Robert Greene: Last News

Guy Lodge Film CriticReconstruction in documentary filmmaking is an eternally divisive technique: What some deem vivid and immediate, others find distancing and artificial, cloaking and blurring reality in the language of fiction cinema. Yet what if the reconstructions don’t just feature the documentary’s real-life subjects, but are expressly conceived and realized by them — not recreating reality so much as their lingering, haunted memories thereof? That’s a different proposition entirely, as is “Procession,” a risky, wrenching film in which celebrated docmaker Robert Greene frequently surrenders the directorial reins to his subjects and collaborators: six middle-aged, middle-American men living with the trauma of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic Church priests and clergymen.

Guy Lodge Film Critic At a time when fascist politics are much on the rise in certain parts of the world, Igor Bezinović‘s highly creative documentary “Fiume o Morto!” serves as a reminder that even the most oppressive and vainglorious dictators can have markedly ephemeral legacies. The dictator in this case is Gabriele D’Annunzio, the celebrated Italian poet and army officer who, in 1919, took it upon himself to occupy the politically disputed city of Fiume — now called Rijeka — and turn it, briefly and foolhardily, into the Italian Regency of Carnaro, an independent city-state with himself as Duce.

Pavement, titled Pavements, will include the group’s first song in 25 years on its soundtrack.The part-documentary, part-biopic film premiered on September 3 at the Venice Film Festival, and stars Joe Keery and Jason Schwartzman. It will be released via MUBI in the spring.Accompanying the film will be an official soundtrack and that will include the first new Pavement song in 25 years.The band’s Scott Kanneberg (also known as Spiral Stairs), filmmaker Alex Ross Perry and the film’s producer and editor Robert Greene were guests on Vish Khanna‘s Kreative Kontrol podcast this week.

Using actors to bring to life story elements within documentary film is becoming a more widespread practice, if one that’s still viewed with skepticism by some purists.

Addie Morfoot ContributorIn the past decade, the inclusion of streaming services in the documentary market has made it increasingly harder for smaller docus struggling with funding to break into the nonfiction feature Oscar race. But in spite of the deep pockets they are up against, a number of cash-strapped docs inevitably make it onto the shortlist every year. This year was no exception.Jessica Beshir’s “Faya Dayi” (Janus Films, pictured above), Camilla Nielsson’s “President” (Greenwich Entertainment) and Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas’ “Writing with Fire” (Music Box Films) are three films on this year’s feature doc shortlist that are up against competitors with multi-million-dollar campaign budgets being paid by media and tech conglomerates including Apple, Netflix, ViacomCBS, the Walt Disney Co.

Multiple award-winning documentaries have been made about the child sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, including Amy Berg’s Deliver Us From Evil, Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, and Kirby Dick’s Twist of Faith.