This breakthrough documentary follows door-to-door Bible salesman Paul Brennan and his colleagues over several weeks as they ply their trade from Boston to Chicago to Miami. New York Times critic Vincent Canby wrote, “It’s such a fine, pure picture of a small section of American life that I can’t imagine its ever seeming irrelevant, either […]
Robert Drew, who died this year, led a company of trailblazers in observational documentary. One of the most striking films from this era is The Chair, which follows the attorney Louis Nizer as he attempts to save the prisoner Paul Crump from the electric chair. Drew was joined by Richard Leacock, Gregory Shuker, DA Pennebaker […]
Frederick Wiseman’s second film as a director looks at an urban Philadelphia high school, capturing interactions between students, teachers, parents and administrators. The film was lauded by critics (“brilliant” wrote Richard Schickel) and dreaded by locals (it didn’t play on Philadelphia public television for over 30 years). A landmark in American documentary, this is an […]
During the fertile early years of Drew Associates following the breakthrough of Primary, came this seldom-seen portrait of David Allen, a jazz trumpeter struggling in the Santa Monica drug rehabilitation center Synanon House. Pennebaker’s love of music drew him to David and the film prefigures later portraits such as Dont Look Back. He teamed with […]
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster requires no affinity for heavy metal music to appreciate the many pleasures of this documentary classic. Oscar-nominated filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Paradise Lost) follow the members of the band over several years as they engage in group therapy. Reviewing the film for the New […]
Newly restored for its 20th anniversary, Hoop Dreams has never looked so good on the big screen. The film follows two Chicago teens, Arthur Agee and William Gates, over their four years of high school as they aspire to use their basketball skills to create better futures for their families. When the film was released, […]
NYC PREMIERE Young love—and heartbreak—is captured through a tailor-made soundtrack in Elvira Lind’s sweetly observed naturalistic portrait. 18-year-old hopeless romantic Ryan writes songs about his 16-year-old girlfriend Alexis as the couple navigates a long-distance relationship between Long Island and San Francisco. But in contrast to his supportive family, Alexis’s father doesn’t approve of their relationship […]
WORLD PREMIERE As a teenager in the 1980s, Scott Crawford began a fanzine documenting the explosion of a distinctive brand of hardcore punk music in Washington, DC, exemplified by bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains and Fugazi. Drawing from his own immersion in that world, and featuring a who’s who of musicians, label owners, photographers […]
NYC PREMIERE In Jingle Bell Rocks!, director Mitchell Kezin delves into the minds of some of the world’s most legendary Christmas music fanatics and hits the road to hang with his holiday heroes – including hip hop legend Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons of RUN-D.M.C., The Flaming Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne, filmmaker John Waters, bebopper Bob […]
NYC PREMIERE Elliott Smith was unexpectedly thrust into the mainstream spotlight when his song “Miss Misery” was nominated for an Oscar in 1998. He died just five years later, at the age of 34. Structured as both an expansive overview of the singer/songwriter’s life and as an elegiac city symphony focused on the influence of […]