There was an interesting documentary shown here in the UK the other night. It was called “Tank Man”, and was about events surrounding Tiananmen Square and the guy who stood up to the tanks.
Searching the net I found that the company behind the documentary have made it available for streaming (not for the UK though, but it’s repeated this Saturday).
Watched Wal-Mart: The high cost of Low prices this morning.
ooooh, Wal-Mart is a evil cult.
But the end is refreshing in that people have learned how to prevent them from coming in to their neighborhoods if they wish to.
Just got finished watching this doc about 9/11. It’s worth checking out. A bit too much conspiracy for me at times but it poses some really good questions and I learned a few more things that I hadn’t heard about in other 9/11 docs.
I had a Maysles week not too long ago and I watched both Grey Gardens and Lalee’s Kin (the latter was watched with Albert Maysles in attendance with whom I struck up a conversation that ended with him giving me his business card with his private phone number written on it which I, being the irresponsible jackass that I am, misplaced). Awesome!
How on earth has this thread continued so long without mentioning Mad Hot Ballroom? 
It’s been a long time since I’ve been so moved by a film…and I do mean moved. I was laughing, crying, singing, dancing, shouting, and applauding while I watched it. I had been meaning to see it for a long time and unfortunately missed it when it was in the theaters here briefly (a crime, the way they keep bad movies for a long time and indie films for a very short run). When I saw the DVD for it in Eslite, I grabbed it. I’ll let you know what my 4th and 5th graders thought of it by this weekend after I show it in class. When I told them the synopsis (that it’s a candid look at fifth graders from three New York City elementary schools who learn ballroom dancing for PE and about their journey as they become polished dancers) and showed them photographs from the film, they were duly impressed, which as you might know, is impressive in itself when it comes to upper elementary school students.
I recommend it to everyone, but especially to teachers and anyone who likes kids. You’ll find it hard to not want to cheer them on.
Saw it and it mamahuhu. But good meantioning
Saw it and it mamahuhu. But good meantioning[/quote]
Come again?
Saw it and it mamahuhu. But good meantioning[/quote]
Come again?[/quote]
I enjoyed it but there was something lacking about it. I thought it was okay, and the ending, while I was happy for the kids that won, it was expected. The thing about Docs, is that IMO you are leave feeling informed. I didn’t feel like they did that. I really didnt’ like the winning class teacher. She was overzelous, or depicted that way and it didn’t seem like she had the children’s best interests at heart.
Two and half stars in my book. Docs for me, I expect to leave inspired and educated.
Maybe that was it…the insincerity of the teachers was a bit eye-opening and it’s clear which kids are playing up to the camera (cough, cough, Tara)…
We didn’t see much of Ms. Freij (hope I didn’t give much away by saying that), but Allison Sheniak and Yomaira Reynoso seemed really insincere when they started crying about their kids. I mean the daggers that she shoots Alex, the dance instructor, when he tries to give the kids advice at the dance competition… 
But the kids were incredible hands-down. Little Elsamelys is an amazing little dancer. And Nile and Emma’s obvious crushes on each other are soooo adorable.
My 4th graders are rooting for P.S. 115 - Washington Heights. We watch the final 2/3 tomorrow.
And watching their reactions and sympathy for the kids makes this movie even better. The first time the kids dance the merengue, I could see some of them bouncing in their seats. I have a feeling that they will be asking for dance lessons soon, although when one of the principals talked about how the kids of her school can’t simply take dancing lessons because they want to since most of them are so poor, they stopped taking notes and paid closer attention. And they loved Mohammed’s imitation of girls.
It’s not often that kids make such a strong connection to the films they see. Or often that they see quality films as one of my students told me his teach just played cartoons all day today because they didn’t have anything else to do. I apologized to him and told him that he was not getting off that easily with my class. Even though they had finished their last project, there was (and in my classroom, always is) a purpose for viewing a video and that they won’t just be passively watching it. They started off locating the neighborhoods of the schools on a map of New York City and sorting the main dancers and their teachers into the schools. They are also creating a three-ring Venn diagram on the different schools.
And I always cry when the one team realizes that they’re not going on to the semi-finals. Especially when a single tear runs down the cheek of one of the boys. I’m sure the kids are going to love seeing that reaction. 
“Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room” was a fantastic documentary. I have a background in accounting/finance, so I appreciate that it is a little challenging for non-business people to follow, but anyone who watches it should be able to appreciate the human tragedy that was involved, and I challenge anyone not to feel anything but utter contempt for the energy traders who sat back and joked while California was crippled by an energy ‘crisis’ that they manufactured. :fume: I hope they rot in hell.
Bethany McLean - the Fortune reporter who first broke the story that Enron might be overvalued - is a fantastic ‘don’t get mad, get even’ story. Jeff Skilling tried to bully her into writing a complimentary piece on Enron - she co-wrote (with Peter Elkind) the book that exposed Skilling and Lay’s, let’s just call them ‘human frailties’.
I went to see ‘For More Sun (夢想無線)’ at the Taipei Film Festival last Friday and that was good too. It followed a team of engineering students from NTU, who, under the guidance of their professor, built a solar car to race in the 2005 World Solar Challenge in Australia, from Darwin to Adelaide, and finished 5th. I thought it offered a good insight into the committment of the students involved and the sacrifices they made to race in Australia. It didn’t have English subtitles, but it was an interesting way to spend a Friday evening. 
I saw a good documentary a few weeks back on National Geographic about Peru and the downfall of Fujimori. Lots of stuff in there about “The Shining Path” terrorist group (which I admit I’d heard of but knew nothing about). I have no idea what it was called or if it will be on again, but if anyone could help with the scant info i’ve just given, I’d be very happy.
Yep, I agree with you 100% Nama
Bump…Another one - “My Football Summer” (奇蹟的夏天, qiji de xiatian), a touching story of a group of boys from Meilun Junior High School in Hualien who played soccer together for three years - it was their life. Many came from rural/indigenous backgrounds, up in the mountains. I found it interesting that the school only started a soccer team after the principal noticed some boys playing outside one day and having fun, and thought if they enjoyed it, why not start a team? I think it’s still showing.
Has anyone seen “An Inconvenient Truth”, the doco about Al Gore’s campaign against global warming? Have heard good things…
EDIT: Don’t worry, I just saw the thread on it in this forum. Sorry.
Spike Lee’s When the Levee Breaks is, uh, available. haven’t seen it yet but have seen some interviews with Spike on Bill Maher’s show
I just finished watching Born into Brothels.
Wow.
Emotional film, very gritty and very real.
Definitely not a happy flick, but it may move you.
Wanna bump this thread.
Jesus Camp is a scary look into the far Right Evangelical slice of American life.
I have a few docs on the waiting list:
The ground Truth
Why We fight
(both about the war in Iraq)
This Film is Not Yet rated (about the hollywood rating system)
The Fog of War
David Frost Richrd Nixon 1977 Watergate interviews.
Prostitution Behind the Veil (Iranian doc about…well, you know)
UNREPENTANT: Kevin Annett and Canada’s Genocide
This Film is Not Yet Rated
This film is great investigative film-making. They literally have a PI find out who is on the secret ratings board and their appeals board.
This documentary is a MUST for anyone truly interested in the forced editting/censorship of films.
[quote=“jdsmith”]This Film is Not Yet Rated
This film is great investigative film-making. They literally have a PI find out who is on the secret ratings board and their appeals board.
This documentary is a MUST for anyone truly interested in the forced editting/censorship of films.[/quote]
Where can I find it, seems really interesting.
I can get you a copy if you’d like.
That’d be great. Thanks.