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 I will completely change my very existence, especially when the film is environmentally themed. I do make changes, real changes. Yet, at times I feel that I am failing as a burgeoning environmentalist.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

This summer Don Draper and company return to AMC for the third season of the hit TV show Mad Men. The stylized drama has made the 1960s advertising industry seem like the glory days of creative freedom, complete with noontime cocktails in the office and young feminists breaking through the almost impenetrable glass ceiling.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Martin Strel does not look like an athlete. The overweight fiftysomething is an alcoholic, a flamenco guitarist, and a one-time professional gambler. But this Slovenian long-distance swimmer has swam the Mississippi, the Danube, the Yangtze – and now, the Amazon.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

"Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?"

That question, tearfully posed to comedian Chris Rock by his young daughter Lola, was all it took for Rock to travel the country (camera crew in tow) to find out what it actually means to have Good Hair, particularly in the African American community. From local barbershops and the Bonner Bros. International Hair Show to scientific laboratories and an Indian religious temple, Rock and director Jeff Stilson investigate the cultural messaging that has built a $9 billion industry.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Anyone who thinks that documentaries are boring and stuffy should see The Cove – just to have their preconceived notions shattered. The film is 90 minutes of danger, covert operations, and thrilling feats with a big dose of environmentalism mixed in. It’s as if James Bond and the Ocean’s Eleven team joined up to stop the annual capture and slaughter of 23,000 dolphins in Taiji, Japan.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

On Wednesday, the United States will celebrate the 39th Earth Day. In honor of this annual call to environmentalism, I have chosen to preview two documentaries that premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival: No Impact Man follows one family’s year-long effort to live a more sustainable life in the middle of New York City, while Earth Days chronicles the history of the modern conservation movement. Both films are thought-provoking perspectives on our relationship with the planet.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

American Idol in Afghanistan? Seriously?

Afghanistan’s first competition/reality show, Afghan Star, is arguably the most popular – and controversial – television program in Afghanistan. Eleven million people, or one-third of the country, tuned in for the competition’s finale. And at least two of the finalists now fear for their lives.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Handmade Nation: The Rise of D.I.Y., Art, Craft, and Design is about one my favorite things (do it yourself) and profiles some of my favorite artists and crafters (Jill Bliss, Nikki McClure, and Debbie Stoller of Bust magazine). I bought my ticket to the special, sold-out San Francisco Film Society screening the morning tickets went on sale, arrived to the event early, and waited in a long line with other excited fans. Post-screening I was so inspired that I wished I could have crafted on the train ride home, but alas, my handbag lacked the necessary supplies.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Most American romantic comedies and dramadies go something like this: two attractive people "meet cute"; after some witty banter, and maybe a date, they find themselves in bed together; immediately following this sexual encounter they refer to one another as “boyfriend” and “girlfriend"; then some silly misunderstanding momentarily tears them apart; and finally they reconcile and ride off into the sunset – all in a mere 90 minutes.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

On Sunday night, the 81st Academy Awards will air live from Los Angeles. Five documentary films are vying for the coveted Documentary Feature Oscar: The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), Encounters at the End of the World, The Garden, Man on Wire, and Trouble the Water.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

The premise of the new documentary film Over the Hills and Far Away is straight from the handbook of the American bourgeoisie: Journalist father and professor mother take their young autistic son on a summer vacation to Mongolia where they horseback ride across the country meeting with shamans – all in an attempt to help cure their son after Western medicine has failed. But the film should not be written off as a vanity project conceived by people with money to burn; it is actually a very heartfelt and realistic look at one family’s struggle to confront their son’s autism in an unconventional way. Over the Hills and Far Away premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary Competition. A companion book, The Horse Boy, will be published this Spring.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Oscar season usually guarantees that there will be at least one film about the Holocaust starring an A-list actor. 2009 is no exception: Tom Cruise stars in Valkyrie; Viggo Mortensen (of Lord of the Rings fame) in Good; and Daniel Craig (the new James Bond) in Defiance. These films reenact the lives of Nazis (Cruise), academics recruited by the Third Reich (Mortensen), and resistance fighters (Craig). While the holiday movie season is rife with little known Holocaust-era stories about men, what about the stories of women’s experiences?

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

After seeing the new documentary Flow, my 2009 New Year’s resolution is to stop buying bottled water. Over $100 billion is spent annually on bottled water, but it would cost only $30 billion to provide clean drinking water to the entire world. Unlike tap water, bottled water is not regulated for cleanliness. And don’t even get me started on the mountains of plastic bottles created by the bottled water industry.

For 84 terrifying and informative minutes, filmmaker Irena Salina makes a very persuasive case for stopping the commoditization of water and ensuring that everyone has access to clean drinking water. Salina interviews an array of researchers and activists who all describe the frightening international situation: dirty water kills more people than wars, the world is quickly running out of clean water, and water has become a valuable commodity for multinational corporations to exploit for profit. Flow is currently available on DVD.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

This incredible story of average Liberian women coming together to fight for peace is the subject of the new documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which is currently playing in theaters. Filmmakers Gini Reticker and Abigail E. Disney capture the inspiring story of the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET) with compassion and reverence. Their story of unbelievable heroism in the face of unspeakable violence makes for a dramatic and heart-wrenching 72 minutes.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

At the tender age of 19, Claudio Duran opened the door of his Santiago home in the middle of the night to find military secret police ready to arrest him. The officers took him to Villa Grimaldi, ironically known as the Palace of Laughter – a Chilean prison used by General Augusto Pinochet after the 1973 military coup. At that moment, he says, “my life changed.” Duran (now known as Quique Cruz) chronicles his imprisonment and the art that helped him reconcile his painful past in the new documentary Archeology of Memory: Villa Grimaldi. The film debuted at the 2008 Mill Valley Film Festival.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made nineteen trips to the Middle East in the last two years in hopes of securing a regional peace accord. But as the Bush administration comes to an end, Rice’s goal of a two-state solution will not be realized. During her most recent trip last week, she admitted that they’re not “at the finish line” of the peace process.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

I vividly remember the 1988 presidential election, or more accurately the months of campaigning that led up to the election. At the time, my family did not have cable television and all that was on the few channels available was election coverage. Throughout the entire summer and fall, my parents forced me and my siblings to watch the Democratic and Republican conventions, and then the nightly news coverage. Once I returned to elementary school in September, someone decided it was a good idea for everyone to gather in the cafeteria and watch more election coverage. I sat there thinking, I had to watch this all summer. Can’t I just get a break? My unending boredom was aggravated by my disinterest in candidates Michael Dukakis and George H.W. Bush. And I couldn’t even vote!

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

“There are two types of bayonet fighters, the quick and the dead. Which type are you?” This is what a boot camp drill sergeant yells at new recruits, who then reply in unison – “the quick!” During any war, a soldier’s survival depends on this “kill or be killed” mentality. But killing the enemy, even for soldiers who deeply believe in the cause, is not easy. Some soldiers decide they must put down their weapons – even if that means being court-marshaled and imprisoned.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

If you could know that you were at risk for a terminal illness, would you want to know? And then what would you do next if the news confirmed your worst fears? At the tender age of 27, Joanna Rudnick faced this very conundrum when she tested positive for the BRCA genetic mutation. Her chances of developing breast cancer subsequently went from about 11 to 12 percent to a devastating 80 to 90 percent, and her chances of developing ovarian cancer shot from about 1 to 1.5 percent to 50 to 60 percent.

Rudnick, a scientific journalist, chronicles her struggle as she comes to terms with her altered gene and her uncertain future in the very personal documentary In the Family. The film is currently playing on PBS as part of the Point of View series.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

No, this is not a parody of the 1990 Johnny Depp film Edward Scissorhands. This is Pearl Fryar’s life – and the engaging subject of the new documentary, A Man Named Pearl. For 78 minutes directors/producers Scott Galloway and Brent Pierson lovingly capture Fryar’s spirit and artistry as a self-taught topiary artist who has overcome a lifetime of bigotry to become internationally respected. The film is currently in theatres and will be released on DVD in December.

In 1976 Fryar and his wife Metra moved to Bishopville, South Carolina. As the son of a North Carolina sharecropper, Fryar was no stranger to racism; when the Fryars attempted to buy a home in a predominantly white neighborhood, they were told they weren’t welcome because “Black people don’t keep up their yards.”

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

There will always be those who yearn for a simpler time, a time before the world was consumed by the internet and ever-advancing technologies. For the 54 million people living with disabilities in the United States, assistive technology can transform their lives, making it possible to fully participate in the able-bodied world – if they are able to afford it. The documentary Freedom Machines profiles people living with physical disabilities and the miraculous technologies that hold the key to their futures. The film, by Jamie Stobie and Janet Cole, will be broadcast on PBS September 9th as part of the Point of View series.