By C.J. Hirschfield
October 21, 2022
In the Jewish religion, “LeChaim!” means “to life,” and is the traditional toast.
In 2019, 92-year old Eli Timoner chose death instead, and his journey is recorded in the insightful and moving new documentary, Last Flight Home.
By C.J. Hirschfield
October 8, 2022
For a documentary to even-handedly and adroitly cover a complex, painful and controversial subject in just 52 minutes requires not only talent, but a clarity of vision, and cinematic compassion.
Award-winning Bay Area filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman have accomplished just that in their timely Town Destroyer, with its world premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival Saturday, October 8.
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By C.J. Hirschfield
“I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar,” enthused the director of a 2019 short subject documentary as she accepted her prize.
Welcome to the golden age of the documentary, as people clamor for great nonfiction films.
By Ashia Lance
It’s true – in 2016, I went to vote at the same polling place where I’d voted for a decade and had received a postcard in the mail confirming I was registered. This time when I went to vote, I was told my name wasn’t on the voter rolls and was asked if I wanted a provisional ballot. Reluctantly, I voted with a provisional ballot because I knew a dirty little secret about us voting: provisional ballots do not have to be counted. Whether a provisional ballot is counted varies according to county practices, and some practices can be biased.
By C.J. Hirschfield
March 14, 2022
Cinema junkies forgive iconic documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman for the length of some of his works that venture deep into American institutions; his most recent City Hall covering the government of Boston clocked in at four and a half hours. We absolve him because he is so good at taking us inside worlds that we don’t know, as his camera disappears and we learn so much by listening and observing, happy to have made the journey.
Comparisons to Wiseman’s work are inevitable as we describe the numerous joys of Maria Speth’s new documentary, Mr. Bachmann and his Class, the closing night film at Berlin & Beyond 2022, at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. It is now streaming on MUBI. Continue reading
By Gaetano Kazuo Maida
Ignore the misleading title. The film opens with what appear to be two Chinese military observers speculating on the work and fate of an expedition that they have been watching from afar through telescopes. One says, “There was a pack of wolves at the summit… he went to photograph them, the wolves were following him. I thought they’d gobble him up, but he came back. I have no idea what they’re doing…” And we are truly and deeply hooked.
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