Posts Tagged Documentary Edge Festival
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May 3, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Whitney, Can I Be Me: Film
Whitney, Can I Be Me Director: Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal Lafayette Films/Passion Pictures/Showtime Networks A subtly powerful documentary that gets its strength and credibility through the use of footage from a never-before-seen fly-on-the-wall 1999 tour doco (that’s Dolezal’s footage, hence the co-directing credit), it seems important to get out of the way, right away, […]Archive
May 18, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Maya Angelou And Still I Rise: Film
Maya Angelou And Still I Rise Directors: Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack An American Masters presentation/Poet’s Poet Media Group/WNET/ITVS Poet, essayist, memoirist, dancer, singer, storyteller, campaigner, protester, advocate, actor, the great Maya Angelou was an inspiration to many – and towering presence in African-American literature and culture. As a political totem for race and […]Archive
May 9, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Hello I Am David!: Film
Hello I Am David! Director: Cosima Lange Basis berlin Filmproduktion/Beleza Film For so many people, the introduction to David Helfgott was the movie Shine – in retrospect, if not at that time, that film seems to be more about Geoffrey Rush’s performance than the actual story of Helfgott, Australian pianist who rebuilt his career after […]Archive
May 8, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Norman Lear – Just Another Version of You: Film
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You Directors: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady Loki Films/Thirteen/WNET He’s 93 and sharp as anything – and what a life of impact – Norman Lear is one of the greatest minds to have ever worked in television. A showrunner for so many big-deal TV shows in America in the […]Archive
May 4, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Requiem For The American Dream: Film
Requiem For The American Dream Directors: Peter D. Hutchison/Kelly Nyks/Jared P. Scott Naked City Pictures/PF Pictures/Gravitas Ventures Released last year (and – it has to be said, already available on Netflix) this film couldn’t feel more relevant than right now if it tried, in the build-up to the American election, with the news that Trump […]Archive
May 3, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
The Sound of Her Guitar: Film
The Sound of Her Guitar Director: Bill Morris Wild Islands Media I’ve enjoyed some of Donna Dean’s music but I really enjoyed this version of her life story, a documentary about her travel through America, her early life in New Zealand, the redemptive power of the country music she sought out as both means to […]Archive
May 2, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Nathan East – For The Record: Film
Nathan East: For The Record Directors: Chris Gero/David Maxwell Yamaha Entertainment Group of America/New Wave Entertainment Television What started out, clearly, as a digital press-kit component to Nathan East’s debut solo album gets stretched beyond EPK and into feature-length documentary film. Understandable when you play into the film’s tagline that Nathan East is the most […]Archive
May 31, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
In My Father’s House: Film
In My Father’s House Directors: Ricki Stern/Anne Sundberg Break Thru Films Here’s a very thoughtful mediation on reconciliation; the heartbreak and lasting impacts of addiction, the frustration of needing to acknowledge, of not being able to escape ones genes. Che “Rhymefest” Smith has songwriting credits on Kanye West’s Jesus Walks and the recent Academy and […]Archive
May 28, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Bronx Obama: Film
Bronx Obama Director: Ryan Murdock Saving Daylight Productions Louis Ortiz was down on his luck, he’d lost his job – he was already a nobody. And then he found his best shot at becoming somebody was to become somebody else – he is the Bronx Obama of the title here; this is his story – […]Archive
May 25, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Heaven Adores You: Film
Heaven Adores You Director: Nickolas Dylan Rossi Blowback Pictures/Heaven Adores You/ZAP The life of Elliott Smith is not riveting – there’s not a lot to tell, I’ve worked through most of the books available and there’s not a whole heap you can find out. The life of Elliott Smith is fascinating though – because he […]Archive
May 21, 2015 by Simon Sweetman