WASTE LAND (New Video and Arthouse Films):
Nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, International Documentary Association Pare Lorentz Award – Lucy Walker (director)
Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores” — or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both dignity and despair as the catadores begin to re-imagine their lives.
Releasing day/date on DVD and digital on March 29; airs on PBS on April 19
GASLAND (New Video and Docurama Films):
Nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, Winner – Special Jury Prize Documentary Sundance Film Festival, Winner – Lennon Ono Grant for Peace (Josh Fox, director)
Part verité travelogue, part exposé, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, and part showdown, GASLAND is going a long way in spreading global awareness about the risks hydraulic fracturing poses on human and environmental health.
Gas companies have recently turned their attention to the massive Marcellus Shale Field, where Fox’s Pennsylvania home rests. Stretching from the Catskill region of New York State to West Virginia, the area is also home to the country’s largest unfiltered watershed, supplying water to millions of Americans, including the residents of New York City. The fight against “fracking†has now moved to Congress, where lobbyists are trying to prevent legislation that would require the chemicals used in the drilling process to be reexamined as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Available now on DVD!
RESTREPO (New Video):
Nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, Winner – Grand Jury Prize, 2010 Sundance Film Festival
From award winning war journalists Sebastian Junger & Tim Hetherington comes a gripping documentary that transports viewers to the farthest outpost of the Afghan war – a remote 15-man station buried deep into the Afghan mountains in the Korengal Valley. Considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. Military, the men of Battle Company, 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team are under fire every day.
“Our intention,†declare the filmmakers, “was to capture the experience of combat, boredom and fear through the eyes of the soldiers themselves.†An entirely experiential film, the cameras never leave the valley; there are no interviews with generals or diplomats. The only goal is to make viewers feel as if they have just been through a 94-minute deployment. This is war, full stop. The conclusions are up to you.
Available now at the iTunes Store
or more info: http://www.newvideo.com/new-video-digital/restrepo/
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