Film: Mourning with Minari, Experimental Docs, Bill Traylor

Some absolutely fantastic experimental shorts are all gathered in one convenient place this week, thr

Apr 16, 2021 • View in browser

Some absolutely fantastic experimental shorts are all gathered in one convenient place this week, through the Prismatic Ground film festival —free to stream worldwide! We’ve also got reviews of new documentaries about Bill Traylor and Ernest Hemingway, as well as an Oscar favorite. And we’re delighted to be able to exclusively premiere the latest video essay by Kevin B. Lee, a master of the form. Enjoy!– Dan Schindel, Associate Editor for Documentary

A Hyperallergic Premiere: "Mourning With Minari"

From "Minari"

In his latest video essay, Kevin B. Lee grapples with the aftermath of last month’s mass shooting in Atlanta by examining how the media depicts Asian American life, using the Oscar-nominated Minari as a lens.

SPONSORED See "Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts," now in theaters and virtual cinemas Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts documents one of America’s greatest self-taught artists, born into slavery, whose work bore witness to profound social and political change spanning Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Great Migration. Traylor was the subject of a major Smithsonian retrospective in 2018.Now in theaters and virtual cinemas

Latest Reviews

Sarah Friedland Conjures the Distant Memory of Togetherness Friedland’s films conjure a sense of heightened, almost spiritual attunement to a body’s movements. Adina Glickstein

An Epic-Length Documentary Tackles Ernest Hemingway Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s latest PBS series does a good job of telling the writer’s life story, but doesn’t probe his thornier aspects. Hrag Vartanian

In Sound of Metal, There Are No Small Sufferings Darius Marder’s Oscar-nominated film is less about the Deaf community than about the process of losing a sense inextricably tied to one’s identity. Eileen G'Sell

A Documentary Rectifies Bill Traylor's Omission From History Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts works with the scant available details of the artist’s life to tell his story. Sophia Stewart

What to Stream

From "The Ring"

This week’s streaming roundup highlights some great titles that you can currently only find on OVID, a perpetually underrated platform.The new online film festival Prismatic Ground has assembled a fantastic program of experimental documentaries, mainly shorts, for its inaugural edition. Catch some of the titles while you still can.

Just as one pick from the Prismatic Ground program, check out Janah Elise’s short film Melting Snow. It recounts an odd episode in Puerto Rico colonial history, when two tons of snow were transported to San Juan to give the islanders a taste of winter.

"Melting Snow"

Until theaters are safe again, be well!

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