April 15, 2007

Docs, 4/15.

MC5 "The latest chapter in the tumultuous saga of MC5: A True Testimonial, the explosive documentary by local filmmakers David Thomas (a part-time Reader employee) and Laurel Legler about the Detroit proto-punk band, has drawn to a close, and now it almost seems possible that the film could get released," announces Peter Margasak at the Chicago Reader's blog, Post No Bills. For much more on the case, see Detroit Tango.

Update: AJ Schnack has the award-winners from this year's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and notes, "The double win by The Monastery, following its triumph at IDFA in November, makes it one of the front runners for this year's Oscar nominations."

"Ultimately, the more films that play in more venues, the better it is for all of us who make nonfiction films," writes AJ Schnack in an entry that explores the Academy's new rules for qualifying to run the Oscar race in the documentary category and the history that's led up to them. "The sky isn't falling (even if a recent Best Documentary winner suggests it might be sooner than we think) and docmakers have a real opportunity to build a grass roots network of venues across the nation wherein filmmakers can accomplish self-distribution." Today, a follow-up entry, responding to comments on the original entry.

POV: Manufactured Landscapes Verena talks with Jennifer Baichwal about Manufactured Landscapes for PingMag. Via Coudal Partners. Related: From Hello Cool World, a PDF of Adam Nayman's piece on the film in POV; HCW and The Corporation, by the way, have launched a new zine, News of the Cool.

Like the cinetrix, Chuck Tryon, too, has been at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, which wraps today. On Friday, he caught two shorts, Alice Sees the Light and South of Ten, and two features, Everything's Cool and Radiant City. On Saturday, he saw Meeting Resistance, James Longley's short, Sari's Mother, The Devil Came on Horseback, Talk to Me and Kurt Cobain About a Son. But there's more: Chuck also saw three films by Jem Cohen.



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Posted by dwhudson at April 15, 2007 1:44 PM