What’s Left? MY LEFT HAND – a documentary film by Joshua Isaac

Making a film wouldn’t be most people’s first port of call having just been diagnosed with the big C but for Joshua Isaacs, this was the perfect way to express himself. And so, My Left Hand is the story of a young father felled by epithelioid sarcoma, a cancer so rare that Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York, which specializes in rare malignancies, saw only 16 patients between 1982 and 1995. But more than that, it is a valiant effort to make spiritual sense of his suffering. 

Six years after the cancerous lump was removed he found himself once again having to battle the illness. As well as naturally contemplating what his future holds, he explores his emotions, doubts, fears, and faith in God and Judaism as he endures chemotherapy, radiation, and the amputation of his left hand.

Beyond darkness and desperation we have all come to associate with the word cancer, the film ends by ultimately celebrating life, something there can never be enough of.

Click here to find out more.

Think Twice – THE CASE FOR ISRAEL: DEMOCRACY’S OUTPOST (2008) – a new landmark documentary with Alan Dershowitz – featuring Benjamin Netanyahu, Dan Gillerman, Tzipi Livni, Michael Oren & Dennis Ross.

 

Courtesy of www.thecaseforisrael.com

A follow up from his 2004 book The Case For Israel, Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz is back, this time with a film of the same name, which defens Israel as a democratic state coping with threats in a hostile environment.

Unafraid of confronting the most contentious of issues, Dershowitz probes beneath what little coverage there is on the news, inviting us to see for ourselves why Israel does what it does. Though he raises the question of checkpoints in the West Bank and the rejected Camp David offer, the mood is very much a positive one,  focussing upon reaching a two-state solution.

The documentary also addresses Israel’s status as the only democracy in the Middle East. However, it is more often than not the case that it is condemned as a country which frequently violates human rights. What Dershowitz suggests is that Israel is unfairly singled out, meanwhile countries which consistently violate human rights (notably denouncing gay rights, feminism and democracy), such as Saudi Arabia, are given a free ride.

Whatever your beliefs – political or religious, a peaceful reconciliation is surely the only durable solution. Given the recent conflict in Gaza, and the fact that today is Yom Ha’atzmaut, marking Israel’s 61st birthday, what better time to put the peace talks back on track?

Click here to find out more Dershowitz’s documentary.

Here Comes The Bride… (and the cameraman, sound technician, make-up artist, director, producer and one or two production assistants)

 

Courtesy of weddingcaketoppers.com

Bride and groom meet the cinematographer, cinematographer meet the bride and groom. Lights, camera, action and voila!

Introducing the wedding documentary – for all those couples suffering from a temporary bout of amnesia, an American by the name of Vijay Rakhra is offering an interactive DVD with clickable special sections, an 18-minute trailer and much much more.

Forget the amnesia (!), if you have simply tired of the humdrum wedding vid of days gone by, Rakhra has come to the rescue, ready and waiting to document your very own love story. Promising an individualised Hollywood-style video ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 dollars – what are you waiting for?

Well, I for one cannot wait to see how far this docu-mania spreads. Who knows, we might soon see the birth of Baby Doc…

Click here to find out more.

YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW – featuring the documentary photography of Stuart Klipper & Petronella Ytsma [Thursday April 30th 2009]

 

Courtesy of kah-bonn.de

The 10th annual Documentary Photography Symposium will feature the photography of Stuart Klipper and Petronella Ytsma.

Click here to find out more.

The Chosen One (CHOSEN by Brian Woods – 2008)

A masterpiece so perfectly done, with so much art, dignity and compassion, that it commands attention – The Telegraph

Courtesy of britdoc.org

In case you hadn’t already heard, last night’s BAFTA for Best Single Documentary was won by Brian Woods‘ Chosen, which was produced by True Vision.

Testament to the power of a compelling story, simply told, the film deals with a subject often whispered but rarely spoken about – the sexual abuse of boys by teachers in Britain’s private schools.

The award for Best Single Documentary is given in honour of one of the founding fathers of documentary film-making Robert Flaherty, and was this year awarded by Louis Theroux. 

Click here to watch the trailer and find out more.

The 10th London Palestine Film Festival @ the Barbican (24th – 30th April 2009)

 

Courtesy of Kaushik.net

 

 

Back for a tenth time is the London Palestine Film Festival, offering a rich selection of vital documentary, fiction, art, and animation work related to the question of Palestine.

Shadow of Absence, 2007, by Nasri Hajjaj: An absorbing documentary exploring the anxiety of Palestinian exile through an interrogation of relationships between place, home, and death.

Introduction to the End of An Argument, 1990, by Jayce Salloum & Elia Suleiman: Assembling a combination of Hollywood, European and Israeli film, documentary, news coverage together with excerpts of ‘live’ footage shot in the West Bank and Gaza strip, Introduction to the End of an Argument… critiques Western representations of the Middle East, Arab culture, and the Palestinian people.

Click here to see the full line-up of films at the festival.

One Little Piggy – PIG BUSINESS (2009) by Tracy-Louise Ward

We all know the nursery rhyme, one little piggy went to market, but I bet this time he’s wishing he had stayed at home. It is no great surprise that pig business is big business, given that it is one of the most popular meats on the shelves. The popularity of it, however, is not the problem. Ward’s beef (excuse the pun) is with the lengths gone to in order to feed the world’s insatiable appetite for pig-meat.

As part of its monthly DocSpot event, the Barbican will next month be hosting a special screening of Pig Business followed by a Q&A with Zac Goldsmith, director of The Ecologist magazine…

…A shocking exposé of how gruesome methods of factory farming are increasingly inflicting hidden long-term damage on public health and the environment.

I’ve yet to see the whole film, but from what I’ve read this isn’t one to be taken lightly. Nor is it about converting the entire planet to vegetarianism. It is plainly and simply about the reality of what it takes to get a sausage on your plate for 7p. And as such, this is by no means a film exclusively for vegetarians. Isn’t it about time we ALL know the true cost of cheap meat, not just the people who don’t eat it?

Click here to find out more about the screening (8pm, 27th May 2009 at the Barbican).

Cheaper By The Dozen (OCTOMOM documentary) 2009

If two is company, and three’s a crowd, what does that make eight? Well, we may be on the verge of finding out…

She had her fifteen minutes of fame, no question, but now Nadya Suleman aka OctoMom - (much to her dismay), might just hit the big-time. The rumour-mill working is overtime and word is that Suleman is on the brink of signing a deal for a documentary.

If she signs on the dotted line, OctoMom and her fourteen kids will be filmed at regular intervals during the course of a one year period, due to be broadcast in England and possibly aired at a later date in America. (All I can say is good luck camera crew!)

It is the British arm of Eyeworks, an independent production company, which is alleged to be doing the documentary.

Click here to find out more.

Courtesy of www.nydailynews.com

 

(Let) THE PEOPLE SPEAK, starring Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, David Strathairn & Marisa Tomei

 

Courtesy of www.inpop.com

 

American TV channel History has joined forces with education organization The People Speak for a dramatic documentary featuring none other than Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, David Strathairn, and Marisa Tomei, to name but a few.

They will each re-enact key moments in American history in a series on vignettes, which will culminate in a two-special, to be aired sometime in 2010.

Matt and Chris are trying to show here that democracy is not a spectator sport…

Click here to find out more.

Forever and Ever – A PLACE FOR PAEDOPHILES by Louis Theroux, (to be aired on BBC TWO, April 19th at 9pm)

Courtest of The Sun

Louis Theroux is back doing what he does best and there seems to be a pattern emerging… Following Behind Bars and Law and Disorder in Philadelphia, he will be returning to our screens this Sunday interviewing imprisoned paedophiles who will never be set free.

Above all else the name Louis Theroux has become synonymous with encounters of the oddball variety, and I’m hoping that this week’s offering won’t disappoint…

Louis has gained access to Coalinga Mental Hospital in California, which houses more than 500 of the most disturbed criminals in America, convicted paedophiles… Spending time with those undergoing treatment, Louis wrestles with whether he can ever allow himself to believe men whose whole history is defined by deception and deceit.

Click here to find out more.