November 20, 2014

Keep on Keepin’ On: A Musical Journey Through A Magical Friendship

  Written by Megan Scanlon On Tuesday afternoon, Director Alan Hicks was generous with his time in front of an audience that expressed their admiration and appreciation for the first time filmmaker’s Keep On Keepin’ On, a documentary that took Hicks five years to make about the legendary jazz musician Clark Terry. “For me this […]

November 20, 2014

The Great Invisible: Exposing the Aftermath of a Major Diasater

    Written by Laura Dattaro Calling the 2010 BP disaster an “oil spill” is a huge misnomer. It was no spill — it was a rig explosion that killed 11 workers and left a deep-sea oil well open to gush millions of gallons of crude into the Gulf waters for months. And it was, […]

November 19, 2014

High School Flashbacks at DOC NYC

    Written by Jenna Belhumeur At Tuesday afternoon’s screening of High School, the 1968 film directed by renowned documentarian Frederick Wiseman, audience members revisited a classic exploration of an American institution. High School was his second film after Titicut Follies, a film that exposed life inside a prison for the insane. Wiseman is now […]

November 19, 2014

Trixie and Monkey Talk Love, Success, and Burlesque at DOC NYC

  Written by Jacob Appet On Monday night, DOC NYC screened the world premiere of Kirsten D’Andrea Hollander’s Us, Naked: Trixie & Monkey.  The film takes us into the private lives of two modern-day burlesque performers who go by the names Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey.  Their unique performances combine impressive acrobatic feats […]

November 19, 2014

Justice, Journalism and A Murder in the Park

Written by Maggie Glass A young black man, Anthony Porter, is arrested for a double murder and put on death row. A passionate journalism professor and his students investigate the crime, find an alternate suspect, and successfully petition for Porter’s release just days before his scheduled execution. An ostensible triumph for justice — and yet, […]

November 19, 2014

Citizenfour: Portrait of a Whistle-Blower

    Written by Jenna Belhumeur What happens when technology outpaces democratic oversight? Citizenfour answers just that. In Laura Poitras’s documentary, which screened Tuesday night at Chelsea’s Bow Tie Theater, viewers are invited into the fateful Hong Kong hotel room where Edward Snowden facilitated the publication of shocking NSA classified documents. Poitras appeared after the […]

November 18, 2014

Merchants of Doubt: A Call to Action Against Disinformation

  Written by Krystal Grow When you’re responsible for manufacturing some of the most harmful and toxic products on the planet, presentation is everything, and nothing is as appears. Director Robert Kenner, who uncovered the capitalist complex behind the food processing industry in Food Inc., returns with another captivating documentary that exposes disturbing connections between […]

November 18, 2014

Soft Vengeance and “A Persistent Fight for Equality”

Written by Jenna Belhumeur In Abby Ginzberg’s documentary, Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa, viewers are taken through the fight against South African apartheid via the life of one of the country’s most noted activists. Following the film’s screening on Sunday at the SVA Theater, Ginzberg was joined onstage by Sachs for […]

November 18, 2014

Rubble Kings and the Untold Story of South Bronx Street Gangs

  Written by Maggie Glass The War Pigs. The Jolly Stompers. The Savage Nomads. The Aliens. The Renagade Turks. In the 1970s, New York City was ruled by gangs, each with its own identity, fashion sense, and style of violence. With the idealism of the 60s fading, the city was experiencing swift urban decay and […]