2011: A Last Look at Some Great Documentaries

by Jessica Mosby -USA- 2011 was another great year for movies. For me, it started in January at the annual Sundance Film Festival with a full slate of must-see films, and kept that momentum for the next eleven months. Unfortunately,...

Posted by Jessica Mosby on January 14, 2012 12:01 AM

Hell and Back Again Brings Home The Psychological Devastation of War

by Alexandra Marie Daniels -USA- This week marks the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. For most of us, this is a relatively insignificant fact in our daily lives. We acknowledge our military as distant heroes, doing important work...

Posted by Alexandra Marie Daniels on October 17, 2011 12:58 PM

New Documentary Better This World Probes How Far is Too Far?

by Alexandra Marie Daniels -USA- Would David McKay and Bradley Crowder have made eight homemade bombs had they not come under the leadership of the charismatic, macho, and at times violent protest organizer Brandon Darby? How much did the United...

Posted by Alexandra Marie Daniels on August 26, 2011 9:20 AM

Pure Driving, Real Racing: Senna Documentary Captures Spirit

by Alexandra Marie Daniels -USA- So often when people we love pass away too soon, we just want to hear their voices and see their smiles one more time. For Formula One fans and the many people who adored Ayrton...

Posted by Alexandra Marie Daniels on August 11, 2011 12:01 AM

Crime After Crime: Director Yoav Potash and Attorney Joshua Safran on Documenting Domestic Violence Survivor Deborah Peagler

by Jessica Mosby -USA- After watching the new documentary Crime After Crime at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, I was angry. I felt an intense call to action – to tell everyone I know that they must see the 93-minute...

Posted by Jessica Mosby on August 6, 2011 6:30 AM

Radical Life Extension? Mark Wexler Discusses How To Live Forever

by Jessica Mosby -USA- If you could take a pill that would let you live for another 500 years, would you do it? Director Mark Wexler poses this question in his new documentary How to Live Forever. The film is...

Posted by Jessica Mosby on July 7, 2011 9:53 AM

Burma Soldier, A Call for Democracy from a Silent Country

by Jessica Mosby -USA- In today’s technologically connected world, there are few places completely absent from the 24 hours a day 7 days a week international news cycle. One of those places is Burma, now known as Myanmar. For more...

Posted by Jessica Mosby on May 13, 2011 4:27 PM

Pink Smoke Over the Vatican: Recognizing Catholic Women Priests

by Alexandra Marie Daniels -USA- In a coffee house on Alvarado Street in Monterey, California I sat down with documentary filmmaker Jules Hart to talk about her film Pink Smoke Over the Vatican. Pink Smoke, a story about the controversial...

Posted by Alexandra Marie Daniels on March 25, 2011 8:15 AM

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival Presents Unique and Authentic Global Perspective

by Jessica Mosby -USA- March 10 is the opening day of the 29th annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. From now until March 20, Bay Area residents can attend a varied selection of film screenings, discussions, interactive events,...

Posted by Jessica Mosby on March 11, 2011 12:01 AM

The Best of Sundance 2011: “I love all of the films at this festival!”

by Jessica Mosby -USA- At the opening day press conference, Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford proclaimed, “I love all of the films at this festival!” Eleven days of films later, I cannot agree more. This was a banner...

Posted by Jessica Mosby on January 31, 2011 12:01 AM

The Best of 2010: An Interview with When We Leave Writer, Director, and Producer Feo Aladag

by Jessica Mosby -USA- Rarely does a film come along that floors you in its perfection and then continues to resonate for months after that first viewing. I saw the German film When We Leave at the 2010 Tribeca Film...

Posted by Jessica Mosby on January 25, 2011 12:01 AM

The Lottery - Harlem Children’s Chance for a Successful Education

by Alexandra Marie Daniels -USA- The Lottery, one of two films about American public education to make the short list for the 83rd Academy Awards, gives hope that public awareness about the dire state of American education will continue to...

Posted by Alexandra Marie Daniels on January 21, 2011 5:17 AM

Combating Berlusconi’s Vision of Women: Italian Feminism 2.0

by Eloisa Morra Pucacco -Italy- After the great battles of the Italian feminist movement in the 1970s – when fascist codes on “family law” were modified and women obtained the rights of divorce and abortion - it seems that today...

Posted by Eloisa Morra Pucacco on November 16, 2010 8:09 AM

99 is not 100: A Conversation with Waste Land Director Lucy Walker

by Alexandra Marie Daniels -USA- Can art change lives? Two artists, photographer Vik Muniz and filmmaker Lucy Walker, search for an answer by traveling to the largest landfill on the planet, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de...

Posted by Alexandra Marie Daniels on November 9, 2010 12:01 AM

Interview with Howl film directors Epstein and Friedman: “Allen Ginsberg’s Poetic Prophecy”

by Vera von Kreutzbruck - Germany - Howl, a biopic centered on beatnik Allen Ginsberg’s seminal poem and the resulting obscenity trial, was the most moving and intellectually engaging film presented at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival....

Posted by Vera von Kreutzbruck on April 26, 2010 12:01 AM

It’s Not Easy Being Green: A Confession

by Jessica Mosby - USA - For almost two years, I have been reviewing documentary films for The WIP. I have spent countless hours in dark movie theaters so moved by what is on screen that I promise myself that...

Posted by Jessica Mosby on June 19, 2009 12:00 AM