Festivals - FCAD 2018 - Uncle Sam documentaries

Par Mulder, 23 août 2018

Elvis Presley : The searcher
Director : Thom Zimny
Distribution US :HBO
cast : Hal Blaine, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Springsteen, Priscilla Presley, Tom Petty, Jerry Schilling, Red West…
Synopsis: Elvis Presley was a boy from Tupelo who grew up to become the biggest star in music. Along the way, he absorbed a staggering range of influences, creating a revolutionary sound in his lifelong search for self-expression. This documentary includes shots taken inside Graceland, The King’s iconic home, and features more than twenty interviews with session players, producers, engineers, directors and other artists who knew him or who were profoundly influenced by him. It also features never-before-seen photos and footage from private collections worldwide.

Hal
Director : Amy Scott
Running times : 90mns
cast : Jon Voight, Jeff Bridges, Norman Jewison, Alexander Payne, Judd Apatow, David O. Russell, Louis Gossett Jr., Haskell Wexler, Robert Towne, Jane Fonda, Lisa Cholodenko, Adam Mckay, Tony Bill, Rosanna Arquette
Synopsis: (vo) : A celebration of the life and work of American director Hal Ashby, set against a backdrop of a rapidly changing America in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and an even more dramatic shift in filmmaking. While Ashby was once the toast of “New Hollywood” with films such as Harold and Maude, The Last Detail and Shampoo, his rise and fall became an archetypal story of art versus industry.

Nice Girls don't stay for Breakfast
Director : Bruce Weber
Distributeur FR / US : nc
Running times : nc
Cast : Robert Mitchum, John Mitchum, Johnny Depp, Benicio del Toro, Brenda Vaccaro, Marianne Faithfull, Clint Eastwood, Al Ruddy, Deborah Kerr, John Huston, James Brown
Synopsis: (vo) : In the late 1990s, iconic photographer and great filmmaker Bruce Weber managed to convince Robert Mitchum to appear before his camera for a filmed portrait. Weber shot Mitchum in 35mm and 16mm black and white, hanging with friends and cronies in restaurants and hotel rooms and singing before a microphone at Capital Records recording standards for a projected album. When the actor passed away in 1997, Weber parked his beloved project and it was some time before he went back into his footage, picked up the camera again to continue, and complete, his tribute to Robert Mitchum.

RBG - Ruth Bader Ginsbury
Director : Betsy West, Julie cohen
Production : CNN Films, Storyville Films, Participant Media
Distribution : Magnolia Pictures
Running times : 97 mns
cast : Gloria Steinem
Synopsis: (vo) : Eighty-five years old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has become a symbol in pop culture. She built an incredible judiciary legacy by fighting for equality and all sort of discrimination throughout her career. Her aura moves beyond social differences and generations. She is one of the most powerful and influent women in the United States, and the last anti-Trump bastion. This documentary drags us into the fascinating life of the now called “Notorious RBG”.

Be natural : The Untold story of Alice Guy-Blanché (Soyez naturel :l’histoire inédite d'Alice Guy-Blaché)
Director : Pamela B. Green
Production : A Be natural production
Distribution : Wildwood Enterprises
Running times : 120mns
cast : Serge Bromberg, Diablo Cody, Geena Davis, Julie Delpy, Ava DuVernay, Anne Fontaine, Patty Jenkins, Marjane Satrapi, Agnès Varda…
Synopsis: (vo) : How could Alice Guy-Blaché, the world first female filmmaker who directed one of the first narrative film in history in 1896, reach the heights of fame and financial success and then be forgotten by an industry she helped create? Over the span of her twenty-year-long career, in France but also in the U.S., she wrote, produced or directed more than a thousand films made at the time of early film pioneers, including one hundred fifty films with synchronized sound. This documentary, part detective story part biopic, rewrites film history by revealing the full story of Alice Guy-Blaché's life and career.

The Great Buster : A celebration
Director : Peter Bogdanovich
Running times : 102mns
cast : Mel Brooks, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, Carl Reiner, Nick Kroll, Bill Hader, Johnny Knoxville, Richard Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Ben Mankiewicz, Bill Irwin, Bob Borgen, Cybill Shepherd, French Stewart, James Curtis, James Karen, Jon Watts, Leonard Maltin, Norman Lloyd, Patty Tobias, Paul Dooley
Synopsis: (vo) : American director Peter Bogdanovich recounts the life and career of one of Hollywood’s most prolific and influential filmmakers, Buster Keaton. This personal dive into the Keaton archives reveals a visionary artist who put everything on the line, even his life, for a laugh in such treasured films as Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928), and so many others.

Whitney
Director : Kevin Macdonald
Production : Attitude Film Distribution
Distribution : Roadside Attractions
Running times : 122mns
cast : Pat Houston, Emily « Cissy » Houston, Michael Houston, Gary Houston, Ellen White, Mary Jones, Kenneth « Babyface » Edmonds, Antonia « L.A » Reid, Bobby Brown
Synopsis: (vo) : She sold over two hundred million albums. She's the only solo recording artist to score seven consecutive number one singles. Her song « I Will Always Love You » is the most sold single ever by a woman singer. Behind the records, the rumors, the scandals, the secrets and the glory, this documentary offers a portrait of the real Whitney Houston