Traces of the Trade at Upstate Films

Have you been looking for a reason to take a trip to upstate New York this weekend? Look no further — here's the perfect opportunity to see a great film in one of the prettiest towns in the region.

Katrina Browne's Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North will have a special sneak-preview screening at the indie arthouse cinema Upstate Films, in Rhinebeck, New York, this coming Saturday, June 14, at 1:30 p.m. The screening is free, and will feature a Q&A with Traces co-producer Elizabeth Delude-Dix. Rhinebeck is located about two hours north of New York City.

In the film, Browne and nine other descendants of the DeWolf family grapple with their ancestors' legacy as the largest slave trading family in U.S. They embark on a journey to retrace the Triangle Trade: from their old hometown in Rhode Island to slave forts in Ghana to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba. Step by step, they uncover the vast extent of Northern complicity in slavery while also stumbling through the minefield of contemporary race relations. In this bicentennial year of the U.S. abolition of the slave trade, Traces of the Trade offers powerful new perspectives on the black/white divide.

If you'll be in Rhineback for the event, you'll also have a chance to see another P.O.V. film that Upstate will be screening: Yung Chang's Up The Yangtze is about the Three Gorges Dam Project, the largest hydroelectric dam project in history — and life along the Yangtze River, which it will change forever.

How far would you travel for a great film? Let us know below!

Doc Soup: What Did You Think of Expelled?

Every Monday, journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup.

Finally caught up with Expelled, the documentary that makes the argument for Intelligent Design, that was released on April 18. The movie stars columnist-humorist Ben Stein, who interviews scientists and other folks in his inquiry to understand if Intelligent Design is a valid intellectual theory and whether those who believe in it have been persecuted. As of my writing this, Expelled had made $6.75 million at the box office, landing it at the number 12 spot in all-time box office for documentary films. That places it, perhaps a little awkwardly, on the list between Tupac: Resurrection and Roger & Me. And it's only going up.

So, folks, let's face it. This is the moment everyone in the doc community was dreading or pretending would never come. The moment when the great advance in the popularity of documentary film also opens the doors to a non-fiction film that, well, does not sit comfortably between a thug rapper and Michael Moore.

At this point, I'd rather not influence the discussion, so I'll just ask: Have any P.O.V. site visitors seen the film? Would anyone care to comment? Anyone?

Up the Yangtze Premieres in New York

Up the Yangtze, a new documentary about the impact of the Three Gorges Dam project in China by Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang, opens in New York City at the IFC Center tomorrow. The film has won numerous awards on the festival circuit and received much critical acclaim for its moving and powerful portrayal of contemporary China by following the rise of the Yangtze River and the fates of two young people working on a luxury cruise ship on the river.

Last night, a special screening of the film was held at the Rubin Museum, which holds a small but comprehensive collection of Himalayan Art. As the lights went down in the packed theater, I couldn't help but notice that actor Colin Firth had slipped into the row behind me! It's not often that you see celebrities at documentary screenings, but the New York audience played it cool. No one gawked (except for me, and even then, discreetly), and Mr. Firth, I hope, was free to be carried along the Yangtze by the power of the film, just like the rest of us.

Watch the video trailer for Up the Yangtze:

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world. Since construction began in 1994, over a million people have been forced to relocate, and millions more are projected to lose their homes and livelihoods to the massive project. Flooding and landslides near the dam also threaten lives and homes, and last Saturday, Chinese authorities evacuated approximately 200 people living near the dam after a landslide.

Up the Yangtze provides a look at how the dam is altering the landscapes and lives of the people who live along the river. We meet the impoverished 16-year-old Yu Shui (she takes on the American name "Cindy" when she starts working on the ship) and the arrogant 19-year-old "Jerry" Chen Bo Yu — two very different teenagers who work on a luxury cruise ship that provides a "farewell tour to the Yangtze" for Western tourists. Their stories, as well as the story of the cruise, and the story of what is being lost to the dam, were beautifully shot by Chang's Chinese crew, and are interwoven together in a film that gives both an overview of the project and close-ups of the people being affected.

This was my second time watching the film, and I loved seeing it on the big screen. Afterwards, Chang answered questions from audience members. When asked what inspired him to make the film, he talked about how he was in China with his parents and embarking on the Yangtze farewell cruise when a marching band began playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy": "It was like The Love Boat meets Apocalypse Now," he said. The experience spurred him to make Up the Yangtze. He was also asked about whether he had any problems filming in China (He didn't have any problems, since he filmed without official permissions, and with a Chinese crew) and what he thought about hydroelectric dams in his native Quebec (he demurred, saying that he wasn't an expert on the issue). Sadly, Colin Firth did not ask a question.

You can catch Up the Yangtze at the IFC Center in New York starting tomorrow, and later this year on P.O.V.

Up the Yangtze Premieres in New York

Up the Yangtze, a new documentary about the impact of the Three Gorges Dam project in China by Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang, opens in New York City at the IFC Center tomorrow. The film has won numerous awards on the festival circuit and received much critical acclaim for its moving and powerful portrayal of contemporary China by following the rise of the Yangtze River and the fates of two young people working on a luxury cruise ship on the river.

Last night, a special screening of the film was held at the Rubin Museum, which holds a small but comprehensive collection of Himalayan Art. As the lights went down in the packed theater, I couldn't help but notice that actor Colin Firth had slipped into the row behind me! It's not often that you see celebrities at documentary screenings, but the New York audience played it cool. No one gawked (except for me, and even then, discreetly), and Mr. Firth, I hope, was free to be carried along the Yangtze by the power of the film, just like the rest of us.

Watch the video trailer for Up the Yangtze:

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world. Since construction began in 1994, over a million people have been forced to relocate, and millions more are projected to lose their homes and livelihoods to the massive project. Flooding and landslides near the dam also threaten lives and homes, and last Saturday, Chinese authorities evacuated approximately 200 people living near the dam after a landslide.

Up the Yangtze provides a look at how the dam is altering the landscapes and lives of the people who live along the river. We meet the impoverished 16-year-old Yu Shui (she takes on the American name "Cindy" when she starts working on the ship) and the arrogant 19-year-old "Jerry" Chen Bo Yu — two very different teenagers who work on a luxury cruise ship that provides a "farewell tour to the Yangtze" for Western tourists. Their stories, as well as the story of the cruise, and the story of what is being lost to the dam, were beautifully shot by Chang's Chinese crew, and are interwoven together in a film that gives both an overview of the project and close-ups of the people being affected.

This was my second time watching the film, and I loved seeing it on the big screen. Afterwards, Chang answered questions from audience members. When asked what inspired him to make the film, he talked about how he was in China with his parents and embarking on the Yangtze farewell cruise when a marching band began playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy": "It was like The Love Boat meets Apocalypse Now," he said. The experience spurred him to make Up the Yangtze. He was also asked about whether he had any problems filming in China (He didn't have any problems, since he filmed without official permissions, and with a Chinese crew) and what he thought about hydroelectric dams in his native Quebec (he demurred, saying that he wasn't an expert on the issue). Sadly, Colin Firth did not ask a question.

You can catch Up the Yangtze at the IFC Center in New York starting tomorrow, and later this year on P.O.V.

Doc Soup: Directors Who Doc

Every Monday, journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the state of the documentary world in his column, Tom Roston's Doc Soup.

There's something that irks me when I see these giant full-page ads in The New York Times like the recent ones that have been promoting the Rolling Stones, Martin Scorsese, and the recent rock doc, Shine a Light. When big-time feature directors make docs, the amount of attention they get is just a little bit unseemly. Everyone gets all excited when Mr. Scorsese crosses the line — it's like when one of the cool seniors decides to sit at the freshman table for lunch. I know, I know; Scorsese is the consummate film fanatic and he has made many great documentaries in the past, both historical and musical. And there's a neat symmetry in his following up the Maysles' Gimme Shelter, which was about the Rolling Stones thirty years ago. But, man, look at the expenditure put out on a guy who hardly needs the press. The same goes when filmmakers like Spike Lee, Michel Gondry, or Sydney Pollack — or any other big name director — makes a doc. Why not save some of those marketing dollars for a Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl) or Richard Robbins (Operation Homecoming)?

I know I don't have a leg to stand on here, for several reasons. First, the world just doesn't work that way. Second, as every successful documentary filmmaker tells me, they're filmmakers first, and they resist being pigeonholed as purely nonfiction directors. So it should go both ways. The greatest proof of that pudding is Werner Herzog, whom I believe is the greatest switch hitter ever. And I'm not talking baseball. When I stack my favorite Herzog movies together, I see an equal balance of greatness (Aguirre, Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, and Rescue Dawn on the fiction side; My Best Fiend and Grizzly Man on the other). In fact, I think I like his docs more than his fictional work. It makes me all the more eager to see his next one, Encounters at the End of the World, about Antarctica and the people who work at a research station there. It comes out in June.

I spoke to a successful feature director about his one attempt to make a documentary. He said he wasn't any good at it, and he chalked it up to the idea that the two forms call for very different talents. Nonfiction filmmaking, he said, is all about collecting information and then arranging it, whereas fiction filmmaking is about creating it. It's an interesting way of putting it, and although it's way reductive (especially considering the doc filmmakers who use fictional elements to tell nonfiction stories), it shines a light on how truly impressive it is that some directors can do both. So, Mr. Scorsese, I applaud you for your versatility. Not that you need to hear it from me.

Doc Soup: April Docs

Every Monday, journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the state of the documentary world in his column, Tom Roston's Doc Soup.

The hot theatrical doc season begins! The month of April sees two much-anticipated documentaries being released, Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure (on April 25) and Morgan Spurlock's Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (on April 18). Although both of these are from A-list filmmakers, these two documentaries have a lot stacked against them — both have been getting mixed reviews (although Morris won the top prize at the Berlin film festival), and their subject matters are pretty challenging for different reasons.

In his film, Morris casts his brilliant, quirky and often sobering eye on the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal. But with a couple of docs out recently on related subjects (Ghosts of Abu Ghraib and Taxi to the Dark Side) and with a slew of features about the Iraq War having tanked at the box office (the recent Stop-Loss was relentlessly sold to a young audience by its production company, MTV — to no avail), I don't see Morris's latest effort as contributing to his recent growth in popularity — his last film, 2003's Fog of War, not only won him his first Oscar, but made more money ($5 million) than all of his previous films combined. But does Morris care if he wins a popularity award? Actually, sometimes I think he does.

Now, I know Spurlock cares about his popularity — he is an unabashed filmmaker for the people, and he is really swinging for the fences on this one. His movie is a clear attempt to appeal to young audiences. It's got a nine-foot, animated ninja-fighting Osama Bin Laden flying around the world in no-holds-barred video-game style. But will audiences over 30 years of age get the joke? And if they don't, will kids want to see that weird guy with funny facial hair tromping through Pakistan? It's a tough call. But I have to reserve judgment at this point because distributor The Weinstein Company tells me that the version of the film that I saw at Sundance has changed — I'll be watching the altered version tonight. I'll make sure to let you know if the changes are significant.

But maybe the hottest April doc of all will be coming from a little known British television documentarian named Stephen Walker. His Young@Heart rolls out this Wednesday, and distributor Fox Searchlight has high hopes that it could break through the traditional box office ceiling for docs. I'm talking in the $10 to $20 million range. That's a bold call, I know, but this is the first documentary on their slate in over ten years, so I'm taking them seriously. Even if $2-$4 million is more realistic, it would still be great to see.

If there were ever a documentary that could win over mass audiences, it's this one. The film is about a senior citizen choir that sings contemporary songs originally performed by the likes of Sonic Youth, Talking Heads. and The Clash. It's a trip watching the octogenerians try to wrestle with the songs, but what I slowly realized as I watched the film is that this is a rare look into the lives of older people. I was also enraptured by the dramatic arc of the film. As I watched one, and then two of the main protagonists pass away during the making of the film, I found myself close to tears. Finally, when a heaving, geriatric man hooked to a respirator beautifully sings the sweet Coldplay song, "Fix You," after a friend passes away, I was over the brink. Young@Heart is the tear-jerker of 2008!

P.O.V. Alum Helene Klodawsky's New Film to Premiere at MoMA

Helene Klodawsky's No More Tears Sister, a documentary about Dr. Rajani Thiranagama, a tireless crusader for human rights in Sri Lanka, aired on P.O.V. in 2006. Her latest film, Family Motel, will have its New York premiere this weekend as part of the Canadian Front series at the Museum of Modern Art.

This weekend, Helene Klodawsky's Family Motel will have its New York premiere at the Museum of Modern Art. The film follows Ayan, a Somalian refugee in Canada, and her two daughters as they struggle to cope with a sudden eviction and find themselves in a motel in a seedy neighborhood. The film is Klodawsky's first fiction feature, and it was shot on location with a nonprofessional cast.

The film has been well received in Canada, where Family Motel recently won the Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance Through Film, from one of Quebec's largest festivals, Les Rendez-vous du Cinema Quebecois. "... this is a film of great cinematographic quality that has extremely rich content and a moving and captivating story," explained the jury.

And it has already received some great reviews:

"Family Motel is one of the most important and affecting movies I've ever taken in. It speaks for the millions of marginalized refugees in the West with a degree of realism and authenticity I don't think I've ever seen on film before. Five stars for both content and cinematic art." (Vanity Fair)

"A hard-working Somalian immigrant and her teenage girls fall victim to high rents and payments to other family members back home and slip through the Ottawa social safety net into homelessness. This gripping NFB-Instinct Films co-production resurrects the powerful fiction/documentary tradition of alternative drama and introduces the amazing non-actor family of Nargis Jibril and daughters Asha and Sagal." (Montreal Gazette **** four stars)

If you're in New York, check out the film at one of its two screenings at MoMA:

Saturday, March 15, 2008, 2:00 p.m., MoMA Theater 1, T1
Monday, March 17, 2008, 6:00 p.m., MoMA Theater 1, T1

For more information, visit the Canadian Front, 2008 website. Family Motel is part of the Canadian Front series, organized by Laurence Kardish of the Department of Film at MoMA, and presented in association with Telefilm Canada.

Upstate Update: Taxi to the Dark Side

As we blogged a couple weeks ago in our Arthouse Confidential post about independent theaters, there's a lot of cool stuff going on at local arthouse cinemas around the country. If you're lucky enough to live near one, you can take advantage of all sorts of great opportunities to see films that may be otherwise difficult to catch on the big screen — and maybe even meet the filmmakers. Even if you don't live near one, it can be a fun excuse for a little excursion. If you're in the New York area on March 16, consider a trip up to Upstate Films in Rhinebeck — about two hours from NYC — where you can catch a screening of newly-minted Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, including a Q&A with director Alex Gibney. It's sure to be a great opportunity to ask questions about the film.

Do you know of any other cool events coming up at a local independent theater near you? Leave a comment here to share it with the P.O.V. blog community — and if you have suggestions for theaters we should write about, please let us know!

At MOMA - Documentary Fortnight Begins This Week

If you're in New York City, check out MoMA's annual showcase of international documentary films from February 13-March 3. This year's Documentary Fortnight features more than 30 films, with a special focus on docs about the environment, covering a whole range of topics from graffiti in New York to the problems of chemical sensitivities. Another film that looks especially interesting tracks the electoral campaign of Malalai Joya, a woman who successfully ran in the 2005 Afghanistan parliamentary elections. And to spice things up, there's a program dedicated to documentaries made using cell-phones — these videos range from one to fourteen minutes long.

Many of the filmmakers will be present to answer questions after their films screen. See the Museum of Modern Art's program guide for more times and more information about each film.

Kurt Cobain: About a Son Premieres in New York City This Week

Can't wait to see A.J. Schnack's new film based on more than 25 hours of audiotape from interviews journalist Michael Azzerad conducted with Kurt Cobain shortly before he committed suicide in April 1994. Here's the trailer from YouTube.

There's a good interview with Schnack about the film on IndieWire this week that calls the film "the closest thing to an autobiography by the former Nirvana lead singer as possible."