Joan Churchill Movies

Ted Braun's documentary about Darfur showcases how six different people have each done their part in order to help stop the genocide in the region and bring humanitarian relief to the millions there who suffer. His subjects include a UCLA student who, with no political experience whatsoever, passes a state bill to stop any money from going to Sudan; the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court; Pablo Recalde, a central figure in the World Food Program; and actor Don Cheadle, the star of the movie Hotel Rwanda. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

While Jewish humor is a nearly inseparable part of the story of comedy in America, the contribution of Jewish women to laughter in the United States is less widely acknowledged, but filmmaker Rachel Talbot sets the record straight in this documentary. As four noted funny ladies -- Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman, Cory Kahaney, and Jessica Kirson -- chat about their craft over lunch at Katz's Delicatessen in New York City, they lend a framework to a celebration of iconic women in Jewish comedy and the influence of Jewish culture in American humor. Among the women chronicled in Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women are legendary musical comedy stars Molly Picon and Fanny Brice, saucy nightclub entertainer Sophie Tucker, pioneering standup comic Joan Rivers, Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner, and playwright Wendy Wasserstein. Created with the support of the Jewish Women's Archive, Making Trouble premiered at the 2007 Silverdocs Film Festival, a competition founded by the American Film Institute and The Discovery Channel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Anne Makepeace's documentary Rain in a Dry Land begins with the sobering realization that in 2004 alone, over 13,000 Somali Bantus escaped from dire living conditions in Africa and immigrated, legally, to the United States, where they began new lives. The film itself provides biographical studies of two such families (both direct descendants of slaves) and observes each as they settle in differing geographic regions of the U.S. The narrative commences in January 2004, when the families attend cultural orientation classes at Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp - learning of refrigerators, ovens, automobiles, elevators, western schools, and all the other amenities so often taken for granted in North America; the picture then witnesses each family during the first two years of life in its new homeland. One moves to Springfield, Massachusetts, the other to Atlanta, Georgia - two wildly disparate regions, though in each case, the families struggle against racism, discrimination, impoverishment, and massive doses of culture shock to build new lives for themselves, and retain overwhelming optimism thanks to events such as the birth of a child, an American wedding, and the reunion of thousands of Somali Bantus from across the U.S. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Attmpeting to shatter the image of Hollywood as a liberal haven, filmmaker Jesse Moss profiles a number of Red-Staters who call La-La Land home in this 2004 Documentary. Among the right-leaning interviewees are comedian Drew Carey, gameshow hosts Pat Sajak and Ben Stein, sitcom star Patricia Heaton, and controversial actor/director Vincent Gallo. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Paola di Florio directs Home of the Brave, a documentary about the impact of Viola Liuzzo's murder. Detroit housewife and mother of five, Liuzzo was a civil rights activist who went to Alabama to help with voter registration in 1965. She was in town during the pivotal march organized by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which ended in violence at the Edmund Pettus Bridge near Selma. While trying to transport the tear-gased marchers in her car, she was shot by three members of the Ku Klux Klan. Suspects Eugene Thomas, Collie Leroy Wilkins Jr., and William Orville Eaton were found guilty of civil rights violations and later acquitted. The film also explores the FBI investigation in the aftermath of her death, as well as the reaction in the Liuzzo home. Home of the Brave was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the documentary competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Nonfiction filmmaker Nick Broomfield and his frequent collaborator Joan Churchill return to the subject of an earlier film, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, for Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer. Twelve years after the first film was made, Wuornos was still in contact with Broomfield from her cell on death row, and he was called as a witness in her final death penalty appeal before the state. Clips of the earlier film were used by defense lawyers to help make the case that Wuornos' lawyer during sentencing, Steven Glaser, was incompetent. Footage used in court shows Glaser smoking pot on his way to the prison to confer with his client. Broomfield uses the opportunity to interview Wuornos several more times and to examine the horrific details of her childhood, interviewing her acquaintances and surviving members of her family. While making the new film, Broomfield learns that Wuornos, increasingly unstable and paranoid, is unwilling to continue to fight for her life. Desperate to escape death row, she has abandoned her convincing claim that she committed murder in self-defense, and she now wants to be executed as soon as possible. In Jeb Bush's Florida, it's clear, this isn't difficult to accomplish. Broomfield talks to the mentally deteriorated Wuornos one last time before her execution. Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer had its New York premiere at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Nick Broomfield, director of Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam and Kurt and Courtney, unleashes another provocation with Biggie and Tupac. Considering Broomfield's track record, that the film is dangerous, sensational, and occasionally very funny is no surprise. What is somewhat shocking, in a very rewarding and commendable way, is how moving Biggie and Tupac is. Using archival footage of the two rap stars and interviews with many of those involved, Broomfield uncovers significant evidence that corrupt LAPD cops were involved in the two deaths, and that the FBI was doing surveillance on Biggie (Christopher Wallace) on the night he was murdered. Broomfield's film also strongly suggests that Death Row Records head Suge Knight orchestrated both murders. Few satisfactory conclusions are drawn, but the film should at least encourage further investigation of these claims. By running the camera constantly, even before the interviews begin, Broomfield frequently catches his subjects off guard. But even if Broomfield had uncovered nothing, Biggie and Tupac would still be an entertaining and valuable telling of the tragic deaths of two talented young men. The filmmaker's interviews with Biggie's friends, and particularly his charming mother, Voletta Wallace, paint a picture of a surprisingly sensitive and goodhearted young man. Broomfield was granted less access to Tupac Shakur's family (Tupac's mother is still involved in business dealings with Knight; she doesn't appear in the film and she refused Broomfield permission to use Tupac's music), but he still manages to expose the controversial rapper's essential humanity. Some will find Broomfield's sarcastic and edgy attitude grating. He doesn't have the puppy-dog charm of a Michael Moore. But with Biggie and Tupac, he's shown a bit more of his sensitive side, and he's taken a step forward as a filmmaker. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

British documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield (Fetishes, Heidi Fleiss, Hollywood Madam) made this portrait of the late rock-star Kurt Cobain and his widow, musician and actress Courtney Love. Beginning with the 27-year-old Cobain's April 1994 suicide, Broomfield traces Cobain's Aberdeen, Washington, childhood and rise to fame, and the 1992 marriage of Cobain and Love, outlining the drug habits the two shared and exploring various "conspiracy" theories surrounding Cobain's death. Legal complications yanked this film both from a scheduled December 1997 BBC airing and a showing at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This documentary of the late jazz great Thelonius Monk) (1917-1982) uses footage taken from 14 hours of European concert performances filmed in 1967-68 by Christian Blackwood. From his childhood in New York City's San Juan Hill, Monk grew up to become one of the most innovative jazz pianists of all time. Monk ushered in the bebop era of the 1940s and influenced such contemporary greats as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Interviews with Monk's manager Harry Colomby and Monk's son and namesake shed light on the character of the jazz giant. Executive producer Clint Eastwood got the idea for the project while researching the life of Charlie Parker for his film Bird. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The gangs in the South Bronx (about 80 blocks from Tiffany's in more ways than one) are handled with kid gloves in this one-hour treatment by Gary Weis. The more articulate members of the Savage Nomads and Savage Skulls are interviewed while the less articulate minorities who incongruously brandish swastikas are glossed over. Aside from gang members venting about "social injustice" and cops, there are interviews with the police, a priest, and some community workers. In general, the documentary indicates that this one small part of the U.S. would gladly be engaged in a mini-civil war if left to ferment on its own. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Though Soldier Girls was the winner of the 1981 British Film Award's "best documentary" prize, the film's subject matter is distinctly American in nature. Filmmakers Nicholas Broomfield and Joan Churchill aimed their sights at the military basic-training camp in Fort Gordon, Georgia. Per the title, the film concentrates on a group of female trainees. No quarter is given, no none requested: the women are put through as grueling a training program as the men. Soldier Girls would be an apt companion piece to the similarly themed but highly romanticized Goldie Hawn feature Private Benjamin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide