Doc Stars of the Month: Nunu and Patrick Hogan, 'Through the Night'

Before the coronavirus crisis, the “essential worker” — flexible shorthand for the anonymous, hardworking, underpaid populace that allow our country (and all countries) to function — was hidden in plain sight. But with this sudden awareness that not just healthcare professionals, but also everyone from factory workers to grocery store employees are putting their lives on the line for little acknowledgment and even less financial renumeration should come some collective soul-searching. Fortunately, there’s Loira Limbal’s Through the Night to spur us on. In her Tribeca-premiering (and IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Grantee) doc, Limbal, an Afro-Dominican filmmaker and DJ — and Senior Vice President of Programs at Firelight Media — follows two working mothers and their trusted caregivers, Deloris “Nunu” and Patrick Hogan, whose lives intersect at the 24-hour childcare center the Hogans founded and run in New Rochelle, New York. And through these individual heartfelt stories, we’re treated to both a “love letter to single mothers and caregivers” (as Limbal has described her film) and a wakeup call. Yes, we as Americans are truly blessed that private citizens like the Hogans have stepped up to fill in a glaring gap in the social safety net. But what does that say about us, when we in the richest country in the world blithely rely on folks like the Hogans, a couple barely making ends meet, to keep the children of those barely making ends meet physically safe and emotionally healthy? So to provide some answers, Documentary turned to the knowledgeable providers themselves. And we’re truly honored that Nunu and Patrick Hogan agreed to take time away (albeit with multiple children competing for attention in the background) from their literally round-the-clock schedule to be featured as our December Doc Stars of the Month.

To read my interview with the heroic duo visit Documentary magazine.

Ring in the New: Top Female Filmmakers of IDFA 2020

As I’ve noted in the past, fulfilling the 5050×2020 Gender Parity Pledge is easy pickings for any nonfiction fest. Within the documentary realm female helmers have long consistently been behind half (and often more) of the highest quality work put out every year anyhow. And this year’s hybrid International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam — which like most non-Europeans I experienced exclusively online during varying states of pandemic lockdown over its ample (November 18-December 6) run — proved no exception to the rule. First there was the wealth of exhilarating new projects by acclaimed veterans to choose from. Czech master Helena Třeštíková screened her latest “time-lapse documentary” Anny, a riveting character study shot between 1996 and 2012, that follows a hardworking bathroom attendant and sometime sex worker (who didn’t start streetwalking until her mid 40s).

To read all about this year's crop of cinematic visionary women visit Filmmaker magazine.