Docpoint Celebrates Documentary Legends
The British Dochouse at the Riverside Studios in London does a lot for the creation of a documentary culture in the UK… but is apparently not only promoting films within the UK but also outside. I found this very interesting press release about the Finnish documentary film festival Docpoint (January 20-25 in Helsinki) that clearly wants to celebrate two documentary icons:
Nick Broomfield and Richard Leacock (photo) Leacock will attend DocPoint 2009. The 2009 programme includes a retrospective of Nick Broomfield’s work. Broomfield’s early work followed in the footsteps of cinéma vérité, influenced by Frederick Wiseman and Richard Leacock. Later Broomfield’s style became more distinctive. The retrospective is a comprehensive review of Broomfield’s work. The British censorship laws led Broomfield to work in the United States for most of his career. Since the 1990’s in his films Broomfield has focused mainly on various celebrities, including serial killer Aileen Wuornos, rap artist Tupac Shakur and a Neo-Nazi Leader Eugène Terre’Blanche.
Richard Leacock attend DocPoint with his wife and co-film maker Valerie Lalonde. DocPoint Festival presents A Tribute to Richard Leacock programme. Ever since his film debut at the age of 13 (Canary Bananas, 1935), Leacock has believed in showing the viewer the truest possible record of events. During his career he has worked with legends such as Robert Flaherty, Robert Drew and D.A. Pennebaker, the co-founders of cinéma vérité. A Tribute to Richard Leacock includes among others A Musical Adventure in Siberia (2001), a film about an opera production in Russia, put together decades after it was banned by the authorities. At present Leacock and Lalonde are making an autobiographical documentary of Leacock’s honourable 74- year-long career.
http://www.dochouse.org/
http://www.docpoint.info/en
and Sara Thelle`s recommendation: http://www.richardleacock.com/index.html