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True Stories
The writer George Plimpton made his reputation as a professional amateur. He would insinuate himself into various professional organizations, such as the Detroit Lions football team and New York Philharmonic, train with them, and then go into the public arena and do his best to perform on their level. He would struggle mightily with the task, often either failing spectacularly or flailing amusingly. Then, he would go off and write about the experience; finally, he would take to the talk show circuit to promote himself and his daft adventure.
While George was selling himself as a kind of everyman, a stand in for your average Joe, what he was really doing was pulling off an amazing sleight of hand. By getting the public to focus on the folly of his adventure, rather than the creative act of his writing about the adventure, George was making his own professionalism disappear before our eyes. In other words, George the writer was operating at as high a level as any of the professionals about whom he was writing.
And right there’s the trick that all great documentary filmmakers have in common. They find a subject, then devote themselves entirely to it, often for years at a time, at no small sacrifice and measure of personal risk, and if they are good enough and lucky enough, they create works of art that dazzle us and make us forget that they are even there. The camera only points in one direction after all. But let’s take a moment to acknowledge the incredible commitment and exceptional skills of the 42 amazing artists representing this year’s documentary selections in the True Stories section. They are all magicians — George Plimptons, if you will — in their own right.
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900 Days
Netherlands, 2011, 77 min.
History at its most fascinating and horrifying, 900 Days uses gripping testimonials by the Russian survivors of the German army’s WWII siege of Leningrad to tell the truth about events that the Soviet government kept hidden for 65 years.... more
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Beware of Mr. Baker
USA, 2012, 92 min.
If you loved this year’s doc breakout Searching for Sugar Man, then you will not want to miss Mr. Baker, a darker, but equally fascinating, journey into the soul of a musical genius, the legendary rock-n-roll/jazz drummer Ginger Baker.... more
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Bound by Flesh
USA, 2012, 95 min.
Riveting documentary about Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who enjoyed and endured a rollercoaster show-business career in the first half of the twentieth century – including a stage act with the young Bob Hope. They also appeared in Tod Browning’s legendary horror film Freaks.... more
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Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey
USA, 2012, 113 min.
How to replace Steve Perry? That was the dilemma for anthemic rockers Journey after their lead singer quit the band. Eventually they found the perfect solution via YouTube: a street kid who fronted a Filipino cover band.... more
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Dreamers
France, 2012, 90 min.
The script comes first! Explore the poetic journey from ideas and words to images, through the insights of some of the best filmmakers on the planet, including Jacques Audiard, Guillermo Arriaga, James Gray, Emir Kusturica and John Boorman.... more
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Drought
Mexico, 2011, 83 min.
Award-winning director Everardo González paints a dazzling, hard-as-nails portrait of a corner of the world where water is scarce and life is hard, revealing the powerful spirit of the rancheros who never lose their determination and belief that the rain will come and life will be renewed.... more
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The End of Time
Canada, 2012, 114 min.
A meditative, free-associative but entirely engrossing contemplation of the nature of time by the innovative non-fiction filmmaker Peter Mettler. Detroit, Big Island, India and CERN are just some of his philosophical pit-stops. Go with the (lava) flow.... more
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Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story
USA, 2012, 99 min.
A thoroughly engrossing documentary about “the most famous children’s book author you have never heard of”, whose subversive and brilliant work has won him legions of fans… and more than a few enemies.... more
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A Fierce Green Fire
USA, 2012, 114 min.
A fervent and engrossing account of environmentalism, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mark Kitchell's five-part history offers up righteous fury and startling realities about the short-sighted past, perilous present, and uncertain future of our relationship with nature.... more
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The Final Member
Canada, 2012, 75 min.
Forget Hollywood, the funniest comedy of the year may be this documentary about the Icelandic Phallological Museum. That’s right, a penis museum. Join “Siggi” Hjartarson on his quest to find the one thing that will make his museum complete – a human penis.... more
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First Comes Love
USA, 2012, 108 min.
Filmmaker Nina Davenport chronicles her decision to become a single mother at 41 and unexpected developments she confronts in the act of conceiving and carrying the child (including speedbumps in her relationship with the sperm donor, her gay best friend), in this funny, moving and revealing explor... more
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The Fruit Hunters
Canada, 2012, 95 min.
Environmental docs come in all shapes and sizes, but you won’t have seen any as appetizing as this sensual, seductive tribute to nature’s sweetest bounty. Join Bill Pullman and the fruit detectives in their quest for a wider world of taste sensation.... more
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Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp
USA, 2012, 88 min.
An African-American writer’s authentic treatment of inner city street life sells 6 million books –Malcolm X? Alex Haley? James Baldwin? No. His name is Robert Beck, aka Iceberg Slim, and his story is truly remarkable and surprisingly moving.... more
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Informant
USA, 2012, 82 min.
Possibly the year’s best thinking man’s who-done-it, Jamie Meltzer’s brilliant political thriller doc has a twist: we know who done it. The question is: what makes a man go from militant leftwing activist to FBI informant?... more
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Jews of Egypt
Egypt, 2012, 96 min.
“An engrossing, enraging and deeply moving chronicle of the lost history of Egyptian Jews from the beginning of the 20th Century until the mid-60s… seamlessly blends the personal with the public, painting a rich, multifaceted portrait of a history that has been deliberately forgotten and tarnished.”... more
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Koch
USA, 2012, 95 min.
Love him or hate him, Ed Koch personifies the image of New York and the big city mayor. Granted unprecedented access, filmmaker Neil Barsky engages the still feisty 87-year-old Koch in a probing assessment of his life, career, and legacy.... more
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La Source
USA, 2012, 71 min.
When Princeton students learn that their custodian Josue Lajeunesse has a lifelong dream to build an aqueduct in Haiti to bring clean water to his home village of La Source, they rally to his support. Then, the 2010 earthquake hits…... more
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Love, Marilyn
USA, 2012, 105 min.
A dozen contemporary actresses (including Glenn Close, Viola Davis and Marisa Tomei) read from Marilyn Monroe’s recently discovered private papers in Liz Garbus’s multi-faceted, beautifully-made portrait of the quintessential twentieth century sex symbol.... more
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More Than Honey
Germany, 2012, 90 min.
As entrancing as March of the Penguins but without Morgan Freedman, More than Honey features the most spectacular footage of bees ever put on film in pursuit of the mystery of the devastating decline in the world’s honeybee population.... more
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Multiple Visions (The Crazy Machine)
Mexico, 2012, 95 min.
Bathed in some of the most beautiful and iconic images from Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, one of the most legendary cameramen of all times, supplemented by commentary from 40 directors of photography from difference countries and generations.... more
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No Place on Earth
USA, 2012, 83 min.
“Maybe some Jews lived down there.” These words mark the beginning of an incredible story: 38 Ukrainian Jews who hid deep inside some of the longest caves in the world for 511 days to escape the Nazis.... more
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Nuala
Ireland, 2012, 90 min.
This warts-and-all documentary paints a vivid picture of Irish author/TV producer/columnist/cultural commentator Nuala O'Faolain’s remarkable life, bountiful talent and uncompromising death.... more
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Out of the Clear Blue Sky
USA, 2012, 107 min.
The riveting, never-before-told inside story of Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial firm headquartered on the top of the World Trade Center that suffered the largest number of casualties of any organization on 9/11, and of its remarkable and controversial CEO Howard Lutnick.... more
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Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey
USA, 2012, 70 min.
In this adventure eco documentary, 700 people trek 450 miles on foot across the rooftop of the world, the Himalayas, bringing environmental education, planting 33,000 trees, and carrying off half a ton of litter on their backs.... more
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The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology
United Kingdom, 2012, 134 min.
Courtesy of director Sophie Fiennes, this follow-up to her instant classic The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, once again stars sly frontman and philosophical provocateur Slavoj Zizek; it’s the fun philosophy course you wish you could have taken in college - loaded with clips from classic films.... more
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Ping Pong
United Kingdom, 2012, 80 min.
A friendly game of ping-pong? Think again. 8 players with 703 years between them compete in the World Over-80s Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia.... more
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A Place at the Table
USA, 2012, 84 min.
49 million people in the U.S.—one in four children—don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Looking at three cases in close up, this stirring and important documetary makes a simple but eloquent argument that our nation must solve this problem for everyone’s benefit.... more
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Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself
USA, 2011, 89 min.
Take a thoroughly enjoyable ride with this American original – the writer, editor, journalist, raconteur, celebrity George Plimpton. Did I leave anything out, George?... more
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Room 237
USA, 2012, 104 min.
Stanley Kubrick’s enigmatic masterpiece The Shining goes under the microscope courtesy of 5 brilliant – but possibly insane – interpretations from its most obsessive fans. Could it really be about the genocide of the Indians? And why did he change that room number to 237?... more
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Smiling Through the Apocalypse - Esquire in the 60s
USA, 2012, 98 min.
An intimate and engaging portrait of Harold Hayes, the brilliant editor of Esquire magazine in its 1960s peak, who fostered the leading lights of the New Journalism, including such talents as Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, William F Buckley and Norman Mailer.... more
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Stolen Seas
Somalia, 2011, 92 min.
Presenting the inside story of Somali piracy — the filmmakers spent three years in some of the world's most dangerous places, talking to pirates, hostages, hostages' relatives, and the shipping company executives caught up in this deadly culture clash — this is truly an eye-(and mind)-opening doc..... more
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United in Anger: A History of Act Up
USA, 2012, 93 min.
A riveting tear through the tumultuous history of Act Up, arguably one of the most effective political action movements of the past half-century, United in Anger traces the origins, outrageous (to some) exploits and achievements of this seminal group... more
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What is this Film Called Love?
United Kingdom, 2012, 77 min.
The Story of Film director Mark Cousins free associates brilliantly in this passionate, poetic and deeply personal essay about Sergei Eisenstein, Mexico, travel and spirituality - an “ad-lib”, filmed on a flip camera in three days, for a budget of $20.... more
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A Whisper To A Roar
USA, 2012, 95 min.
Inspired by the work of Stanford’s Center for Democracy, Ben Moses set to chronicle the accomplishments of five democracy activists, in Egypt, Malaysia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. “By turns shocking and inspiring.” - New York Times.... more
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A World Not Ours
United Kingdom, 2012, 93 min.
A remarkably intimate glimpse inside the Ain El-Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon. “A passionate, ironic, bittersweet documentary that flips storytelling and Mideast-Arab cliches on their heads while weaving an irresistible mood of amused melancholy.” Variety. Best Documentary, Abu Dhabi Film Fe... more
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