Around the Block: Doug Block's Doc Blog

Festival Madness: From Sarasota to Toronto and Tribeca

One day after returning from doc jury duty at Sarasota, I zipped off this morning to Toronto for Hot Docs and tonight's North American premiere of A Walk Into The Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory.  Then it's back to NY on Friday, just in time for Saturday night's U.S. premiere screening at Tribeca.

Sarasota was great fun, if not enough time in the sun.  Screened 10 worthy docs for the competition with my fabulous jury maties, Ryan Harrington of A&E and Mary Kerr of the Flaherty Seminar.  In the end, one doc stood out for us - Note By Note: The Making of Steinway L1037, directed by Benjamin Niles.  At a time when docs have become so stylish and slick, it was downright refreshing to see a rather simple concept executed with such dedication and craft, not unlike that which goes into the making of a Steinway piano.  It was a fascinating and unexpectedly moving film, and it's nice to reward one that can use a boost in its distribution efforts, too.

In between the docs (including 51 Birch, which had a special screening tied to the upcoming Cinemax broadcast), managed to catch Joe Swanberg's Hannah Takes The Stairs.  I'm very impressed by Joe's talent and drive, and the lovely Greta Gerwig can certainly hold the screen.  I just look forward to the day (or year, since he manages to crank out a film annually) when his storytelling ambition matches his production ingenuity.  In the end, I found myself mildly irritated by the "smallness" of the film's scope.  But also confident that Joe's next film will be another quantum leap forward.  He and his group are the only reason I'd ever want to be in my 20's again.

More to say but need to run off now to the Rogers Center and hunt down a commissioning editor or two.  Still have 4 tickets for tonight's screening, and with the TDF going full force the next two days it'll be near impossible to get them to the Thursday showing.  Later...

A DVD Deal For 51 Birch Street

The festival circuit has been fun, the theatrical release exciting (and profitable - who knew?) and the Cinemax premiere broadcast imminent (May 8th).  But, face it, when it comes to the life of your film, it's all about the DVD.  So I'm particularly thrilled to announce a DVD distribution deal for 51 Birch Street with Image Entertainment, and a tentative release date of August 14th.

Image is one of the bigger dvd distributors, so they'll be able to get 51 Birch out widely.  Look for it at your nearest video store during the doldrums of late summer when you're near suicidal about all the crappy Hollywood flicks in release.

I've been holed up the past few weeks working on the DVD Extras, and I'm really pleased with the results.  At every Q&A I've done with the film over the past year-and-a-half I've been bombarded with questions about my family members' reactions to the film.  It's all people seem to want to know about.  Funny, no one seems keen to explore the innate cinematic genius of Yours Truly.  Nope, it's always "What did your sisters think about the film?" or "Did you dad know what was in your mom's diaries?" or "Has what you discovered about your parent's marriage affected your own marriage?"  You know, impersonal things like that.

The first DVD Extra addresses it all.   In it, I interview my father, his wife Kitty and my two sisters about their feelings during the filming, their personal reactions to learning about the various family secrets the film discloses, what it's been like seeing it with audiences, and what the impact of the fim -- and its unexpected success -- has had on the family.  It's 21 minutes long and makes a fascinating companion piece to the film.  Over Passover, I screened it for the entire family and it passed the ultimate acid test -- a good thing indeedy since, ahem, I'd already delivered it to Image.

The other Extra is a nod towards my mother's brother, my uncle Josh Vogel.  At 80, he's still practicing law, and still aspires to catch on as a song writer.  He almost steals the movie when, without warning, he breaks out into a self-penned ditty titled "I Flunk Adultery."  But he's always been a wee perturbed that we only included two of the song's five verses.  To make it up, we're giving him the full star treatment -- a hilarious music video of the full-length I Flunk Adultery, complete with a blatant plug for his newest cd, Josh Vogel's Country Blues.

Hey, he's family.

The third DVD Extra is the 51 Birch trailer.  Now I'm not saying the f-word (filler!!!), but why anyone would watch a trailer of the film you just rented or bought on the same DVD is beyond my meager powers of reasoning.  But Image wanted it and we already had one, so on it's going.  It's pretty much a color-corrected version of the same ol' sucker we've had online for many months now, and it still packs a wallop.  Go ahead, try it, I dare you.  Just beware that it's been known to create an insatiable appetite for the full film.  And August 14th is a long time away.

If you want to be notified when we get the official street date for the 51 Birch Street dvd, and be eligible for free dvds of the film, sign up for our email list here (buried way too modestly in the left column).