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Cambridge Film Festival · 2008

Cambridge Film Festival 2008

Documentaries

Celebrating the best in factual film from around the globe.


Programme

21 films · 6 reviews

Jump to a film

1000 Journals

Looking at a project considered to be the 21st century equivalent of a message in a bottle.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Andrea Kreuzhage)

Alone In Four Walls (Allein In Vier Wänden)

Review preview for Alone In Four Walls

If this is a true representation of what Russian reform schools can achieve, it is remarkable.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4 out of 5
Inside a juvenile Russian reform school.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2007; Director: Alexandra Westmeier; Writer: Alexandra Westmeier)

Full review

Bi the Way

Exploration of the "bisexual revolution".

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Brittany Blockman, Josephine Decker; Writer: Brittany Blockman, Josephine Decker; Stars: Austin Head, J. Michael Bailey, Jennifer Bamgardner, David Barasch, Jonathan Caouette, Josh Caouette, Paula Caplan, David Chapman, Meridith Chibers, Lisa Diamond)

Burma All Inclusive

Lifting the lid on how glossy tourism to the country masks underlying corruption.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2007; Director: Roland Wehap)

Cafe De Los Maestros

Review preview for Cafe De Los Maestros

Never quite hits the mark.

Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
A celebratory film about the maestros of tango.

(Country: USA; Year: 2008; Director: Miguel Kohan; Writer: Miguel Kohan, Gustavo Santaolalla)

Full review

Crawford

Documentary charting the effect George W Bush had when he bought a ranch in a small Texas town.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: David Modigliani)

The Dancing Forest

A powerfully optimistic vision of Africa as epitomised by the people of Togo.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Brice Lainé)

Encounters At The End Of The World

Review preview for Encounters At The End Of The World

What he’s talking about and looking for is oddity masquerading as normality.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
The infamous director Werner Herzog visits the Antarctic, determined not to make a movie about penguins.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Werner Herzog; Stars: Werner Herzog) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

Faceless

Using only images obtained from the operators of CCTV video-surveillance systems in London – as stated in the rules of the “Manifesto for CCTV Filmmakers” – Luksch transforms London using oppressively familiar views into a nightmarish stage.

(Country: UK, Austria; Year: 2007; Director: Manu Luksch; Writer: Manu Luksch, Mukul Patel; Stars: Aadam K. Ahmed, Manu Luksch, William Trevitt)

God Made Them Blind

Story of John Fawcett, an Australian ceramicist who devoted his life to helping cataract sufferers in Indonesia.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Richard Todd)

Jump!

Documentary follows five jump-rope teams around the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Helen Hood Scheer; Writer: Scott B. Morgan, Helen Hood Scheer)

The New 10 Commandments

Celebration the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights interpreted through the prism of Scotland today.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Nick Higgins, Kenny Glenaan, Douglas Gordon, Irvine Welsh, Mark Cousins, Tilda Swinton, Sana Bilgrami, Alice Nelson, Doug Aubrey, David Graham Scott, Anna Jones) , Official site

The New Ten Commandments

Filmmakers mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Kenny Glenaan, Douglas Gordon, Nick Higgins, Irvine Welsh, Mark Cousins, Sana Bi )

Pageant

Review preview for Pageant

Pageant is a little more mainstream than might have been hoped, but it's still an entertaining portrait of some wonderfully larger than life characters, a mind blowing amount of effort and an incredible desire to win.

George Williamson · 3.5 out of 5
An in-depth look at drag queens in preparation for the Miss Gay America.

(Country: USA; Year: 2008; Director: Ron Davis, Stewart Halpern) , Official site

Full review

Patti Smith: Dream Of Life

Review preview for Patti Smith: Dream Of Life

Some sections of the film feel like a soapbox for her to stand on, to proselytize her personal politics; to bolster her image as a radical poet.

George Williamson · 3 out of 5
Intimate portrait of the icon.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Steven Sebring; Writer: Steven Sebring; Stars: Patti Smith) , Official site

Full review

Running The Sahara

Documenting three men's quest to run across the desert.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: James Moll; Stars: Matt Damon, Charlie Engle, Kevin Lin, Ray Zahab)

She Should Have Gone To The Moon

The story of Jerri Truhill who, in 1961, became one of the first women secretly trained by NASA to go into space.

(Country: UK; Year: 2007; Director: Ulrike Kubatta; Writer: Ulrike Kubatta; Stars: Ulrike Kubatta, Jerri Truhill)

sleep furiously

Review preview for sleep furiously

The farmers are not in good condition. They look tired and their equipment looks exhausted.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 2 out of 5
Rural Wales faces change from all sides as the population ages.

(Country: UK; Year: 2007; Director: Gideon Koppel)

Full review

Weltstadt

Exploration of how two drunken teenagers came to beat up a homeless man and set him on fire.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Christian Klandt; Writer: Christian Klandt; Stars: Hendrik Arnst, Florian Bartholomäi, Justus Carriere, Franziska Krumwiede, Karoline Schuch, Jürgen Verch, Henrike von Kuick, Gerdy Zint)

Where the Water Meets the Sky

Women of Zambia speak out on Aids. Narrated by Morgan Freeman.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: David Eberts; Writer: Jordan Roberts; Stars: Morgan Freeman)

Wild Combination: A Portrait Of Arthur Russell

Portrait of the famous cellist.

(Year: 2008)