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Sundance Film Festival · 2016

Sundance Film Festival 2016

Documentary Premieres

The festival says: "Renowned filmmakers and films about far-reaching subjects comprise this section highlighting our ongoing commitment to documentaries."

Programme

12 films · 3 reviews

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Eat That Question - Frank Zappa In His Own Words

This encounter with the premier of sonic avant-garde is acidic, fun-poking, and full of rich and rare archival footage. This documentary bashes favourite Zappa targets and dashes a few myths about the man himself.

(Country: France, Germany; Year: 2016; Director: Thorsten Schütte)

World premiere

Film Hawk

Trace Bob Hawk's early years as the young gay child of a Methodist minister to his current career as a consultant on some of the most influential independent films of our time.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: JJ Garvine, Tai Parquet; Writer: JJ Garvine, Tai Parquet; Stars: Robert Hawk, Kevin Smith, Edward Burns, Scott McGehee, David Siegel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Affleck, Ira Sachs, Rob Epstein, Kimberly Reed, Barbara Hammer, Lynda Hansen, Barbara Rick, Lynne Sachs, David Rosfeld)

World premiere

Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World

Review preview for Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World

This is a poetic documentary, a reverie, in which partitioned themes offer differing perspectives on the whole.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary about the internet and its impact on human experience.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Werner Herzog)

Full review

World premiere

Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures

This examination of Robert Mapplethorpe's outrageous life is led by the artist himself, speaking with brutal honesty in a series of rediscovered interviews about his passions. Intimate revelations from friends, family, and lovers shed new light on this scandalous artist who ignited a culture war that still rages on.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato)

World premiere

Maya Angelou And Still I Rise (Maya Angelou: The People's Poet)

Review preview for Maya Angelou And Still I Rise

With a life as rich as this it's inevitably difficult to cover everything, but Hercules and Whack indulge their audience with as much as it's likely to be able to take in.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary portrait of the legendary poet and activist.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Bob Hercules, Rita Coburn Whack; Stars: Maya Angelou, guy Johnson, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Common, Louis Gossett Jr, Cicely Tyson, Oprah Winfrey)

Full review

World premiere

Michael Jackson's Journey From Motown To Off The Wall

Catapulted by the success of his first major solo project, Off the Wall, Michael Jackson went from child star to King of Pop. This film explores the seminal album, with rare archival footage and interviews from those who were there and those whose lives its success and legacy impacted.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Spike Lee)

World premiere

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

How did a poor Jewish kid from Connecticut bring us Archie Bunker and become one of the most successful television producers ever? Norman Lear brought provocative subjects like war, poverty and prejudice into 120 million homes every week. He proved that social change was possible through an unlikely prism: laughter.

(Director: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady)

World premiere. Day One film

Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper

Gloria Vanderbilt and her son Anderson Cooper each tell the story of their past and present, their loves and losses and reveal how some family stories have the tendency to repeat themselves in the most unexpected ways.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Liz Garbus)

World premiere

Resilience

Review preview for Resilience

The heart of James Redford's documentary about toxic stress and its affect on physical health is in the right place but the execution never rises above the pedestrian.

Amber Wilkinson · 1.5 out of 5
How childhood stress can have an impact on physical health in adulthood.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: James Redford; Writer: Jen Bradwell)

Full review

World premiere

Richard Linklater - Dream Is destiny

This is an unconventional look at a fiercely independent style of filmmaking that arose in the 1990s from Austin, Texas, outside the studio system. The film blends rare archival footage with journals, exclusive interviews with Linklater on and off set, and clips from Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, and more.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Louis Black, Karen Bernstein)

World premiere

Under The Gun

The Sandy Hook massacre was considered a watershed moment in the national debate on gun control, but the body count at the hands of gun violence has only increased. Through the lens of the victims' families, as well as pro-gun advocates, the film examines why US politicians have failed to act.

(Director: Stephanie Soechtig)

World premiere

Unlocking The Cage

Follow animal rights lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans. By filing the first lawsuit of its kind, Wise seeks to transform a chimpanzee from a "thing" with no rights to a "person" with basic legal protection.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Chris Hegedus, DA Pennebaker)

World premiere