A heartfelt departure from the prison life documentaries that have become so ubiquitous in recent years, Tana Gilbert’s Malqueridas takes a novel approach to this thorny topic through a most unusual lens. Comprised solely of clandestinely shot cellphone footage—in its original vertical format—from inside a Santiago women’s prison by incarcerated mothers, the film is narrated by “Karina,” a mom who spent six years behind bars. In the film, she voices the experience of and for the collective whole, specifically the 20 or so women who participated in “extensive conversations” during the film’s research phase.
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Documentary is happy to debut an exclusive clip from Amy Nicholson’s documentary Happy Campers , which is making its world premiere in the U.S. Competition at DOC NYC on November 14. This observational documentary follows the last summer many of the residents of Inlet View, a seasonal trailer park, vacationed there before out-of-town redevelopers took over. Explaining the clip, which is from the end of the first act of the film, Nicholson said, “ Happy Campers is designed as an opportunity to experience what it’s like to be part of a community like Inlet View, and act one begins with a tour of
As far as multiplexes go, my local one in Wichita, Kansas, was wonderful. Eschewing the corporate homogeneity of AMC and other chains, the sprawling Art Deco–revival Warren buildings were meant to recapture the glory of old movie palaces. The red carpet climbed up the walls as wainscotting in the bathrooms, which were distinctly creepy. The ceilings were covered by murals depicting Grecian deities. Portraits of John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, and Bogie hung on the walls. But in 2017, the eight-location chain was purchased by Regal Cinemas, and while the red carpet and Grecian deities remain, we resent the corporate encroachment. I still often go alone, in the middle of the week, happy to pay whatever inflated price for 90 minutes of air conditioning, red carpet, and haunted bathrooms.
BY Winnie Wang & Victor Guimaraes
In the fall of 2022, IDA launched our inaugural Getting Real Fellowship program, which sought to connect emerging and mid-career documentary professionals who displayed generosity, creative thinking, a desire to build community, and passion for the field. In addition to gathering the fellows in Los Angeles for Getting Real ’22, the fellows co-designed ten workshops, panels, and discussions inspired by their time at the conference. Some of the events were open to the public, while others were designed for fellows only. They covered everything from mental health and sustainability in the
“Everything old is new again” was the phrase that kept coming to mind during this year’s 32nd edition of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (October 6–14). The first time I attended the Arkansas festival was for the 22nd edition, a much smaller affair. Southern hospitality and charm, it seems, cannot be outgrown in Hot Springs. That sentiment applied to the inaugural two-day Filmmaker Forum, a refreshingly laidback series of panels and one-on-one meetings that took place at the Arlington Hotel, a nearly 150-year-old structure that has long hosted the “longest-running all-documentary
Dear Readers, This past month, as violence flares up around the world and we receive more news about ongoing censorship of documentary filmmakers, we are bolstered by the organizing of our colleagues. Efforts supported by the work of informal and formal collectives include the open letter from UK Documentary Film Council rallying the independent sector, the launch of the DISCO network’s Independence Project , upcoming screenings around the world in solidarity with the film festival Palestine Cinema Days —the 10th anniversary was scheduled to start yesterday—and many more. From our vantage
In August 2021, in my work as Director of Film Impact and Innovation at Peace is Loud, I had a conversation with Fork Films’ former Chief Creative Officer Kat Vecchio about their upcoming grantees. All of the films sounded compelling, but she highlighted one in particular, Fire Through Dry Grass, which embraced a participatory model between seasoned documentarian Alexis Neophytides and one of its protagonists, self-taught filmmaker Andres “Jay” Molina. Alexis and Jay co-directed and collaborated with the film’s participants across all phases of production. At the time, I suggested to Kat that
Editor’s Note: On October 9, the first day of Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival’s two-day Filmmaker Forum, Darcy McKinnon delivered the following keynote address advocating for the value of documentary films as a public good. As a producer, McKinnon has shepherded some of the most vibrant and iconic nonfiction work from the Gulf South in recent years. For nearly a decade, she was the Executive Director of the New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC), a nonprofit supporting community-based media in Southeast Louisiana, overseeing a bevy of youth, film industry workforce training, video
The films of New Orleans-based filmmaker Nailah Jefferson share similar grievances despite a variety of subject matter. Some of them try to remain in and protect a sense of place and abundance, as in Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Pointe a la Hache (2014). There are also stories of imagined worlds, escapism, and faraway places, such as Donyale Luna: Supermodel (2023), which was recently released on streaming service Max. And then, others unearth and rebuild a promised land and legacy that’s been burned and buried, such as Descended from the Promised Land: The Legacy of Black Wall Street