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Notables of the Noughties: 35 documentary films, 2000-2009
Written by David Tames on January 4, 2010
Filed Under Documentary, Films, Front Page
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It’s a special time that comes around every ten years in which we take a moment to reflect back on the past decade and make our “favorite” and “best-of” lists. It was a good decade for documentary films, here’s my own idiosyncratic list of thirty five notable...  Continue Reading...

Sixty-seven excellent documentaries available through Netflix
Written by David Tames on August 28, 2009
Filed Under Documentary, Films, Front Page
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Students and friends often ask me for suggestions on what documentaries I recommend watching, and they are often frustrated that many of my suggestions are not easily obtainable. Many classic documentaries are hard to find: they are only available for purchase at high prices or through libraries,...  Continue Reading...

Flying takes documentary form to new heights
Written by David Tames on August 27, 2009
Filed Under Documentary, Featured, Filmmakers, Filmmaking, Films
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Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman is an amazing six-hour, six-part, documentary of epic proportions by Jennifer Fox in which we follow the filmmaker as she travels around the world asking her women friends how they construct and imagine their lives as she struggles to figure out her own....  Continue Reading...

Herskovits at the heart of blackness
Written by David Tames on July 29, 2009
Filed Under Documentary, Events & Screenings, Films
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This new documentary examines the role of anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits (1895-1963) in American history and asks important questions about the politics of scholarship and knowledge as a social construct. Herskovits, a controversial intellectual who became openly political, introduced...  Continue Reading...

Facing Realities: Backyard and Operation Filmmaker
Written by David Tames on June 11, 2008
Filed Under Art, Events & Screenings, Filmmakers, Filmmaking, Films
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On Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at the ICA in Boston the Facing Realities: Dialogues in Boston Documentary Film series continues with Ross McElwee’s “Backyard” (1984, 16mm, 40 min) and Nina Davenport’s “Operation Filmmaker” (2007, HDCAM, 95 min)...  Continue Reading...

Trade is more important than aid
Written by David Tames on October 29, 2007
Filed Under Documentary, Films, General
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One of the greatest things that developed nations can do to help developing nations is engage in fair trade, and given that coffee is the most valuable commodity we trade worldwide after oil, it represents an industry that for many poor farmers represents their only way out of poverty. But...  Continue Reading...

New Media and a Smile in New Hampshire
Written by David Tames on October 4, 2007
Filed Under Documentary, Events & Screenings, Film Festivals, Filmmaking, Films, New Media
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Join me and fellow panelists Kevin Anderton and Steve Garfield at the New Hampshire Film Festival on October 12th from 1:30 to 3:30pm for a panel titled “Future Now: New Media and the Modern Filmmaker” at the Portsmouth Public Library. The session, to be moderated by John Herman,...  Continue Reading...

A Conversation with Les Blank
Written by David Tames on October 3, 2007
Filed Under Documentary, Filmmakers, Films, General, Interviews
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While I was at the Woods Hole Film Festival this summer I had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with documentary filmmaker Les Blank. We spoke about his new film All In This Tea, his experiences with Werner Herzog, why he self distributes, and which of his films he considers his...  Continue Reading...

Smile Boston Project joins slate of documentaries at Newburyport Documentary Festival
Written by David Tames on September 27, 2007
Filed Under Art, Events & Screenings, Film Festivals, Films
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A soundtrack for the movie of your mind
Written by David Tames on August 30, 2007
Filed Under Art, Filmmakers, Filmmaking, Films, Music
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Last year filmmaker Todd Verow asked Colin Owens to write a film score to run 84 minutes concurrent with an experimental film made from 10 second clips of mobile phone video. The result of this work is Hooks to the Left, Colin’s most emotional, complex, and provocative music to date. ...  Continue Reading...

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