Weapon of War: Confessions of Rape in Congo (2009)

Review:
Wherever war breaks out, men with guns rape. During the decades of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo possibly hundreds of thousands of women and girls were brutally raped. In Weapon of War military perpetrators unveil what lies behind this brutal behavior and the strategies of rape as a war crime. An ex-rebel explains how he raped. Like for many ex-soldiers, starting a normal life again is a struggle filled with trauma. In an attempt to reconcile with his past, he decides to meets one of his victims in an attempt to obtain forgiveness. Captain Basima is working as a priest in Congo’s army and confronts perpetrators of rape. He urges them to change. Just like he did.

The Art of the Steal (2009)

Director:
Don Argott

IMDB

Review:
Born into a working-class family in Philadelphia, Albert C. Barnes was a man who through hard work and determination became a doctor and medical researcher, founding a successful pharmaceutical firm that made him a multimillionaire. As his fortune grew, Barnes developed a taste for art and in time assembled one of the world's most remarkable private collections, featuring original paintings by Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso, Cézanne, and many other important artists. Barnes relied on his own instincts rather than the advice of experts when he bought paintings, and he had little use for the pretentious attitudes of Philadelphia's art collectors and high society; the animosity between Barnes and the city's art establishment grew to the point that in 1922 he opened the Barnes Foundation, a private gallery where he kept his collection rather than share it with institutions such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Barnes Foundation was open by invitation only, and the doctor preferred to have his collection seen by students and serious art lovers rather than those he felt didn't appreciate the work. Barnes died in 1951, and made strict provisions in his will that his collection was not to be sold, lent to other museums, or removed from the grounds of the Barnes Foundation. Lincoln University, a traditionally African-American college, was appointed to oversee the foundation's collection. But after the death of Barnes' protégée Violette de Mazia in 1988, Lincoln University's trustees took full control of the collection, now estimated to be worth 25 billion dollars, and a number of individuals and organizations inexperienced in the world of art laid hands upon the Barnes archive. The Art of the Steal is a documentary by Don Argott that explores how greed, political power, and good intentions colluded to violate Albert C. Barnes' wishes and scatter his collection across the globe.

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004)

Director:
Kevin Willmott

IMDB

Review:
Set in an contemporary alternative world where the Confederate States of America managed to win the American Civil War, a British film documentary examines the history of this nation. Beginning with its conquest of the northern states, the film covers the history of this state where racial enslavement became triumphant and the nation carried sinister designs of conquest. Interspersed throughout are various TV commercials of products of a virulent racist nature as well as public service announcements promoting this tyranny. Only at the end do you learn that there is less wholly imagined material in the film than you might suspect.  In an alternate universe, Jefferson Davis became president, the Confederates won the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was not shot and killed but becomes an escapee in blackface and dies in disgrace in Canada (not before recording his last words in 1905 -- a little anachronistic since sound in films did not occur until the 1920s), and slavery is alive and well and becoming one with technology. Subversive enough? You'll have to watch this mockumentary to believe it. Nothing is sacred here, and it works so well because it looks as if these events truly took place. It could be a documentary shown on A & E from its meticulous attention to detail to make it look authentic, and its segues into "commercial breaks" are fantastic -- you laugh, but you cringe. And this is exactly what director Kevin Willmott and producer Spike Lee want you to feel.

The Cruise (1998)

Director:
Bennett Miller

IMDB

Review:
Again another great doc from my friend mkvtony. Thanks man. A layered portrait of Timothy "Speed" Levitch and his tempestuous love affair with New York City. Atop double-decker buses, his tours exhibit a peculiar intimacy with the city's architectural feats and historical and artistic lineage. Each tour he leads is another chance to initiate unsuspecting tourists into the individuality the city represents.

Objectified (2009)

Director:
Gary Hustwit

IMDB

Review:
Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability.

Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003)

Director:
George Hickenlooper

IMDB

Review:
When Rodney Bingenheimer was just a teenager -- a diminutive, long-haired kid who was picked on a lot -- his mother, a divorced autograph hound, dropped him off in front of the home of actress Connie Stevens and essentially said, "Good luck." Stevens was on location shooting a movie and Bingenheimer says he didn't see his mother again for five or six years after that. The Mayor of the Sunset Strip, a documentary by George Hickenlooper (Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse), tracks Bingenheimer's rise from the 1960s, when he was a groupie -- eventually landing his first show-business job as a double for Davy Jones on The Monkees -- through stints as a successful club owner and influential DJ to his current status as a fading musical icon. The film takes us from the innocent pop of Brian Wilson and Sonny & Cher through the raucous heyday of L.A.'s punk scene and beyond. Hickenlooper also delves into Bingenheimer's relationships, showing him mourning his neglectful and unbalanced, but beloved, mother and visiting with his father, who never attempted to make contact with Bingenheimer after his mother abandoned him. He also pines for a close friend, Camille Chancery, and helps out a seemingly hopeless middle-aged wannabe rock star, Ronald Vaughan. While Bingenheimer used his skills as a consummate hanger-on and his genuine enthusiasm for rock & roll to become a central figure in the L.A. music scene for a couple of decades and is lauded in the film for his good taste and good nature by celebrities from Cher to David Bowie to Gwen Stefani, his current life is shown to be somewhat sad and lonely. The Mayor of the Sunset Strip is chock full of cameos and features a star-studded soundtrack. It was shown at the {~2003 New York Film Festival.

A League of Ordinary Gentlemen (2004)

Director:
Christopher Browne

IMDB

Review:
Can one of America's least glamorous sports survive a media-savvy makeover...and can it survive without one? In the 1950s and '60s, bowling was one of America's most popular sports, with millions spending their spare time on the lanes and watching professional bowling on television. However, the game's popularity took a nosedive in the 1980s and '90s, and matters only got worse when network television dropped regular bowling coverage. Eventually, the Professional Bowlers Association was bought out by a group of Microsoft executives, who pumped five million dollars into the organization and hired former football player Steve Miller to give the game a PR makeover in hopes of attracting a new audience. In A League of Ordinary Gentlemen, documentary filmmaker Chris Browne follows four professional bowlers -- Pete Weber, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Chris Barnes, and Wayne Webb -- as they scrape out a living on the pro bowling circuit and try to make sense of Miller's attempts to give the game a higher profile, with the solid play of Williams, who has won the PBA championship a whopping 39 times, often overlooked in favor of the "bad boy" showboating of Webber.

Tying the Knot (2004)

Director:
Jim de Sève

IMDB

Review:
Documentary filmmaker Jim de Sève explores the many issues behind the controversial topic of gay marriage in Tying the Knot, a film which also offers a look at how the legal and societal structures of marriage have changed with time. Tying the Knot focus on two cases of long-term gay couples whose passing led to legal squabbles between the members of their respective families over issues which would have been comparatively clear-cut if the couples had been able to legally marry. In addition, de Sève interviews activists on both sides of the issue of legally sanctioning same-sex unions, and looks backward at how changing laws regarding women's property rights and interracial marriage have created a precedent for rethinking the legal contract of marriage. Tying the Knot was screened at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival.

Ram Dass, Fierce Grace (2001)

Director:
Mickey Lemle

IMDB

Review:
 Harvard professors Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary made countercultural history in 1963 when they were fired from that institution for conducting controversial psychedelic drug research. In the purple haze aftermath, Alpert journeyed to India and found his guru Maharaj ji, who renamed him Ram Dass ("Servant of God"). Best known for his 1971 bestseller BE HERE NOW, which was a spiritual touchstone of the era, Ram Dass became an inspiration to people across the globe. Filmmaker Mickey Lemle--who has known his subject for more than twenty-five years--intersperses vivid archival footage from hippiedom's glory days with intimate glimpses of Ram Dass today, as he continues to remake his life since being--in his words--"stroked" in 1997. Named by NEWSWEEK as one of the Top Five Non-Fiction Films of 2002, RAM DASS FIERCE GRACE is an engrossing, poignant meditation on spirituality, consciousness, healing and the unexpected grace of aging.

Blindsight (2006)

Director:
Lucy Walker

IMDB

Review:
Erik Weihenmayer is an athlete and climbing enthusiast who, in the spring of 2001, scaled the summit of Mount Everest. This would be a notable accomplishment for anyone, but Weihenmayer was different from those who had reached Everest's peak before him -- he's been blind since the age of thirteen. Weihenmayer's remarkable story came to the attention of Sabriye Tenberken, an educator who teaches blind teenagers in Lhasa, Tibet. In Tibetan culture, blindness is considered by many to be a curse, and it's not unknown for families to abandon children who are blind to the streets. Hoping to show others what her students could do, Tenberken invited Weihenmayer to Tibet to lead six teenagers on a climb of Lhakpa Ri, a peak on the northern face of Mount Everest. Weihenmayer eagerly accepted the invitation and in 2004 he joined Tenberken and her students on the adventure of a lifetime as six sightless novice climbers attempted to conquer one of the world's tallest and most challenging mountains. Documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker joined Weihenmayer for his adventure with the Tibetan students, and Blindsight is a record of what he and his charges accomplished together. Blindsight received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival.