Documentary

Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story opens in Los Angeles on Wednesday and Arianna Huffington wants you to go see it. But the multi-millionairess doesn't want you to get the wrong idea:

In the film, Michael describes capitalism as evil. I disagree. I don't think capitalism is evil. I think what we have right now is not capitalism.

In capitalism as envisioned by its leading lights, including Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall, you need a moral foundation in order for free markets to work. And when a company fails, it fails. It doesn't get bailed out using trillions of dollars of taxpayer money. What we have right now is Corporatism. It's welfare for the rich. It's the government picking winners and losers. It's Wall Street having their taxpayer-funded cake and eating it too. It's socialized losses and privatized gains.

Oh, Arianna. We love it when you get all populist. Read the full article at the Huffington Post.

Charles Bukowski was no great fan of Mickey Mouse, that "three fingered son-of-a-bitch."

The clip is from the 2003 documentary "Born into This" by John Dullaghan.
Found via Boing Boing

No idea if this Canadian documentary about cat ladies will ever make it to Los Angeles, but we sure hope so. Any studio execs reading the blog? Check out the film's website and invite us to the screening.

Journalists are having a tough time reporting about what the documentary Outrage is reporting, Jason Bellini points out. It's actually the more interesting aspect of the film.

Terry Gross called it the 'elephant in the living room' when she interviewed filmmaker Kirby Dick.

It's the 'sin that must not be named': Republican closeted homosexual.

Ed Padgett's blog brings us another vintage LA Times video from the collection of former LAT pressman Michael Klop, described as "a promotional documentary video about the now defunct Los Angeles Times Valley Edition produced in 1993 at the Times' Chatsworth California facility." We're loving the shoulder pads.

continued...

B&C reports:

HBO will air a documentary from Alexandra Pelosi chronicling the Republican and conservative perspective of the 2008 election. The film, Right America, Feeling Wronged- Some Voices From the Campaign Trail, will debut on the pay cabler Presidents Day, that is Monday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m.

Alexandra Pelosi: the Sofia Coppola of political documentaries.

Edward Norton had been following now Presidential Elect Barack Obama around since 2006 gaining 'unprecedented access' to the candidate. Now it's been bought by HBO and according to B&C it will be edited by Sam Pollard and released in 2009.

We're guessing Kelsey Grammer and John Ratzenberger's untitled unfinished John McCain YouTube video project is just going to be over shadowed again by 'that one'.

The U.S. has Errol Morris and Michael Moore, but if you want see how the Euros handle this documentary stuff (and we don't mean Swedish soft porn), take a trip out to Santa Monica next week for the Aero Eurodocs Festival at the Aero Theater Oct. 16-22.

This eclectic 11 film showcase featuring 10 Los Angeles premieres of new European produced documentaries, including Sung-Hyung Cho's stirring yet comical "Full Metal Village," is an opportunity to journey into unfamiliar cultures and subcultures and to meet some unique individuals as viewed through a contemporary European lens. At the core of these films, are the stories of citizens of the world making their way in the 21st century -- following or breaking tradition in human experiences that by far supersede geographic borders.

The festival will be presented American Cinematheque in collaboration with International Documentary Association and European Languages and Movies in America with the support of the consulates of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, Goethe Institute-Los Angeles, the Italian Film Commission and the UK Film Council U.S.

.

Participant Media, which produced Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth," and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) will host an unprecedented screening for health professional students at 27 U.S. medical schools of Errol Morris' award-winning documentary "Standard Operating Procedure" on Monday, Oct. 6.

The simultaneous digital screening will take place at 7 p.m. (EST), followed by an online town hall-style question-and-answer session with writer/director Morris and Farnoosh Hashemian, author of PHR’s "Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of US Torture and Its Impact."

The participating schools include: Albert Einstein University; Boston University; Brown Medical School; Butler University; Case Western; Chicago Medical School; Columbia Medical School; Weill Cornell; Dartmouth; Emory; George Washington University School of Medicine; Harvard Medical School; Indiana University; Johns Hopkins; Kansas University; Philadelphia College of Medicine; Rush University; St. George’s University; Tufts University; University of Michigan; University of Minnesota; University of Rochester; University of Texas, San Antonio; University of Texas, Dallas; University of Utah; Washington University; and Wright State.

For more information, see press release below:

continued...

Quoting a press release, DHD reports: "Slacker Uprising tracks Moore's 62-city visits to the swing states during the 2004 Presidential election. Moore's goal four years ago when Slacker Uprising was filmed was to convince millions of non-voting "slackers" -- mostly between the ages of 18-29 -- to give voting a try. To encourage the slackers to show up, they were offered a clean change of underwear, free Ramen noodles, and a promise that no event would start before noon and no politician would be allowed to speak. These enticements filled basketball arenas and football stadiums every night on the "Slacker Uprising Tour." The 97-minute film will be available for a high-resolution, free download to any North American resident beginning on September 23 at the pic's website, www.slackeruprising.com."