UMBERTO ECO: A LIBRARY OF THE WORLD- 2023. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Umberto Eco’s private library was a world in itself: more than 30,000 contemporary books and 1,500 rare and antique volumes. The director had worked with Eco one year before the writer’s death on a video project for the Venice Art Biennale in 2015, gaining access to the library.”
7/1/23- Excellent reviews for this Italian documentary. TRDB.
Add comment July 1st, 2023
WHITE BALLS ON WALLS- 2023. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art wants to become more diverse and inclusive. But how to go about that? An honest look behind the scenes into the sometimes-fraught process taking place in many public institutions.”
5/26/23- Just 4 reviews so far and they are good for this Dutch documentary and they are good TRDB.
Add comment May 26th, 2023
MUSEUM OF THE REVOLUTION- 2023. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “”The wind got up in the night and took our plans away,” reads the proverb in the opening titles of MUSEUM OF THE REVOLUTION. It’s a reference to the 1961 plan to build a grand museum in Belgrade as a tribute to Socialist Yugoslavia. Meant to “safeguard the truth” about the Yugoslav people, the plan never got beyond the construction of the basement. The derelict building now tells a very different story from the one envisioned by the initiators 60 years ago. The cavernous, damp, pitch-dark space is inhabited by the outcasts of a society reshaped by capitalism.”
5/22/23- Just 3 reviews for this documentary from Serbia and they are very good. TRDB.
Add comment May 22nd, 2023
IN VIAGGIO: THE TRAVELS OF POPE FRANCIS- 2023. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “A decade-long chronicling of the travels of the head of the Catholic church across all corners of the world. Composed entirely of archival footage, the film grants rare access to the public life of the pontifical, not only from the elevated security of a pulpit but from the more democratic grounds of unpaved streets and vast public avenues.”
4/2/23- Fair reviews for this Italian documentary. TRDB.
Add comment April 2nd, 2023
THE LAST AUTUMN- 2019. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Farmers in Árneshreppur, Iceland, welcome their grandchildren to the last autumn they will herd their sheep from the surrounding mountains.”
1/20/23- Just 1 review noted for this Icelandic documentary and it is very good. TRDB.
Add comment January 20th, 2023
ALL THAT BREATHES- 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “In one of the world’s most populated cities, cows, rats, monkeys, frogs, and hogs jostle cheek-by-jowl with people. Here, two brothers fall in love with a bird — the black kite. From their makeshift bird hospital in their tiny basement, the “kite brothers” care for thousands of these mesmeric creatures that drop daily from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies.”
10/23/22- Excellent reviews for this Hindi documentary. TRDB.
Add comment October 23rd, 2022
WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND- 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “At the age of 89, Julián takes one last bus ride to El Paso, Texas, to visit his daughters and their children — a lengthy trip he has made without fail every month for decades. After returning to rural Mexico, he quietly starts building a house in the empty lot next to his home. In the absence of his physical visits, can this new house bridge the distance between his loved ones?”
10/2/22- Excellent reviews for this foreign documentary (Spanish). TRDB.
Add comment October 2nd, 2022
MY IMAGINARY COUNTRY- 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “One day, without warning, a revolution exploded. It was the event that 80-year-old master documentarian Patricio Guzmán had been waiting for and working toward all his life: a million and a half people in the streets of Santiago, the Chilean capital, demanding justice, education, health care, and a new constitution to replace the strident rules imposed on the country during the Pinochet military dictatorship.”
9/25/22- Excellent reviews for this Spanish documentary. TRDB.
Add comment September 25th, 2022
BLUE ISLAND- 2022. Synopsis by RT. “With courage and sensitivity, Blue Island confronts the large-scale protests in Hong Kong. A new wave of young people took back the streets, as one generation after another has done throughout Hong Kong’s history. Bullets fly. Fires ignite. White tear gas and blue water cannons encroach on public spaces. The past, the present, and the future converge.”
8/1/22- Good reviews for this Chinese documentary. TRDB.
Add comment August 1st, 2022
LA MAMI- 2022. Synopsis by Rotten Tomatoes. “Night after night, La Mami unlocks the door and reveals the guarded restroom of the Cabaret Barba Azul’s dancers. After working for more than 40 years in the nightlife, Doña Olga is now La Mami, the caretaker of the women restroom at the mythical Cabaret Barba Azul. Night after night, she takes care of the dancers working at the flow of live music. This restroom is a trusting bubble inside Barba Azul.
4/11/22- Excellent reviews for this Spanish documentary. TRDB.
Add comment April 11th, 2022