I'm really eager to see STORIES WE TELL. More than anything.
Recommended Documentaries
Recommended Docs
This is a topic where you can say which documentary has really impressed you, and why people should see it. Can be a recent one or an all-time favourite. Can't be your own though, sorry...
Praise the work of others, not your own. If you want to beat the drum for your own documentary, please don't do it here. Professionals have their own Shameless Self-Promotion topic.
We also have a Documentary Films topic for our Professionals where the debate is private and possibly more controversial. This topic here is for recommendations to the documentary-interested public.
I saw SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN last night in a regular commercial Regal movie theater with a Sony 4k projector. Wow, how nice to see a good doc on a great screen with great audio. So glad to see docs getting some decent venues lately.
Did a search here looking for more info on the Sundance audience winner and haven't seen anyone mention it, so thought I'd recommend it.
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN, by Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, is a quest story. Some South African fans of 1970's Detroit musician 'Rodriguez', (bigger than Elvis and the Beatles in SA but in total obscurity in the US,) try to find out what happened to the "better than Dylan" voice that fueled revolt against apartheid. Well-told story that holds your attention and it has great music. Good production values. Not challenging, so ranks high in entertainment value.
Interesting to see how they put the story together with a slow reveal yet managed to keep it engaging. Great use of animation in some scenes.
The official trailer on YouTube is ad-ridden, so here's one with subtitles (movie is in English.)
"Searching For Sugarman" is a wonderful story. Sixto Rodriguez is almost like a bodhisattva – ok I won't give anything away.
I did wonder if the people who produced his earlier records really understood him. They put all this lush, syrupy instrumental sound under his very strong guitar & voice. I wonder if that is why the albums tanked in the U.S. His lyrics are still relevant.
Re: Riley Morton's post on Mon 17 Sep 2012: View thread
Oh, I LOVED Searching for Sugarman. Great film. Definitely an A. When I said "not challenging," I meant that it doesn't beat you over the head with academic or intellectual highbrow-ness. Like most great stories, it's simple and lovely.
Tue 18 Sep 2012
Edited Tue 18 Sep 2012 by John Burgan
hi, im new here and a freelance filmmaker and cinematographer from germany...
nice community here and so i decidet to show you my documentaryteaser i done... i think the hole film is very interesting and some times probably controversal...
"Tarna" is a 40min. documentary film about "Lady Tarna", a extrem/scat domina from Berlin. I followed her one day with the camera, to show the everydays life of a domina, but also to show the person behind.
i shot the hole film alone in one day... this was the concept, beeing only one day with tarna and triying to make it as real as possibly...
hope you like the small teaser...
greets
Just saw this short, Caine's Arcade, about a 9 year old boy who built a cardboad arcade in his dad's used car parts shop in Los Angeles. It is an amazing story, where a filmmaker was Caine's first customer and he was so impressed, he created a flash mob set of customers last October. The whole thing has really exploded, including a Cardboard Challenge for kids around the world, coming up on 6 October.