Doc Week returns to the Gateway Film Center, with fascinating, often harrowing true life tales to tell. It’s like Shark Week, with less midair seal chomping.
According to Gateway president Chris Hamel, Columbus Documentary Week allows him to pursue a personal goal.
“Documentary films are my favorite kind of films,” he says. “For years, with the exception of the great work of the Wexner Center, most of the documentaries I wanted to see never played on a big screen in Columbus. I really wanted to make an effort to bring more of these films to Columbus, and with reoccurring series like this, I think we are accomplishing that goal.”
The program kicks off Thursday, March 14 and runs through the 21st with a rotating set of 19 films. Among them are Oscar nominees, buzzed-about award winners, big budget docs and small, intimate films. From the surreal, challenging beauty of Samsara – a vision meant to be screened in a big room – to personal tales like Don’t Stop Believin’, the festival’s programming touches on all types of documentary. Given that variety, Hamel feels certain that every moviegoer will be able to find something to appreciate.
Still, a few films really stand out.
“Certainly two of the ‘can’t miss’ high profile documentaries in the series are A Place at the Table and West of Memphis,” he says.
The Sundance darling Table dives into the issue of American poverty in a way that animates facts and statistics with intimate portraits of several struggling families. Questioning US government compliance in the national hunger epidemic, the film draw attention to industrial farm subsidies, food stamp restrictions, and policies that limit school nutrition funding in favor of multi-billion dollar corporations.
“West of Memphis,” says Hamel, “appeared in many of the ten best films of 2012 lists. It is an astoundingly researched look at social injustice, and is the essence of powerful, inspiring documentary filmmaking.”
The film details the case of the famous “West Memphis Three” – teens Damian Echols (who co-produces), Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. – who were wrongly convicted of brutal child murders.
“Director Amy Berg and producer Peter Jackson’s soaring film details every aspect of the killings, the sloppy investigation, the subsequent trials, and the eventual evidence of wrongful imprisonments,” says Hamel. “West of Memphis is shocking, maddening, and revelatory.”
Aside from the program’s big ticket events, Hamel hopes some smaller films make an impression. He says, “Trying to choose a favorite is very difficult. However, two films I am rooting for are Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey, and My Amityville Horror.”
Believin’ tells the incredible story of rock band Journey’s replacement singer Arnel Pineda, while Amityville brings Daniel Lutz back to his infamous childhood home.
Says Hamel, “The two films couldn’t be more different, but both are great films based on subject matter people are very familiar with.”
Hamel hopes the familiarity and enjoyment encourage those who normally avoid documentaries to give the series a chance.
“Also, Daniel Lutz is crazy and Arnel Pineda can really sing his ass off.”
Reason enough!
More information can be found online at www.gatewayfilmcenter.com.
To help you pick and choose, here’s Columbus Documentary Week’s schedule:
Thursday, March 14
• How To Survive A Plague 7:00 PM
• Citizen Hearst 9:30 PM
Friday, March 15
• Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder 12:00 PM
• West of Memphis 1:00 PM
• Uprising 1:00 PM
• Oma and Bella 2:00 PM
• Trashed 3:00 PM
• Nicky’s Family 4:00 PM
• West of Memphis 4:10 PM
• 5 Broken Cameras 5:00 PM
• Happy People: A Year in the Taiga 6:00 PM
• A Place At The Table 7:00 PM
• West of Memphis 7:20 PM
• Orchestra of Exiles 8:00 PM
• Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey 9:00 PM
• My Amityville Horror 10:00 PM
• West of Memphis 10:30 PM
Saturday, March 16
• Trashed 12:00 PM
• West of Memphis 1:00 PM
• Let Fury Have The Hour 1:00 PM
• High Tech, Low Life 2:00 PM
• Orchestra of Exiles 3:00 PM
• Happy People: A Year in the Taiga 4:00 PM
• West of Memphis 4:10 PM
• Oma and Bella 5:00 PM
• A Place At The Table 6:00 PM
• Samsara 7:00 PM
• West of Memphis 7:20 PM
• Nicky’s Family 8:00 PM
• The Bitter Buddha 9:30 PM
• Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey 10:30PM
• West of Memphis 10:30 PM
• My Amityville Horror 11:30 PM
Sunday, March 17
• Happy People: A Year in the Taiga 12:00 PM
• West of Memphis 1:00 PM
• A Place At The Table 1:00 PM
• How To Survive A Plague 2:00 PM
• Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder 3:00 PM
• West of Memphis 4:10 PM
• Citizen Hearst 4:30 PM
• Let Fury Have The Hour 5:00 PM
• Indie Game: The Movie 6:30 PM
• My Amityville Horror 7:00 PM
• West of Memphis 7:20 PM
• Uprising 8:30 PM
• High Tech, Low Life 9:00 PM
• Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey 10:30 PM
• West of Memphis 10:30 PM
Monday, March 18
• The Bitter Buddha 12:00 PM
• West of Memphis 1:00 PM
• Nicky’s Family 1:00 PM
• Oma and Bella 2:00 PM
• 5 Broken Cameras 3:00 PM
• Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder 4:00 PM
• West of Memphis 4:10 PM
• Orchestra of Exiles 5:00 PM
• Trashed 6:00 PM
• A Place At The Table 7:00 PM
• West of Memphis 7:20 PM
• Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey 8:00 PM
• My Amityville Horror 9:30 PM
• Let Fury Have The Hour 10:00 PM
• West of Memphis 10:30 PM
Tuesday, March 19
• Orchestra of Exiles 12:00 PM
• West of Memphis 1:00 PM
• Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey 1:00 PM
• High Tech, Low Life 2:00 PM
• Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder 3:15 PM
• Trashed 4:00 PM
• West of Memphis 4:10 PM
• Oma and Bella 5:00 PM
• A Place At The Table 6:00 PM
• Reveal the Path 7:00 PM
• West of Memphis 7:20 PM
• 5 Broken Cameras 8:00 PM
• Happy People: A Year in the Taiga 9:30 PM
• Uprising 10:00 PM
• West of Memphis 10:30 PM
Wednesday, March 20
• Oma and Bella 12:00 PM
• A Place At The Table 1:00 PM
• West of Memphis 1:00 PM
• The Bitter Buddha 2:00 PM
• 5 Broken Cameras 3:00 PM
• Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder 4:00 PM
• West of Memphis 4:10 PM
• Trashed 5:00 PM
• Let Fury Have The Hour 6:00 PM
• Orchestra of Exiles 7:00 PM
• West of Memphis 7:20 PM
• Happy People: A Year in the Taiga 8:00 PM
• A Place At The Table 9:30 PM
• Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey 10:00 PM
• West of Memphis 10:30 PM
Thursday, March 21
• Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder 12:00 PM
• West of Memphis 1:00 PM
• Trashed 1:00 PM
• Let Fury Have The Hour 2:00 PM
• Reveal the Path 3:00 PM
• Happy People: A Year in the Taiga 4:00 PM
• West of Memphis 4:10 PM
• 5 Broken Cameras 5:00 PM
• Orchestra of Exiles 6:00 PM
• A Place At The Table 7:00 PM
• West of Memphis 7:20 PM
• Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey 8:00 PM
• The Bitter Buddha 9:45 PM
• My Amityville Horror 10:30 PM
• West of Memphis 10:30 PM
originally published on Columbus Underground