Documentary In Bloom: Price of Gold

Monday, September 16th- Sunday, September 22nd, 7:30pm

Documentary in Bloom

Curated by Livia Bloom

U.S. Theatrical Premiere

Price of Gold

Sven Zellner, 2012, 86 min.

Gold: today’s most popular investment product. This astounding film is the first to document the illegal gold-diggers in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert risking their lives for a few grams of the precious mineral. While the speculative market value of gold in the Western world holds little relation to any tangible yardstick, the film describes in very direct and stark images what it means to prospect for gold by hand, in brutal conditions eerily reminiscent of the California Gold Rush during the late 19th- century. In amazingly intimate shots, Sven Zellner shows us the people at the other end of the world who pay the real price of gold.

“The setting is the Gobi Desert, a barren, golden landscape where desperate Mongolian nomads, known as “ninjas,” search for leftover gold veins that the giant international mining companies might have overlooked when they swept through the area years ago. The equipment is crude. The language is foul. They treat women (there is one female cook) like chattel, and each other like dirt. Sven Zellner, an accomplished photographer, spent years earning the trust of this scrappy group, which he follows into the claustrophobic shafts and the cramped quarters of the makeshift tent. His cinematography is breathtaking, and he drives home the inherent dangers of this illegal trade.” —Gayle MacDonald, The Globe and Mail

Trailer: http://youtu.be/dOcg2WoU470

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Documentary In Bloom Presents: Homecomings

Monday-Sunday, June 24th-30th, 7:30pm

(Thursday, June 27th, 4:00pm Showing Only)

Documentary in Bloom Presents Homegoings

Curated by Livia Bloom

U.S. Theatrical Premiere

Christine Turner, 2013, 58 min.

Harlem's own Isaiah Owens, proprietor of the Owens Funeral Home--just a few blocks away from the Maysles Cinema on Malcolm X Blvd--and his family are the focus of this thoughtful cinematic portrait by New York filmmaker Turner. Growing up, Owens felt like an outcast for the interest in death and its rituals that led him to design elaborate ceremonies for the burial of neighborhood pets. Today, however, he is a pillar of his community, beloved for a gentle, practical approach to "homegoings" at a time when discussions of death are taboo and the undertaking field is dominated by impersonal big business. Venturing behind the scenes of a much feared and misunderstood profession, this thoughtful film examines the rituals of African American funerals and the approach that Owens takes to his craft, one of the few that black Americans could enter into freely after slavery. Combining cinéma vérité with personal interviews, Homegoings paints a portrait of Harlem's the dearly departed and the man who serves them.

Tuesday, June 25 and Friday, June 28: Post-film Q&As with director Christine Turner and the Homegoings cast!

Reception will follow the program on Friday, June 28!

"9/10 Stars! [A sense of justice and continuity makes the lovely documentary] Homegoings makes especially vibrant." —Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters

"A string of memorable moments in filmmaker Christine Turner’s moving documentary, Homegoings, [refuse] to leave my mind’s eye." —Clem Richardson, New York Daily News

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/53607653

Preceded by

StoryCorps Shorts: A 10th Anniversary Program

The Rauch Brothers, 2010-2013, approximately 20 min.

Over 45,000 oral histories have been recorded by the NYC-based organization StoryCorps since they opened their doors in 2003. Archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the stories document the lives of Americans of all ages and beliefs in their own voices. In honor of their tenth anniversary, Documentary in Bloom at the Maysles Cinema is proud to present this program of StoryCorps short films, featuring the audio from selected oral histories brought beautifully to life with animation.

This program is made possible by P.O.V. Special thanks to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). For more information on StoryCorps, visit: http://storycorps.org/

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Documentary in Bloom

Monday, March 18th-Sunday, March 24th, 7:30pm

(Friday, March 22nd at 4:00pm only)

Documentary in Bloom

(Curated by Livia Bloom)

108 (Cuchillo de Palo)

U.S. Theatrical Premiere

Renate Costa Perdomo, 2010, 91 min.

When Rodolfo Costa was found naked on the floor of his home in Paraguay, he

had been dead for days. He also had a secret fortune, a secret alias—Héctor Torres—and an entirely secret life. In a powerful debut feature that unfolds like a mystery novel, director Renate Costa Perdomo investigates the shadowy circumstances of Rodolfo's death. Witnesses and clues gradually reveal Rodolfo's true identity as a persecuted gay man and his encounter with the terrifying "108" homosexual blacklists that ruined lives, careers, and families.

"Critic's Pick! The style is simple but the emotions highly sophisticated...Patiently photographed by Carlos Vasquez, 108 peels back layers of delusion and dishonesty." —Jeannette Catsoulis,

The New York Times

link to: http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/movies/108-cuchillo-de-palo-directed-by-renate-costa.html?ref=movies&_r=0

"9/10 Stars! An extraordinary documentary...The film reveals how such history comes to be repressed. It’s frightening to contemplate, certainly, and also shapes your understanding of the world, your place in it, and your capacity to affect it." —Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters

"Full of quiet artistry...Costa understands the power of awkward silences, holding the camera to explore discomfort and her own accusatory gaze. Even when discussing the horrors of the dictatorship, she maintains an unwavering calm that cuts through the hedging and the calculated avoidance of larger issues—hers is a selfless righteousness that nevertheless confronts her personal history." —Jay Weissberg, Variety

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVQyiGCu9ZU

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