Ten years ago, David France made the Oscar™-nominated HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, a powerful documentary about the AIDS crisis, and the response by the actvist community to the inertia around finding a cure. When I spoke with France on March 28, 2022 about his latest documentary, HOW TO SURVIVE A PANDEMIC, I asked him… Read More »
DOLORES — Dolores Huerta and Peter Bratt Interview
Dolores Huerta is a woman who revels in the victories she has won over the years, victories too numerous to list here. She is also a woman who, at 87, has not slowed down in her fight for what still needs to be done in her fight for social justice. The legend started as young… Read More »
AFTER LOUIE — Vincent Gagliostro Interview
Vincent Gagliostro was an ideal person to ask my pop-quiz question during the second Frameline press day on June 23, 2017. The question was why arts are important in the age of Trump, and Gagliostro, whose film, AFTER LOUIE is the festival’s closing night film, is a man who has worked in many media, some… Read More »
HOOLIGAN SPARROW — Nanfu Wang Interview
There is a difference between understanding that covering a human rights protest in China will be problematic, and actually experiencing the surveillance and intimidation that goes with that territory. That’s one of the first things I talked about with Nanfu Wang, whose documentary, HOOLIGAN SPARROW, has been short-listed for this year’s Oscar ™. It was… Read More »
Jeffrey D. Brown & Sushmita Mukherjee Talk How SOLD Changed Their Lives
Director Jeffrey D. Brown and co-star Sushmita Mukherjee wanted to do more than make a film, they wanted to make a difference for the kids like the one depicted in SOLD. That’s why they have partnered with NGOs, and are aiming for more than a run-of-the-mill theatrical release. In that spirit, there are links to several of… Read More »
HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN’T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN
HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN’T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN is a robust telling of the historian’s life and times that does the spirit of the man credit. First Run Feature has re-released the 2004 documentary with a plethora of bonus features, and were smart enough to realize that the only thing better than this… Read More »
Sam Greene Monitors THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND
As a post-Baby Boomer, Sam Greene was barely alive when most of the events discussed in his documentary, THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, occurred. Perhaps because he was able to come to the project without the emotions that colored that era that resulted in the balanced portrait he and partner Bill Siegel have created of those troubled… Read More »