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Features: Harvey Milk, Anne Kronenberg, Tory Hartmann | Written by Judith Coburn, Carter Wilson | Directed by Rob Epstein

Back in 1984, director Rob Epstein along with narration writers Judith Coburn and Carter Wilson, worked together to bring us the acclaimed documentary film, The Times of Harvey Milk. A powerful 90 minute look at the successes and eventual tragic assassination of the trailblazing first elected gay city supervisor of San Francisco. Now, some 36 years later, Criterion, here in the UK, have brought us a spectacular release of the film, along with an array of special features.

Harvey Milk was an outspoken man, a human rights activist and the first openly gay politician in U.S history to be elected to public office. His inspiration to millions of people around the world is well-documented and it continues to this very day, some 42 years after he was killed. This Oscar winning documentary was a vital one,...

by Peter Belsito

Sundance Ff 2017 Wins the Special Jury Award for Editing and according to our writer Peter Belsito, “This film was the best documentary I saw in Sundance recently.”

I reviewed the film previously here but Jennifer Brea is an interesting person so I wanted to speak with her as well.

We met in her Park City condo. She is bright and energetic despite the disease she has which her film is about, her affliction with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Besides the intensely personal nature of her illness and its effects on her family life, which are depicted in the film, she also covers the international implications and political as well. By that I mean the medical profession not recognizing or treating / curing this widespread deadly disease.

Her film makes clear the international effects of this disease. I felt it broadened the film and its important message.

Jennifer Brea

‘Why go outside the Us?...

The premiere post-tiff destination (September 20-25th) in the film community and a major leg up for narrative and non-fiction films in development, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced a whopping 140 projects selected for the Project Forum at the upcoming Ifp Independent Film Week. Made up of several sections (Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries), we find latest updates from the likes of docu-helmers Doug Block (112 Weddings) and Lana Wilson (After Tiller), and among the narrative items we find headliners in Andrew Haigh (coming off the well received 45 Years), Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls and Madame Bovary), Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal (Stranger Things) and new faces in Sundance’s large family in Charles Poekel (Christmas, Again) and Olivia Newman (First Match). Here...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

This year’s Oscar race could make history with two possible best picture nominees directed by women — Ava DuVernay’s Selma and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. If both women are nominated for best director, that would also be a historical moment. But though these accomplishments in the narrative field are possible, more women directors are breaking into the documentary categories. Four of the 15 shortlisted documentaries feature women at the helm: Jennifer Grausman (co-directed with Sam Cullman and Mark Becker) with Art and Craft, Tia Lessin (co-directed with Carl Deal) with Citizen Koch, Laura Poitras with Citizenfour and Rory Kennedy with Last Days in Vietnam. Additionally, three of the eight shortlisted documentary shorts feature female directors: Ellen Goosenberg Kent with Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Aneta Kopacz with Joanna and Lucy Walker with The Lion’s Mouth Opens. More often than not, women directors tend to...

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (Awfj), a membership organization of leading women film journalists and critics from across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, announced seven nominees for a special Eda award, created to celebrate Pov’s 25th anniversary. The winner will be announced at Pov’s 26th-season launch party at its headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday, June 6, 2013.

With this Eda award, the Awfj will honor the best female-directed film from the curated program MoMA Selects: Pov, a 25th Anniversary Retrospective, presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in February and March of 2013. A jury of five Awfj members selected the nominees.

The nominees are Better This World (directors: Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway), Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter(director: Deborah Hoffmann), Dark Circle (directors: Judy Irving, Christopher Beaver), The Education of Shelby Knox (directors:Marion Lipschutz, Rose Rosenblatt), Granito:...

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

The Times of Harvey Milk Directed by Robert Epstein [1] Edited by Deborah Hoffmann [2] and Robert Epstein Criterion's relationship with non-fiction filmmaking is an interesting one. They've certainly given some classic documentaries the releases they deserve (Salesman [3], Gimme Shelter [4], Harlan County USA [5], For All Mankind [6], etc.) but I really wish they'd open their minds a bit and stray from their more conservative line up. Having said that, it was definitely a surprise to see Rob Epstein's Academy Award winner The Times of Harvey Milk [7] on their list of upcoming releases. Certainly a refreshing choice but also a reminder that they've barely tapped the surface of a reservoir of amazing non-fiction films that are floating around in sub-standard DVD limbo. Hopefully this release is a sign of thing to come. For those unfamiliar with the story of Harvey Milk, I'll kindly lay out the details for you: Harvey Milk was the...

Chicago – Harvey Milk was the sort of grassroots political hero that would’ve never fit into our modern world of corporately controlled politics. He was a man of his word, and he had many of them. His fundamental belief in equal rights for all citizens provided the fuel for his tireless work ethic, intoxicating exuberance and extraordinary bravery.

In the opening moments of Rob Epstein’s profoundly moving 1984 documentary, “The Times of Harvey Milk,” the titular San Francisco supervisor fearlessly rides atop a car waving to supporters, well aware that he’s an open target. The footage is juxtaposed with a taped will Milk recorded a year before his assassination in November 1978, when he was gunned down by a former colleague, Dan White (the city’s Mayor Moscone was also killed in the bloodbath). Considering Milk’s status as one of the first openly gay politicians elected to public office in America,...

My favorite distributors The Criterion Collection have announced three new titles for Blu-ray/DVD release this coming March! On March 22, the Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (Robert Epstein, 1984) will come out. Then on March 29, Criterion will release Topsy-Turvy (Mike Leigh, 1999) and The Mikado (Victor Schertzinger, 1939).

The Times of Harvey Milk

Extras include:

Audio commentary featuring director Robert Epstein, coeditor Deborah Hoffmann, and photographer Daniel NicolettaNew interview with documentary filmmaker and Uc Berkeley professor Jon ElseNew program about The Times of Harvey Milk and Gus Van Sant's Milk, featuring Epstein, Van Sant, actor James Franco, and friends Cleve Jones, Anne Kronenberg, and NicolettaPostscript containing interview clips not used in the filmRare collection of audio and video recordings of Harvey MilkInterview excerpts from Epstein's research tapesFootage from the film's Castro Theatre premiere and the 1984 Academy Awards ceremonyPanel discussion on Supervisor Dan White's controversial trialExcerpts from the twenty-fifth anniversary...