The popularity of a documentary film is often based on word-of-mouth. Very few docs get a wide release (or a theatrical release at all, for that matter) or receive much press. Unless it’s the latest Michael Moore film, a massive advocacy film aiming for Oscar recognition or a mass-market oddity like Supersize Me, a documentary is unlikely to get much public attention. Speciality docs about World War 2, boxing, rap feuds etc. will always have a market among people who are interested in those topics. Occasionally, one of them will even transcend its genre and become a broader success, introducing people to a new sub-culture or perspective. Most documentaries, however, get their recognition because people hear about them or see them at festivals and tell others to watch them.
Narrative documentaries, films that tell a first-person story about an individual or event, are even less likely to garner the attention of the public.
Narrative documentaries, films that tell a first-person story about an individual or event, are even less likely to garner the attention of the public.
- 3/28/2011
- by Mike Waldman
- SoundOnSight
The Toronto International Film Festival keeps bringing the pain with the announcement of 20 new films as part of it's special presentations lineup. I really wish I could hit the fest, but ahh well. The films which really interest me are John Crowley's (Boy A) Is There Anybody There? which is about " an unlikely friendship between a scruffy former magician and a little boy with a morbid streak. Ten year-old Edward has become increasingly obsessed with death and the afterlife since his parents turned their house into a retirement home. Edward's is a lonely and peculiar existence – until he meets Clarence who introduces him to wonders in the here-and-now." Hints of Harold and Maude? Next is Bruno Baretto's Last Stop 174 , about "young Sandro who lives in the slums of Rio de Janeiro where corruption and violence are the norm. Orphaned, alienated and fearing for his life, Sandro falls into a life...
- 8/13/2008
- QuietEarth.us
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