Verbatim: The Ferguson Case via New York Times Op-Doc Season 4. This dramatic reenactment of the Ferguson Case court hearing provides for a tense and eye opening look at the testimonies from Officer Darren Wilson and Dorian Johnson. Actors reenact the words of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Johnson verbatim. Mr. Wilson’s and Mr. Johnson’s account of Michael Brown’s death offer two opposing perspectives of how the altercation happened.
This short documentary is backed by a dramatic music score, which make the juxtaposed testimonies feel more chilling. Alongside the music, Director Brett Weiner adds case facts between cuts of dialog, which draws out the discrepancies within Officer Wilson’s testimony. The death of Michael Brown, the opinions surrounding the case, and the strong racial tensions that flooded the media shocked me at the time of the incident, but officer Wilson not facing charges for killing Michael Brown confounds me.
On July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft will zip past Pluto and its five known moons. Nobody really knows what it will find.
Via New York Times: “On July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft will zip past Pluto and its five known moons. Nobody really knows what it will find.”
This Is The Closest Photo Yet of Pluto From A NASA Spacecraft Flyby
After nine-and-a-half years, 3 billion miles and heart-stopping drops in communication, the moment has arrived: New Horizons, NASA’s spacecraft designed to explore the furthest reaches of our solar system, passed Pluto at 8:15 a.m. EST on Tuesday.
Via The New York Times: Op-Doc “Elder: A Mormon Love Story” captures the story of Tom Clark and his relationship with Gianni, an Italian Communist male. This short documentary originally premiered at the 2015 Tribecca Film Festival. Watch as Clark recounts his struggle to maintain a love affair with Gianni, while also upholding his Mormon faith.
Clark previously underwent medical treatment to cure his homosexuality, but while on a two year stay in Italy on missionary work, he met Gianni, and he knew there was no cure for his so called “problem”. Their love story is indicative of anyone’s love story: One of emotional passion that caused them to become inseparable. Clark felt happy, Gianni felt happy, but Clark’s Mormon faith created a conflict because their gay relationship was unacceptable.
Ultimately, Clark’s religious devotion caused his departure from Italy and from Gianni as well. I was affected by “A Mormon Love Story,” and the emotional passion between Clark and Gianni. Their relationship might have been taboo within the Mormon faith, but it’s difficult to hear that Clark chose a faith that contradicted the physical feelings he had for Gianni, emotions that everyone with a love story shares.
“That message, that really homogenous myopic message, that your sex is the thing that makes you valuable, that is your currency… that limits women’s choices.” - Rashida Jones
Rashida Jones (The Office, Parks and Rec) recently released a documentary about Porn called ‘Hot Girls Wanted.’ VICE caught up with her on why she made this documentary and how sex is influencing women’s minds at a young age.
The full interview can be seen at vice.com | 'Hot Girls Wanted’ is out and can be watched on Netflix.
"[There is a] difference between sexuality and sexualization."
Great interview snippet and article on Rashida Jones discussing her co-producer role on Hot Girls Wanted, a new documentary about the world of legal amateur porn and the young women who are its stars.
“They’re not considering the real costs, the psychological costs, the emotional costs, the physical costs to your body, the trauma that it does on your body, to have sex for a living is a real thing… And I think by the time they realize it…it’s not too late, but they’ve lost their childhoods.”
- Rashida Jones
The interview and article do a great job clarifying the difference between sexual empowerment versus being sexualized. Check it out here on mic.com
VICE’s Magic: The Gathering - Inside the World’s Most Played Trading Card Game goes beyond itching my nostalgia for the card game. The documentary provides a captivating look at two realms of Magic players: The pro tour player and the casual player. These two different types of players are distinguished by Jacob Wilson, a professional Magic player, and the Forino Brothers, whom casually play vintage card events. Pro players like Wilson are passionate about playing at a high end competitive level, but that doesn’t mean the vintage players are any less passionate. The Forino Brothers are 22 year veterans of the game, and their passion runs as deep as those who play Magic professionally.
Aside from being addicted to VICE’s documentaries, Magic: The Gathering was a card game that I picked up from my oldest brother. I was addicted to trading card games such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, but Magic appeared more mature to my adolescent self. I remember having my mom drive me to a local comic shop, where I picked out my first deck and packs of cards to open. The plastic crinkle from a new pack of cards is enough to get my excitement going.
As with many of VICE’s documentary shorts, there isn’t enough time to delve into the complexities of the subject matter--26 minutes isn’t nearly enough to cover the history of a 22 year old card game. The documentary narrows its focus on the culture of tournament play versus casual play, through the aforementioned Jacob Wilson and the Forino Brothers. The viewer will not come away with the knowledge of how to play the game, but they will come away with an inside look at the Magic playing community, which remains enthusiastic, close nit, and a welcoming group of people. Click to watch!
VICE host Matt Shea travels to South Korea to cover the rising popularity of competitive gaming, better known as eSports, with a broader focus celebrity gamers. Shea, for better or worse, provides an outsider's look into the inclusive eSports phenomenon. On first glance, this documentary looked like another world competition buildup, a la Valve's Free to Play, which provides an inside look at the teams and gamers involved in DOTA 2's tournament play. VICE's The Celebrity Millionaires of Competitive Gaming not only addresses League of Legends (LoL) tournament gamers, but the documentary covers aspects related to the gaming culture, such as cosplay, gaming cafes, and YouTube celebrities. The Celebrity Millionaires of Competitive Gaming can be watched in full length or in bite-sized parts. Click on for a further look at the eSports community.
In Part 2, Matt Shea provides a quick vignette of about the profession of eSports announcing, otherwise known as shoutcasting. He soon moves onto the hours put into competitive gaming, training that sometimes reaches as high as 88 hours a week, which leads to the looming question: Can excessive online gaming be considered an addiction? Internet addiction is considered real, placed among other addictions like drugs and alcohol, and the addiction has been cause for concern as players have collapsed dead from exhaustion. Rehab centers have popped up in Korea in order to combat the rise of internet addiction. Within a neuropsychiatry facility, Shea samples an electroshock therapy technique that’s used to curb the addiction. It should be noted that professional gamers, who log upwards of 15 hour gaming sessions, may not be considered addicts. Whereas professionals are aware that their gaming habits are for training purposes, common gamers do not share this perception of awareness, instead playing games for pleasure or releasing tension, thus becoming addicted. While rehabilitation methods for curing internet addiction remain skeptical, excessive gaming seems cause for concern as players attempt marathon sessions to become a better player.
Shea takes a step away from League of Legends and Korean gaming to fixate on a more Western aspect of gaming. He interviews KSI, a London teenager who became a famous millionaire from video blogging games of FIFA. KSI doesn't consider himself a pro gamer, but someone who has become rich and famous for his gaming videos on YouTube. In addition to KSI, non-pro gamer, Sam Mathews has become rich off of the competitive gaming scene. Mathews, founding CEO of the eSports team Fnatic, has managed to market Fnatic as a product, which from a viewer's perspective looks as exploitation (which will become more apparent in Part 4 of VICE's documentary). Shea follows Mathews and Fnatic to Europe's biggest gaming competition Gamescom, where they compete against team Alliance for Europe's. With countless Fnatic apparel, what became clear at Gamescom, as with Western gaming, was Sam Matthew's vision for a “truly international sports brand.”
Matt Shea unearths the underground community within Korean's PC bangs, internet cafes suited for young gamers. Shea shares a night out with a group of Korean gamers, but when his group of Korean friends whittle away the night hours at a PC bang, Matt Shea pushes them to leave the quiet gaming cafe for the loud dance club Octagon. This is where I believe Shea strays from the intent of the documentary. “We were having fun a second ago,” Matt Shea states into the camera, “And now, all everyone is doing is tapping away at a computer.” Shea's disdain for excessive gaming reflects the outside opinion of gaming: A waste of time. In this instance, as well as others, Shea shows his lack of knowledge/disinterest of the very gaming community he’s reporting on. He becomes quick to drag these gamer friends out of their community in favor of a more socially acceptable activity. However, I wish that Shea chose to participate in the gaming community, rather than pull gamers outside of it.
Exploitation within eSports has an even darker side than an outsider's disdain. PC bangs lead to gaming houses, where coaches train young players into gaming professionals. However, the coaches face a certain pressure with parenting these young players and trying to earn money, so, as a result, coaches result to match fixing, exploiting players for their own financial benefit. Matt Shea meets up with Cheon “Promise” Min-Ki, whom was caught in the middle of a match fixing scandal that lead to his suicide attempt. This type of exploitation shows a darker side to eSports that players and viewers of the gaming community wishes to abolish.
VICE's documentary wraps up with the climactic match between Star Horn Royal Club and Samsung White at 2014's League of Legends Worlds Finals. Both teams compete for a prize of $1 million at South Korea's Seoul World Cup Stadium. Screaming fans, cosplayers, swag, and a robust technical stage with pyrotechnics set a precedent for a competition that was sure to impress. The Worlds Final rivals that of any world sport, with 40,000 spectators in person and 27 million online viewers. With the enthusiastic shoutcasters and screaming fans, an outsider could easily mistake the eSport competition as an athletic event. Whether eSports can be considered a sport, or whether the players view themselves as athletes, that may indefinitely be unanswered or better left up to the gaming community. However, eSports has gained meteoric popularity and acceptance in recent years, and I for one look forward to the future of competitive gaming.
Scientology: The Ex-Files originally appeared on Australian Broadcasting Network’s (ABC) Four Corners, and the film is available on Amazon and other online venues for streaming. Investigative reporter Quentin McDermott focuses on four former members of Scientology, whom divulge stories of mistreatment within the religion’s community.
Mistreatment isn’t an uncommon claim from those who have defected from Scientology. One may find numerous examples within Lawrence Wright’s Going Clear or other news outlets. However, Four Corners’ and Quentin McDermott’s scope isn’t as broad, and no one can expect such from a 45 minute run time.
The Ex-Files main focus are cases of abhorrent labor condition, from child labor to punishment that entails a member cleaning out a dumpster with a toothbrush, and allegations that The Church of Scientology restricts children from interacting with their parents whom have defected. Tommy Davis, a spokesperson for The Church of Scientology, refutes the allegations and appears on the constant defensive when McDermott poses questions about mistreatment.
Scientology: The Ex-Files provides a rather one-sided and brief onslaught into the misconduct of the religious activity among Australian defectors. For more into the controversies surrounding Scientology, one may seek out the aforementioned Going Clear (which has also been developed into a documentary) or the countless inside stories provided by former members of Scientology. For those looking to scratch the surface of Scientology doctrine or the religions misconduct, then The Ex-Files is a decent entry point for viewers to see how The Church of Scientology handles members within and outside its community.
(via Watch the Trailer for the Sundance Award-Winning Doc, 'Cartel Land')
The trailer alone for Cartel Land is intense, and I can only imagine that the full feature will promise the same. This documentary provides an on-the-ground look at two vigilante groups in the Mexican state of Michoacán and their resistance against the Knights Templar cartel. Cartel Land, a Sundance winning documentary, comes to theaters in July!
No other hot sauce seems to have garnered such a cult following as Huy Fong Foods’ sriracha. People, shall I say fans, will put the spicy chili concoction on just about anything. Some go as far as creating fan videos showcasing their obsession, which is more or less the premise for the documentary Sriracha. Director Griffin Hammond, a self proclaimed sriracha fanatic, gives the viewer an inside look at the what it takes to produce the hot sauce, from the chili farmers to David Tran, the man who popularized Sriracha in the United States. Huy Fong Foods’ red “rooster sauce” that is most common in grocery stores isn’t the original, nor is it the only Sriracha sauce. Hammond seeks out various forms of the spicy sauce, from different brands all the way to its origination in Thailand, where most people don’t spread the sauce on every food. Watch Sriracha for an inside look into the production of David Tran’s hot sauce, and the people who surround themselves with his product.
Chef’s Table is a Netflix original documentary series that spans six episodes and features six different chefs. Series creator, David Gelb, the same man behind Jiro Dreams of Sushi, places a similar emphasis on the featured chefs as he did with Jiro Ono. We delve not just into the kitchens of the featured chefs (Massimo Bottura, Dan Barber, Francis Mallmann, Niki Nakayama, Ben Shewry, and Magnus Nilsson), but we also glimpse into the lives of these chefs. Chef’s Table is a rather romantic look at the career of a chef. Early career hardships tend towards a payoff that appears as a constant struggle for some of the chefs, usually in their personal lives outside of the restaurant. If you’re looking for familiar faces here, then you’ve come to the wrong documentary (unless you’re a foodie in the know, which in that case: Good for you!). I was excited and pleasantly surprised to not recognize one name on Netflix’s documentary. Chef’s Table is a foodie’s documentary that will put you into the lives of a handful of the world’s best chefs.
From time to time, I’ll find myself looking up things on the web for pure nostalgic reasons: former online communities, old video game footage, or web series, for no other reason than that they captured my interest during my youth, and I’ve found myself fondly thinking back on those memories. Well, that’s what happened with the crew at Area5.tv and their web series CO-OP. They produced videos that documented their experience with video games (a sort of video podcast or documentary per se). They were quirky, they were amusing, and they recorded well shot video footage, which was refreshing from the spew of video game podcasts at the time. To my surprise, the guys have returned after a six year hiatus with Season 5! The video captured some of that nostalgic feeling, and I watched with a grin on my face as Ryan, Matt, Cesar, and Jason talked video games. Click and watch as they discus their time at GDC 2015.
“Sometimes it is about the journey,” and that is what Mile...Mile & A Half captures as the team from The Muir Project record their trek along the John Muir Trail. From beginning to end, I smiled, laughed, and then smiled again as stunning panoramic shots played out on my television. The crew’s quirky and often humorous antics made me feel closer to this group of hikers, and I too wanted to ditch civilization and hike into the back country. Watch this film for an uplifting and beautiful capturing of a crew’s journey along the John Muir Trail!
Mission Blue is one part history of Sylvia Earle and one part a film advocating for the preservation of our oceans. At times, though, the film seems to struggle which subject to highlight, but I think this is for good reason: Preserving the oceans and Sylvia Earle’s biography go hand in hand. David Brower is to land conservation, as Sylvia Earle is to ocean preservation, and through the documentary we learn about the goal of Hope Spots and the ocean life that is dying because of our lack of concern for what remains out of sight.
