DocLands is back with cool movies
Two diamonds in the Bay Area film scene get their opportunity to sparkle beginning this week.
After a two-year absence, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival returns until May 11 with its jam-packed 25th program at the Castro Theatre.
In San Rafael, the sixth DocLands Documentary Film Festival checks in at the Smith Rafael Film Center with in-person screenings through May 12 and online viewing options May 11.
Let's dip into DocLands' rich program first.
If you're wanting to get a jumpstart on future award contenders, be sure not to miss director Alex Pritz's eye-opening “The Territory.” The conversation with the talented filmmaker afterward should be enlightening.
The double winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival finds Pritz plunking us into the thick of a roiling battle in Brazil's rainforest, where members of the Indigenious Uru-Eu-WauWau community struggle to protect their land from illegal settlers who homestead by burning off precious forests. Told from various perspectives — activists, the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people, the settlers and so on — this immersive experience also brings in President Jair Bolsonaro's conservative agenda. It's an exceptional documentary that finds hope amid the despair. It's also executive-produced by acclaimed filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. Screening: 1 p.m. May 6.
The May 7 lineup features a screening of Oakland director Marc Shaffer's “Exposing Muybridge,” a fascinating glimpse into the life and work of 19thcentury San Francisco photographer Eadweard Muybridge — a pioneer whose galloping horse photos paved the way for cinematic passions. Screening: 8 p.m. May 7.
California wine connoisseurs will find much to appreciate about Lori Miller's “Living Wine,” receiving a world premiere. Miller speaks extensively with natural wine growers and regional experts about their vow to never use chemical additives and to venture away from a corporate structure of winemaking. It's certain to encourage you to check out labels and also seek out wineries that adhere to the same protocols and
high standards. Screening: 3 p.m. May 8.
San Francisco native Lisa Riordan Seville and Sebastopol native Zara Katz's “A Woman on the Outside,” tells the poignant and inspiring story of Kristal Bush, who created Bridging the Gap Transportation, an innovative van program that helps bring families together with incarcerated relatives. Their film, which receives a California premiere, follows Bush at a pivotal juncture in life, when her father and brother return home after both have been in prison for years. Screening: 5 p.m. May 8.
For something entirely different, there's “Crows Are White,” a personal documentary that follows filmmaker Ahsen Nadeem's pursuit to find greater meaning and clarity in his life. The Los Angeles filmmaker journeys to a remote monastery in Japan where monks test the limits of their physical abilities. He receives the cold shoulder instantly when he arrives, but befriends unconventional monk Ryushin. Their friendship and personal journey along with the films' humor earns “Crows Are White” its wings. Screening: 7 p.m. May 8.
A few other recommendations: Berkeley filmmaker Sara Dosa's “Fire of Love” is a sensory experience that highlights the love and work of two French volcanologists (11:30 a.m. May 11); the intense and topical “Navalny” (7 p.m. May 6) centers on Russian President Vladimir Putin's political opponent Alexei Navalny and his suspicious, nearfatal poisoning; and the rousing “La Guerra Civil” (7:30 p.m. May 6), which peers into the divisive boxing bout between Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez.
You might also want to catch the 7 p.m. May 7 screening of “Exposure,” which details a daring attempt — made all that more precarious because of climate change — to ski across the Arctic to the North Pole. Preceding it, “Sarah Squared,” a 3-minute short from Greenbrae residents Nancy Kelly and Kenji Yamamoto on the research work of two marine ecologists at the Point Reyes National Seashore, will be screened.
DETAILS >> Most screenings $16.50; full schedule, tickets and more information are at doclands.com.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival offers 29 programs , so here are a few recommendations, including the ever-prolific Clara Bow in “The Primrose Path” (4:45 p.m. May 6), the brilliant comedian Buster Keaton's final performance in 1928's “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” (3 p.m. May 7) and the closing night feature, a restore version of the witty Oscar Wilde comedy “Lady Windermere's Fan” (7 p.m. May 11) with Ronald Colman, May McAvoy, Bert Lytell and Irene Rich. It's directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who also had an influential career in the talkies.
One of the most noteworthy standouts tucked into the lineup arrives in the form of DJ Spooky's (Paul D. Miller) live remix and reinterpretation of D.W. Griffith's classic, and classically racist, 1915 epic “The Birth of a Nation.”
In his innovative refashioning, DJ Spooky strips the original of its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan and creates a more truthful retelling of slavery. The 70-minute “Rebirth of a Nation” includes an onstage conversation with the artist and the New York Times' Wesley Morris (7 p.m. May 7).
DETAILS >> Screenings $16 to $25; schedule, tickets and more information at silentfilm.org.