A group of Jewish immigrants enters the port of Haifa, in a photo seen in Colliding Dreams. In late January, documentarian Oren Rudavsky brought his controversial new film, Colliding Dreams, to the area to screen it for attendees of the 26th annual Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival. He met with Hap Erstein to talk about the film — an exploration of Zionism, the promotion of … [Read more...]
New documentary is loving tribute to pioneering superstar
Fortunately for Lloyd and Susan Ecker, they both were big fans of Bette Midler. In 1973, he took her to see The Divine Miss M on their first date, which led not only to their 40-year marriage but to a cottage industry of bringing one of Midler’s idols — “The Last of the Red Hot Mamas,” Sophie Tucker — to the silver screen, the written page and, perhaps, the Broadway stage. … [Read more...]
The View From Home 61: Friedkin, Kiarostami, Romanian New Wave, vintage Cagney, and a lame actioner
The People Vs. Paul Crump: Made in 1962 for Chicago public television but considered too controversial to air, the prescient documentary The People Vs. Paul Crump finally sees the light of day courtesy of Facets ($27.98 DVD). It is essentially an hour-long interview with Crump, a professedly innocent African-American death-row inmate convicted of murdering in a white security … [Read more...]
Documentary captures an exceptional New York eye
Less than two years after The September Issue probed the life and work of fashion kingmaker Anna Wintour, a new documentary offers a look at another figure residing in the nexus of fashion and print journalism. In Bill Cunningham New York, which opens Friday in South Florida, the subject is New York Times fashion photographer Cunningham, a man just as iconoclastic – and more … [Read more...]
The View from Home 23: New releases on DVD
The Father of My Children (IFC) Release date: March 29 Standard list price: $18.99 At just 28, French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Love has shown an Orson Welles-like prodigiousness, already with a short and two features completed and one more in post-production. Given that she’s engaged to established French director Olivier Assayas, has acted in a number of art-house films and is … [Read more...]
Documentary chronicles life of dance and photography
The old saying, attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald, declares that there are no second acts in American life. But West Palm Beach’s Steve Caras has had a second, third and fourth life, re-inventing himself at regular intervals or at least tackling and mastering new careers. He began as a classical dancer in the New York City Ballet, mentored by the great George Balanchine as … [Read more...]
‘Outrage’ aims at closeted anti-gay lawmakers
It’s not the sexual orientation of so many gay politicians that bothers documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick, it’s the hypocrisy. His partisan movie Outrage rehashes the outing of such well-publicized gay elected officials as New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, the latter having a particularly anti-gay voting record on marriage rights, HIV/AIDS, employment … [Read more...]