OVID.tv, which is available in the U.S. and Canada, is proud to announce its wide-ranging selection of films coming in August with 30 documentaries (and one short fiction film) as part of its first ever DOC MONTH including 24 Exclusive Streaming Premieres.
Highlights include two new documentary features by Vitaly Mansky (Sunrise/Sunset, 24 hours in the residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Putin's Witnesses, chronicling the origins of the Russian president's regime) as well Mila Turajlić's The Other Side of Everything, which won Best Documentary at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2018. The Independent has hailed this Serbian filmmaker as “one of the most galvanizing voices for political action in contemporary documentary cinema.”
There are also two docs on climate change by David Abel (Entangled and Lobster War), and one short fiction film, Killing Time by Fronza Woods along with her short doc Fannie's Film. Stop, by Spencer Wolff, examines the class-action lawsuit that challenged the New York City Police Department's practice of stop & frisk; Sophie Fiennes' Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow bears witness to the incredible creative process of German artist Anselm Kiefer; and much more!
Here is the Asian Selection:
Wednesday, Aug. 4th:
Sunrise/Sunset
Directed by Vitaly Mansky; Kino Lorber, Documentary, 2009
Featuring the Dalai Lama
Russia
The daily life of the Dalai Lama is brought home with remarkable intimacy in SUNRISE/SUNSET. Granted total access to His Holiness for 24 hours, this is a day in the life of the Dalai Lama from when he wakes up at 3AM until his bedtime at dusk. Starting with his morning fitness routine and continuing on through the private audiences, press conferences, and blessings he imparts every day, it is a comprehensive and compassionate document of his everyday habits.
“Sometimes the people call me a living Buddha or a God King, but I always say, this is nonsense. Through this film you will realize, I am a normal human being, nothing special. Just a normal Buddhist monk.” –the Dalai Lama
Putin's Witnesses
OVID Exclusive, Streaming Premiere
Directed by Vitaly Mansky; Icarus Films, Documentary, 2018
Russia
Examines the early life of Vladimir Putin and the political machine that brought him to power.
“Exiled Russian docmaker Vitaly Mansky reassembles his own first-hand footage from the early days of the Putin presidency, to damning, gripping effect.” –Variety
*Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2018, Grand Prix for Best Documentary
Thursday, August 5th:
Bontoc Eulogy
OVID Exclusive, Streaming Premiere
Directed by Marlon Fuentes; Sentient.Art.Film, Documentary/Drama Hybrid, 1995
US
Drawing on the Smithsonian's archive of the “living exhibits” of Filipinos at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, the only film from Marlon Fuentes nests a narrative of discovering family lore, ethnography of the Bontoc people, and stylized enactments in a far-reaching inquiry into historical erasure.
Thursday, August 19th:
Jamilia
OVID Exclusive, Streaming Premiere
Directed by Aminatou Echard; Icarus Films, Documentary, 2018
Kyrgyzstan
This mesmerizing film, shot in Kyrgyzstan on richly saturated Super-8 footage, is a search for Jamilia, the title character in that country's famous novel by Chinghiz Aitmatov, about a young woman who rebels against the strict rules of her society.
Over the course of its haunting narrative, director Aminatou Echard introduces contemporary Kyrgyz women who, in talking about this literary heroine, reveal their own private lives and desires, the social rules they chafe under and their ideas of freedom.
“The honesty, determination and authenticity of the women Echard has interviewed will win one over.” —Asian Movie Pulse
Mrs. B., A North Korean Woman
OVID Exclusive, Streaming Premiere
Directed by Jero Yun; Icarus Films, Documentary, 2016
France
This documentary shows the reality of a woman who left everything behind, including her husband and two sons, to seek a better life, and who, in some ways, has known the worst. And speaking of “the worst,” Mrs. B. (whose name is never revealed) knows everything there is to know about the trafficking of North Koreans.
Over a decade, she has learned the tricks of the trade herself and runs a trafficking business from her small farmhouse in northern China. Now, she plans to return to Seoul herself, seek refugee status, see her Korean husband and sons again, and then send for her Chinese husband and his octogenarian parents.
“Reveals sentiments very much out of sync with the mainstream representations of North Korea, its people and its relationship with its neighbors… Powerful.” —The Hollywood Reporter
Details on all films coming to OVID in August are HERE.
