FILM 1964: THAT SUMMER

FILM 1964: THAT SUMMER

Montauk, East Hampton, New York, 2016. Peter Beard discusses his work as a photographer, artist and diarist before reminiscing about his attempt to make a documentary in the summer of 1972 with his friend Lee Radziwill (younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), focusing on their childhood and the 20th- century history of East Hampton.

FILM 1958: BEHIND THE CURVE

FILM 1958: BEHIND THE CURVE

TRIVIA: There is only one piece of trivia on IMDB which is ‘The Earth is actually a spheroid and not "flat."’ 

FILM 1953: DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME

FILM 1953: DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME

A group of young filmmakers have one goal in mind: to track down and interview the great writer/director John Hughes, responsible for many of the classic teen films that marked a whole generation even today such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller Day-Off and Sixteen Candles. The documentary features testimonies from many actors who worked with Hughes, revealing what was special about his films and the way they conquered audiences through the years.

FILM 1950: TWINSTERS

FILM 1950: TWINSTERS 

TRIVIA: As of December 2016, Twinsters registered a 100% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Samantha futerman and Ryan miyamoto, co-director, later became lovers.

FILM 1944: HOT COFFEE

FILM 1944: HOT COFFEE 

How the infamous McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit and similar cases were exploited as part of a right wing crusade to weaken civil justice.

FILM 1936: ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT

FILM 1936: ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT

The twisting, turning, stranger-than-fiction true story of the Brobergs, a naive, church-going Idaho family that fell under the spell of a sociopathic neighbor with designs on their twelve-year-old daughter.

FILM 1932: THE AMERICAN MEME

FILM 1932: THE AMERICAN MEME

THE AMERICAN MEME follows the journeys of four shocking social media disruptors, Paris Hilton (@parishilton), Josh Ostrovsky (@thefatjewish), Brittany Furlan (@brittanyfurlan) and Kirill Bichutsky (@slutwhisperer), as they hustle to create empires out of their online footprints. Although their paths to influencer status are distinct, their respective followings are akin to small armies.

FILM 1929: FYRE

FILM 1929: FYRE

TRIVIA: Fyre Media began with the Fyre app, where users could go to book talent. The idea for the Fyre Festival came about as a way to promote the app.

McFarland claimed to have purchased a Bahamian island, Norman’s Cay, formerly owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. One of the conditions was that Escobar’s name could not be used in the marketing of the event. When it appeared in the initial promo video, the Fyre crew was kicked off and left begging for a location two months before the festival was supposed to take place.

Kendall Jenner received a reported $250,000 to post once on Instagram about Fyre Festival

Celebs and influencers were offered free tickets and lodging in VIP villas but received keys to the promised luxury accommodation. Most villas simply did not exist on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, McFarland and his team lost the keys to the ones they did rent.

As ticketholders and local merchants found out that the festival was officially canceled and vendors would not get paid, Fyre organizers fled for their lives.

Bahamian restaurant owner Maryann Rolle — who runs Exuma Point Resort shelled out approximately $50,000 of her savings to pay workers who were stiffed by Fyre.  Since then, she’s raised over $160,000 via a GoFundMe page.

(Some information found here.)

FILM 1926: WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

FILM 1926: WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

TRIVIA: Although the documentary includes a brief clip of Mr. Roger's meeting with Koko the Gorilla and shows Koko removing Mr. Roger's shoes, it does not explain the story behind the gorilla's actions. After Koko's death in June 2018, multiple obituaries for the gorilla explained that Koko faithfully watched Mr. Rogers' show every day, and during their encounter, she removed his shoes because she was used to seeing him do the same at the start of every episode.

Director Morgan Neville was partly inspired to create this documentary after asking Yo-Yo Ma about how he handled his status of being a celebrity. Ma said Fred Rogers mentored him on how his fame could be used for good.

FILM 1925: RBG

FILM 1925: RBG

TRIVIA: During her interview, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's granddaughter Clara Spera calls Ginsburg "Bubbie" and explains that Bubbie is Yiddish for "grandmother." Later, Spera refers to her grandfather (Ginsburg's late husband Martin D. Ginsburg) as "Tateh" without explaining that Tateh is Yiddish for "father."

It had its premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

FILM 1884: THE HUNTING GROUND

FILM 1884: THE HUNTING GROUND

An exposé of rape crimes on U.S. college campuses, their institutional cover-ups, and the devastating toll they take on students and their families.

FILM 1864: BRIGHT LIGHTS: STARRING CARRIE FISHER AND DEBBIE REYNOLDS

FILM 1864: BRIGHT LIGHTS: STARRING CARRIE FISHER AND DEBBIE REYNOLDS 

TRIVIA: Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds both passed away before the documentary aired on American television.

Filming for the documentary began in April 2014 and ceased after Debbie was nominated for the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2015.

The narrative initially began as a chronicle of Debbie Reynolds' late-in-life career, but turned into a story about Carrie and Debbie's relationship.

According to Alexis Bloom, Carrie was struck by the intimacy of the scenes when she saw the first cut of the film, but came to endorse it after a conversation with the directors.

FILM 1862: MARWENCOL

FILM 1862: MARWENCOL 

On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was attacked outside of a bar by five men who beat him nearly to death after he told them he was a cross-dresser. After nine days in a coma and 40 days in the hospital, Hogancamp was discharged with brain damage that left him little memory of his previous life. Unable to afford therapy, he created his own by building a 1/6-scale World War II-era Belgiantown in his yard and populating it with dolls representing himself, his friends, and even his attackers. He called the town "Marwencol," blending the names "Mark," "Wendy" and "Colleen."

Hogancamp was initially discovered by photographer David Naugle, who documented and shared his story with Esopus magazine, whereby his work was shown in a New York art gallery.

TRIVIA: For the film's premiere Mark prepared a story line including the delivery by courier of a 1/6th scale press kit to the village of Marwencol.

This film is also known as Village of the Dolls in the UK.

This film is inspiration for ‘Welcome to Marwen,’ a 2018 drama directed by Robert Zemeckis. 

BOOK: Welcome to Marwencol is an art book by Mark Hogancamp and Chris Shellen published in 2015 by Princeton Architectural Press. It explores the life and work of Hogancamp. It was named one of the best books of 2015 by Amazon.

FILM 1855: SURVIVORS GUIDE TO PRISON

FILM 1855: SURVIVORS GUIDE TO PRISON

Today, you're more likely to go to prison in the United States than anywhere else in the world. So in the unfortunate case it should happen to you - this is the Survivors Guide to Prison.

FILM 1850: BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN

FILM 1850: BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN

Tells the story of two 12-year old girls, who attempted to murder one of their friends in an attempt to appease Slenderman, a fictional monster from a horror website.

FILM 1848: THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

FILM 1848: THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

TRIVIA: The movie that the triplets had a cameo in is Desperately Seeking Susan (1985).

Debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2018.

FILM 1840: THE INSTITUTE

FILM 1840: THE INSTITUTE

A documentary on the Jejune Institute, a mind-bending San Francisco phenomenon where 10,000 people became "inducted" without ever quite realizing what they'd signed up for.

(Find more information (preferably after you’ve watched the documentary as it gives away a lot) here: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/jp54ky/game-or-cult-the-alternate-reality-of-the-jejune-institute)

PODCAST: DEATH IN ICE VALLEY

PODCAST: DEATH IN ICE VALLEY

An unidentified body. Who was she? Why hasn’t she been missed? A BBC World Service and NRK original podcast, investigating a mystery unsolved for almost half a century.

MY VERDICT: The above information is all the background you’re given before you start to listen to this well made documentary podcast. And it’s intriguing, which sets the tone for the mystery and the series. A woman is found dead and burnt in the remote valley near Bergen in Norway. No one knows who she is, no one knows where she came from, no one has reported her missing and all the labels are missing from her clothes.

I’d heard of this mystery a long time ago but didn’t research it at all as I was under the impression that there wasn’t much to know – nothing had been discovered in all the years since her death in 1970.  That was until this podcast from the BBC and NRK started digging.

Not only are the facts fascinating, and the investigating is amazingly well done, but I think one of the best aspects of this podcast is the style. The moody rain-scapes are atmospheric and perfect for setting the tone. The differences between the presenters are one of things that I find most interesting. The English man from the BBC, Neil McCarthy, is an outsider and a pragmatist with typical English pessimism while Marit Higraff, the presenter from NRK is forever optimistic and tells such a compelling background to McCathy and us, the listeners.  

Some information is held back, it doesn’t speculate madly (like the internet) and facts or information is given to us clue by clue, but it’s a testament to a well-made podcast and great storytelling rather than to give a biased opinion. 

There’s a great website to accompany this https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p060ms2h

I would recommend to listen to the podcast first and then look at all the notes. And then maybe look at all other crazy internet theories afterwards.

FILM 1809: LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF

FILM 1809: LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF 

Los Angeles Plays Itself is a video essay by Thom Andersen, finished in 2003, exploring the way Los Angeles has been presented in movies. Consisting almost entirely of clips from other films with narration, the film was not initially released commercially. The film was only seen in screenings presented by Andersen, occasional presentations at American Cinematheque and copies distributed via filesharing and other person-to-person methods. In 2014, it was announced that the film would finally be released officially by Cinema Guild.

Andersen stated that the film idea occurred to him after a lecture he gave at the California Institute of the Arts, where he talked about his objections to L.A. Confidential, the 1997 Curtis Hanson film adapted from James Ellroy's novel.

In the film, Andersen argues that the influence of Hollywood overshadows Los Angeles and is one of the reasons the city's name is frequently abbreviated. He makes the case that directors have a distaste for modernist architecture, which is regularly used for villain's homes.

(Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Plays_Itself)

FILM 1780: THE RACHEL DIVIDE

FILM 1780: THE RACHEL DIVIDE

Rachel Dolezal becomes a social phenomenon when she passes herself off as an African American and becomes the head of her local N.A.A.C.P. chapter.