Eight great docos
There are those who say that truth can be stranger than fiction. Some of the documentary titles on show at this year’s International Film Festival certainly bear that out. Here are eight true-life tales to provoke, enlighten, stun and/or entertain.
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
‘‘Any girl can be glamorous, all she has to do is sit still and look stupid.’’ Yes, Austrian emigre Hedy Lamarr might have been best known for her face (she was apparently the model for Disney’s Snow White and DC’s Catwoman), but as Alexandra Dean’s absorbing documentary reveals, she also had a razorsharp and creative mind. Without her, the film argues, there would be no wi-fi or bluetooth – and yet she never received any compensation from the US government for her groundbreaking radio frequency invention.
The Cleaners
Ever wondered who is monitoring social media and making decisions about ‘‘objectionable content’’?
That’s the focus of German directors Hans Block’s and Moritz Riesewieck’s fascinating doco, which talks to Manila workers contracted by Facebook to carry out that very task. They reveal a daily diet of around 25,000 images, which can include beheadings, torture and child abuse.
The Heart Dances – The Journey of the Piano: The Ballet
Thanks to the well-documented troubles at the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Rebecca Tansley’s warts-and-all look at its adaptation of Jane Campion’s Academy Awardwinning 1993 movie has taken on an even greater resonance.
Audiences get a fly-on-thewall perspective as Czech choreographer Jiri Bubenicek and his twin brother and designer Otto struggle to match their vision against perceptions of cultural appropriation and a company seemingly unwilling to spread their casting net wide.
I Used to be Normal: A Boyband Fan Girl Story
Australian documentarian Jessica Leski looks at the musical obsessions of four very different females in this witty examination at the enduring power of popular-music.
Before One Direction, there was Backstreet Boys, Take That and The Beatles. Highlights include the Backstreet Cruise and Sydneysider Dara, who believes there’s a Take That song for every Power Point presentation.
The Price of Everything
Nathaniel Kahn looks at the weird and wacky world of contemporary art.
Talking to artists, auctioneers, collectors, curators and others involved in the industry, he paints a portrait of a sometimes capricious world where ‘‘lots of people know the price of everything and the value of nothing’’. Includes the art market’s recent potential ‘‘jump-the-shark’’ moment – ‘‘the gold toilet’’.
RBG
Last year it was our own Helen Clark, this year’s portrait of a glass-ceiling-smasher focuses on US Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Described as an ‘‘absolute disgrace’’ by Donald Trump, she is revered by Americans for having changed the way the world is for US women, firstly as a lawyer and then as a judge. This folk hero allows this delightful documentary into her private life and lets it enlighten her about her cult status thanks to her reputation as ‘‘the Notorious RBG’’ and comedian Kate McKinnon’s parody of her on Saturday Night Live.
Three Identical Strangers
Those who loved previous film festival titles like The Imposter, Man on Wire and Project Nim will lap up this amazing and outrage-inducing tale of Eddy Galland, David Kellman and Robert Shafran.
None of them knew the other existed until age 19, but after initial investigations into their similar looks uncovered a shared history that led to celebrity status, a disturbing truth emerged.
Yellow is Forbidden
Having examined controversial artist Vanessa Beecroft, aspiring Ma¯ ori leader Ngaa Rauuira and Afghanistan’s film archive in the past, Kiwi director Pietra Brettkelly now follows groundbreaking Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei in the final throes of her three-decade mission to be granted haute couture status by the French body that determines such a status.
As the deadline for her make-or-break show looms, the tension begins to boil over.