The Latest...
- The Sheik and I: Zahedi takes a walk in the documentary danger zone
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Add Caveh Zahedi's THE SHEIK AND I, which I just saw at its sxsw premiere this evening, to the list of "situationist" documentaries. For other examples I refer you to Mad Brügger's THE AMBASSADOR (as well as his first film, THEN RED CHAPEL), and Renzo Martin's ENJOY POVERTY: EPISODE 3.... – ‘The Sheik and I: Zahedi takes a walk in the documentary danger zone’ - One of the world’s great film festivals takes place in Columbia, Missouri. True or False?
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(True Vision honouree Victor Kossakovksy and True/False co-conspirator David Wilson parade in Columbia...Paul Sturtz is T/F's other conspiracy honcho)
One often encounters the term "managing expectations" applied to the psychology of working with young filmmakers. I was thinking about that dire phrase going into my first True/False Film Festival this past weekend. It couldn't possibly be as stupendously magical as EVERYBODY who has ever attended this Columbia, Missouri based film festival has proclaimed. I would need to manage my expectations. Yet, despite self-applying this mental voodoo, I can attest that True/False is stupendously magical. It is, in fact, the perfect film festival, and any list of the "world's best film festivals" would be incomplete without its presence .... – ‘One of the world’s great film festivals takes place in Columbia, Missouri. True or False?’ - Update: Herzog Still Hates Chickens
- – ‘Update: Herzog Still Hates Chickens’
- Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1961)
- Still plays like it was made yesterday. – ‘Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1961)’
- Seasons In The Sundance ’12
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With the American Dream nestled in the hills and canyons surrounding Park City, and Newt and Romney sparring on the telly whilst Obama took his first step onto the re-election plank, the documentaries at Sundance 2012 presented their own state of the union address. Or, attack. Nuclear and enviromental meltdowns (THE ATOMIC STATES OF AMERICA, CHASING ICE) a sick and starving citizenry (ESCAPE FIRE, FINDING NORTH), economic collapse (DETROPIA, THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES, WE'RE NOT BROKE), deeply-rooted discrimination (HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, LOVE FREE OR DIE, SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME), a military which rapes 20% (at least) of its female forces (THE INVISIBLE WAR), and, in the one true masterwork in the programme (and the eventual Grand Prize winner), an incisive mapping of the war on drugs (THE HOUSE I LIVE IN), giving us a credible argument that America's failed, racist drug policy gets to the core of it all .... – ‘Seasons In The Sundance ’12’
