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London Film Festival · 2016

London Film Festival 2016

Documentary Competition

Programme

12 films · 4 reviews

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All This Panic

Review preview for All This Panic

For many viewers, the film will require taking a step back, ditching assumptions and making a conscious effort to listen. It's worth it. These girls have a lot to say.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
What is it like to come of age in New York City? First-time director Jenny Gage follows vivacious sisters, Ginger and Dusty, and their high school friends over the course of their crucial teen years.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Jenny Gage; Stars: Dusty Rose Ryan, Delia Cunningham, Lena M, Ginger Leigh Ryan, Olivia Cucinotta, Sage Adams, Nichole R. Thompson-Adams, Kevin Ryan, Tanya Ryan, Ivy Blackshire, Gabriel Sommer, Tess Neau)

Full review

An Insignificant Man

The rise of Inidan activist Arvind Kejriwal and the birth of The Common Man's Party.

(Country: India, Netherlands; Year: 2016; Director: Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla; Writer: Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla; Stars: Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Koli, Manish Sisodia, Yogendra Yadav)

Chasing Asylum

Documentary investigates Australia's treatement of asylum seekers and refugees.

(Country: Australia, Iran, Indonesia, Lebanon, Cambodia, Afghanistan; Year: 2016; Director: Eva Orner)

David Lynch: The Art Life

Review preview for David Lynch: The Art Life

We get to watch Lynch work on a sculpture, sit and smoke, or interact with his toddler daughter Lula in the present. Family photos and home movies light up the past.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
Documentary about the American filmmaker.

(Country: US, Denmark; Year: 2016; Director: Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, Olivia Neergaard-Holm; Stars: David Lynch)

Full review See: Jon Nguyen in conversation on Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, Lost Highway and David Lynch - The Art Life , Jon Nguyen in conversation on David Lynch - The Art Life

The Graduation (Le Concours)

Review preview for The Graduation

The film shimmers and provokes where it is least expected.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
A documentary about selection procedures at cinema school La Fémis in Paris.

(Country: France; Year: 2016; Director: Claire Simon)

Full review

LoveTrue

From an Alaskan strip club, a Hawaiian island, and the streets of NYC — revelatory stories emerge about a deeper definition of love. S

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Alma Har'el; Stars: TerriAnn Peters)

On Call (La Permanence)

A documentary about a suburban Parisian doctor’s office where free consulting services are offered to immigrants from around the world.

(Country: France; Year: 2016; Director: Alice Diop)

Safari

A look at Austrians hunting in Namibia.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2016; Director: Ulrich Seidl; Writer: Veronika Franz, Ulrich Seidl)

The Space In Between: Marina Abramovic and Brazil

The Serbian artist travels to Brazil in search of emotional healing and inspiration.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2016; Director: Marco Del Fiol, Gustavo Almeida; Writer: Marina Abramovic, Fabiana Werneck Barcinski, Marco Del Fiol, Jasmin Pinho; Stars: Marina Abramovic, Dorothy W. Cooke, Narcisa Cândido da Conceição, Itamir Damião, João de Deus, Aldaci Dos Santos, Florentina Pereira Dos Santos, Maya Parvati Bastos Duarte, Zezito Duarte, Andy Grace, Rudá Iandé, Denise Maia, Matheus Miranda Mattos)

Starless Dreams

Portrait of juvenile delinquent women at the extreme margins of Iranian society.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2016; Director: Mehrdad Oskouei; Writer: Mehrdad Oskouei)

Tower

Review preview for Tower

Maitland keeps his balance superbly and ensures that this telling has the force it needs.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A rotoscope reconstruction of the first mediatised school massacre in the United States.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Keith Maitland; Stars: Violett Beane, Louie Arnette, Blair Jackson, Monty Muir, Chris Doubek, Reece Everett Ryan, Josephine McAdam, Aldo Ordoñez, Vicky Illk, John Fitch, Karen Davidson, Jeremy Brown, Séamus Bolivar-Ochoa, Cole Bresnehen, Timothy Lucas)

Full review See: Meredith Vieira and Amy Rapp in conversation on Tower

The War Show

The Arab Spring aftermath from a Syrian perspective.

(Country: Germany, Denmark, Syria; Year: 2016; Director: Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon; Writer: Oqba Bouzian, Andreas Dalsgaard, Alaa Hassan, Miriam Nørgaard, Spencer Osberg, Obaidah Zytoon)