Doc News Shorts: November 8, 2009

Even with its show-stopping domestic opening weekend (and massive overseas B.O.), This Is It isn't the final view we're getting into the Jackson family. A&E announced that it will be airing a six-episode reality show mini series called The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty focusing on the King of Pop's family. The show will document the preparation of Jackson brothers Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Jackie as they get ready for a concert tour scheduled for next year. The show is also said to document the family's struggles to cope with the death of Michael. Dynasty will premiere Dec. 13.

New on SnagFilms: Anthony Edwards (of ER and Top Gun fame) has just completed a new documentary film about a young runner, Ole Kane Lettura, he met while on vacation with his family in Africa. From the Mara to the Marathon was completed just in time for the NYC Marathon, and chronicles the two weeks in 2008 that Edwards and Lettura spent together in Africa and NYC training for the 2008 NYC Marathon. The film is available for the first time ever on SnagFilms.com right here. Now take a seat…to watch a movie about running.

As if she's not busy enough already, Oprah Winfrey will narrate Discovery Channel's Life series, being released in 2010.

The hip-hop world is a buzz over the upcoming documentary about Lil Wayne called The Carter. Set for DVD release on Nov. 17, it takes an in-depth look at the rapper by chatting with the artist himself and interviewing those that know him best. The Carter premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Pick up your copy at Amazon and check out the trailer right here:

The Boing Boing blog calls it a "documentary about paper folding," and yeah, sure Between the Folds, is about that, but so much more. The doc about hardcore origami enthusiasts will is presented by PBS's Independent Lens and will show on PBS on December 8. The MAKE blog is a little more generous with their description:

The film documents "a determined group of theoretical scientists and fine artists who have abandoned their careers and scoffed at their graduate degrees to forge new lives as modern-day paper folders."

Featured in the film are MIT's youngest-ever tenured professor Dr. Erik Demaine; mathematician, sculptor, puzzle maker, and self-taught computer scientist Marty Demaine; master free-style folder Vincent Floderer; pioneering Israeli educator Miri Golan; mathematics professor Dr. Tom Hull; trained artist and instructor Paul Jackson; one of the most technically accomplished folders in the world, Eric Joisel; one of only a few handmade origami papermakers in the world, Michael LaFosse; origami "hyper-realist" and physicist Dr. Robert J. Lang; material artist with a masterful understanding of patterns and geometry, Chris K. Palmer; and the father of modern origami, Akira Yoshizawa.

So are these people nuts or geniuses (or a bit of both?) See for yourself, here's the trailer: