I find that documentaries at MIFF about Indigenous people are consistently good.
Continue readingTag Archives: doco
Dahomey (2024)
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Teaches of Peaches (2024)
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I am in love with Peaches! I don’t know how I have missed out on this phenomenal woman.
Continue readingOccupied City (2023)
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A four hour documentary is always going to have its challenges. Steve McQueen (Hunger (2008)) takes a deep dive into the recorded history of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam by overlaying a narrated retelling with a river of footage of the city in 2020 and 2021.
Continue readingThe Atomic Tree (VR) (2019)
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Honeyland (2019)
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An amazing narrative built from observational filming over three years. Hatidze lives in a remote abandoned Macedonian village with her elderly mother. She harvest honey from bees she has carefully cultivated and sells it in Skopje.
Continue readingCitizen Kitano (Citizen K) (2020)
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I feel a bit ashamed to say that I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen a film by Takeshi Kitano. I feel that surely I have seen Hana-Bi (1998) or Zatoichi (2003) but from the glimpses in this interesting short documentary by Yves Montmayeur, none really stand out.
Continue readingFire of Love (2022)
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The story of Katia and Maurice Krafft was made for a documentary like this. In the 70s and 80s, they were feted as the only volcanologist couple, bound by their love for each other and of trying to understand active volcanoes.
Continue readingBeyond Utopia (2022)
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What starts as a talking heads documentary about North Korean defectors becomes a gripping race to safety as we follow a family who have crossed the border into a hostile China.
Continue readingThis is Going to be Big (2023)
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I was waiting in the lounge of the Capitol cinema, when a previous screening of this homegrown documentary finished. The foyer filled with a joyful throng of participants and their families, whose faces I now recognise for their starring turns in Thomas Highland’s skilful documentary.
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