Beautiful Film Week: documentaries

     Well, I'm gonna continue film week right on into Sunday, seeing as how I got a late start! I wanted to thank all of you for your posts, emails, and comments. I've really enjoyed this week and hope to do it again some time.
      I really LOVE documentaries. I thought about posting just one-then I thought-why not a list? SO here goes:
      Abel Raises Cain
A hilarious film made by a daughter about her father. Of course, he was no ordinary father, he was a "master spoofer" , probably the best of the modern age. Laughing so hard it hurt, I realized that this was one of the best documentaries I had ever seen. I was lucky enough to see this at a Portland film festival where  the director/daughter  held Q&A  after. She was also funny, genuine and interesting.
     Helvetica
While it's likely that many of you have seen this film, it's making the cut because I love it THAT much. I'm in love with type as it is, but I think anyone with a slight interest in type, or graphic design, or history, or culture-basically anyone who reads this blog will probably like his film.
     Capturing the Friedmans
Please be warned-the website to this film is loud and jarring if you are not prepared(as is the film). I don't even really like the site-too much for me-but I do love the film. This film follows the investigation of an accused pedophile and his family-but through old family movies. The beauty in the film is obviously not the subject matter, to me, the film is more of an investigation of truth, what truth is, the importance or lack of importance of perception and fact. It is really, really interesting and brought up a lot of interesting questions.
     In the Realms of the Unreal
I've written about this film several times. It's a favorite and a truly beautiful one.
   Promises
A film that follows seven children who live in and around Jerusalem. It is really, really touching and gees-even the trailer is making me cry! Children are so amazing-so full of hope, of curiosity and insights.

Thanks for everything this week! Feel free to continue to comment with links to your posts, I'll update them through the weekend.
More:
-Lisa
-Gwen (she has two posts I'm having trouble linking to them, scroll down)
-neece here
-and here
-andrea
-kirsten here
-and here
-robyn
-molly
-kickpleat
-sarah
-nava
-shari (500 posts!!!!)
-susan
Sorry if I missed someone-I'm sure I have-it's early and I gotta get ready for work! Please leave your link in the comments-good weekend to all!

Comments

[lisa s]

oh yes i could watch in the realms over and over.....

nice picks....

xo

[robyn]

yeah, the realms of the unreal is such a great film.
and, I've uploaded a new entry to BFW here: http://www.robayre.com/news/?p=230

[kickpleat]

realms and capturing are so great! abel looks amazing and i just made my library purchase it. i've added 2 documentaries too:
http://thesmalljoys.blogspot.com/2008/01/beautiful-film-week-harlan-county-usa.html

[andrea]

thanks for linking me... my movie is up!

[Lori]

I did one more! :^)

http://www.whiteoakschool.com/camp-creek-blog/2008/1/16/favorite-film-3-before-sunrisebefore-sunset.html

[The Ghostis]

I'll have to check out all these films as I've been at a loss for what to watch lately. They look wonderful.

[Rachel]

Yeah for documentary love. This list is full of things i haven't seen yet. Thanks for that. Might I also suggest The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Grizzly Man and The Up Series directed by Michael Apted. I've got my second post going up tonight on my blog. Wish I had more time this week to post more on film.

[kristi]

Such a fun week of beautiful films!
Thanks, Abby.
Here's my link:
http://asphaltandair.com/?p=451

[kristi]

I had to add just one more!
http://asphaltandair.com/?p=442

[Neece]

I have a couple others up for the weekend here:

http://freyclark.typepad.com/neece_clark_studio/reading/index.html

Thanks Abby! This was such a treat!

[marsha]

thanks for hosting this! i have lots of movies to see now...

[Meg]

My all-time favorite documentary is "Southern Comfort". HBO used to have amazing documentaries on Sunday nights. Wonder what happened. I'm making a list of all I see here. Thanks!!!!!

[cori]

thanks for all of the amazing recommendations abby, my netflix queue is now twice as long! i did my own post here: http://originaltilly.com/blog/node/220 :)

[Mandy]

Hello - just found your blog with this wonderful feast of film inspiration - my suggestion is The Street of Crocodiles by The Quay Brothers.

[Kirsten]

Hi Abby,
Thanks for the recommendations and the idea of Beautiful Films Week, it was fun to think back through films we have watched. I have posted my last entry: http://sewinsight.typepad.com/sewinsight/

[Maritza]

What a great list. I have Helvetica on my Netflix queue and can't wait for it to arrive.

[Kuky]

I've been saving up your beautiful film week posts to read at my leisure. It's very cool that you mentioned Promises. I interned for them very briefly about 3 years ago.