March 10, 2017 | POV’s list of essential reading for the documentary and independent filmmaking community.
New Documentary Captures the Elusive Azzedine Alaïa
Famous but underappreciated has become a foolproof template for documentary subjects in recent years, used in films as disparate as Searching for Sugar Man, 20 Feet from Stardom and My Architect. Add to the trope a cinematic fascination with fashion and you have the basis for a poetic documentary about a tempestuous and imposingly gifted Tunisian-born French designer who, while exalted among cognoscenti, is all but unknown to the wider world.
Read more | New York Times »
A Documentary That Explains the Dearth of Innovative Young French Filmmakers
If the French Ministry of Culture were to hold hearings on why there are so few innovative young French filmmakers today, Claire Simon’s documentary The Graduation (Le Concours, better translated as “The Entrance Exam”) could be Exhibit A. (It played last fall in the DOC NYC series and this past weekend at the True/False Film Fest, which is where I saw it.) It’s entirely possible that France’s movie-doldrums are merely a passing chill and that there’s an underground current in the French film world that’s soon to burst forth with inventive energy. But, for the moment, it’s hard to avoid noticing that France hasn’t produced a historic director in three decades.
Read more | New Yorker »
20 Must-See Movies At The 2017 SXSW Film Festival
The opening and closing night films this year are quite big, with Terrence Malick bringing his music movie Song To Song to launch the fest, while the sci-fi Life with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds closes things out. Blockbusters to watch out for include Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron and Edgar Wright’s long-awaited Baby Driver. On the indie front, Joe Swanberg is bringing his Netflix movie Win It All, while James Franco will unveil his work in progress The Disaster Artist.
Read more | The Playlist »
Diddy to Premiere Bad Boy Documentary at Tribeca
Diddy has announced that the new documentary called Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: The Bad Boy Story will premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. The film, directed by Daniel Kaufman, offers a behind-the-scenes look at Bad Boy Entertainment’s 20-year history including the murder of Biggie Smalls. It also follows Sean Combs as he attempts to reunite the Bad Boy roster for their 2015 Barclays Center shows.
Read more | Pitchfork »
Takeaways From Harvard’s Fake News Conference
A recent conference gathered a few dozen academics, all concerned about the future of news, in a Harvard Law School conference room. In a media climate characterized by an apparent disregard for facts and with the president himself seemingly determined to undermine trust in the press, participants were determined to solve the 64 million-dollar question: How do we solve the problem of fake news?
Read more | Storybench »
Upcoming Festivals and Deadlines
This Week
- Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Mar 3 – 12
- CAAMFest Mar 9 – 19
- SXSW Film Festival Mar 10 – 18
Next Week
- Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Mar 3 – 12
- CAAMFest Mar 9 – 19
- SXSW Film Festival Mar 10 – 18
- Deadline: IDFAcademy Summer School Mar 15
- CPH:DOX Mar 16 – 26
Get more documentary film news and features: Subscribe to POV’s documentary blog, like POV on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @povdocs!
