Docuweeks NY and LA: Clowns, Bipolar Disorders, and Haitian Janitors

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 01 August 2012 05:00

Written by Renzo Adler

Conducted by The International Documentary Association (IDA) The 16th Annual Docuweeks film festival (August 3 – August 23, 2012 in New York and August 10 – August 30 in LA) brings together that genre of filmmaking that blurs the line between artist and journalist. Docuweeks presents 17 feature films and 11 shorts from 19 different countries.

The New York branch of the film festival at the IFC Center (323 Avenue of the Americas, NY) features a program of 10 short documentaries. The LA branch of the festival at Laemmle Noho 7 (5240 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA), will lead up to the 28th Annual Documentary Awards in December.

La Source (Dir. Patrick Shen)
Josue Lajeunesse, a Hatian man living in New Jersey and working as a janitor Princeton University and as a taxi driver, has, since 1989, been sending money to his home of La Source so that the villagers their can have access to clean water.

Of Two Minds (Dir. Doug Blush and Lisa Klein)
Of Two Minds examines the lives of people with bipolar disorders. These people must cope with not only their own disorders, which can make life unpredictable, but also with a society that does not understand their affliction.

Without A Net (Dir. Kelly J. Richardson)
Youths living in an impoverished and drug controlled ghetto in Rio de Janeiro make a very brave and mature decision to change their lives by running away to the circus. Now training to be acrobats and contortionists, these young men struggle to take control of their lives.

Other documentaries being shown are:
The Anderson Monarchs
Defiant Requiem
Digital Dharma: One Man's Mission to Save a Culture
Drought
Garden in the Sea (Jardín en el Mar)
Love Free or Die
The Magic Life
Once In a Lullaby: The PS 22 Chorus Documentary

Documentaries are a unique form of filmmaking. A constant interplay between the subject and the film maker raises questions about how the presence of the camera can alter the behavior of subjects or how careful editing can completely alter the tone and message behind someone’s words, but it also brings people much closer to obscure people and ideas and offers new perspectives.  Sometimes a documentary can eclipse a feature film in narrative originality (raise your hand if you think Hearts of Darkness was better than Apocalypse Now). Docuweeks, with its long runtime and varied subjects, strives to bring documentary film making out in to the open and to as many people as possible.

To learn more, go to: http://www.documentary.org/docuweeks2012

Docuweeks
August 3 – August 23, 2012 (New York)
August 10 – August 30, 2012 (LA)

IFC Center
323 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY

LAEMMLE NoHo 7
5240 Lankershim Boulevard
North Hollywood, CA

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