Doc Corner: Memories of the past in four new films at DOC NYC

By Glenn Dunks

DOC NYC starts today in New York where something like 100 films will screen. Of the 300+ screenings and events, there are 135 features and 43 world premieres including the just announced screening of the once-thought-lost Aretha Franklin concert doc Amazing Grace. We will be looking at a just a small slice of the selections based loosely around themes. Part one is focused on memories of the past returning to the surface and involves four films which are about grieving families, the NYC art scene of the 1960s, an underappreciated photographer, and the rise of the Nickelodeon network.

EVELYN
Despite his familiarity with war zones in the Oscar-nominated Virunga from the frontlines of Congo’s bloody poaching crisis and Oscar-winning short The White Helmets from the Syrian civil war, director Orlando von Einsiedel has apparently been less well-equipped to deal with the wars of his own family’s anguish. His latest film, recently nominated for the BIFA Best Documentary prize, is an examination of his own family following the suicide of his brother many years ago. Sending himself out into the Scottish highlands alongside various family members and childhood friends for a series of memorial treks, he hopes the wintry walks will allow his family a chance to talk and confront their pain head-on like they have never done before...

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Showbiz: Norma's Win, Gwyneth's Breakthrough, and Sam Rockwell's 50th

10 random things that happened on this day (Nov 5th) in showbiz history...

1930 The 3rd annual Academy Awards are held for films released between August 1, 1929, and July 31, 1930... they hadn't yet settled on the easier full calender year system. The anti-war masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front took Best Picture and Norma Shearer, the First Lady of MGM, won Best Actress for scandalous pre-code classic The Divorcée (which you really should see).

1935 Parker Brothers launches board game classic "Monopoly". Remember when Ridley Scott was going to do a movie version? That was so weird...

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The Romanoffs 1.1 "The Violet Hour"

By Spencer Coile 

I vividly remember watching Mad Men for the first time during my junior year of college, struck by the way Matthew Weiner crafted a series that was cinematic and rich in detail, dialogue, and characters. Since its finale in 2015, I’ve been searching for a series that struck the same chord with me. Enter: The Romanoffs, the new Amazon Prime series from Matthew Weiner. Its premiere was a long time coming, with news, expansive cast announcements, and speculation circulating for years. Would Weiner capture lightning in a bottle again?

As it turns out, The Romanoffs is an anthology series, where each episode presents a new story about people who believe themselves to be descendants of the slaughtered Romanov family. Based off the first two episodes, it’ll be a globe-trotting series, bouncing across countries, and continents...

In its pilot episode, “The Violet Hour,” we are introduced to Greg (Aaron Eckhart), an American living in Paris who also takes care of his snobby elderly aunt, Anushka (Marthe Keller). Anushka takes great pride in her lineage, announcing herself to be a direct heir to the Romanovs. Her lavish Parisian apartment reflects her wealth and status, to the chagrin of Greg’s girlfriend Sophie, (Louise Bourgoin), who is waiting for the fateful day that Greg will inherit it...

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Happy Birthday, Jane Krakowski!

By Spencer Coile 

You’d be hard-pressed to deny the impact Jane Krakowski has made on stage and television. In recent years, no actress has been as deceptively successful as Krakowksi. Many still lament the fact that she never won her rightful Emmy for 30 Rock – and let’s face it, she was robbed. The countless memes and gifs her performance as Jenna Maroney has inspired in the past five years has been nothing short of astonishing.

That said, she has been working steadily for the past 30 years, and what a triple threat she has become. Garnering two Daytime Emmy nominations, a Golden Globe nomination, five Emmy nominations, two Tony nominations, one Tony win, and an Olivier Award in the span of her massive career, it’s safe to say that Krakowski’s talents know no limit. 

Today she turns 50, so let’s celebrate all the fabulous work she has done since she began performing professionally in 1981. What are some of your favorite Jane Krakowski performances, moments, musical numbers? My go-to is always her rendition of “Call From the Vatican” from her Tony winning role in Nine. 

Showbiz History: Mary Tyler Moore Debut, Charlie Chaplin Exile, Brangelina Split

10 random things that happened today, September 19th, in showbiz history

1913 Frances Farmer born in Seattle. She becomes a movie star and is eventually committed to an asylum as told in the movie Frances (1982) -- See, American Horror Story wasn't the first time Jessica Lange won awards for living in an asylum. 

1927 Happy 92nd birthday to Tony winner and Oscar nominee Rosemary Harris! We thank her for all her fine performances and for bringing another great actress, Jennifer Ehle, into the world...

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