Few festivals do a better job of rounding up the year’s most enticing documentaries than the always charming Savannah Film Festival. During its 18th edition last fall, the festival — largely curated by publicist Steven Wilson and entertainment reporter Scott Feinberg on behalf of the Savannah College of Art and Design — brought many of the leading lights in documentary filmmaking to the northeastern corner of Georgia for its second annual “Docs to Watch” sidebar. The culmination of the program is a panel, moderated by Feinberg, that includes a smorgasbord of directors whose movies will figure prominently in the award season races to […]
by Brandon Harris on Feb 22, 2016When it came to music, Amy Winehouse forcefully played dual roles, as much master as slave. She had a tough time separating the two. As a young teen in the barely middle-class Southgate section of London, she was under strict instructions from older brother Alex, who constantly played music in his room, never to enter without knocking. Otherwise, she said, “He would throw things at you.” One time, however, she could not stop herself, and stormed in without permission. Dumbfounded, he imagined an emergency. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing to his record player. “It’s Ray Charles,” he answered. “’Unchain My […]
by Howard Feinstein on Jul 6, 2015When you have one of the most anticipated films of the year about to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, how do you prepare? For Asif Kapadia — director of Amy, the forthcoming documentary about the British jazz singer Amy Winehouse — the answer is to direct another film. His adaptation of Kurban Said’s 1937 novel Ali and Nino is the first fictional narrative the British director has helmed since 2007’s Far North; both it and Amy are his first features since 2010’s much-admired documentary Senna. For his fictional narratives, Kapadia has made a habit of shooting in remote, unique locations. […]
by Kaleem Aftab on May 13, 2015