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Sundance Film Festival · 2011

Sundance Film Festival 2011

Documentary Premieres

With the expanding impact and popularity of documentaries in our world today, Documentary Premieres is a new section for 2011 that furthers the Institute’s commitment to this important form of storytelling by showcasing films on big subjects and new works by master filmmakers. Each is a world premiere.

Programme

8 films · 5 reviews

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Becoming Chaz

Review preview for Becoming Chaz

It's the emotional insights, and the laughter, that lift Becoming Chaz above the average observational documentary and give it wide-ranging appeal.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Born with a female anatomy, the child of musicians Sonny and Cher, Chaz Bono is now transitioning to live as a man, and he discusses his experiences in this very personal documentary.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato; Stars: Chaz Bono, Cher)

Full review

World Premiere

Bobby Fischer Against The World

Review preview for Bobby Fischer Against The World

Intriguing, funny, and sad.

Robert Munro · 3.5 out of 5
A documentary portrait of the brilliant chess champion who gradually lost his mind.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Liz Garbus; Stars: Bobby Fischer, Boris Spassky)

Full review

World Premiere

Granito (Granito: How To Nail A Dictator)

Review preview for Granito

The film is at its best in its footage of those who are picking up the fight that their parents began against Montt, these 'granito' - or grains of sand - who hope that by coming together they can make a difference.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary charting the Mayan people's fight for justice in Guatemala and the key role played by documentarian Pamela Yates.

(Country: US, Guatemala, Spain; Year: 2010; Director: Pamela Yates)

Full review

World Premiere

The Interrupters

Review preview for The Interrupters

Fascinating, haunting and often very tense, The Interrupters is a solid piece of social comment that gets the camera intimately into the action, and it suffers only in that such an issue demands more be brought into the camera's scope.

Owen Van Spall · 4 out of 5
A story of ex-gang members who are now protecting their communities from the violence they themselves once employed.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Steve James; Writer: Alex Kotlowitz) , Official site

Full review

World Premiere

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Review preview for POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Spurlock is mesmerising in his pitches.

Val Kermode · 4 out of 5
The filmmaker sets out to finance a documentary about product placement in the movies by making his own product placement deals with major companies.

(Country: United States; Year: 2011; Director: Morgan Spurlock; Stars: Morgan Spurlock)

Full review See: Article about Sheffield DocFest and Morgan Spurlock

World Premiere

Reagan

The enigmatic career of one of the revered architects of the modern world – icon, screen star, and two-term president Ronald Reagan.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2011; Director: Eugene Jarecki)

World Premiere

Rebirth

Weaving together five stories of individuals whose lives were profoundly altered by the 9/11 attack with unprecedented time-lapse footage of Ground Zero composed over ten years, what emerges is a chronicle of grief’s evolution and a nation healing.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Jim Whitaker)

World Premiere

These Amazing Shadows

The history and importance of the National Film Registry unfolds in a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Paul Mariano, Kurt Norton; Writer: Paul Mariano, Kurt Norton; Stars: Christopher Nolan, Tim Roth, Debbie Reynolds, Rob Reiner, John Waters, Peter Coyote, George Takei, John Lasseter, John Singleton, Caleb Deschanel, Paul Schrader, Gale Anne Hurd, Amy Heckerling, Wayne Wang, James Schamus) , Official site

World Premiere