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February 16, 2006
Documentary Links
I'm feeling a bit lazy this morning (Wednesday is typically a very long day for me), but wanted to point out a few links on documentary that are worth checking out.
First, some good news about a documentary I've been anticipating for some time. Tara Wray's Manhattan, Kansas, will have its world premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival. If any of my readers make it to SXSW, I'd love to hear your thoughts about the screening.
Second, Cynthia Fuchs' Alternet review of Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst. In my initial review of the film, I expressed some disappointment in Robert Stone's treatment of the SLA's evolution, but Fuchs makes a compelling case for arguing that Guerilla unpacks the degree to which the SLA represents one of the first moments when terrorism and television became entertwined. As Fuchs points out, in his director's commentary, Stone notes that "This really was America's first encounter with modern, media-driven terrorism." Fuchs also notes that the DVD is loaded with some intriguing extras, including 53 minutes of Patty Hearst's tapes to her parents, as well as other contemporary documentary footage (security tapes duing the Hibernia Bank robbery, etc).
Finally, I missed Darwin's Nightmare when it played in DC a few months ago, and now after reading these comments from mind the__GAP*?, I wish I had taken the time to see it.
Update: Not sure how much others make use of my categories in the sidebar, but I've finally begun to realize that "documentary" probably deserves its own category here. One of the unfortunate effects of making up categories as you go along is that some of the distinctions that seem significant initially ultimeately become somewhat unhelpful as descriptive terms (such as my cultural studies and film theory categories).
Posted by chuck at February 16, 2006 12:14 PM
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Comments
I too have missed seeing Darwin's Nightmare and am eagerly anticipating the opportunity.
--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
Posted by: RC at February 21, 2006 7:13 PM
BTW, RC, if you stop back by, your photos of church signs are very cool, odd images.
Thanks for dropping by.
Posted by: Chuck at February 21, 2006 10:25 PM
I've been following for a time this doc on abel ferrara "Odyssey in Rome" but all I've seen is the trailer which is incredible but I've got no othe new s.
Does anybody know anything about it.
www.odysseyinrome.com is all i got from imdb
Posted by: RobertLuca at February 23, 2006 4:52 PM
Robert, I haven't heard anything about it, but thanks for the suggestion. I'll certainly keep my eyes open.
Posted by: Chuck at February 23, 2006 8:50 PM