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The 14th annual Revelation Perth International Film Festival is, once again, packed to the gills with worldwide wonderful, weird and revelatory filmmaking. The fest runs this year on July 14-24.

The highlight of the festival is the once-in-a-lifetime live performance of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then, which will be performed on July 17 at 7:15 p.m. American animator Brent Green will be traveling Down Under to provide the live musical score and narration for his emotional, live-action animated tale about undying love and creation. He will also be accompanied by band mates and foley artists, Mike McGinley, John Swartz, Donna K and Drew Henkles.

Some other films to look out for at the fest will be the Australian premiere of Zach Clark‘s terminally twisted Vacation!, a black comedy about four girls on a debauched weekend of drinking and drugging that ends horribly for all involved; Marie Losier’s acclaimed...

Documentaries became a box office factor with the rise of such films as "Hoop Dreams" and "Roger & Me." Before then, there were hit music documentaries like "Woodstock" but most other nonfiction films could expect short runs in few theaters before dutiful audiences. What a small but growing minority of Friday night moviegoers is beginning to discover is that there's a good chance the movie they might enjoy most at the multiplex is a doc.

In alphabetical order, these were the best documentaries I saw in 2010:

"45365" is the zip code of Sidney, Ohio. The brothers Bill and Turner Ross were born there perhaps 30 years ago. They knew everybody in town, and when they spent seven months of 2007 filming its daily life, their presence must have become commonplace. Their film evokes what Winesburg, Ohio might have looked like as a documentary.

The film is privileged. No one is filmed with a hidden camera.

Uh-oh. Today is 10/10/10. That sounds binarily ominous…

Bill Plympton’s latest animated feature Idiots & Angels opened in New York this week, so there are a bunch of links about him this week. First, we have the New York Times review by longtime reviewer Stephen Holden who says the film is Plympton’s “best animated feature.” Plympton wrote an article for Truly Free Film chastising people for not considering animation a mature art form. IndieWire has a nice profile on Plympton and had the animator write a few words about himself. Zedura Magazine also has a long interview with Plympton. Paul Pritchard at Pulp Movies gives a glowing 4 star review to Carlos Atanes’ Maximum Shame. Pritchard and I agree: Great film, but difficult to write about. Very challenging work by Spain’s Atanes. Chicago’s Gapers Block interviews co-directors Brian Ashby, Ben Kolak and Courtney Prokopas of Scrappers, which won the...

Chicago – The winners of the 17th Chicago Underground Film Festival were announced, with the short film winners awarded on June 27th, and the feature-length winners revealed on July 2nd.

The festival kicked off on June 24th, and included two world premieres, five Midwest premieres and four Chicago premieres. The Audience Award went to local favorite “Scrappers,” from documentarians Ben Kolk, Brian Ashby and Courtney Prokopas. Winners received handmade art pieces constructed by Chicago artist Luke Breckon.

Frankie Latina’s ‘Modus Operandi’ won the Honorable Mention at the 17th Chicago Underground Film Festival

Photo credit: Frankie Latina Motion Pictures

This year’s Cuff jury included media exhibition coordinator Ross Nugent, filmmaker Spencer Parsons and the Assistant Director of Video Data Bank, Brigid Reagan. Here are the complete lists of winners:

Chicago Underground Film Festival: Feature Film Competition Winners

Best Documentary Feature: “Scrappers” by Ben Kolak, Brian Ashby and Courtney Prokopas

Best...

Update: Cuff has announced their feature award winners. Congrats to everyone!

Best Documentary Feature

Scrappers, dir. Ben Kolak, Brian Ashby, and Courtney Prokopas

Best Narrative Feature

Stay the Same Never Change, dir. Laurel Nakadate

Honorable Mention

Modus Operandi, dir. Frankie Latina

The 17th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival wraps up on July 1, but they’ve already announced their award winners. Although, as of right now, they’re still determining the Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature winners, but all the rest of the winners are listed below. I’ll update this post when the last two awards are announced.

And the winners are:

Made in Chicago Award

Fantasy Suite, dir. Kent Lambert

Best Animation

Everybody, dir. Steve Reinke and Jesse Mott

Best Experimental Film

L’Internationale, dir. Marianna Milhorat

Best Documentary Short

Sincerity: The Character of Ronald Reagan, dir. Chris Royalty

Best Narrative Short

Home Movie, dir. Braden King

Audience Award

Scrappers,...

Chicago – In Chicago, they are out and about on a daily basis. It is a simple pick-up truck, often bent and rusted with age. Most of the hauling areas in the back cabs of these trucks are outfitted with plywood extensions, increasing their ability to get more stuff in the back. They are the “Scrappers.”

This documentary follows two such men, as they prowl the alleys of Chicago, searching for the elusive metal that they can trade in for cash. Oscar is an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, working 14 hours a day to keep a subsistent level for his wife, child and family back home. Otis is a 73 year old African American man, proud and self-sufficient, who views scrapping as a noble and independent profession.

Co-directors Brian Ashby, Ben Kolak and Courtney Prokopas engage the two men, and use a point-of-view style to understand the often desperate circumstances of the scrap business and its practitoners.

The Chicago Underground Film Festival is always a special occasion, but the 17th edition of this venerable institution, which runs on June 24 – July 1, is a little bit extra special. This year, Cuff will be honoring the lifelong underground film champion Jonas Mekas with their Lifetime Achievement Award!

Mekas will be in attendance at the festival at will appear at several screenings in his honor. On the 25th, there will be a screening of the new documentary Visionaries: Jonas Mekas and the (Mostly) American Avant-Garde, at which director Chuck Workman, Mekas and underground film historian Fred Camper will participate in a Q&A. Then, on the 26th, several of Mekas’ own films will screen and he’ll be presented with his award.

As for the rest of the fest, Cuff usually has some sort of unifying theme, at least as far as the features go. It’s not typically a stated theme,...