Sundance: 'The Janes' Brings Context to Modern Women’s Struggles

by Eurocheese

"The Janes" are a popular topic at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and given the way women’s rights are under attack in the US today, their story remains relevant. Earlier in the festival, the fictional Call Jane highlighted one woman’s story when she became involved with this group. In The Janes, documentarians Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes show the real women who lived this history, detailing the backstory of this group and showing us what a future with restricted women’s rights might look like...

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Sundance Review: ‘Three Minutes – A Lengthening’

By Abe Friedtanzer

There have been many films made about the Holocaust, and a great number of them focus on the horrors experienced within concentration camps. In addition to the millions of lives lost, there were also communities throughout Europe that were decimated, some of which have no survivors. Bianca Stigter’s Three Minutes – A Lengthening examines a short reel of footage that was shot in 1938 in Poland and offers a window into a town and way of life that can never be truly known or recreated…

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Sundance: The quandaries of 'Framing Agnes'

by Cláudio Alves

In the running time discourse, I'm firmly in the pro-long films camp, believing that a short duration is in no way indicative of cinematic discipline. Even so, it's easy to understand where people like Nathaniel come from. Everyone has seen some messy movie and came out thinking it could have been stronger if a dozen or so minutes had stayed on the cutting room floor. That being said, the reverse can happen when a project has great potential but kneecaps itself by being too brief, unable to develop its ideas. Chase Joynt's Framing Agnes is one such effort, full of fascinating information and captivating thoughts, not to mention good intentions. Unfortunately, at 75 minutes, this documentary flies by without time to explore any of its ideas with adequate depth…

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Doc Corner: The 25 Best Documentaries of 2021 (and where to see them)

By Glenn Dunks

Dear readers, I watch a lot of movies. Then again, what else was I supposed to do throughout yet another pandemic year with city-wide lockdowns and curfews? Which is why it was no real struggle at all to think of enough titles to make this list of the 25 best documentaries of 2021. Nor why I do not consider it the least bit excessive. Movies are great, so let's celebrate them! Each of the films listed are deserving of your eyes, although often for very different reasons—I hope my pseudo-weekly reviews and below captions help explain why.

It was a strong year for films about artists and art more broadly. Nearly half the films on the list below are related to film, music, painting, dance and/or the people to make them. Queer themed docs were also prevalent. The longest film here is 194 minutes. The shortest is 61. There is almost a 50/50 between male and female directors across 25 films that travel the globe from sex doll factories in China to political campaigns in Zimbabwe, a jail cell in Guantanamo Bay and the streets of Harlem...

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Doc Corner: Fun facts about the Best Documentary finalists

By Glenn Dunks

Elizabeth Chai Vasarheyi & Jimmy Chin won just 4 years ago with "Free Solo". They're back again with "The Rescue"

Cutting a list down from 138 to 15 is always going to be a daunting and even cruel task, but the shortlist is here for Best Documentary Feature so it is the end of the line for 123 of this year’s non-fiction works. I have been churning through a very long list of titles before even contemplating doing my Top 25 Documentaries list, but I can say that my personal list is looking very different.

AMPAS has selected the following titles to battle it out for a nomination and then the Oscar statue...

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