Short of the Week – The Typist Tori Brazier July 24, 2017 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/222274236 The Typist mixes dramatisations of Otto Bremerman’s 1994 historical society interview and his 1950s interviewing of gay sailors with stock footage to great effect,...
City of Ghosts – Review Calum Baker July 22, 2017 Reviews The opening minutes of City of Ghosts show Matthew Heineman on the same showy form that made his Cartel Land so interesting. Key members of Syrian anti-ISIS journalist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently...
Short of the Week – Balloonfest Louise Burrell July 17, 2017 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/223715406 In a documentary that could just as easily be a Christopher Guest film, director Nathan Truesdell pulls together archive footage of a frankly bizarre event that occurred in...
Whitney: Can I Be Me – Review Calum Baker June 16, 2017 Reviews Whitney: Can I Be Me sees Nick Broomfield take on the iconic spectre of Asif Kapadia's Amy, and largely fail. His brief, of course, is to take on the iconic spectre of Whitney Houston, but again, we've seen...
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! – Review Louise Burrell June 5, 2017 Reviews This month marks fifty years since the release of one of the most iconic albums of all time, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, changing the face of modern day music forever. The album marked a pivotal...
Short of the Week – Strawberries Will Save The World Phil W. Bayles May 29, 2017 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/216918144 The world is a bloody scary place sometimes, and even our beloved Short of the Week section can’t escape that fact. Too often recently, our shorts have dealt with heavy...
Le Venerable W. – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 20, 2017 Reviews Extreme Buddhism might sound like the brainstorm of a BBC Three producer, but in Barbet Schroeder’s ferocious documentary it’s about as far from a laughing matter as you could imagine. Despite their serene...
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City – Review Calum Baker May 5, 2017 Reviews Curiously, Jane Jacobs doesn't appear that often in Citizen Jane; the subtitle, Battle for the City, is far more appropriate. Director Matt Tyrnauer actually presents a study of urban development over the...
Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo – Review Bertie Archer April 16, 2017 Reviews As editor and director of this excellent documentary, David Fairhead is in complete control of his subject. In compiling archive footage, animations, and talking-head interviews, he forms a compelling...
Short of the Week – Mend and Make Do Ersin Ali April 10, 2017 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/209115026 When looking backwards in time it is easy to wryly smile at the use of the phrase 'Back in my day' or 'When I was younger...'. These clichés, denote something humorous about...
Gleason – Review Thom Denson March 12, 2017 Reviews In the sport of American football, a defensive back exists as the last line of defence, a role that requires immense physical ability as well as unwavering bravery. Your job is to navigate through obstacles,...
P.S. Jerusalem – Review Calum Baker February 19, 2017 Reviews Danae Elon has a remarkably relatable habit of both admitting her own failings and failing to admit them. P.S. Jerusalem, narrated intermittently by its director-cinematographer, is a fascinating, frustrating...
LoveTrue – Review L D February 11, 2017 Reviews The recent preoccupation in documentary film with revealing the processes that occur behind the scenes has led to Kirsten Johnson’s autobiographical docu-memoir Cameraperson, and Robert Greene’s...
Tower – Review Joni Blyth February 5, 2017 Reviews Tower stands as a proud example of how documenting humanity's worst moments will always show humanity at its best. This moving film sidesteps typical breakdowns of killer Charles Whitman's identity and...
O.J.: Made in America – Review Christopher Preston February 3, 2017 Reviews Between black and white are over 500 shades of grey. This is the argument of Ezra Edelman’s exhaustive cinematic thesis on O.J. Simpson; a comprehensive documentary that shows that in order to understand...