Skip to main content

New York Film Festival · 2018

New York Film Festival 2018

Spotlight On Documentary

Programme

14 films · 4 reviews

Jump to a film

American Dharma

Documentary about far-right activist Steve Bannon.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2018; Director: Errol Morris; Stars: Stephen Bannon)

Angels Are Made Of Light

Review preview for Angels Are Made Of Light

There's a constant sense that war might return, a sense of urgency about cramming as much knowledge and wisdom as possible into the children before it's too late.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Documentary tracking schoolchildren growing up in Kabul over a period of years.

(Year: 2018; Director: James Longley)

Full review

Carmine Street Guitars

Review preview for Carmine Street Guitars

Becky Parsons and John M Tran's cinematography brings out every detail of the crowded rooms before us and puts us to close to the grain of the wood that we can almost smell it.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A shop resisting gentrification.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Ron Mann; Writer: Len Blum; Stars: Rick Kelly, Jim Jarmusch, Charlie Sexton, Eszter Balint, Dave Hill, Jamie Hince, Kirk (The Roots) Douglas, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Nels Cline, Lenny Kaye, Cindy Hulej, Eleanor Friedberger, Stewart Hurwood, Christine Bougie, Travis Good)

Full review See: Cindy Hulej ‪in conversation on‬ Carmine Street Guitars and her connections to Jim Jarmusch , Rick Kelly ‪in conversation on‬ Carmine Street Guitars

Showing with Dream Of A City

The Cold Blue

Documentary built primarily from colour 16mm images shot in the spring of 1943 by director William Wyler and his crew on 8th Air Force bombing raids over Germany and strategic locations in occupied France.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Erik Nelson)

Divide And Conquer: The Story Of Roger Ailes

Documentary about the man who worked his way from the Nixon White House, to George HW Bush’s successful 1988 presidential campaign, to the stewardship of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Alexis Bloom)

Dream Of A City

Documentary, showing construction sites and street life and harbour traffic shot by Kirchheimer and his old friend Walter Hess from 1958 to 1960, and set to Shostakovich and Debussy.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Manfred Kirchheimer)

Showing with Carmine Street Guitars

End Of Life

Documentary looking at the 'work of dying' for five individuals: Sarah Grossman, the spiritual teacher Ram Dass, Carol Verostek, Doris Johnson, and the artist, writer, and performer Matt Freedman.

(Country: US, Greece; Year: 2017; Director: John Bruce, Paweł Wojtasik)

Fire Music

Documentary tracing the free jazz movement.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Tom Surgal; Stars: John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Sonny Simmons, Tristan Hansinger, Carla Bley, Gary Giddins, Prince Lasha, Ingrid Sertso, Bobby Bradford, John Coltrane)

Maria By Callas

Review preview for Maria By Callas

Often you see the truth in her face, not in her words.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
The most famous soprano in the world, a true diva, recounts her life 40 years after her death.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Tom Volf; Stars: Maria Callas, Vittorio De Sica, Aristotle Onassis, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Omar Sharif, Luchino Visconti)

Full review See: Tom Volf ‪in conversation on‬ heroines of tragedy, Maria Callas as Norma, time travel and the golden age, in Maria By Callas , Tom Volf ‪in conversation on‬ Maria By Callas

The Memphis Belle: A Story Of A Flying Fortress

Documentary about the 25th and last bombing mission of a B17, the "Memphis Belle".

(Country: US; Year: 1944; Director: William Wyler; Writer: Jerome Chodorov, Lester Koenig, William Wyler; Stars: Stanley Wray, Robert Morgan, James A. Verinis, Robert J. Hanson, Charles B. Leighton, Harold P. Loch, John P. Quinlan, Cecil H. Scott, Vince Evans, Clarence E. Winchell, Casimer A. Nastal, Haywood Hansell, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth Mother the Queen, Ira C. Eaker)

The Times of Bill Cunningham

Documentary about the famous street photographer.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Mark Bozek; Writer: Mark Bozek)

The Waldheim Waltz (Waldheims Walzer)

Study of Austrian politician Kurt Waldheim who became UN secretary-general and the way his ascension was reported.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2018; Director: Ruth Beckermann; Writer: Ruth Beckermann; Stars: Kurt Waldheim)

Watergate

Re-examination of the scandal that brought down the Nixon White House.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Charles Ferguson)

What You Gonna Do When The World's On Fire?

Review preview for What You Gonna Do When The World's On Fire?

While content is important, it is context that is king in a documentary, and this film could do with a lot more of it to orient viewers, especially those who don't have a full working knowledge of the American South.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The story of a community of black people in the American South during the summer 2017, when a string of brutal killings of black men sent shockwaves throughout the country.

(Country: Italy, US; Year: 2018; Director: Roberto Minervini; Writer: Roberto Minervini; Stars: Dorothy Hill, Kevin Goodman, Judy Hill, Ronaldo King, Michael Nelson, Ashlei King, Titus Turner)

Full review