A selection of recent and historical films that extend the documentary form in provocative ways. With Alan Berliner as our first Les Blank Lecturer.
Read full descriptionA found suitcase of reel-to-reel audiotapes, containing recorded love letters between a married man and his lover, is the origin story behind this reconstruction of their affair, using minimal, evocative images.
Guzmán (Nostalgia for the Light) continues his excavation of Chile’s hidden past by using the theme of water to tie together strands of history and natural history in Patagonia.
A cinema-verité treatment of John F. Kennedy’s campaign against Hubert Humphrey during the 1960 primary race, Primary ranks among the most influential documentaries of the postwar period.
Renowned autobiographical filmmaker Ed Pincus returns to documentary cinema with this self-reflective look at mortality, relationships, and trauma, made in collaboration with Lucia Small. “Thorny, tender, and unvarnished” (LA Times).
A bracing portrait of resistance and revolution, Maidan tracks the riots in Kiev’s Maidan Square from peaceful protest to violent confrontation. “An impressive, bold treatment of a complex subject” (Variety).
Les Blank Lecture by Alan Berliner
Berliner’s most recent film is a portrait of his cousin and mentor, Edwin Honig, a renowned poet who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. “Heartbreaking, haunting, and unexpectedly heartening” (LA Times). With short Everywhere at Once.