Documentary

Generations of college students, Cambridge residents and visitors who passed through Harvard Square knew and loved "The Tasty," a diner that was open late and was rarely empty. In a room not much larger than a decent walk-in closet, a cross section of society sat elbow-to-elbow every day. As filmmaker Federico Muchnik describes it "You could walk in anytime of day and on your left would be a Harvard professor and on your right would be a homeless person and you had to talk because you were so close together. There was no judgment. read more...

Most people associate organized crime with what they see on television or in the movies; greasy mob bosses stuffed into Italian suits, rats getting whacked, Marlon Brando making offers no one can refuse. But the reality of the Mafia is a far cry from the worlds created by Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.

Brownie Wise called up Earl Tupper one day out of the blue to chew him out about the marketing of his Tupperware line of plastic bowls. The year was 1951 and Brownie Wise had never met Earl Tupper. However, she could tell that the way Tupperware was being marketed was all wrong. Any product with a "burping seal" needed a more personal sales touch, she reckoned. So Wise had one bit of sage advice for Earl Tupper: "Home parties."

The tough choices faced by communities negotiating the treacherous waters between private rights and public good are at the heart of "Livable Landscapes: By Chance or By Choice?" a one-hour documentary screening this month at the 6th Annual Maine International Film Festival (MIFF).

Her professors told her to keep it simple, but Rachel Clift knew from her own experience that her subject was anything but. Clift’s half-hour documentary "Take It From Me" draws a portrait of three Boston-based artists: singer/songwriter Jess Klein, dancer/choreographer Aparna Sindhoor, and painter Chandra Dieppa Ortiz. The film takes the audience through a day in the life of their creative processes as they turn their ideas into an art form.

Contending with the rising number of girls fleeing their strict or abusive family lives, Iran has in recent years set up a network of municipal shelters for runaway girls.  Screening at this month's Vermont International Film Festival, the British documentary "Runaway," directed by Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir Hosseini ("Divorce Iranian Style"),  glimpses inside one of these shelters and the lives of the girls who seek refuge there. 

Soon after filmmaker Walter Ungerer learned of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, he felt compelled to turn on his camera. Having attended a conference blocks away from the site on September 10, Ungerer returned two weeks later and attempted to make sense of an unimaginable moment in time.

If you think you’ve seen every version of the family documentary, think again. Cambridge natives George Kachadorian and Courtney Bent have created both an unusual and charming first film that surely diverges from all expectations.

Every filmmaker faces challenges. However, when making a personal documentary, the filmmaker may be moved so deeply by the making of the film that he or she is transformed in the process, on the deepest of emotional levels. It is as if filmmaking becomes cathartic, or "therapeutic," and can sometimes change the direction of a film while being made. The key challenge then becomes to attempt to reach the audience, if not in the same way the filmmaker was touched, in a similar way. Tom Curran, during the making of read more...

Growing up in Hanoi gives you a unique view of American culture. On the one hand, you have the mean aggressive killers of the world’s strongest army, obsessed with the women and addicted to dope, who were beaten back by the hardworking peasant army of a country a mere fraction the size of theirs. Then, of course, you have the glamour and excess of American cinema, all glitter and spotlight and action. At least, that’s how Mai viewed America. The daughter of a well-off (by Vietnamese standards) hotel-owner, Mai often wondered how the read more...

This year, the New England Film and Video Festival is chock full of interesting characters in fascinating films. Three caught our eye, and are reviewed below.

"Transmitting Baba"

Cambridge filmmaker Errol Morris sits down in his office and opens a can of Coke. To his right, propped up on a stool, is a tape recorder. With such masterpieces as "Gates of Heaven," "The Thin Blue Line," and "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control," Morris has established himself as the most exciting and innovative documentarian in America. Recently, he has turned his attention to the small screen with his television series "First Person." He speaks slowly and deliberately, read more...

There lives amongst us a unique subculture of hairstyle contestants; beauty school students who travel great distances to compete in the execution, competition, look, and desirability of "updos." "Most people are unaware of the subject matter of this film," comments editor, producer, and director of "Hairdo" John Sahula, "we are going to a place that you and I don’t know."