International Documentary Association winners announce

By Glenn Dunks

The International Documentary Association announced their winners this past weekend with the Syrian-UK For Sama taking the top prize among a field of ten nominees. IDA aren’t the best gauge of where the winds are going to blow for the Academy Awards – the last three years alone, the Best Feature prize has gone to Minding the Gap (Oscar nominated), O.J.: Made in America (Oscar winner) and Dina (not nominated). So, make of these results what you will.

Nevertheless, this win when combined with its recent BIFA win for Best British Independent Film and a swag of other nominations does position it nicely for a slot on the short list and inching closer to a nomination (although I am less a fan of it than most).

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Doc Corner: Hitting the High Seas with ‘Maiden’ and ‘The Raft’

By Glenn Dunks

Did anybody see that Colin Firth movie about the amateur sailor who attempted to circumnavigate the world and failed miserably. It was called The Mercy, and while I never watched it, I did think of it as I watched Maiden. This is a film with such a remarkable true story that I couldn’t believe nobody had made a film out of it already but they had made The Mercy. Although I suppose one shouldn’t expect more: a movie about a male failure will almost always get made before that of a female success. But now we have Maiden, which puts a full stop at the end of that and seeks to settle a few more filmmaking blindspots with its oft-exhilarating telling of Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old rebel who in 1989 became the skipper of the first ever female crew to compete in the Whitbread Round the World boat race.

Bless whoever invented the 16mm camera because anybody whose worth having a documentary about them apparently had one of them handy all the damn time...

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In Competition: Documentaries at the London Film Festival

by Sean McGovern

The end of summer is an annual tragedy, but at least it means that you don't have to go to the cinema just for the air conditioning. With Venice ongoing and TIFF beginning tomorrow (Chris & Nathaniel are already on the ground), Film Festival Season (and by extension, Awards Season!) is well and truly upon us. Arrving in early October for the 62nd time is the London Film Festival, the biggest one on my calendar and the one closest to my house. Amongst the glitzy galas and special presentations is a stellar programme and not just because I played a small part in programming the shorts this year.

Something that excites me in particular is the impressive lineup of the films in the Documentary Competition. And since I haven't got to see them yet, join in my excitement in a preview of some the titles, some of which are opening soon in the USA...

BISBEE '17 (dir. Robert Greene, USA) [Glenn's Review]
[Opening today in NYC] From the director of Kate Plays Christine, Robert Greene investigates the mysterious tragedy of a small American mining town, which one hundred years previously, had 1200 migrant workers rounded up and left to die in the desert...

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