all too aware of foreign audiences' expectations of Philippine cinema: prostitution,...
For many, myself included, this is the Berlinale lineup we anticipate most each year: "The 42nd Berlinale Forum will be showing 38 films in its main program, including 26 world premieres and 8 international premieres." There'll be special screenings, too, which we'll be hearing about later, but for now, the main program with synopses from the festival:
Al Juma Al Akheira (The Last Friday) by Yahya Alabdallah, Jordan/United Arab Emirates - International Premiere. "Taxi driver Yousef is forced to bring some order into his failed existence. This lovingly photographed film casts a laconic and occasionally humorous gaze on daily life in the Jordanian capital Amman."
Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (The Woman in the Septic Tank) by Marlon N Rivera, the Philippines. "In this biting satire, three young filmmakers do everything in their power to obtain international fame. They are all too aware of foreign audiences' expectations of Philippine cinema: prostitution,...
- 1/20/2012
- MUBI
As noted in the roundup of trailers for the films competing at Sundance, these collections can be a pretty cumbersome load. So I've split the whole bunch into two batches. Again, the trailers for Competition films are here.
New Frontier
Denis Côté's Bestiaire
Terence Nance's An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
Weston Currie's The Perception of Moving Targets
Eve Sussman's whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir
Next <=>
Destin Daniel Cretton's I Am Not a Hipster
David and Nathan Zellner's Kid-Thing
Carrie Preston's That What She Said
Laurence Thrush's Pursuit of Loneliness
Park City At Midnight
Don Coscarelli's John Dies at the End
Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace's Shut Up and Play the Hits
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim's Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
Premieres
Rodrigo Cortés's Red Lights
Documentary Premieres
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders's About Face
James Redford's The D Word: Understanding Dyslexia
Mark Kitchell...
New Frontier
Denis Côté's Bestiaire
Terence Nance's An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
Weston Currie's The Perception of Moving Targets
Eve Sussman's whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir
Next <=>
Destin Daniel Cretton's I Am Not a Hipster
David and Nathan Zellner's Kid-Thing
Carrie Preston's That What She Said
Laurence Thrush's Pursuit of Loneliness
Park City At Midnight
Don Coscarelli's John Dies at the End
Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace's Shut Up and Play the Hits
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim's Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
Premieres
Rodrigo Cortés's Red Lights
Documentary Premieres
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders's About Face
James Redford's The D Word: Understanding Dyslexia
Mark Kitchell...
- 1/16/2012
- MUBI
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