These are my ten favourite feature documentaries seen in 2015.

1. Uyghurs: Prisoners of the Absurd (Patricio Henríquez, 2014)
2. The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2014)
3. P.S. Jerusalem (Danae Elon, 2015)
4. Tim’s Vermeer (Teller, 2013)
5. Deep Web (Alex Winter, 2015)
6. Invention (Mark Lewis, 2015)
7. Magician: The Astonishing Life and ( Read more... )

This is my roundup of the 26 films I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. First, here are my five favourites:

1. Gravity (dir. Alfonso Cuarón). I generally avoid the Hollywood blockbusters at TIFF (because why waste a film festival ticket on something that will be released within a few weeks) but this year I admit, ( Read more... )

My favourite documentaries of 2012; most of these seen at DOXA or VIFF.

1. Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present (dir. Matthew Akers). Completely engrossing portrait of performance artist Marina Abramović.

2. Street Dogs of South Central (dir. Bill Marin). Dramatic and engaging, this great little documentary brings us into the world of ( Read more... )

I haven’t seen any of the documentaries that received Oscar nominations this year, but I did see enough documentaries in 2010 (at the HotDocs festival, TIFF, and VIFF) to make a Top 10 list.

1. A Film Unfinished, Yael Hersonski

2. Into Eternity, Michael Madsen

3. Ruhr, James Benning

4. Windfall, Laura Israel

5. Client 9: The Rise and Fall of ( Read more... )

With the Vancouver International Film Festival beginning tomorrow, here is a list of the films playing there that I have already seen, with a brief comment. I may update this post later. Page numbers correspond to the official program book; descriptions and schedule are also on the guide at the VIFF web site.

▪ Windfall [p. 69] - Strongly ( Read more... )

Every year, I choose films from TIFF based on the program guide, and often after I see a film I am left wondering, why did I choose that one? The guide contains a synopsis and brief comment on the film written by the TIFF programmer who chose it for the festival. (The writeups are all online at tiff.net, as is information about the programmersThis ( Read more... )

As I Lay Dying: Sort of interesting, though I didn’t quite get it; were those supposed to be stigmata? 6

Escape: I found this boring. 3

Summer Afternoon: The basic concept of this short is unoriginal; the execution of the concept does occasionally show flair but the film is just too muddled. 5

The End of the Tunnel: The best of this group of ( Read more... )

I’ve seen a few films at DOXA, not too many because overall the program seemed to be full of downers. Why couldn’t the program have had more variety, like the Hot Docs festival in Toronto a few weeks ago? For example I would have liked the opportunity to see Nursery University. But 90% of the films at DOXA (which ends tomorrow, Sunday) seem to be ( Read more... )

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (imdb) (Canada). Although its title and description is somewhat misleading, this is a great documentary. The “business behind getting high” is only a small part of this film. For the most part the documentary is an argument for the legalization of marijuana. It begins by looking at the history of cannabis ( Read more... )

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