documentaries-i-like

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Documentaries I Like: Frontline

Frontline is a PBS documentary series that has consistently offered the best reporting on a huge range of topics for over 25 years. Since 1983, Frontline has produced more than 480 documentaries on everything from politics to religion to personal finance. I can enthusiastically say Frontline produces documentaries I like, though I will caution that their war coverage in recent years has been so grim that it's often hard to watch. Starting in 1995, Frontline took much of its programming online,... READ ON

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Documentaries I Like: Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe

In the late 1970's, director Werner Herzog made a bet with then-unknown director Errol Morris: if Morris ever finished his documentary Gates of Heaven, Herzog would literally eat his shoe. It may have seemed a safe bet for Herzog -- Gates is a very strange film: a slow, almost dreamlike documentary concerning a family's failing pet cemetery, and another man's thoughts on life and death, influenced by his day job running an animal rendering plant. So, predictably, Morris finished his film, released... READ ON

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Documentaries I Like: "Hoop Dreams"

"Hoop Dreams" is a landmark American documentary, released in 1994 to broad acclaim at Sundance. It follows the story of Chicago high school students who dream of becoming professional basketball players -- and there are enough ups and downs to fill nearly three hours (171 minutes) of film. You can now watch it, in its entirety, online at Hulu -- for free. No signup required, though you do have to sit through occasional brief ads. (Be sure to click "Watch Hi-Res" at right, after the ad finishes... READ ON

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Documentaries I Like: Connections

Connections was a documentary series produced for the BBC in 1978. It sought to explain human history through an "alternative view of change" in which multiple aspects of history, including technology, religion, and finance combine to bring about social change. This mode of analysis moves beyond conventional linear narrative, and as a result embraces complexity. Each episode is an essay connecting several seemingly disparate events or technologies through an extended web of logic -- it's great fun to... READ ON

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Documentaries I Like Interview: "Girls Rock!" Filmmakers Arne Johnson and Shane King

The new documentary Girls Rock! opens this Friday, March 7 in selected cities. The film follows four girls as they attend the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, where they learn to play rock music and build community, forming their own bands and performing their own songs. I sat down with filmmakers Arne Johnson (Producer/Co-Director) and Shane King (Co-Director/Cinematographer) to discuss the film. Check the end of the interview for info about the opening on Friday, or visit the Girls Rock! Screenings... READ ON

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The Interrotron

It's no secret that I'm a huge Errol Morris fan -- mainly for his documentary work, but also for his unbelievably complete essays on photography. Today, I'd like to introduce you to a device that Morris created to help him film face-to-face interviews for his documentaries: The Interrotron. Wikipedia says: "The name 'Interrotron' was coined by Morris's wife, Julia Sheehan, who, according to Morris, 'liked the name because it combined two important concepts — terror and interview.'" The... READ ON

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Documentaries I Like: Sherman's March

This post is the start of a new occasional feature on my favorite documentaries. I'm a huge documentary fan, and will share some of my favorites with you, perhaps once every week or two. If you have a documentary suggestion, please post it in the comments! First up, Sherman's March by Ross McElwee (1986). This film carries the rather long secondary title: "A Meditation on the Possibility Of Romantic Love in the South During An Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation," and that begins to give you an idea... READ ON