Sheffield Documentary Festival

What a lovely week in Sheffield. All the reviews of the festival of films I watched are on here now. I may post more as I watch them.
The best of the event was Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic (2013) - Marina Zenovich.
It was closely followed by the most emotion rearing piece Blackfish (2013) Gabriela Cowperthwaite.
All of the others were good as well. There was not one bad film shown at the festival, and hopefully by the time the next one comes around, I will have submitted my own film.

Blackfish (2013) - Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Another brilliant documentary. This is possibly the only one from Sheffield Documentary Festival that would make me change the way I think and act. It's strong message was reinforced with some brilliant archive footage, which really demonstrated everything that the interviewees were saying. However, its only downfall was as a result of Sea World refusing to comment or allow current employees to be interviewed. This documentary was truly worth a masterpiece rating.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

PS I have a fear of fish and deep sea creatures, so the clips from Orca (1977) - Michael Anderson made me jump a little, and my friend laughed.

A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power and Jayson Blair at the New York Times (2012) - Samantha Grant

As interesting as it was, one can see the difference between British and American standards in newspaper print. Jayson Blair comes off as unlikeable, and that's possibly why the documentary isn't as interesting to me. If he had been given some kind of other side, apart from the fact he is a bad person, perhaps the documentary would have been more appealing.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Bradley Wiggins: A Year in Yellow (2012) - John Dower

One wonders when watching this, would it be as good a documentary, if Wiggins had not come first in the Tour de France and won the Olympic gold in the same year?
Yes, we do have the same second name. No, we are sadly not related.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Walter Murch

Not strictly a documentary, or at all. He delivered a very interesting and in depth talk on editing in picture and sound. He also delved very in depth into his own life and it was a very sapid talk.
The question and answer session was also very eye-opening. Apparently Francis Ford Coppola describes himself as a very spontaneous editor, whereas Murch is apparently very thoughtful about each individual scene and cut in a film. "That being said," the interviewer asked, "Why did you propose to your wife, Aggie, after only knowing her two weeks?" This question had the audience laughing, but Walter Murch was unabashed.
He is a genuinely lovely gentleman, and a very endearing speaker. Furthering on from this talk, I will be purchasing a copy of Murch's book, In the Blink of an Eye, due to some of the ideas in the talk being expanded upon in there.

Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic (2013) - Marina Zenovich

This was the best documentary at the festival. It was beautifully done, and a brilliant insight into Pryor's home life, and full of shocking twists. All the archive footage of his performances kept the audience entertained and amused, even when the storyline took a darker turn.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist (1997) - Nick Freand Jones

Any film about The Exorcist (1973) - William Friedkin is bound to be fraught with trivia and clips of those oh-so-naughty scenes. And it was. Someone walked out of the screening when the scene of Linda Blair as Regan masturbating with a crucifix came on. What were they expecting?

Mark Kermode was in attendance (as pictured here with director/producer Nick Freand Jones); he presents the documentary itself and was a very interesting speaker, giving us much more insight into the film than he could in the documentary itself. Speaking of, the film itself was good, giving us a varied point from all of the main cast and directors and writers. I think if it had been left any later than 1997, many of the older cast members would no longer be with us to be interviewed (dead, basically).

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆