|
DOCUMENTARY ROUNDUP
Where You Can See Documentaries Around the DC Metro Area?
Provided in Partnership with WIFV-DC's Documentary Roundtable.
Special thanks to Matthew Radcliff of Paignton Pictures for compiling and updating this list every week.
|
|
Film Name
|
Venue |
Dates |
Description |
| Free Land |
National Museum of the American Indian |
Daily in July, 3:30pm |
Filmmaker Minda Martin weaves an unusual dialogue between her parents' chronic homelessness and the homelessness imposed on her ancestors by the forced removal of the Cherokee people from Cherokee Nation 170 years earlier. Using historic documents, including Dawes Commission interviews (1893-1914), photographs, and shot footage, Martin constructs an experience for audiences familiar with contemporary homelessness into the lasting effects of forced removal on a people. |
| Restrepo |
Landmark E Street, AMC Loews Shirlington 7 |
Currently Playing |
Fresh from its screening at Silverdocs, Restrepo is a feature-length documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. The movie focuses on a remote 15-man outpost, "Restrepo," named after a platoon medic who was killed in action. It was considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military. This is an entirely experiential film: the cameras never leave the valley; there are no interviews with generals or diplomats. The only goal is to make viewers feel as if they have just been through a 94-minute deployment. This is war, full stop. The conclusions are up to you. Directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger (author of The Perfect Storm). |
| Countdown to Zero |
Landmark E Street |
Currently Playing |
The history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possessing nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. Written and directed by acclaimed documentarian Lucy Walker (The Devil's Playground, Blindsight), the film features an array of important international statesmen, including President Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervez Musharraf and Tony Blair. It makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament, an issue more topical than ever with the Obama administration working to revive this goal today. |
| Made In Jamaica |
National Geographic |
7/23, 8:30pm |
This film is a powerful portrait of the leaders of the Jamaican music movement and how reggae in particular became a worldwide phenomenon. It is the story of how the three million residents of a small island nation in the Caribbean took their human experience and turned it into songs full of emotions that resonate around the world. Part of African Diaspora Film Festival. |
| Silent Shame |
National Geographic |
7/24, 12:30pm |
A newly married couple meets the expectations of their conservative families; a twist in fate forces them to confront their true selves. Years later their only son is left to discover the truth behind the way his mother was infected with HIV. Part of African Diaspora Film Festival. |
| The March of Time: 75th Anniversary |
National Gallery of Art |
7/24, 1pm |
American movie audiences, accustomed to the weekly newsreel in any local theater's programming, were introduced in 1935 to Henry Luce's "new pictorial journalism" in the form of The March of Time. Suddenly, the most dramatic - and dramatized - item on the bill was not necessarily the Hollywood feature. This 75th anniversary screening celebrates The March of Time with three short episodes from the late 1930s and producer Louis de Rochemont's feature-length The Ramparts We Watch (1940). |
| Katanga Business |
National Geographic |
7/24, 3:30pm |
Focusing on the diamond rich Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Thierry Michel builds a documentary that introduces the general public to the economic development of this region as we see the charismatic Congolese governor in charge dealing with the entrepreneurs from Europe and China and with his own national government while fighting for a better life for Congolese workers. This thriller-like documentary offers a revealing look at the impact of globalization on Africa through the portrait of a man in a quest for economic independence in a region in turmoil. Part of African Diaspora Film Festival. |
| Black and White in Exile |
National Geographic |
7/25, 3pm |
This fascinating documentary chronicles the experiences of Cuban and Haitian exiles in the United States since the 1960s. Using photojournalistic images, Black and White in Exile deals with the complex themes of assimilation and the often divisive issues of immigration, especially when race and politics collide. Part of African Diaspora Film Festival. |
| Up From the Bottoms |
National Geographic |
7/25, 1pm |
During the late 1930s through the 1960s factory jobs in the north were abundant while farming jobs in the southern states were disappearing. In the 1940s alone, a million and a half African Americans left the South and spread across this land. They were looking for a better life, the American dream. The voice of Cicely Tyson guides us through these stories as told by 15 residents of Muskegon, Michigan. Civil rights activist, comedian, and author Dick Gregory gives a national perspective along with the renowned scholar of black Americana studies, Dr. Ben Wilson. This documentary reveals the human side of the migration and the character of the people who chose to make this noble journey. Part of African Diaspora Film Festival. |
| From the Vaults: 100 Years of the Boy Scouts |
National Archives, William McGowan Theater |
7/26, 29, 30 at noon |
We present a selection of archival films from the motion picture holdings of the National Archives, including Good Turns for Our Forests, a silent film from 1925 in which Scouts demonstrate fire prevention methods, and The U.S. Army and the Boy Scouts, a 1962 episode from the U.S. Army's promotional series, The Big Picture. |
| In The Family |
AFI Silver |
7/28, 7pm |
At 31, filmmaker Joanna Rudnick faces an impossible decision: remove her breasts and ovaries or risk incredible odds of developing cancer. Armed with a positive genetic test result that leaves her essentially 'a ticking time bomb', she balances dreams of having her own children with the unnerving reality that she is risking her life by holding on to her fertility. In The Family follows Joanna as she takes us on a journey through the unpredictable world of predictive genetic testing. Part of NIH Science in the Cinema. |
| Winnebago Man |
Avalon Theatre |
Opens 7/30 |
Jack Rebney is the most famous man you've never heard of - an RV salesman whose hilarious, foul-mouthed outbursts circulated underground on VHS tapes in the 90s before turning into a full-blown Internet phenomenon in 2005. Today, the "Winnebago Man" has been seen by more than 20 million people worldwide, and is regarded as one of the first and funniest viral videos. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer goes in search of Rebney - and finds him living alone on a mountain top, unaware of his fame. WINNEBAGO MAN is a laugh-out-loud look at viral culture and an unexpectedly poignant tale of one man's response to unintended celebrity. |
| Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, and Rebel |
Landmark E Street |
Opens 7/30 -- ONE WEEK ONLY |
An intimate look at the outspoken, flamboyant founder of the Playboy empire. Hefner is revealed both as a hedonistic playboy and a groundbreaking advocate and catalyst for civil rights, the First Amendment and human rights. With humor and insight, the film captures Hefner's fierce battles with the government, the religious right and militant feminists. A brilliant and entertaining snapshot of the life of an extraordinary man and the controversies that surrounded him. Directed by Brigitte Berman, Academy Award winner for the documentary feature Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got. |
| Two In The Wave |
National Gallery of Art |
8/1, 4:30pm |
The story of the early camaraderie and later rift between French New Wave founders François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard is crafted with archival interviews and footage, as it tracks the course of the celebrated 1960s film movement. |
| Out In the Silence |
The Lounge @ Renaissance Dupont Circle Hotel 1413 New Hampshire Ave NW |
8/3, 7pm |
DC filmmakers Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer announce their same-sex wedding in a newspaper in the small hometown in western Pennsylvania which Wilson left years ago. The wedding announcement ignites a firestorm of controversy in the town, but a letter from the mother of a gay teen being tormented at a school in the town draws Wilson back on a journey through love, hate, and understanding in rural America. Following the screening, there will be a discussion with the filmmakers focused on the content and making of the film. |
| Heavy Metal Picnic |
AFI Silver |
8/6, 9:30pm |
A celebration of mid-'80s Maryland rock and roll and heavy metal, by those who lived--and survived--it. Focused on the 1985 Full Moon Jamboree, a weekend field party bacchanal that took place at "The Farm," home to a cast of colorful characters who lived and partied alongside unamused neighbors in the McMansions of Potomac. An affair so raucous that it made the evening news, it the field party to end all field parties. Twenty-five years later, we revisit the scene and meet the people behind the party, as well as the musicians who performed there, including mid-Atlantic doom metal icons Asylum. Produced and presented by the team behind cult hit HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT (Jeff Krulik and John Heyn), who will be at the screening with many special guests. |
| Upcoming Film Festivals Around Town |
| African Diaspora Film Festival |
National Geographic |
7/22-7/25 |
For the fifth consecutive year, this outstanding event will feature a selection of independent films from around the world that explore the richness and diversity of the human experience of people of color. This four-day program will exhibit ten films, including eight Washington D.C. premieres. |
| Silver Spring Stories Festival |
Montgomery College, Cafritz Arts Center, 930 King Street, Silver Spring, MD |
7/23, 6:30pm |
Docs In Progress is proud to partner with Montgomery College to present a special community event right here in Silver Spring: the Silver Spring Stories Festival. As part of our programs, Docs In Progress cultivates community partnerships which enhance the work of emerging documentary filmmakers and also connect them to the civic life of Silver Spring, Maryland where Docs In Progress is headquartered. To spotlight these partnerships, Docs In Progress invites you to join us for a one night film festival of Silver Spring Stories. |
Join Mailing List
