iraq in fragments Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Can't get enough of great docs? You may have missed these during their fest runs, but you can still catch them on DVD. Here are seven documentaries from the last couple years that are well worth seeing, if you haven't caught them yet ...

1) Deliver Us From Evil -- Amy Berg's wrenchingly painful documentary about Oliver O'Grady (pictured, above), a pedophile priest who was moved around from parish to parish to prey on unsuspecting families by his boss, Cardinal Roger Mahony , now Archbishop of Los Angeles (who just a couple days ago, announced a $660 million pre-trial settlement of sexual abuse cases involving other priests), in spite of Mahony's knowledge of O'Grady's penchant for raping children, is a must see, and frankly, I'm shocked that more people haven't seen this Oscar-nommed film. It was by far the most powerful film I saw at last year's Toronto International Film Festival last year. If you haven't seen this film, get it in your DVD rental queue post haste.

2) Jesus Camp -- Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing have kind of take the documentary world by storm the past couple of years, with two back-to-back years of being on the feature-length documentary Oscar short list (hey, it's only a matter of time before they win, trust me). In 2005 they made the excellent Boys of Baraka (also worth catching on DVD if you want to have yourself a Rachel-and-Heidi weekend), and then they hit the ball out of the park again with Jesus Camp, about which our own James Rocchi said, "The best horror film I've seen all year is a documentary."

When Jerry Seinfeld came out to present the Best Documentary Award at last month's Oscar telecast, I turned to the person next to me (who was a total stranger) and said "Seinfeld presenting an Oscar? Who's next? Ray Romano?" And then the comic kicked in with a real tired old piece of comedy schtick about the litter you often find in movie theaters. (I guess by now he's run out of jokes about airplane food.) Anyway, the guy was a silly choice to be an Oscar presenter -- and now one of the Oscar-nominated documentarians has decided to speak up for another reason.

Iraq in Fragments producer John Sinno is more than a little unhappy -- justifiably so if you ask me -- and he's not being shy about his displeasure. I'll post the full letter (entitled "An Open Letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences") after the jump, but here's the gist of his umbrage: Seinfeld was pretty damn disrespectful of the documentary genre while cracking jokes for a billion-plus audience. Mr. Sinno is particularly unhappy with the ignorant and dismissive way in which the Oscar-nominated documentaries were described as "incredibly depressing!" (I was particularly unhappy about the really obvious humor from a guy who really ought to have some good new material by this point. Wow, docos about war are "depressing!" You go, Seinfeld, that's some insight!)

Sinno's got a point: If ever there were ever opportunity to educate and elucidate a large audience as to the importance of documentary films, it would be during the annual Oscar broadcast. Yet Seinfeld (who appeared in one half-decent documentary that probably had ten times the budget of Iraq in Fragments) took the stage and basically reinforced all the lamest stereotypes out there. I mean, would it be so hard to find presenters (and joke writers) who actually know a little bit about film? Or is it preferable to simply roll out a disinterested billionaire and let him "humorously" spew a bunch of short-sighted fallacies? (Oh, but if they chose a different presenter we might have missed all that hilarious stuff about movie theater litter!) Well, we now know where John Sinno stands; his letter to the Academy is included below.

Knowledgeable people have been talking a lot about documentaries lately, about how new, smaller digital technology is allowing people to get closer to their subjects -- not to mention producing films much more cheaply. It's a renaissance for documentaries, they say. Eight documentaries released in 2006 cracked the list of the top 100 highest-grossing documentaries of all time, and another 15 currently reside on the second hundred.

But here's a simple question: how many of these would anyone want to watch a second time? How many have a shelf life? For example, here's my personal documentary "shelf life" top five: Crumb (1995, Terry Zwigoff), Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997, Errol Morris), Lessons of Darkness (1992, Werner Herzog), To Be and to Have (2002, Nicolas Philibert) and My Voyage to Italy (1999, Martin Scorsese).

Perhaps host David Cross said it best when talking about the ever-present indie vs. studio issue currently shining a negative light on the Gotham Awards (a 16 year-old event that's supposed to honor low-budget indie flicks, yet somehow managed to include films with budgets close to $100 million): "We're here to celebrate the films that show you don't need a big studio, films with an untested director and cast -- films like The Departed. How that got greenlit I have no idea."

Of course, he's referencing the Martin Scorsese pic, which was one of five films nominated (Half Nelson, Little Children, Marie Antoinette and Old Joy being the other four) in the Best Feature category, despite it's $90 million budget. However, with its minuscule $1 million budget, Half Nelson came out victorious, taking home the award for Best Feature, while Ryan Fleck picked up the prize for Breakthrough Director and newbie Shareeka Epps won for Breakthrough Actor (an award she shared with Babel's Rinko Kikuchi). Babel also came out on top in the Best Ensemble Cast category, Iraq in Fragments won for Best Documentary and, last but certainly not least, Choking Man claimed the prize for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You -- a category that specializes in honoring films that currently do not have theatrical distribution. For those of you interested in watching the ceremony (which took place last night), you can catch it on NYC TV next Wednesday, as well as on iFilm beginning this Monday.

So, what do you think -- do films like The Departed, Marie Antoinette ($40 million budget) and Babel ($25 million budget) belong at an event that's supposed to be geared toward indie flicks? Then again, the definition of "indie" was thrown out the window a long time ago, and is now used as more of a marketing tool than anything else.

Last week, our Monday Morning Poll topic was on the upcoming 9/11 films -- United 93, which comes out this month, and Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, starring Nicolas Cage, which opens August 11. At the same time we asked that poll question (and we're certainly not the only film site asking ourselves and our readers if it's too soon for a film about 9/11) -- the Seattle Arab and Iranian Film Festival (SAIFF) was running here in Seattle. It's a small festival, without the furious deal-making and hot "scene" of Sundance or the red carpets and brouhaha surrounding Cannes, or even the mild fervor that will be generated in Seattle at the end of May with the opening of the Seattle International Film Festival.

Yet now, perhaps more than ever before, smaller film fests -- especially the culture-centric fests like SAIFF, the Seattle Jewish Film Festival, which ran here recently, and lots of other smaller fests around the country -- matter. They matter because it is at these smaller fests that hundreds of seeds of social conscience and cultural understanding are sown. Hopefully some of those seeds will get picked up and scattered around at the larger fests where they'll get more press and attention, but even for those that don't score large play on the festival circuit, much less the Holy Grail of indie film, distribution, small film festivals give their voices a chance to be heard.

As Erik reported back in January (Can you believe it's already April?), the Sundance Institute will bring its indie mojo to the east coast next month with a series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). For eleven days, starting on May 11, BAM will be featuring not only films from this year's Sundance festival, but also Q&A sessions with filmmakers, discussions on independent cinema, and chances to see and hear works from the Sundance composers lab and new works of musical theater.

Among the 14 films that will screen at BAM are Iraq in Fragments (look for a review from Kim in the next couple of days), artsy porn flick Destricted, Wristcutters: A Love Story, Sherrybaby, and screenwriting award winner Stephanie Daley. Also, as an added bonus for you The Usual Suspects fans (it premiered at Sundance in 1995), screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie will be featured at a special event, discussing the development of his film and showing "never-before-seen uncut footage straight from [the]...set." Yeah, you suddenly want to go to Brooklyn, don't you?

Tickets for most screenings go on sale next Monday, so get your calendar out and starting making some plans.

I know you'll find it hard to believe if you live in the Puget Sound area, but this weekend we're scheduled for yet more rain. Like a good Seattleite, I like my rain and dark cloud cover as much as the rest of you, but even I'm starting to get excited at the occasioal glimpses of blue sky and sunshine.  As always, though, you have lots of movie options to keep you happy, and chances are whatever theater you choose, there's a coffee shop nearby to get your obligatory caffeine fix to boot.

UW Film Club 

 

This week brings us the Seattle Arab and Iranian Film Festival  (March 31-April 6), and what a lineup! The festival has some promising films lined up, including Sundance winner Iraq in Fragments, Gate of the Sun, a 278-minute epic film about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as told through the 50 year history of an uprooted Palestinian family, and documentary The Color of Olives. Check out the full schedule here.

 

 

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival opens next week in London (New York gets one in June), continuing the group's effort to both showcase and, increasingly, "[help] make movies with distinct human rights themes." In addition to screenings - some of the world premieres- the festival offers short plays on relevant themes, educational programs for students, and Q&As with actors and directors involved in some of the featured films.

Among the works in this year's festival are James Longley's Iraq in Fragments, which won the documentary cinematography and directing awards at this year's Sundance Festival, and Winter in Baghdad and Smiling in a War Zone, documentaries about American involvement in the Middle East that examine the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively. Other topics explored in this years films include race relations in Brazil, Peru's battle against the Shining Path rebel group, and the mistreatment of women in depressingly high number of countries.

The festival runs from March 15-25 in a wide array of theaters in London; discount tickets can be bought in advance on the festival's website (linked above).