Full Frame 2025: Day Three

The 27th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival wrapped up last night in downtown Durham, but my processing of what I took in over the last four days is still going on in my overwhelmed noggin. It’s always a heady experience to see so many fine docs, each one entertainingly expanding my knowledge on their subjects, and what I saw of this year’s roster really got my mind racing. I saw more documentary shorts than at previous Full Frames so I’ll start with the four that kicked off Saturday morning:

YOUR OPINION, PLEASE (Dir. Marshall Granger, 2025)

This pleasantly amusing 15-minute doc short concerns comments from folks who called in to Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana to talk about, well, whatever they wanted to talk about between 1997 and 2007. The callers’ voices are heard talking to Ken Siebert, and the short’s director, Marvin Granger, while tranquil shots of small-town life, and prairie terrains grace the screen. Politics, religion, and a thread about the meaning of poetry are among the topics discussed, with one of my favorite remarks being, “I’m not a member of any organized party; I’m a democrat.” 

 

MAMA MICRA (Dirs. Rebecca Blöcher, Frédéric Schuld, 2025)

In this odd animated short, filmmaker Blöcher’s prickly relationship with her mother is depicted via stop motion imagery involving characters and landscapes fashioned out of wool. Blöcher’s recorded conversation (in German with subtitles), with her mother, Verena, about her life, the last ten years of which she lived in her car, appears as voice-over for the surreal symbolism that’s heavily dominated by a figure of a black crow. The 25-minute film mixes in some black and white photos of its subject, which adds to its haunting, and very personal feel.

 

MAIL MYSELF TO YOU (Dir. Imogen Pranger, 2024)

Something I didn’t know before is that Oberlin College in Ohio houses an enormous collection of mail art made up of the vast archives by artists Harley Francis, and Reid Wood. This fun 16-minute film is filled with many colorful examples of mail art, which is defined by Wood, as “a system or a process where artworks are exchanged using the postal system; it’s also a lot about collaboration, and about gift giving.” Other correspondence artists relay their mail art memories as scores of illustrated postcards, letters, and envelopes are shown as Pranger’s short zips along merrily, bookended by a cover of its title song, originally composed by Woody Guthrie, performed by Jace Mason. I also wasn’t aware that there’s an international mail art network, but now consider me to be in the know.

 

CONFESSIONS OF UNDECIDED WOMEN

(Dir. Milja Härkönen, 2025)

My last doc short of the day was this Finnish film, which is making its North American premiere at the festival. It's another animated offering, but flat unlike MAMA MICRA, and switches styles throughout. The voices of women in their thirties struggling with whether or not to be mothers are heard as the imagery - sometimes smooth, sometimes crude - enhances their words. The dilemma these biological clock watchers are facing is mostly suited by the animation, but at times the sketchiness of the art is creepy. But maybe that's the point as these ladies are navigating through unsettling stuff especially with the societal expectations. The 20-minute movie is not without its insights, but I'm so not the target audience for this.

PREDATORS (Dir. David Osit, 2025)

If you’ve seen the show, To Catch a Predator (2004-2007), which Jimmy Kimmel called “Punked for Pedophiles,” you know the drill. The producers of the program working with the police would set up a sting operation in a house with multiple hidden cameras where they’d lure abusers under the guise of meeting the child they thought they’d been messaging online or speaking to on the phone.

Then host Chris Hansen would appear to confront the offender, they’d have an awkward AF talk after which the abuser would leave the house to be met by police waiting outside to be taken into custody. While this might make for compelling TV, director Osit wants to explore the ethics of the controversial series here, hoping to find an answer for what the show's host Hansen asks the men after they're captured, “What was going on in your mind?”

Osit posits this because he was sexually abused as a child, but he doesn’t think that the show really cares about the answer. An episode in which one of the offenders commits suicide (not on camera, or at least shown) is thought to be why the program was cancelled, but Hansen has gone on to do similar themed shows, and there are many copy cats, one of which, Skeeter Jean with his Predatorial Investigator Unit, gets a little too much attention here.

Hansen appears late in the film for an interview, but his take on the show doesn’t appear to satisfy Osit, or at least the filmmaker's intense final close-up of himself doesn’t look satisfied. PREDATORS is uneven, and not as deep a dive as its subject deserves, but it is still has cutting effect as a thesis questioning the exploitation of such a sickness. 

WE WANT THE FUNK

(Dirs. Stanley Nelson, Nicole London, 2025)

As at previous Full Frames, Saturday night is the perfect time for a music documentary to be slotted, and this year’s selection, about the history of the funk genre, joyously fits the bill. Director Nelson (FREEDOM RIDERS, THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION, MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL), who specializes in docs about African American history, has had many of his films screened over the years at the festival, and was in attendance for the film that he told the audience at Fletcher Hall in the Q&A afterwards was just finished three weeks ago.

Nelson, and co-director Nicole gather together such luminaries as Parliament/Funkadelic’s George Clinton, Kool & the Gang’s Robert Kool Bell, the Talking Heads’ David Byrne, the J.B.s’ Fred Wesley, and, of course, Questlove, who one doesn’t make a music doc these days without, to talk about the evolution of funk that undeniably began with James Brown, got psychedelic with Sly and the Family Stone, and went on to be sampled by every hip hop artist ever. The doc is wall-to-wall music, and especially smokes when the interviewees have their instruments, and give us examples of the funky form. 

With wonderfully edited, and exciting footage from TV, and concert appearances, and archival decorates the doc, which does a great job of getting down with what defines the style from educating its audience on the “one” - the first beat of the measure to the genre’s influence on white rockers like Elton John, David Bowie, and Byrne, who based the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” on a chant from a P-Funk show. WE WANT THE FUNK is a fantastic funking doc that with hope will get a wide release later this year. The standing ovation it got at Full Frame makes a good case that people definitely desire the groove this film is laying down.

Coming soon, day four of Full Frame.

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‘Tis The Season For Some Screenings Part 2

The holiday season may be over, but the season for catching up with movies from the previous year continues, sometimes long into the new year. This sequel to a post by the same title (except for the numbers) from last month, so there may be more entries. Now, I saw very few films in the theater, so these are reviews of three films I watched on DVD or Blu ray. Enjoy!

THE TENDER BAR (Dir. George Clooney, 2021) *

I’ve long maintained that Ben Affleck isn’t a bad actor, he’s just not a very interesting one. He’s a likable guy, unless you’re an avid tabloid reader, but he’s not a very compelling, or vital presence in many of his movies. Here, in George Clooney’s eighth film as Director, he puts in a fine performance as the wise, and wise-cracking Uncle Charlie, a mentor to the film’s protagonist J.R. Maguire (a self-consciously ernest Tye Sheridan).

In flashbacks, J.R. is played by Daniel Ranieri, while Ron Livingston narrates Wonder Years-style as an older J.R. Much of the story is centered around the Maguires Long Island home, where J.R.’s mother (Lily Rabe) brought her son to get away from her ex-husband/his ultra-unreliable father (Max Martini). 

 

And then there’s the always reliable Christopher Lloyd. The gruff iconic actor embodies Grandpa Maquire, who also doles out advice to the young J.R., as well as accompanying him to a father/son breakfast at school. Affleck’s Charlie works as a bartender at a pub named The Dickens, where Sheridan’s J.R. drinks with his Yale schoolmates. J.R. finds love and heartache with classmate Sidney (Briana Middleton), pursues his dream of being a writer, tries to deal with his deadbeat dad, and bonds further with Uncle Charlie.

Beyond those broad strokes, not much happens. The film, based on J.R. Moehringer’s autobiographical novel of the same name, goes through these familiar coming-of-age motions without a lot to say. THE TENDER BAR isn’t a bad movie, it’s just not a very interesting one.

* THE TENDER BAR is available streaming on Amazon Prime.

CYRANO (Dir. Joe Wright, 2021) **

While every adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac that I’m aware of presents its lead character with an abnormally large nose, this version features the protagonist as a four-foot, five-inch dwarf. Peter Dinklage and his normal-sized nose, reprises his starring role in the off-Broadway production in 2019, as does Haley Bennett as Cyrano’s love interest, Roxanne. 

As in every version, Cyrano pines for Roxanne, but believes his physical size makes it impossible for him to win her over. Cyrano masks his heartache with his quick wit, and sword-fighting skills, both of which Dinklage swiftly carries off. Dinklage comes close to carrying the entire film, if it wasn’t for the strong ensemble that includes Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bashir Salahuddin, and Ben Mendelsohn.

What I didn’t know going in is that this adaptation is a musical. Its score, and songs were largely composed by Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner and Matt Berninger of the Ohio rock band, The National. I like The National, but although there a few solid tunes, mostly the music is forgettable. Dinklage would be the first to admit that he’s no singer as well, but somehow he, again, carries it off. Director Joe Wright’s filmography is full of polished, elegant films, and CYRANO is no exception due to it being the fourth collaboration between Wright and cinematographer Seamus McGarvey. 

The screenplay, written by Erica Schmidt, who happens to be Dinklage’s wife, is faithful to the original story, but constructs its own framework of sharp dialogue, and pleasing poetic stances. Overall, I enjoyed CYRANO, but I don’t think that it’s the definitive version of the classic stage play (not that I’ve seen every other revamping, but Steve Martin’s 1987 take, ROXANNE, is probably my favorite). Dinklage is clearly the reason this film is worth seeing. As lovely as the rest of it is, it’s mere decoration for Dinklage’s irresistible performance.

** CYRANO is set to go into limited release in theaters next month on February 25th.

 

ATTICA (Dir. Stanley Nelson, 2021) ***

I first became aware of Stanley Nelson at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival some time ago. A number of his films, which for the most part deal with racial justice, have been a part of the long-running PBS program, American Experience. Nelson’s work is devoid of flashy stylistic packaging, which means that there aren’t animated segues, or glitzy graphics; they’re just collections of the most relevant footage of their subjects’ vital storylines, sometimes augmented with era-appropriate music. They’re bare bones and all the better for it. Nelson’s latest, ATTICA, is summed up in its opening text: “On September 9th, 1971, inmates at Attica, 20 miles from NYC, took over the prison.” 

Full Frame 2019: Day Three

There’s a lot to cover from my third day at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival this year so let’s get right to them. These entries are more blurb-y than usual because it’s a long roster, and I’m exhausted from the onslaught of docs.

First up, David Hambridge’s KIFARU, which concerns James Mwenda & Joseph ‘JoJo’ Wachira, two Kenyan rhino caretakers, and one of their herd, Sudan, the last male northern white rhino in the world. 

At first KIFARU was killing me as it was drawn out and had a skimpy storyline mainly involving watching James and JoJo walk around with rhinos, but a compelling narrative forms, and I really began to feel for the 45-year old Sedan.

James tells us that when Sedan was born, “thousands of northern white rhinos roamed Africa,” but “violent wars and intense poaching drove these rhinos towards extinction.” Later in the film he concludes that “extinction is the definition of human extremes of greed.” But as heartbreaking at Sudan’s death as the caretakers and the audience, there is a silver lining in that the rhino’s DNA can be used by scientists to possibly clone the species. KIFARU * may have moments that make it the saddest doc I’ve seen at this year’s festival but it’s also among the most endearing. 

* In Kiswahili, Kifaru means Rhino.

Following that was François Verster and Simon Wood’s SCENES FROM A DRY CITY, a 12 and half minute short about the water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa. Massive drought hit the region in 2015, and continued in the years since forcing residents to pay for very limited quantities or seek elsewhere for water. But this fine film is more about imagery than information as gives us stirring shots of people struggling to find water by even dancing with flags to make it rain, bleak landscapes with dried up lakes, and police trying to enforce water regulations. 

Alexander Glustrom’s MOSSVILLE: WHEN GREAT TREES FALL, which came next, is about the town of Mossville, Louisiana, a community founded by former slaves that is threatened by a high concentration of industrial plants and their toxic emissions. 

One resident, Stacey Ryan, refuses to pack up and move from his house which is in the way of a large factory’s expansion. “Welcome to beautiful downtown Mossville – population: one,” Ryan sarcastically says at one point.

While security from the South African-based chemical company Sasol that’s creeping closer to his property harass him, Ryan also has to deal with sickness, no doubt caused by the chemical exposure from the nearby plant. Many moments in MOSSVILLE are rich with poignancy as residents lament about the history of their area, but overall it’s an angering portrait of how uncaring corporations can cause fence-line communities to crumble. Another devastating doc in a festival full of them. 

Stanley Nelson, who directed the day’s last film, MILES DAVIS: THE BIRTH OF THE COOL, is no stranger to Full Frame, having had several of his docs, including JONESTOWN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PEOPLES TEMPLE, THE FREEDOM RIDERS, and THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF A REVOLOUTION, screen at the festival over the years (Nelson also won Full Frame’s Tribute Award in 2012).

Nelson’s latest is a musical biodoc of the jazz legend Miles Davis, which by its title made me think it was specifically about Davis’ work in the ‘50s as there was a compilation covering that period by the same name, Birth of the Cool. But, no, it’s a career overview that traces Davis’ history from his birth in Alton, Illinois in 1926 to his death in Santa Monica in 1991, via scores of engrossing performance footage, little seen photos, and testimonials by folks like Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter,

This material is decorated by narration provided by actor Carl Lumbly reading in a familiar rasp from transcripts of 55 hours of Davis interviews. There are also intriguing bits of studio outtakes from such as the master trumpeter’s iconic work, Kind of Blue. The film doesn’t shy away from Davis’ darkness - his drug use, and spousal abuse * are touched upon as much as his jazz innovations.

From the ‘40s bebop era to his electric period of the ‘70s, which was highlighted by one of his most successful albums, Bitch’s Brew, this doc provides a non flashy straight forward portrait of Davis for the uninitiated. It may be too formulaic a doc for the hardcore, but I bet even they will dig some of the rare treats within.

* Davis’ first wife, Frances Taylor Davis, one of the most touching interview subjects here, sadly passed away late last year.

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Gearing Up For Full Frame 2015

Tomorrow, the 18th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will kick off at the Carolina Theatre, and the Marriott Convention Center, in downtown Durham, N.C., so I’m gearing up for the next four days of non-fiction fun.

Click here for schedule and ticket info.

This year’s roster includes a Tribute to New Jersey film maker, and POV alum, Marshall Curry; and a thematic program, involving the ethics of representation in documentary filmmaking, curated by director/producer, Jennifer Baichwal, but I’m sensing a different kind of theme happening in that docs about the long-running political magazine “The Nation,” the Ohio indie rock band The National, and the comedy publication and production company National Lampoon will be shown. Yay, nationality! I guess.

As a preview, I thought I’d highlight several of the docs I’m looking forward to this festival:

IRIS (Dir. Albert Maysles)

This profile of fashion icon Iris Apfel is the last completed film by the late, great Albert Maysles, who passed away last month at the age of 88. It screens on Thursday morning at 10:30 am, at Fletcher Hall.

KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK

(Dir. Brett Morgen)

With hope, this authorized and much buzzed about film rock doc will be the definitive biodoc of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. The trailer does look promising, but I'm not sure how I feel about the animated bits. Screens at 10 pm, Thursday, February 9th, at Cinema 1.

THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION (Dir. Stanley Nelson)

Master documentarian Stanley Nelson, who has made many solid docs focusing on the modern history of African Americans for PBS's “American Experience” series, may have his most incendiary subject yet in this film examing the radical Black Panther Party. Screening at 7:30 pm, Saturday, February 11th, at Fletcher Hall.

MAVIS! (Dir. Jessica Edwards)

This biodoc of the gospel legend Mavis Staples looks like a winner as well. It screens at 1:30 pm, Satuday, February 11th, at Fletcher Hall.

Finally, one of the few docs I've seen already that will be showcased this weekend at Full Frame:

HARRY & SNOWMAN (Dir. Ron Davis)

This is the incredibly touching tale of how Harry de Leyer, a Long Island, New York, riding instructor trained a horse he bought for $80 to become a world famous Champion show jumper in the late '50s and early '60s. Ultimately a story of a great friendship between man and animal, the narrative is a neatly put together essay of photos, new interviews, and, best of all, footage of Snowman's jaw-dropping jumps. Highly recommended. Screens at 4:30 pm, Saturday afternoon at Fletcher Hall.

There are lots more that I'd like to highlight, but many don't have trailers yet. Please visit back over the next several days for my coverage of the films above and many more at Full Frame 2015.

Again, click here for ticket info.

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Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014: Days Three & Four

I started off the third day of Full Frame the same way I had the last two with a documentary about a soberingly serious subject. In the very packed Cinema 4 (one of the large rooms in the Marriott's Convention Center) I saw Stanley Nelson's FREEDOM SUMMER, a sequel of sorts to his doc FREEDOM RIDERS, which screened at the festival in 2010.

An installment of PBS's long running The American Experience series, the dense 113 minute film examines a crucial chapter of the civil rights era, the summer of 1964, in which more than 700 student volunteers entered Mississippi to register African-Americans to vote. 

Via a well structured mix of archival footage, tons of photos, and excerpts from recent interviews with folks like “Freedom Summer” author and historian Bruce Watson, civil rights chronicler Tracy Sugarman (who died last year), Pete Seeger (who died earlier this year) and civil rights leader/later politician Julian Bond, Nelson's doc forms a necessary history lesson. It also does a better job of telling the story of the investigation into the murders of three civil rights workers that summer than MISSISSIPPI BURNING did. FREEDOM SUMMER is due to air on PBS on June 24th, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of that empowering summer.

Next, also in Cinema 4, was a couple of films paired together about a couple of guys who play dress up - one as McDonald's mascot clown Ronald McDonald; the other as our current Commander and Chief, President Barack Obama. The first film was John Dower's amusing documentary short RONALD, about Joe Maggard, who's one of 9 men who've played the famous commercial spokesman Ronald McDonald. The North Carolina native Maggard, who still puts on the make-up and costume despite being no longer employed by the fast food empire, is an affable fellow well worth spending this doc's 8 minute running time with.

Following that was the Festival Cut of Ryan Murdock's feature length BRONX OBAMA, about President Barack Obama look-alike turned impersonator Louis Ortiz.

The Bronx born Ortiz has parlayed his uncanny resemblance to the commander in chief into a somewhat lucrative career that's included appearances on Flight of the Conchords, several music videos, and even a Japanese comedy film (SARABA ITOSHI NO DAITOURYOU). There's some momentum to Ortiz's tale, as when he and a Mitt Romney impersonator argue over politics on the eve of the 2012 election, but there's only really about 20 minutes of good material here.

As funny and likable as Murdock's movie is in places, it gets a little tiresome hanging out with Ortiz as worries about money, dotes on his daughter, and goes from one paid appearance to another. Ortiz asks the audience at one point: “If you woke up one morning and found that you looked like the President, wouldn't you be doing what I'm doing?” I would probably have a heart attack, but I get what's he saying. BRONX OBAMA is listed on IMDb as THE AUDACITY OF LOUIS ORTIZ - glad they changed it. Maybe they can make some more changes that would make it more interesting.

That evening, I attended the Center Frame feature presentation of Ben Cotner and Ryan White's THE CASE AGAINST 8, which is my favorite film of the fest so far. With its fly-on-the-wall coverage of the case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage spanning five years, Duke alum Cotner and White follow the two lawyers leading the case, Ted Olson and David Boise, and the two same-sex couples - one female (Kris Perry and Sandy Stier), and one male (Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami) - who took the first federal marriage equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

I found THE CASE AGAINST 8 to be an emotionally powerful doc that plays like a courtroom thriller, albeit a giddy one, as I tweeted. By the time the film reaches its climax involving the couples’ separate City Hall wedding ceremonies you'll be rooting like hell for these people. The huge audience at Fletcher Hall for the film on Saturday night sure was. The filmmakers, along with Perry, Stier, and Triangle area same sex couple Joni Madison and Gina Kilpatrick all got a lengthy standing ovation when they came out for an insightful panel discussion.

As I've written before, late Saturday night is usually the perfect time for a rock documentary at Full Frame. Previous year's have had docs about Arcade Fire, The Magnetic Fields' Stephen Merritt, and Pussy Riot on the third day of the fest's schedules, this year Australian musician Nick Cave in Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard's 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH fits the bill. Since it screened at 11:00 pm, the audience had thinned out a bit in Fletcher Hall, but who was there seemed pretty entranced by this odd doc. Well, except for the old couple who left 30 minutes into it.

The film actually more a pseudo-doc about the 57-year old performer, songwriter, author, and sometimes actor, as segments are clearly staged, and cameos by the likes of Ray Winstone and Kylie Minogue strangely appear in the passenger seat of Cave's car to tell their stories then disappear as our star subject keeps driving onward. 

Although it has Cave discussing old photographs, and rocking archival footage of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Forsyth and Pollard's doc is one of the most abstract career retrospectives I've ever seen. I mean what other rock doc has the artist telling his stories to a therapist? The more recent concert footage of Cave intensely singing “Stagger Lee,” “Jubilee Street,” and “Higgs Boson Blues,” at the Sydney Opera House makes me want to go out and get more of his stuff. That's the best you can hope for from a music documentary, isn't it?

Sunday, I saw one last serious historical doc: Drew Taylor and Larry Weinstein's poli-doc OUR MAN IN TEHRAN, about how Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor's hid six Americans in his home in Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis, and helped them to escape the country. This is, of course, is what Ben Affleck's Oscar winning 2012 thriller ARGO was based on, but here we get more of an overview of the circumstances that led to the crisis, and the un-Hollywood-ized facts about how the events really went down.

The former Ambassador Taylor (no relation to the co-director) sits down to give us his recollections, along with retired CIA agent Tony Mendez (the guy Affleck played in ARGO), Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Flora MacDonald, and former CIA agent and hostage William Daugherty. As much as I liked ARGO, I agree with former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, who appears in the film when he said “I think the truth is the better story.”

I attended the Awards BBQ in the Durham Amory - read my coverage of it for the Raleigh N & O - and was glad to see that two films that I actually saw won awards: Darius Clark Monroe's excellent THE EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL, which won the festival’s top prize, the Reva and David Logan Grand Jury Award for feature-length documentary, and the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award, and Scott Calonico's THE SILLY BASTARD NEXT TO THE BED, which won the Full Frame Audience Award for Best Short.

There were a lot of docs I didn't get to see that I heard good buzz about like Cynthia Hill's PRIVATE VIOLENCE, which won the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights, Jeremy Zagar's CAPTIVATED: THE TRIALS OF PAMELA SMART, Amir Bar Lev's HAPPY VALLEY, Kenneth Price's THE HIP-HOP FELLOW, Joe Berlinger's WHITEY: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES L. BULGER, and many more that I'm too tired to list.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/04/06/3764172/films-of-autobiography-injustice.html#storylink=cpy

Well, that's it for Full Frame 2014! Hope to see you there next year.

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Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012: Days Three & Four

I certainly got my fill of non-fiction films over the last several days. It was another fine Full Frame at the Carolina Theatre in Durham (in case you haven’t tuned in lately), and I saw as many documentaries as I could of the 102 being screened.

Here’s what I saw on Day 3: Saturday, April 14th (Oh, yeah – please visit my recaps of Day 1, and Day 2):

DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL (Dirs. Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Bent Jorgen-Perlmutt, & Frédéric Tcheng, 2011)

“The first thing to do, my love, is to arrange to be born in Paris. After that, everything follows quite naturally.”


The late Diana Vreeland was an influential fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar (1937-1962), Editor-in-Chief of Vogue (1963-1971), and a consultant to the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but its her blustery acerbic wit that makes her such a great subject for a doc. This one, which utilizes interviews that Vreeland did with esteemed author George Plimpton, exploits her hilarious quotes grandly, while colorfully flipping through the magazine pages of her life. As I tweeted, it's a “a savvy stylish film about a savvy stylish lady.”

JONESTOWN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PEOPLES TEMPLE (Dir. Stanley Nelson, 2007) Full Frame is paying tribute to Stanley Nelson this year with re-screenings of 4 of his films, including this stirring breakdown of the events that led to the largest mass murder-suicide in history (909 poeple), at Jonestown, Guyana in 1978. I remember hearing about the tragedy when I was a kid - Time Magazine images of the bodies on the ground around vats of Kool-aid are seared into my psyche forever - but I was unaware of how exactly it all went down.

The scene of the crime is laid bare by interviews with the survivors mixed with footage, and photos (thankfully no re-enactments). Nelson makes makes plain-spoken yet profound, deftly designed docs that pack a huge emotional punch. This is one of the best of them.

RADIO UNNAMEABLE (Dirs. Paul Lovelace & Jessica Wolfson, 2012) Another almost forgotten figure gets their well deserved bio-doc: Bob Fass, a free-form radio personality who broadcasted on WBAI, New York for half a century. Fass's show, also entitled “Radio Unnameable,” was a late night program in which Fass took calls, spun records, and interviewed a who's-who of '60s and '70s musicians (including Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, and Arlo Guthrie who premiered "Alice's Resturant" on the show).

Being an outspoken member of the counter-culture, Fass got involved in various controversies involving unions, free speech battles, and political rallying - all of which this doc defly covers with choice audio excerpts from Fass's archives.

BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* (Dir. Fredrik Gertten, 2012)

“When you go to a documentary screening at a film festival, it’s almost always about some kinda controversial story, who knows, war crimes or corporate abuse, family abuse - documentarians tend to traffic in misery and horror. And I’ve been to many films like that, but never to one that had this feeling that the room could kind of…blow up.” – Alex Rivera (Jury member of the LA Film Fest)

This is a film about a documentary filmmaker getting sued by a large corporation. You see, the Dole Food Company took issue with Fredrick Gertten's 2009 doc BANANAS!* and did everything they could to suppress its distribution. Gertten is amazed by Dole's scare tactics and how much money and effort they put into trying to stop his small film. Since Gertten's film was about Nicaraguan banana workers involved in a legal battle over Dole's use of a banned pesticide, one can see why they were nervous but it's ridiculous and self defeating that they would go to such lengths to discredit this man. A must-see for anyone who dreams of picking up a camera and sticking it to the man.

THE BUS (Dir. Damon Ristau, 2012) My last film of the day was thw World Premiere of this 63 minute tribute to the legacy of the VW Bus. Ristau draws together testimonies (mostly by hippy folks) to the German utility vehicle turned counter-culture icon with vintage advertisements and many clips of the camper's cameos in the movies including EASY RIDER, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, CARS (firringly George Carlin voiced the vehicle) and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (What? No Lost?).

There's also the Grateful Dead connection - the bus was so associated with the historic jam band's fans that the company took out a large ad depicting a VW bus with a tear in its left front headlight/eye in Rolling Stone when Jerry Garcia died. I didn't really learn anything new in THE BUS, but it was a fun trip, especially when he get a look at the world's largest VW Bus (13 feet high, weighing 19,500 pounds), that's named Walter incidentally.

Here’s what I saw on Day 4: Sunday, April 15th:

UNDER AFRICAN SKIES (Dir. Joe Berlinger, 2012) Paul Simon returns to Africa in this celebration and examination of his classic 1986 “Graceland” album. In the mid '80s, Simon recorded the bulk of the album in South Africa with South African musicians (including Ladysmith Black Mambazo) and courted controversy by breaking the cultural boycott against the apartheid regime. In an affecting one-on-one with Dali Tambo of Artists Against Apartheid, Simon makes his case for the collaboration, but Tambo states that the music, as much as he liked it, wasn't helpful at the time.

Berlinger (the PARADISE LOST films, SOME KIND OF MONSTER) keeps the very musical movie going with studio footage from the original sessions, film of live performances from then and now, and interviews with “Graceland” fans David Byrne, Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, and Peter Gabriel.

THE IMPOSTER (Dir. Bart Layton, 2012) This was one of the 'To Be Announced' Sunday selections, which are usually made up of the films that won awards at the Awards Barbeque at the Durham Armory earlier in the day.

“The Imposter” didn't win any awards, but Full Frame Director of Programming Sadie Tillery said in her intro for it that it was one of the most popular docs at the fest with a much talked about sold-out screening Saturday afternoon. I myself had heard folks raving about it, so I got in the last minute line.

I'm glad I did - Layton's film is a both chilling and funny true-crime story about a 23 year-old Frenchman who is able to convince a Texas family that he's their missing teenage son, despite his different appearance and, ahem, strong accent. Frédéric Bourdin, the serial imposter who pulled it off, appears to give his side of the story, while the deceived family members and authorities give theirs. It's as compelling as many thrillers (especially these days), with even the dark re-enactments hitting the right notes.

A couple of films I saw on screeners in the Press Lounge:

BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING (Dir. Neil Berkeley, 2012) I missed this when it screened on Friday afternoon, so I was glad to catch up with it via screener. It's a snazzy bio-doc of Wayne White, the guy who brought his awesome art skills to Pee Wee's Playhouse, Beakman's World, Shining Time Station, and the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” video. White tells us: “I’ve worn many hats: painter, sculptor, cartoonist, puppeteer, set-designer, art-director, illustrator…” as we see tons of examples of his work, in particular his word paintings which feature vast landscapes with giant letters spelling out phrases like the title of this film.

White might want to add comedian to his list of occupations, because his anecdotes told from the stage while he's showing slides are hilarious. “Art is a lifestyle,” White says more than once in this doc, and, man, that’s an appealing ideal when you see this guy’s life’s work.

CATCAM (Dir. Seth Keal, 2012) This very amusing 16 minute doc short concerns a German engineer (Jürgen Perthold) living in South Carolina who outfits his cat, Mr. Lee, with a tiny camera (on a collar on the front of the cat's neck) so he can see what his pet does and where he goes. The pictures that come back are quite interesting - the cat encountering other cats, a street sign in an area Perthold doesn't recognize, and some almost artistic shots of nature. Bet anything none of my cats would take pictures anywhere as good.

Well, that's another Full Frame. Stay tuned for more extensive reviews of the best of the documentaries this year, as many of them may be making their way to a theater (or streaming service) near you soon.

More later...

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012: Day One

Just got home from the 1st day of the 15th Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival at the Carolina Theatre (and a few accompanying venues) in Downtown Durham.

I'm getting up early and going again tomorrow for day 2 of 4 of jam-packed infotainment, so I'll get right to what I saw today:

THE BLACK PRESS: SOLDIERS WITHOUT WORDS

This year, Full Frame is paying tribute to noted filmmaker Stanley Nelson, who was there in person to introduce his 1999 documentary about the history of American black-owned and operated newspapers from 1827-the present.

The film, which is a very compelling blend of interviews with archive photos and original newsprint narrated by actor Joe Morton, is one of those docs that makes you think 'why haven't I heard about this before? Why is such interesting stuff so obscure?'

The anecdotes about papers like the Chicago Defender, and the California Eagle being where African-Americans turned to for news because they "didn't exist in the other papers," as interviewee former reported Vernon Jarrett puts it, pull the heartstrings and get in some humor too. Great doc to start the fest with.

Next up, a couple of short docs: Nellie Kluz's YOUNG BIRD SEASON and NATION. I think I choose poorly for this time-slot. For some reason, I picked a 20 minute short about competitive pigeon racing, and a 66 minute one about an athlete (Jesus Navarro) training to dodge and leap bulls for sport.

YOUNG BIRD SEASON which focused (maybe too kind a word) on a group of New England bird-racers was too slight and unwieldy (I can't really remember much about it except for some folksy banter and shots of mobs of pigeons being freed into the sky) to be much to write about, and NATION is well shot but deadly dull. Long (and I mean * long *) unbroken shots of Navarro running, jumping, and working out in the Catalonia countryside go on so tediously that people were walking out. The film picks up a little when Navarro enters the local arena, but a few more people still left.

The next couple of shorts fared much better: Fiona Otway's KISS THE PAPER and Andrew Beck Grace's EATING ALABAMA. The first is a charming 20 min. short about letter press printer Alan Runfeldt, who owns and continues to run a number of old printing presses.

The second, the hour-long EATING ALABAMA, concerns filmmaker Grace and his wife's plan to only eat only food grown by Alabama farmers for 1 year. Despite the Morgan Spurlock-esque gimmickry of the premise, the film is a sincere look at the challenge of eating locally, how dependent we are on the modern food industry, and its got a nice homage to the dream sequence ending of RAISING ARIZONA to boot.

The opening night film of the festival was the World Premiere of Lauren Grant's JESSE OWENS (produced by Stanley Nelson), a biodoc about the track and field star whose triumphs at the 1936 Olympics really pissed off one Adolf Hitler. Lots of fascinating footage plus fond recollections from family, friends, and historians drive this riveting re-telling. It's a pretty comprehensive doc despite its length (54 minutes). There was a after-film discussion with Grant, Nelson, and guest Jeremy Schaap, but I missed it because I had to get to my final film of the day:

MARLEY (Dir. Kevin McDonald) Reggae superstar Bob Marley isn't a new subject for a documentary, but McDonald's film is the best I've seen yet, a vast improvement on Declan Lowney's 1992 biopic TIME WILL TELL. A lot of the same footage is in both, but MARLEY weaves together a much more intimate and absorbing portrait, especially in the huge amount of previously unseen photos and in the sad depiction of Marley's final months alive before succumbing to cancer at age 36 in 1981.

Alright! Well, I better crash. Stay tuned to this space for more coverage of Full Frame 2012.

More later...