“I Cried a Lot During the Edit”: Jude Chehab on Tribeca 23 Premiere Q

Award-winning DP Jude Chehab’s cinematographic talents are on full display in her Tribeca-premiering feature debut Q, a haunting look at three generations of women whose lives were forever upended by a cult. In this case, the shadowy entity is the Qubaysiat — a matriarchal religious order founded in the Middle East, where the Lebanese-American filmmaker moved to from Florida at the tender age of 10 — and eagerly joined upon arrival in Beirut, having fallen under the influence of a particularly devout member – her own mother. Filmmaker reached out to Chehab, a 25 New Faces 2021 alum, to learn more about her powerful cinematic investigation not into the origins of the mysterious movement she was a part of, but into the end toll of sacrificing one’s personal narrative to any cause that demands all.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.

“A Ukrainian National Awakening on Multiple Fronts”: David Gutnik on Tribeca 2023 Premiere Rule of Two Walls

David Gutnik’s Rule of Two Walls, its title a reference to the best place to be between during bombing raids, is a unique take on an exhaustively mined (some would say extracted) story — that of the current war in Europe. Combining doc and fiction, the film follows Ukrainian artists who have chosen to stay and fight for their homeland by making art and preserving culture as a means of resistance. And that includes those involved in the crafting of this very film. To learn all about this meta look at creation in a time of destruction, Filmmaker reached out to the Ukrainian-American writer-director just prior to his (Liev Schreiber-EP’d) project’s Tribeca premiere.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.

The White Savior Sin of A Still Small Voice

“Don’t just do something, stand there (or be there)” is the directive of Reverend David Fleenor, turning the “don’t just stand there, do something” admonition upside down. Or perhaps right side up. For attentiveness is crucial to this religious leader dauntingly tasked with supervising a group of aspiring chaplains, including a viscerally vulnerable protege named Mati Engel, as they undertake an emotionally exhausting residency in the spiritual care department of New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. But the mantra could likewise apply to award-winning filmmaker Luke Lorentzen (2019’s Sundance-premiering Midnight Family) who has a knack for bearing silent witness through his cinéma vérité lens. That said, the intimate collaboration that led to his Sundance-debuting followup A Still Small Voice — and also to Lorentzen receiving an “honorary certificate” at the end of filming the yearlong program (not to mention the US Documentary Competition Best Directing award in Park City) — is both extraordinary and somewhat troubling.

To read the rest of my essay visit Hyperallergic.

Hot Docs 2023: Russian Films Depict the Brink of War at the Festival’s 30th Anniversary Edition

This year’s 30th anniversary edition of Hot Docs, North America’s largest doc fest, (which ran from April 27 to May 7) was, perhaps unsurprisingly, jam-packed with so many world-premiering films and one-of-a-kind industry events as to be a bit overwhelming. (Fortunately, Hot Docs also boasts one of the smoothest festival apps around to help alleviate all that scheduling stress.) Most unexpected though was the fact that, while once again there was rightly an entire program dedicated to the ongoing front-page war (“Made in Ukraine” consisted of five features, and also four shorts under the defiant banner “Films That Bring The Victory Closer: Civil Pitch 2.0 Winning Films presented by Docudays UA”), it was several films instead set in Russia during the lead-up — all expertly crafted by outsider eyes — that most rocked my world. Indeed, with the unlawful invasion as backdrop, as opposed to the main event, the following trio of films (from comedic to tragic, oftentimes both) provided a glimpse into daily surreal life on the “other side.” And left me with that head-spinning feeling I go to formidable fests like Hot Docs for.

To read the rest visit Filmmaker magazine.

Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase 2023: Non-Fiction Without Borders: A Co-Production Case Study with The LA Times and CBC Podcasts

Featuring LA Times head of audio Jazmín Aguilera and CBC Podcasts director Arif Noorani (and moderated by Lindsay Michael, Senior Podcast Manager for Amazon Music in Canada), “Non-Fiction Without Borders: A Co-Production Case Study with The LA Times and CBC Podcasts” covered an impressive amount of ground for an hour-long panel. Part of the Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase (a mini audio-storytelling fest nestled within this year’s 30th anniversary edition, April 27-May 7), the discussion began, ironically enough, with a high-adrenaline video teaser for Outlaw Oceans, the case study at hand. It starred both Somali pirates and Ian Urbina, the former NY Times investigative reporter who is also the pod’s originator and host. (Tapping into our latest financially lucrative obsession, the trailer concluded with the tagline: “If you want to understand true crime, start where the law of the land ends.”)

To read all about it visit Filmmaker magazine.

Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase 2023: Podcasts and Op-Docs at The New York Times: Meet the Decision Makers

An auspicious start to what turned out to be an insightful, audio-focused sidebar to the main cinematic event, “Podcasts and Op-Docs at The New York Times: Meet the Decision Makers” was the very first panel I caught during this year’s Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase, which spanned a whole two days across the “largest nonfiction fest in North America’s” 30th anniversary edition, April 27-May 7. It featured the Times’s Deputy Audience Director for Audio Renan Borelli and Op-Docs Senior Commissioning Editor Christine Kecher, in conversation with Media Girlfriends co-founder (and deft moderator) Hannah Sung. (Just the fact that it managed to keep me awake at the ungodly hour of 9:30AM —or 6:30AM for those of us still stuck on West Coast time — before I’d finished my complimentary morning coffee from the TIFF Bell Lightbox’s Luma lounge downstairs is really saying something.)

To read all about it visit Filmmaker magazine.

CPH:DOX 2023: The Platinum Anniversary Edition

If there’s one thing pandemic shutdowns have proven over these past few years, it’s that (far too) many film festivals can just as easily be covered online. (Do I really need to hop on a plane and into a faraway cinema to view the latest Netflix Original?) That, thankfully, is not the case when it comes to the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, now in its 20th year and still one of the most punk rock rebellious events around, as evidenced by e.g. the fest’s decision this edition (March 15-26) to team up with Kunsthal Charlottenborg, the palatial contemporary art space (literally, as it’s housed in Charlottenborg Palace) that’s long served as festival HQ, to present British artist Jeremy Deller’s head-spinning Welcome to the Shitshow! Through a variety of media — everything from photography and film to graphics and sculpture — Deller takes the attendee on a time-warped trip through British culture from Bowie and Depeche Mode to The Troubles and Brexit. In other words, the perfect way to reenergize between screenings, caffeine optional (the fest’s pop-up cafe conveniently located a few steps from the entrance) but not required.

To read the rest visit Filmmaker magazine.