Cameraperson Kirsten Johnson asked her father if she could make a documentary about his death. He agreed. The film spans years, chronicling a daughter documenting the last years of her father’s life. Going into this Netflix documentary, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did; but I was blown away by the…
#BLM, Film, Venue
Becoming: Far from unplugged
After furiously trying (and failing) to book tickets to Michelle Obama’s appearance at the Southbank Centre for her memoir Becoming, I was thrilled to hear that filmmaker Nadia Hallgren’s documentary of the 34-stop tour would be available on Netflix in mid-2020. The biographical documentary has been classified by Netflix as both “feel-good” and “intimate.” I…
TV, Venue
Biopic vs. documentary
Plenty of recent biopics have triumphed in the box office and undoubtedly, they make a permanent impression. A whole generation grew up with an idea of who Gandhi was purely based on Sir Ben Kingsley’s riveting performance of the Indian freedom fighter in the 1982 biopic. Similarly, it is Daniel Day-Lewis whose image pops up…
TV
Leaving Neverland
The world is in a state of shock, anger, and confusion once again after the release of a new documentary about Michael Jackson’s sexual abuse allegations. It has been hard to escape the controversy of the Leaving Neverland documentary, which explores the sexual abuse of Wade Robson and James Safechuck. Directed by Dan Reed and…
News
Brexit-inspired documentary made by UEA students now on Amazon Prime
A travel documentary produced by UEA students has received a distribution platform on subscription viewing service Amazon Prime. In the summer of 2017, UEA students Callum Fairhurst and William Shears set out to visit all 28 EU countries in a tuk-tuk (a motorised rickshaw). The film was edited over the 18 months since the trip…
TV
Our obsession with True Crime
Murderers, rapists, and paedophiles are initially introduced to us as a concept of fiction, something written about in books and plays – a terrifying figment of the imagination. So, when we are introduced to them in True Crime documentaries, films and television series it is hard to comprehend the reality of these criminals’ actions. The…
TV
Altered States: Love without Limits
Louis Theroux describes polyamory as ‘the practice of pursuing multiple romantic relationships with the consent of all those involved.’ Also known as ethical non-monogamy, polyamory is a relationship lifestyle that seems to be on the rise. Even here at UEA, I know a number of people involving themselves in the polyamorous world or even what…
Music
35mm: documenting music
Becoming more and more popular, the music documentary is hard to define. A diverse medium, it can serve as a person’s biography, narrate an artist’s musical life, explore a genre or be a recording of a performance. All to inform or entertain us, the viewership. Amy covers the life of Amy Winehouse, a member of…
Global
In brief
Keeping up with the Kremlin Vladimir Putin has featured in a new reality series, highlighting his devotion to the public. Broadcast on state television, the program documents the Russian President during his weekly activities. The first one-hour episode, aired during Sunday prime time, showed him scouring for berries, traversing lakes and rivers, and meeting with…
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