Paired with the endearing Kid and The Clown, this short introduces us to Bruce Mertz, better known around Concord, California as Mr. Christmas. A widower living with his cat Trixie, Bruce is a retired electrician who needed a way to make people happy, and make himself happy by proxy. So beginning in August every year…
Category: Film Festivals
Where Heaven Meets Hell – Sasha Friedlander, USA
Saturday morning on a day that is going to be spent in theaters began with a presentation of Where Heaven Meets Hell from director Sasha Friedlander. Gorgeously shot in East Java, Indonesia the film follows a group of miners who work in Kawah Ijen, a sulfur mine. From its opening shot of the men…
Her Master’s Voice – Nina Conti, UK
I’ve always been fascinated and delighted by puppetry, muppets and ventriloquism, so when I read the blurb on this film, I knew I had to make the effort to see this one. Having done so, I can’t recommend it enough. As I said in my Documentary post, a good one can make you laugh, cry,…
Brooklyn Castle – Katie Dellamaggiore, USA
I like chess. I’ve been known to play it, and I own a couple of novelty sets, a Harry Potter one and a Lord of the Rings one, but these kids would mop the floor with me in moments… I’m not an extremely skilled player, but I do enjoy it. The documentary, brought to…
Women With Cows – Peter Gerdehag, Sweden
This Swedish documentary introduces us to elderly sisters, Britt and Inger. The pair own roughly a dozen cows on the run-down dairy farm where they grew up. Older sister Britt lives and works there even still, loving the time she spends with her animals, despite the toll years of milking have taken on her…
Outing – Sebastian Meise and Thomas Reider, Austria
We open on a scene from a family home movie – a cute little boy and his young brother mugging for the camera as their mother films and their father looks on. It’s as normal and immediately endearing as any home movie can be. Flash forward in time and that same little boy now…
Oma & Bella – Alexa Karolinski, Germany/USA
Oma & Bella points a camera into the lives of two Holocaust survivors who remained in Germany after WWII. Living together now in Berlin, their friendship has survived several decades, and has an enviable strength due to their shared memories and love of cooking. For both women, food – and the preparation of food…
Shadows of Liberty – Jean-Philippe Tremblay, UK
Knowledge is power, and that power is far to great to be only in the hands of a few who don’t concern themselves with their countries, their societies, their species, their planet only their wallets… I knew this one would make me mad. Phew. Mad doesn’t begin to describe. Those who know me know…
The Job – Didier Cros, France
In a world where unemployment rates climb as the global economy falls, a person’s sense of self-worth can begin to come more about whether they have a job, or not, rather than what that job may actually entail. Being gainfully employed is less about being happy in life, and more about the ability to…
Hot Docs 2012 – Thoughts On Documentaries
Documentary – (dŏkˌyə-mĕnˈtə-rē) adjective Consisting of, concerning, or based on documents. Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film. noun pl. doc·u·men·ta·ries A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting…
