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10 Food Documentaries Worth a View

Lizzie Fuhr — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:14:37 PST

As a self-proclaimed documentary junkie, I'm fascinated by the sheer volume of foodie documentaries out there for your viewing pleasure. Most recently, I've found myself intrigued by the history of local farming movements and the intense pressure chefs deal with every day. I've rounded up some of my favorite foodie documentaries I've seen to date. Grab some gourmand popcorn and get watching!

10 Awe-Inspiring Documentaries About Women

Lizzie Fuhr — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:38:29 PDT

If you love learning, chances are you love documentaries. This week we were treated to Gloria in Her Own Words, which chronicled icon Gloria Steinem's eventful life, but there are many more films about the triumphs of women. Some of these films follow women making their way through truly horrific situations, and others are lighter tales of self-made entrepreneurs or proponents of feminist creativity. Each of the women documented is powerful and inspiring in her own right. While I could probably compile a list of a hundred docs about women I admire and love, here are 10 that I've recently come across that have made me re-examine the beauty and power of my gender.

We Catch Up With Makers of Catfish: The Other Facebook Movie

TresSugar — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 04:00:47 PDT

In Catfish, out in limited release tomorrow, 20-something NYC photographer Nev Schulman develops a Facebook friendship with 8-year-old artist Abby after she sends him an inspiring painting of one of his published photos. Soon, this friendship leads Nev to "meet" Abby's mother and attractive older sister Megan via Facebook. The site lets them feel like they're really getting to know each other, and Nev lets himself dive into a long-distance courtship with Megan, who lives in Michigan along with the rest of the family. Eventually he's motivated to go across the country to meet her. All of this, from the budding relationship to the eventual meeting, is filmed by Nev's brother Ariel and their friend Henry Joost.

Once they show up in Michigan, they realize everything's not what it seems. As the truth (let's assume it's a real documentary) unravels, the Facebook family gives us a lot to think about when it comes to online relationships and our human need for social interaction. We sat down with the three filmmakers to chat about how they ended up in this unlikely situation and why they didn't run away when confronted with the reality. Check out the interview above, and here's your warning: while we don't give away everything, there may be some spoilers!

To see the trailer, read more.

The Subversive Back Story of HBO's For Neda Documentary

TresSugar — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:15:47 PDT

If the name Neda Agha-Soltan doesn't sound familiar, that's because the brave heroine of HBO's newest documentary is better known by a single haunting image, captured on a cell-phone camera.

As we learn in For Neda, premiering tonight, Agha-Soltan wasn't merely a convenient symbol. Before being shot during the Iranian election protests last June by a presumed government sniper, the 26-year-old philosophy student was active in the fight against the treatment of women in Iran. She refused to wear the chador head covering as a school girl, read "subversive" books, and struck out on her own to work as a tour guide in Turkey.

The making of the film, directed by Antony Thomas, was equally subversive. To hear the back story, watch a preview, and find out how to see the documentary yourself,

read more. Through interviews with family, friends, journalists, and human rights activists, For Neda looks at the woman's life in the context of the larger struggle of women in Iran. To capture the footage, producers traveled to Iran in secret, interviewed the family in person while their phones were under surveillance, and sneaked the footage out of the country. Just as the video of Neda's death managed to bypass Iran's information restrictions and circulate around the world in a matter of minutes, For Neda has already spread virally throughout Iran. Thankfully, we can watch the documentary out in the open. It premieres tonight on HBO, but even if you don't have the premium channel, you can watch the documentary in its entirety online. Here's the trailer:

Waiting For Superman Trailer: Kids Send Out the S.O.S. Call

BuzzSugar — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:30:24 PDT

Every so often there comes a documentary ready to unleash our inner activists: Super Size Me pulled the curtain back on the fast food industry, An Inconvenient Truth got us to take notice of global warming, and now Waiting for Superman will delve into America's problematic education system.

From the people who brought us An Inconvenient Truth, Superman shows us that kids in the US are unfortunately far behind the majority of developed countries in terms of learning. How's this for a fact: the upcoming generation will be the first that is actually less literate than their parents. Consider my mind blown. Hopefully the film will cause enough ruckus to make the powers change the current protocol - I know I'm already ready to picket just from this trailer. The doc comes out this Fall, but watch the preview (warning: may cause waterworks) when you

Tune In Tonight: Through a Dog's Eyes

PetSugar — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:00:24 PDT

Every time I witness a service dog in action, I'm amazed by just how much these dogs can do and how well-prepared and well-matched they are with their loving owners. The second thing I think . . . is how my own pooch's training pales in comparison. I know it's hard work to train a potential service dog, but I've never seen the actual process of matching pets to people so I'm excited to check out the new documentary, Through a Dog's Eyes, airing on Apr. 21 on PBS.

This film follows puppies through the training process along with monitoring the anticipation of the humans they'll be matched up with and promises to give even traditional pet owners a way to see their dogs in a whole new light. I'll definitely tune in but watch the trailer, and let me know if you'll be watching along with me in the comments below!

Chipotle Promotes Food, Inc. Documentary

YumSugar — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:37:35 PDT

Chipotle doesn't just want to feed its customers - it wants to educate them, too. The fast-casual food chain has teamed up with Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media, and River Road Entertainment to promote Food, Inc., a documentary that exposes issues with the food industry in America. Beginning today, Chipotle Mexican Grill will host free screenings of the film. In addition, the eatery will advertise Food, Inc. with printed material in its 800-plus stores and prepare a bonus feature about sustainable agriculture to be included in the DVD when it is released later this year.
"Chipotle is a great example of a company that's on the right track to improving our food system," director Robert Kenner said. "Chipotle's philosophy shares many of the same values expressed in Food, Inc., and we are very pleased with their support of our film." The Mexican food chain claims to use more naturally raised poultry and pork than any other restaurant worldwide. It also sources ingredients locally whenever possible and buys 35 percent of its beans from organic producers. This promotion is a smart strategy: if Chipotle's devotees weren't aware of the company's sustainable practices yet, they will be now.

Did you know Chipotle was so dedicated to sustainability? Will you attend a free Food, Inc. screening?

Photo by flickr user Photo2217

Oscar Movie Preview: The Betrayal For Best Documentary

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:30:32 PST

Since it can often be hard to see some of the Oscar-nominated documentaries in theaters, it's nice to get a taste of them before Oscar night - not to mention that it might help you when you fill out your Oscar ballot. So this week I'll feature as many of the Best Documentary previews as I can.

The New York Times writes that while the topics in The Betrayal are big and heavy (war, revolution, immigration), the film maintains an "intimate mood and a lyrical tone." The review goes on to say that the movie "is quiet, contemplative, and impressionistic, which makes the story it has to tell all the more powerful."

The documentary was shot over 23 years and follows the life of Thavisouk Phrasavath whose father was a Laotian military officer who fought alongside Americans and faced execution after the US military withdrew. Thavisouk's family decided to escape to America where they'd hoped to find safety, but instead they found the difficult reality of life on the streets. From the war in Vietnam to gang violence in America, the scope of the movie looks enormous but the buzz is it's one of the most intimate documentaries you'll see all year.

To check out the trailer for yourself, just

Gonzo: Focusing on the Work of Hunter S. Thompson

BuzzSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:30:46 PDT

Hunter S. Thompson isn't always associated with terms like "brilliant writer" or "inventor of gonzo journalism" or even "patriot." By the time his famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was adapted for film in 1998, he was becoming a caricature and a symbol of a bygone era. Just as there is irony in one of history's most complicated revolutionaries, Che Guevara, being boiled down to an Urban Outfitters t-shirt, it is equally reductive to oversimplify Thompson as some kind of drug-addled delinquent without a cause.

Now that I've seen what will likely be referred to as the definitive documentary about Thompson's life by the Oscar-winning director of Taxi to the Dark Side, it's clear that reducing him to a kind of hipster icon who lived only to push the boundaries of consciousness with extreme substance abuse is terribly simplistic and inaccurate. Through the folks who knew him well (Jimmy Carter, publisher of Rolling Stone Jann Wenner, George McGovern, his first wife, etc.) the picture that emerges from this movie is of a man who was a walking, talking challenge to the status quo.

To read what surprised me about the good doctor's life and why this is an entertaining jaunt through recent history,

read more. Sure, the guy enjoyed ingesting large amounts of drugs. Yet, the most striking part of the documentary is that his drug abuse wasn't your run-of-the-mill self-destructive cycle of an addict, but rather the fuel used during this extraordinary man's most productive years to pump out pages of writing that was, at that point in history, unlike anything anyone had ever read. The movie is bookended by the requisite biographical details of where he was from and how his life ended, but the most entertaining and historically interesting part of the movie is the period in which he was riding high on his talent (roughly 1965-1975). And if there is a nit to be picked, it's that the movie is probably too long. Focusing on his most productive years could have been enough. The downward spiral ending in suicide, followed by the lavish, celebrity-studded memorial services might have been better told in some ending text and pictures during the credits. During this productive period he was pretty busy: riding and living with the Hell's Angels, writing and publishing books and articles, running for sheriff of Aspen and covering the 1972 election for Rolling Stone. The movie is narrated exclusively through Thompson's words, either from old footage or readings done by Johnny Depp (who befriended Thompson when he was preparing to portray him in Fear and Loathing). It's clear from these words that, in addition to being madly, bitingly hilarious, he was deeply committed to certain ideals. The film is nostalgic and informative, but what makes it also tragic is how much Thompson cared for this country. It feels as though everything he did came from a deep love and fascination with the American dream. Even more compelling was his laser-like obsession with the people he saw as a threat to that dream. Enemy number one: Richard Nixon. Some of the most side-splittingly funny moments of the documentary come from readings of his most acerbic prose directed toward Nixon, a man he basically regarded as the root of all evil. My other favorite moment is his run for office in Aspen where he brings "freaks" and "hippies" to the small town, and shaves his head so he could say he was running against the long-haired guy. Make no mistake about it: this movie has a point of view, with the director often visually depicting the parallels between Thompson's world then and what's going on now. It's the emphasis on Thompson's words, his work, and his hope for the forces of good to triumph in America that makes this documentary riveting. It might have been easier to focus on the drugs and the hilarity that often ensued wherever he went. But more than just being a blast to hang out with, Thompson was a transcendent talent who ruthlessly criticized the establishment. Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Shine a Light: Long Live the Rock Doc

BuzzSugar — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:30:51 PDT

When I realized that Martin Scorsese's new rock doc Shine a Light chronicles two Stones concerts from 2006, I was slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong: I devour rock documentaries (Scorsese's The Last Waltz is one of my faves), and I love me some Rolling Stones. But I've never had much interest in seeing the band live in its modern incarnation (or in paying the high-ticket price for a stadium show). But Shine a Light makes me realize I was sorely mistaken. The modern-day Stones are well worth seeing live, and after screening this movie in its full IMAX glory, I feel like I have.

With camera work conducted by a team of Oscar winners, Shine a Light covers two nights of benefit shows at New York's Beacon Theatre. Like its concert-film forebears (Woodstock, Rattle and Hum), Scorsese's two-plus-hour odyssey is comprised mostly of performance footage. There are, however, archival clips sprinkled in, as artfully chosen as the intimate moments captured by Scorsese's crowd of cameras. For the details,

read more The concert, like the Stones' career, careens through different phases, from flashy hip-shaking numbers to pedal-steel-infused country tunes. The set list is mostly stellar, though oddly, there is no footage of the Stones performing the namesake tune. Seeing the legends up close, you realize how much the Stones truly love what they do, and the archival footage suggests a common theme: From the beginning, the most commonly asked question of the band was, how long do you think you'll do this? The impossibly spry Mick Jagger, who somehow still has the figure of a 25-year-old hipster, continues to prove his doubters foolhardy. Unlike The Last Waltz, which is a movie about a concert and a band, Shine a Light is merely a film of a concert. Aside from some bland footage of Scorsese and the Stones setting up, there's very little behind-the-scenes access. And while The Last Waltz stood out for its cameos - a parade of legendary performers who influenced The Band - this documentary tepidly imitates that trope. Buddy Guy adds to the entertainment, but Christina Aguilera and Jack White don't even look like they think they deserve to be there. But as a chronicle of a concert, the movie succeeds, particularly when capturing quiet moments you'd miss as an audience member: a flirtation between Jagger and his backup singer, a lingering, pensive shot of Guy resting between beats, and the Pirates of the Caribbean brooch on Keith Richards' lapel. Honestly, seeing this movie on an IMAX screen with a stellar sound system was so much like the real thing that I occasionally had to glance around to make sure it wasn't the movie audience roaring with applause. Shine a Light is the closest I'll ever come to seeing an intimate Stones concert, and thankfully, it's all I'll need. Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures