Tag: documentaries

Review: ‘Every Body’ (2023), starring River Gallo, Sean Saifa Wall and Alicia Roth Weigel

July 1, 2023

by Carla Hay

Sean Saifa Wall, Alicia Roth Weigel and River Gallo in “Every Body” (Photo courtesy of Focus Features)

“Every Body” (2023)

Directed by Julie Cohen

Some language in Spanish

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2021 and 2022 in various parts of the United States and in Berlin, the documentary film “Every Body” features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans and Latinos) discussing what it’s like to be intersex, which is being born with male and female genital or reproductive physical characteristics.

Culture Clash: Intersex people often experience non-consensual surgeries as children, cruel discrimination and other traumas when other people assign genders to them that the intersex people might not feel are the correct genders for them.

Culture Audience: “Every Body” will appeal primarily to viewers who are interested in seeing an informative documentary about people in the LGBTQIA+ community who are often overlooked and misunderstood.

Maribel Gallo and River Gallo in “Every Body” (Photo courtesy of Focus Features)

“Every Body” is essential viewing to see how intersex people deserve the same human rights as anyone else. This notable documentary doesn’t overload on talking head interviews. Instead, it focuses on three intersex people who share their compelling stories. “Every Body” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Directed with intelligence and sensitivity by Julie Cohen, “Every Body” doesn’t just include personal stories. It’s also a well-researched documentary that unpeels the layers of medical abuse and shame that go in tandem with the non-consensual surgeries that intersex people often experience as children. The movie is also a call to action to advocate for intersex people’s rights and to help put a stop to abuse of intersex people by having better laws and more resource support for intersex people.

Unlike transgender people, who usually want to be one gender, intersex people usually have a different journey because intersex people have genital or reproductive physical characteristics associated with being male and female. Parents of intersex people are often told by medical professionals which gender should be assigned in childhood, often before intersex people are old enough to tell people what their gender identities are. This gender assignment at childhood often leads to non-consensual surgeries on underage intersex people.

The beginning of “Every Body” shows how people take for granted that an unborn child will be either male or female. The opening of the movie is a montage of “gender reveal” videos, where expectant parents reveal the genders of their unborn children. But what about the children who are born with both male and female sex organ characteristics?

“Every Body” presents this statistic: “An estimated 1.7% of the [U.S.] population has some intersex traits. About .07% have intersex traits so significant they may be referred for surgery. That’s 230,000 Americans. If those numbers are higher than you thought, that’s because intersex people are often told to keep quiet about their bodies. But Safia, Alicia and River are not the quiet types.”

Here are the three intersex people who are the main focus in “Every Body”:

River Gallo, whose pronouns are they/them, is an actor, screenwriter and director. At the time this documentary was made, Gallo was 31. Gallo grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, and currently lives in Los Angeles. Gallo, who was raised as male (the gender that Gallo was assigned at birth), was born with genital characteristics that were both male (a penis without testicles) and female. Gallo did not find out about being intersex until Gallo was 12 years old. Gallo used to lie to their male and female sex partners by saying Gallo’s lack of testicles was because of testicular cancer.

Sean Saifa Wall, whose pronouns are he/him, is a Ph.D. student. At the time this documentary was made, Wall was 43. Wall was raised in New York City’s Bronx borough and currently lives in Manchester, England. Wall was born with what is described in his medical records as “no uterus and a small phallus,” but he was assigned the female gender as a child by medical professionals at the hospital where he was born. Wall’s childhood name was Susanne. Wall says in the documentary that his sexual attraction is to women.

Alicia Roth Weigel, whose pronouns are she/her and they/them, is a political consultant and writer. At the time this documentary was made, Weigel was 31. Weigel was raised in Philadelphia and currently lives in Austin, Texas. Weigel was born with XY (male) chromosones, internal testes, no uterus and a vagina. Weigel was raised as female, the gender she was assigned at birth. In the documentary, she is shown looking for men on a dating app.

Gallo, Wall and Weigel are intersex activists and friends. All three pals describe themselves as being high academic achievers during their school years, as a way to have an identity outside of their gender situation. They also have university educations. Gallo’s alma mater is New York University. Wall graduated from Williams College. Weigel is a graduate of Cornell University.

All three describe the loneliness and isolation that intersex people often feel because of having both male and female sex organ characteristics. Wall says in the beginning of the documentary: “We live in a society that’s so binary. And so, for me, as an intersex person, where do I fit? Where do I belong?”

Weigel adds, “You have physical and anatomical traits that don’t fall neatly into that male/female box that birth certificates make you think how the world is. You feel so alone and isolated and like your body is a problem.” Gallo comments, “There’s this connotation that your body is ugly or is gross or is something that is monstrous.”

Gallo, Wall and Weigel all describe traumatic medical experiences that they experienced in their childhoods. For Gallo, it was being told at 12 years old about not having testicles and the medical recommendation to have surgery to add prosthetic testicles. Gallo’s parents are undocumented immigrants from El Salvador who did not speak English, which Gallo says had a lot to do with why these immigrant parents put so much trust in what the American doctors were recommending. Gallo says they felt betrayed by their parents for not telling them sooner, and it took a long time for Gallo to forgive their parents.

Weigel says that doctors told her to secretly make her vagina large enough to have penetrative sex and gave her dildos to use for this self-procedure. Weigel also claims that these doctors ordered her not to tell her parents. Weigel says, “I was 11 or 12, using the dildos, alone in the closet of my house.”

Wall, who says he always felt like a male, had gonadectomy (removal of his testes) when he was 13 years old. “I did not consent to the surgery,” Wall says. Wall’s parents are deceased, but he says that he understands why his mother decided to make him have the surgery. According to Wall, the doctor had told his mother that Wall’s testes were “cancerous” and needed to be removed. Wall did not have cancer, but the word “cancerous” was used as a stigma word to frighten his mother.

Wall is also shown going through his childhood medical records that prove he had male and female sex organ traits, and medical professionals were confused on what to do about it. His gender was initially checked in the “ambiguous” box on a medical document, but then crossed out and the “female” box was checked. His medical records also include extensive notes detailing the parts of his body that the medical professionals thought needed to be removed.

“A lot of parents [of intersex children] consent to these procedures, not really knowing the long-term effects,” says Wall. “A lot of parents do it because they’re really concerned about their kids. Wall adds, “There’s a culture of stigma and shame and silence that surrounds intersex people. It’s not just the surgeries themselves. It’s the voyeurism by doctors. It’s the medical photography. This person becomes a specimen.”

John Money, a Ph.D. sex researcher at Johns Hopkins University, is frequently mentioned and shown in archival footage in “Every Body” as being both a pioneer and a villain in intersex medical research. Although he is credited with bringing more awareness about intersex people to the general public, Dr. Money had studies advocating for intersex people to have non-consensual surgeries, assigning them to only one sex as early in their childhoods as possible. Dr. Money’s studies have since been debunked as being erroneous and harmful. Keith Sigmundson, Ph.D., a child psychiatrist who treated some of Dr. Money’s intersex patients confirms in the documentary that Dr. Money’s approach was the wrong one.

Katharine Dalke, M.D., of the Penn State College of Medicine’s National Institute Health’s Sexual and Gender Priority Research Group, identifies as intersex. Dr. Dalke says in the documentary, “The most inclusive definition of ‘intersex’ is any variation of a person’s sex traits with which they’re ether born or which they develop naturally during puberty.”

Dr. Dalke adds, “The existence of intersex traits show that not only does the middle space exist but that there’s a lot of variation within those categories of male and female. It is possible to be a biological female and have testes. It is possible to be a biological male and have a uterus”

Dr. Dalke also says, “In most cases, surgery isn’t necessary.” Dalke adds, “Unfortunately, the way that the medical community has responded to that complexity historically is to focus on managing someone’s genital appearance and their gender identity.”

As an example of the trauma that can happen when a child is assigned the wrong gender in infancy or another stage of childhood, “Every Body” brings up the case of David Reimer, a Canadian man who was raised as a girl after his penis was accidently burned off when he was an infant. Although Reimer (who had a twin brother) was not intersex, “Every Body” includes footage from Reimer’s 1999 interview with the NBC’s “Dateline” news program, with clips of the interview shown to Gallo, Wall and Weigel. Reimer describes being bullied as a child and experiencing mental-health issues over his gender identity, especially after he found out that he was lied to for years about his true gender.

Secrecy and shame are often part of the intersex experience. Many parents of intersex children don’t tell other family members that their children are intersex. Intersex children who know they are intersex are told not to reveal this information to other people. Although the intention of these parents might be to protect their intersex children, intersex activists say that the stigma needs to be removed from being intersex so that intersex people should not have to hide their identities in shame.

Gallo says that their relationship with their mother Maribel has now healed, but it took a lot of work. In the documentary, Gallo and their mother are shown looking at family photos with bittersweet memories. When asked about how she handled Gallo being intersex during childhood, Maribel says, “If I didn’t have the strength, who would?” But the trauma has lingering effects. Later in the documentary, Gallo says that the shame placed upon them for being intersex and what they went through as a child has a lot to do with why Gallo has had struggles with drug and alcohol abuse.

“Every Body” has significant screen time devoted to the support groups and activism for intersex people, their allies and loved ones. The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) is named as the most prominent and earliest advocacy group for and by intersex people. The documentary includes footage of the group’s first meeting in 1996, when 10 people attended.

Wall, Weigel and Gallo are also shown at various intersex advocate rallies and testifying in government hearings for better resources for intersex people and better education for the public about intersex people. Weigel’s mother Char Weigel, who is a nurse, is a supportive activist too. In another segment, Weigel is shown meeting with Austin city council member Natasha Harper-Madison and Austin communications director Caleb Pritchard to talk about intersex rights.

Dr. Dix Phillip Poppas, a urologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, is mentioned multiple times in the documentary as someone who advocates for harmful and unnecessary surgery on intersex people. Weigel and Gallo are shown at a pro-intersex gathering outside of Dr. Poppas’ workplace to protest the intersex surgeries that he and other medical doctors pressure intersex people to have. Two of the activists who are interviewed at this gathering are Scout Silverstein and Casey Orozco-Poore.

When it comes to dating, all three of the featured intersex people in “Every Body” say that it’s best to be open and up front with potential partners about being intersex. In most cases, intersex people cannot have biological children, so any potential partner with family planning issues should also be informed as early as possible. Gallo says that anyone who will reject someone for being intersex is not right for that intersex person anyway.

Weigel says, “Dating can be tough. It’s markedly different than it was before I was out about being intersex.” Weigel says she lists her intersex pronouns on all her profiles for dating apps. “If I don’t divulge it,” Weigel says of her intersex identity, “then they’ll find out on their own because they’ll Google me. And if someone can’t handle me, it sucks for them.”

Wall admits that he found dating very hard at first because he was deeply ashamed and afraid of any possible lover seeing him naked. Wall is now much more comfortable with dating and his body—so much so, he participated in an intersex art exhibition by posing fully naked for a series of photographs. Wall is shown traveling to Berlin to view this art exhibit, which was organized by Luan Pertl and Jomka Weib.

One of the subjects of the art exhibit is Mani Mitchell, one of the original ISNA members, who is shown in a nude photo portrait with the words, “I Am Not a Monster” written on Mitchell’s chest and torso. Wall gets emotionally moved by what he sees in the exhibit, which represents the gamut of experiences that intersex people have. During his tearful reaction, he says how important it is for intersex people to have understanding and support from their childhood onward to reduce the traumas that get inflicted on intersex people for biological things that are out of their control.

“Every Body” is the type of documentary that will stay with viewers long after watching it. It’s educational without being preachy. It’s inspirational without being corny. Most of all, it shows that although some bigots might want to discriminate against intersex people, it doesn’t erase the fact that equality human rights apply to intersex people too.

Focus Features released “Every Body” in select U.S. cinemas on June 30, 2023.

Review: ‘Anthem’ (2023), starring Kris Bowers and DJ Dahi

July 1, 2023

by Carla Hay

Pictured in front:  DJ Dahi and Kris Bowers in “Anthem” (Photo by Kevin Estrada/Hulu)

“Anthem” (2023)

Directed by Peter Nicks

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2020, in various parts of the United States, the documentary film “Anthem” features a racially diverse group of people (African American, white, Latino, Native American and a few Asians) who are connected in some way to the documentary’s mission to find a variety of American residents to create a new U.S. national anthem.

Culture Clash: People disagree on what “patriotic” music and lyrics are supposed to be for Americans.

Culture Audience: “Anthem” will appeal primarily to viewers who are fans of the documentary’s stars Kris Bowers and DJ Dahi, as well as fans of documentaries about racially diverse people joining together for a common cause, but this movie bites off more than it can chew on this weighty subject matter.

Kris Bowers and DJ Dahi in “Anthem” (Photo courtesy of Hulu)

Although “Anthem” might have had good intentions to do something groundbreaking in music and American culture, it really looks like a half-baked experiment and an excuse to take a road trip. This documentary is supposed to be about a diverse group of people creating a new U.S. national anthem, but people of Asian heritage are mostly excluded from this movie. It’s a travelogue and a long commercial for the song that’s performed at the end. And that song? After all the buildup and hype in this documentary, the song that the group comes up with—”We Are America”—is really just a bland and forgettable pop tune. There’s nothing iconic about this song at all.

Directed by Peter Nicks (who is seen briefly in the movie), “Anthem” (which had its premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival) looks like the type of movie that seems like a great idea on paper. But the complexities involved in doing this concept justice just seemed to be too much for this documentary’s filmmakers. There’s a lot of footage of film/TV composer Kris Bowers (“King Richard,” “Bridgerton”) and hip-hop artist DJ Dahi on a road trip to six metropolitan areas of the U.S., where they spend a lot of time sitting in on local band rehearsals and nodding along to whatever the people are saying in the interviews.

It’s explained in the movie, when Bowers and DJ Dahi meet in Los Angeles, that these two artists didn’t know each other before the road trip. Bowers and DJ Dahi (whose real name is Dacoury Dahi Natche) have amiable chemistry together, but this documentary would have been more interesting if the two taking the road trip were music artists who know each other very well. Bowers (who is one of the producers of “Anthem”) and DJ Dahi are also quite passive in their conversations with the local music artists. The questions they ask are often boring and needed more curiosity and charisma, if the intent was to recruit these singers and musicians to be in the group that’s writing and performing this “new national anthem.”

The documentary explains that this “new national anthem” is not intended to replace “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It is intended to be a more updated national anthem that is a better reflection of how much more diverse the United States is in the 2020s, compared to when Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1814. The inherent problem, of course, is that with so many more music genres that didn’t exist in 1814 but were invented in the 20th century (including rock, hip-hop and electronic dance music, to name a few), it’s impossibe to come up with a new song that everyone in America can agree is the best representation of America.

Various cultural experts such as Nikole Hannah-Jones, Shana L. Redmond and Mark Clague weigh on what it means to even think about creating a new national anthem. They all say the obvious: Some people will think it’s an inspired idea, while others will think it’s highly unpatriotic. For many people in America, “The Star-Spangled Banner” represents freedom. For other, people “The Star-Spangled Banner” represents oppression.

Redmond comments that any deviation or different version of the U.S. national anthem is “seen as an affront.” It’s also noted in the documentary that people of color who perform different musical arrangements of the national anthem tend to get the harshest criticism. Jimi Hendrix and José Feliciano are mentioned as examples of how their versions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” got a lot of backlash when Hendrix and Feliciano first performed these versions in the late 1960s.

Considering how vast the United States is, in terms of land space, Bowers and DJ Dahi realistically could not go to every major city if the documentary had time constraints. However, going to only six regions—Detroit; Clarksdale, Mississippi; Nashville; New Orleans; Oklahoma; and the San Francisco Bay Area—still seems a bit skimpy, considering that only one of these regions (the San Francisco Bay Area) is not in the South or Midwest. In each region, Bowers and DJ Dahi visit with local musicians to get their thoughts on music and possibly recruit some of these musicians to be a part of the making of this “new national anthem.”

For this documentary, Detroit was chosen to represent R&B music in America; Clarksdale was chosen to represent blues music in America; Nashville was chosen to represent country music in America; Oklahoma was chosen to represent Native American music; and the San Francisco Bay Area was chosen to represent Latin music in America. For unknown reasons, “Anthem” ignores cities and spotlights for rock and hip-hop, two of the most important American-made music genres. And it’s a baffling omission, considering that DJ Dahi is a hip-hop producer who has worked with hip-hop artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Drake.

The interviews range from generic to fairly insightful. In Detroit, keyboardist Joseph “Amp” Fiddler comments: “We love this country. We love the people in our country. But does our country love us?” In Clarksdale, harmonica player Terry “Harmonica” Bean says about the blues: “The music that you hear from here, America gets the credit for it, but it comes from Africa … The blues will never die. We’re just passing it on, passing the torch.”

Discussions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” also extend to perceptions of the American flag and its offshoots. In Clarksdale, singer/keyboardist Eden Brent reflects on how she, as a white woman living the U.S. South, changed her mind about the Confederate flag over time when she learned how many people see the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism. She says that even though some people might defend the Confederate flag as being a symbol of “Southern pride,” people shouldn’t forget that the history of the Confederate flag was about fighting to keep slavery legal in the United States.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, self-described radical activist musician Cecilia Peña-Govea (whose stage name is La Doña) openly talks about how the U.S. flag has become a symbol of greed and destruction for her. In Nashville, singer Charity Bowden says the U.S. flag and “The Star-Spangled Banner” will always be a source of pride for her, especially since she comes from a military family. It’s at this point in the movie that you know the filmmakers are going to be like reality TV producers and have Peña-Govea and Bowden working in a room together, and the two women inevitably clash with each other. And sure enough, that happens. By contrast, one of the artist highlights of the documentary is seeing poet Joy Harjo show her entrancing talent in the recording studio.

With all this talk of diversity throughout “Anthem,” there is surprisingly very little representation of people with Asian heritage in the documentary’s selection of musicians and singers who get the spotlight. In New Orleans, trombonist Haruka Kakuchi is shown briefly with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Singer-songwriter Thao Nguyen is seen playing “We Are America” during the movie’s end credits. People of South Asian heritage are excluded in this movie, in terms of the prominently featured musicians and singers.

Other people featured in the documentary include lighting director Briana Nicole Henry and the following music artists: Larae Starr, Dennis Coffey, Paul Randolph, Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, Lee Williams, Ruby Amanfu, Jack Schneider, Zachariah Akil Witcher, Ellen Angelico, Megan Brittany Coleman, Preston James, Glen Finister Andrews, Charlie Gabriel, Wendell Brunious, Richard Moten, George Coser, Dana Tiger, Watko Long, Miguel Govea, Naomi Garcia Pasmanick, Sergio Duran and Esai Moreno Salas. The credited songwriters for “We Are America” are Amanfu, Bowden, Bowers, Peña-Govea, Harjo and DJ Dahi, under his real name.

Although the technical aspects of “Anthem” are well-done, the documentary doesn’t look like a fascinating history lesson that blends music and American history. Instead, the documentary looks like a hastily assembled hodgepodge of people brought together to write and record a “music by committee” song that, frankly, does not sound all that majestic and is very underwhelming for a so-called “national anthem.” Regardless of what your definiton is of “patriotism,” or what you think about the United States, “Anthem” is a documentary that falls very short of its intention to be a trailblazing project.

Hulu premiered “Anthem” on June 28, 2023.

Review: ‘Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music,’ starring Taylor Mac

June 25, 2023

by Carla Hay

Taylor Mac in “Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music” (Photo courtesy of HBO)

“Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music”

Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in 2016 in New York City, the documentary film “Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music” features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans) who are connected in some way to drag performer Taylor Mac and his one-time-only, 24-hour performance of pop hits.

Culture Clash: During his performance, Mac discusses some of the racism and homophobia behind some of history’s most popular songs.

Culture Audience: “Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music” will appeal primarily to viewers who are fans of drag performers and music documentaries that focus on unconventional artists and unusual performances.

Taylor Mac in “Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music” (Photo courtesy of HBO)

Vivacious and engaging, this concert documentary starring drag performer Taylor Mac offers a bittersweet presentation of iconic pop songs, without glossing over some of these songs’ problematic histories. It’s an extremely unique 24-hour performance. The 2016 show took place as a one-time-only event, at St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York City’s Brooklyn borough. During this 24-hour continuous performance, Mac performed popular songs from 24 decades (each decade got its own hour), from 1776 to 2016. Attendees had the option to sleep at the venue in a separate room.

Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, “Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival. The majority of the documentary’s footage is of highlights from this epic concert. The rest of the documentary consists of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with principal members of the events team.

Mac explains in the beginning of the film that he conceived this event as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the AIDS crisis. The show starts with 24 musicians on stage, but after each hour, one less musician goes on stage, until the last hour, when Mac is be the sole performer on stage. The decreasing numbers of band musicians on stage are supposed to be symbolic of how communities and families lost people to the AIDS crisis.

Mac also says in the documentary, “The show is about our history of Americans. That history is in our souls.” He also says that “a queer body can become a metaphor for America.” He later adds, “I learned my politics from radical lesbians.”

Mac gives a brief personal background about himself, by saying that he grew up in Stockton, California, which he describes as a very homophobic city that’s overrun with a lot of “ugly tract houses.” After he graduated from acting school, Mac says that he had difficulty getting auditions. However, he found work at New York City drag nightclubs. And the rest is history.

Some of the key people on the event team also give their perspectives of the show. Niegel Smith, the show’s co-director, calls it a “radical realness ritual” that “asks us to move closer to our queerness.” During one of the audience interaction parts of the show, Mac tells audience members to slow dance with people who are of the same gender. The song selection for this same-sex slow dance is “Snakeskin Cowboys,” a song made famous by Ted Nugent, who is a political conservative. It’s obviously Mac’s way of reclaiming the song and putting it in a progressive queer context.

Matt Ray, the show’s musical director, comes from a jazz background. He says the biggest problem in America is “lack of community.” This 24-hour performance, says Ray, is Mac’s way of trying to bring back community to live events. Machine Dazzle, the show’s costume designer, is seen in costume fittings with Mac, who says that he gave no creative restrictions on how Dazzle could make the costumes. Also seen in the documentary is makeup artist Anastasia Durasova.

It’s no coincidence that the performance starts with the year 1776, since it’s the year of the Declaration of Independence of the United States. Freedom, liberation and fighting against oppression are constant themes throughout the show. During his performances of popular songs from each decade, Mac gives historical context of what was going on in the United States at the time when the song was popular and why some of the songs have a much more disturbing meaning than they seem to have.

“Yankee Doodle Dandy,” performed in the hour covering the years 1776 to 1786, sounds like an upbeat and patriotic song. But Mac also reminds people that during this time, the United States was also built on the enslavement of black people and the destruction of Native Americans. The 1820s song “”Coal Black Rose” has racist origins, since it was originally performed by white people wearing blackface makeup, and the song’s lyrics are about raping an enslaved black woman. For the 1830s song “Rove Riley Rove,” Mac says he’s performing the song to evoke a mother or nanny during the Trail of Tears era, when the Native Americans were forced to go on dangerous and deadly routes when they were forced off their ancestral lands.

Not all of the songs performed have depressing and bigoted histories. When Mac gets to the 1970s decades, he performs songs such as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” and David Bowie’s “Heroes.” For “Heroes,” which is performed in the context of the Cold War between Russia and the United States, two giant inflatable penises—one with a U.S. flag decoration, one with a Russian flag decoration—float around on stage. Mac straddles at least one of these inflatable sex organs.

Other songs performed in the show include Laura Branigan’s 1982 hit “Gloria” (which Mac interprets in the performance as a sexual liberation song); the Rolling Stones’ 1969 classic “Gimme Shelter”; and “Soliloquy” from the 1945 musical “Carousel,” which Mac was his father’s favorite song. Mac also says that his father died when Mac was 4 years old.

Audience members are encouraged to sing along and participate. And sometimes, Mac invites audiences members on stage during the performance, such as when he selects the oldest person in the room (a man in his 80s) and youngest person in the room (a 20-year-old woman) to dance on stage together. In another part of the show, audience members throw ping pong balls at each other.

Mac doesn’t do all of the lead vocals during the show. There are also guest singers, including Heather Christian, Steffanie Christian, Thornetta Davis, and Anaïs Mitchell. However, there’s no doubt that Mac is the star. He has a charismatic command of the stage, even though he’s not a great singer. He has a wry sense of comedy and keeps the energy level fairly high, even though performing this 24-hour show would be exhausting by any standard.

“Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music” has a simple concept with an extravagant and very flamboyant presentation. If drag performances and some bawdiness meant for adults have no appeal to you, then watching this documentary might be overwhelming or a little hard to take. The performance in “Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music” will never be duplicated by Mac, but this memorable documentary is the next best thing to being there.

HBO and Max will premiere “Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music” on June 27, 2023.

Review: ‘Between the Rains,’ starring Kole Achucka and Patrick Achucka

June 23, 2023

by Carla Hay

Patrick Achucka and Kole Achucka in “Between the Rains” (Photo by Andrew H. Brown)

“Between the Rains”

Directed by Andrew H. Brown and Moses Thuranira

Swahili and Turkana with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in northern Kenya, the documentary film “Between the Rains” features an all-African group of people in rural villages.

Culture Clash: The Turkana-Ngaremara community and the Samburu community have conflicts with each other over thefts and dwindling resources during a drought, while the younger of two brothers is constantly challenged to prove his masculinity.

Culture Audience: “Between the Rains” will appeal primarily to viewers who are interested in watching documentaries about how people are affected by climate change.

Kole Achucka in “Between the Rains” (Photo by Andrew H. Brown)

The documentary “Between the Rains” tells a compelling parallel story of rivalries between communities and rivalries between two brothers during a tension-filled drought period in Kenya. One of the highlights of the movie is its impressive cinematography. “Between the Rains” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival, where it won the prizes for Best Documentary Feature and Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature.

Directed by Andrew H. Brown and Moses Thuranira, “Between the Rains” was filmed over four years in northern Kenya. (The specific years are not mentioned in the documentary, but the mobile phones shown in the movie indicate that filming started in the late 2010s.) Brown is also the documentary’s cinematographer. Thuranira is a native of Kenya.

The cinéma vérité-styled “Between the Rains” is told from the perspective of a teenager named Kole Achucka, who was 13 years old when the movie began filming. Kole (pronounced “koh-lay”) and his older brother Patrick Achucka (who was about 20 years old when the movie began filming) live in the pastoral community of Turkana-Ngaremara, also known as Turkana for short. Kole and Patrick have a brotherly relationship that goes through ups and downs during the course of the film.

Kole is the intermittent narrator of “Between the Rains,” which begins with this voiceover introduction from Kole: “Long before we became locked out on this cursed land, the Turkana lived in harmony with nature. We followed the rains, never settling long enough to burden the land. The colonizers and the other tribes of Kenya have tried to erase us, but our enemies’ fear of us has always crippled their efforts. Nature is the only power that can destroy us. It is a vindictive beast and the only thing worthy of our fear.”

During the course of “Between the Rains” (which is a brutally honest look at the effects of climate change), nature is not kind to the people in the documentary, due to a drought that has been plaguing the area. There are dwindling resources that have left many people in the area dead from diseases or starvation, or moving away in search of a better life. The mother and the grandmother of Kole and Patrick are dead. These two women were beloved members of the family. Kole (the more sensitive brother) still openly grieves for them. The father of Kole and Patrick is away, looking for work in the Kenyan countryside.

The brothers’ other family members who are in the documentary are their friendly aunt Veronica (who is the sister of their late mother) and Patrick’s adorable son, whose name is not mentioned in the movie. Patrick’s son is about 3 to 5 years old in the documentary footage. The mother of this child is not seen or mentioned in the documentary. Veronica says that the mother of Patrick and Kole was filled with goodness and taught them respect for nature.

Throughout the documentary, Patrick tries to teach Kole how to be a better hunter and warrior, but Patrick often grows frustrated because he doesn’t think Kole has what it takes to live up to Patrick’s ultra-macho standards. Patrick is considered an “alpha male” of the Turkana community. Patrick is both feared and respected. A recurring theme in “Between the Rains” is that Kole has to “prove” his manhood by going through some harsh rituals that will be very uncomfortable for many “Between the Rains” viewers to watch.

Kole says in the documentary: “I’m known as the boy that was born amongst the goats. I’m told that shepherding is the only path I’ll ever know.” He adds, “I wish my path led to a different life, but my brother says it’s not good to have childish dreams.”

Depending on your perspective, Patrick is a pessimist or a realist. There are multiple times in the movie where Patrick describes the land they live on as “cursed.” Patrick feels stifled by but also loyal to staying on this land. He tells Kole that they shouldn’t expect rain anytime soon. Patrick also repeatedly lectures Kole and tells him in various ways to “grow up,” such as when he tells Kole: “Put the innocence of childhood behind you.”

Because resources are scarce during this drought, nearby communities have gotten into fierce rivalries with each other that result in thefts of livestock and crops. A woman named Josephine is described as the “peacekeeper” of Turkana. She is often seen talking on her phone as she fields information about who has stolen what and where the stolen goods are. Josephine tries to act as a negotiator when she can.

Near the beginning of “Between the Rains,” several goats have been stolen from the Turkana community. Josephine is seen saying to an unidentified person on the phone: “The thieves will try to sell them [the goats] quickly in the market. If we don’t recover the stolen livestock, there will be violence. Our informants say that they’ve already sold some [goats], so it’s best if we intervene and outsmart the livestock thieves.

Patrick and a group of other Turkana men swiftly react when they find out that the thieves are members of the nearby Samburu community. Patrick and his cronies show up unannounced, retrieve the stolen goats, and proceed to rough up the men they suspect of stealing the goats. Some of the men quickly confess and beg for mercy. The suspected thieves are forced to get into a truck. The documentary doesn’t show or tell what happened to these suspected thieves, who are never seen in the movie again.

Kole says that he places a high value on spirituality and nature. He explains, “Our god is called Akuj—the spirit of nature. Our god is the blessing of rain and water. When nature is happy, we live in peace, without fear. But between the rains, the river dries, and neighbors become enemies. I’m not afraid of our enemies. I only fear nature.”

Sensitive viewers should be warned that there are multiple scenes in the documentary that show animals being killed for various reasons. One of the reasons is for doing a ritual where a goat is killed so that a local shaman can “read” the goat’s intestines to determine what nature’s prophecy is. In scientific terms, it’s like doing an amateur autopsy to see the qualities of what the goat ingested. Another animal-killing ritual, which is described as “the most important” ritual, is the asapan: when a warrior becomes a respected elder. This asapan ritual involves drinking animal blood.

“Beyond the Rains” also shows that although there is some modern technology in the Turkana community, the gender roles are still steeped in ancient traditions. The men are the physical protectors and hunters, while the women are in charge of food preparation and child rearing. There are some exceptions, of course. Patrick appears to be a single parent, and he is loving and nurturing in raising his son. Kole is also a doting uncle to this child. But given Patrick’s staunch machismo, it’s hard not to speculate if Patrick would be as attentive to this child if the child were a girl.

There is a lot of cruelty in the rituals that the Turkana men go through to “prove” their manhood. In one hazing ritual, Kole is forced to kill his favorite pet sheep. In another ritual, Kole is held down while some men in the group remove one of his teeth. They order him not to cry, or else they’ll make things worse. Kole’s attackers wanted to remove more teeth, but Kole puts a stop to it. He is then jeered at and insulted for being a “wimp.”

In this community, male crying is considered an act of weakness that could make a man or a boy a social outcast in this community. When Kole cries, he does so silently and as far away from other people as possible. Kole also visits his grandmother’s grave on his own. These are things that observant viewers of the documentary will notice without any intrusive talking head “experts” weighing in with their comments.

It’s pretty obvious that Patrick is not the type of person who talks about his feelings of grief, so he and Kole do not have a close brotherly bond where they can open up to each other about their deepest emotions. Luckily, Kole has his aunt Veronica, who seems to be emotionally available to him if Kole ever needs to talk about his feelings. But in this community, Kole has to be careful about how he is perceived when it comes to his masculinity, or the men in the community could make his life miserable.

There’s also a hint that drug abuse could be a problem. A scene in the movie shows Patrick ordering Kole to snort an unidentified white powder when they’re alone together in a hut. This drug use is shown once in the documentary and never discussed again. It’s hard to know how often Patrick and Kole ingest whatever substance they snorted because a lot of the footage that was filmed over four years was no doubt edited out of the documentary.

“Between the Rains” has striking nature shots that show the dichotomy of the beauty of this natural land but also the ravaged devastation of a drought. It’s also a poignant coming-of-age-film about a boy who has to forge his identity as a man under some very tough conditions. Many people around the world live in a bubble of modern technology conveniences and think climate change is far removed from their lives. “Beyond the Rains” is a jarring look at the environmental damage for the people who live on the front lines of climate change and can’t afford to escape from where they live. They are part of our ecosystem warning that rural people in underdeveloped countries aren’t the only ones who are going to suffer from climate disasters.

Review: ‘Breaking the News’ (2024), starring Emily Ramshaw, Amanda Zamora, Errin Haines, Kate Sosin, Andrea Valdez, Chabeli Carrazana and Abby Johnston

June 22, 2023

by Carla Hay

Errin Haines in “Breaking the News” (Photo by Heather Courtney/PBS)

“Breaking the News” (2024)

Directed by Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston and Chelsea Hernandez

Culture Representation: Taking place from 2020 to 2022, in various parts of the United States, the documentary “Breaking the News” features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans, Latinos and Asians) who are connected in some way to The 19th* news media outlet.

Culture Clash: The 19th* experiences ups and downs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a reckoning about needing more diversity on its staff. 

Culture Audience: “Breaking the News” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching a documentary about start-up media groups and news media coverage from a female perspective.

Kate Sosin and Arin McKona in “Breaking the News” (Photo by Heather Courtney/PBS)

“Breaking the News” is a smart and incisive look at the origins and growing pains of The 19th* as a groundbreaking female-centric news media outlet. This documentary is honest about showing that some women have more privilege than others in battling sexism. “Breaking the News” isn’t just about reporters getting news scoops. The movie also offers a realistic look at keeping a start-up company afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Breaking the News” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Directed by Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston and Chelsea Hernandez, “Breaking the News” (which was filmed from 2020 to 2022) begins in March 2020, the first month of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns around the world. The 19th* (which is headquartered in Austin, Texas) was co-founded as a non-profit group by Emily Ramshaw and Amanda Zamora in 2017, as a reaction to Donald Trump being elected president of the United States. The concept was to have a female-oriented news website staffed by women and reporting news that is considered important to women.

The 19th* is named after the U.S. Constitution’s 19th Amendment, which gives women U.S. citizens the right to vote. It’s explained in the documentary that the asterisk in The 19th* signifies that there’s more work to be done for women’s rights in the United States and around the world. When The 19th* began, the staff and freelancers consisted entirely of women. Now, there are a few men and gender non-conforming people who are among The 19th* employees.

Although the leaders of The 19th* say in interviews that this news media outlet is non-partisan, the reality is that the political views expressed by the majority of the staff are undoubtedly liberal—either progressive or moderate. And it seems as if the core audience for The 19th* also has a left-leaning perspective, based on a segment in the documentary showing that The 19th* receives numerous complaints from readers every time The 19th* interviews a politically conservative person. The 19th* publishes original content on its own platforms and syndicates its content to various other media outlets, including The Washington Post.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, The 19th* was in the process of raising another round of funding. Ramshaw (a former reporter with the Dallas Morning News and Texas Tribune) is shown in the beginning of the documentary having a Zoom conference call with Whurley, a well-known investor. He bluntly tells her, “I think journalism is dead.” But he makes this optimistic remark: “All the great startups started under terrible circumstances.”

Ramshaw has the title of CEO of The 19th*, while Zamora has the title of publisher. Both women say in the documentary that they knew at an early age that they wanted to become journalists. Although Ramshaw is shown doing some fundraising responsibilities, her main preoccupation shown in the documentary is managing the growing staff of The 19th* and making executive decisions about the editorial direction of the company. Andrea Valdez, who is also based in Austin, works closely with Ramshaw as The 19th* editor-in-chief until she is replaced by Julie Chen, whose appointment is shown toward the end of the documentary.

As the publisher, Zamora is shown worrying about being able to pay the salaries of The 19th* employees during a time when media outlets are downsizing or having hiring freezes during the pandemic. As a non-profit startup, The 19th* faced its share of challenges that were made more difficult in the middle of an economic downturn. However, 2020 turned out to be a pivotal and breakout year for The 19th*, due to the U.S. presidential election and the worldwide racial reckoning over police killings of unarmed African Americans.

Several editorial employees for The 19th* are shown in “Breaking the News,” but the documentary gives a particular focus on four of these employees: Errin Haines, a Philadelpha-based former Associated Press reporter, is an editor-at-large with a specialty in covering racial issues. Kate Sosin, a former employee of Viacom and NBC, is a transgender reporter covering LGBTQ+ issues. Sosin’s pronouns are they/them. Chabeli Carrazana (based in Orlando, Florida) has an editorial beat covering the economy. Abby Johnston is The 19th*s deputy editor.

One of the biggest criticisms of many feminist groups is that they tend to give the most power and importance to middle-class and wealthy cisgender, heterosexual white women. Ramshaw fits that description. Zamora (formerly of the Texas Tribune) is Latina, but in the documentary, Zamora acknowledges that she has privilege because she appears to look white. There are some scenes in the movie where Ramshaw shows that she’s living in a bubble and can’t really see the perspective of other women who are not in her own demographic.

For example, in May 2020, a video went viral of a racist confrontation in New York City’s Central Park, where an African American bird watcher named Christian Cooper asked a white woman nearby named Amy Cooper (no relation to Christian Cooper) to put a leash on her dog, because it’s the law in New York City to have dogs on leashes when the dogs are in public. In response, an angry Amy Cooper called 911 and falsely claimed that Christian Cooper was physically attacking her. She made a of point of repeating that an African American man was assaulting her.

Haines felt this story was important enough to report to show how some white women can use white supremacist racism as a way to put people of other races, particularly African Americans, in harm’s way with false accusations. In a completely tone-deaf moment with racial overtones, Ramshaw is shown questioning Haines on whether or not The 19th* needed to cover the case in the first place. Without knowing all the facts, Ramshaw wonders out loud if Christian Cooper did anything to provoke Amy Cooper. (When police arrived at the scene, Christian Cooper and Amy Cooper both were not there, but the situation could have escalated.)

Haines (who is one of the smartest and most well-connected people on The 19th* team) patiently explains to Ramshaw that America has a long history of African American people being killed because of false accusations from white women. The story is eventually assigned to Haines, with Ramshaw still being skeptical that it was important for The 19th* to report. Of course, the story ended up becoming huge international news. Later, Ramshaw makes an apology to her staff for her error in judgment and for being so ignorant.

It took this Christian Cooper/Amy Cooper story for Ramshaw to understand the ugly truth that these types of false accusations rooted in racism aren’t just stories about past lynchings but can still happen various ways today. If there had not been a video showing that Amy Cooper was lying, and if the police had shown up during this incident, it’s very likely that Christian Cooper would have been arrested based on a false accusation. “Breaking the News” shows that when an editor in charge of assignments lacks this intelligence or empathy about racial issues, it can negatively affect the type of coverage that the editor chooses to assign.

On a side note, after this Central Park video went viral, Amy Cooper was fired from her job at an investment firm. She was charged with the misdemeanor of filing a false police report. The charge was ultimately dismissed because Christian Cooper decided not to press charges against her, and she agreed to enroll in a racial bias therapy program. Amy Cooper’s wrongful termination lawsuit and appeal have been dismissed by the court system.

Under Ramshaw’s leadership, The 19th* is shown as being not very open to having a diverse representation of LGBTQ staffers. During most of the time that this documentary takes place, Sosin is the only openly LGBTQ employee on staff. Sosin repeatedly asks Ramshaw and other supervisors of The 19th* to hire more LGBTQ staffers, so that Sosin isn’t the only one. Ramshaw is shown making excuses for delaying this inclusive hiring. There’s really no good excuse for it, considering all the cisgender heterosexual women that The 19th* made the effort to recruit.

One of the more poignant scenes in the documentary is when Sosin confesses that when employees of The 19th* were celebrating the website’s launch day, Sosin spent the day at home crying because Sosin felt left out and sidelined for being a transgender person. Sosin is intelligent and a tremendous asset to The 19th* team. It’s really unconscionable that a so-called inclusive media group would take so long to hire more than one LGTBQ+ person to cover LGTBQ+ issues. It eventually happened, but only after Sosin and other staffers had to push for it. Ramshaw made an apology to The 19th* employees about that diversity problem too.

But for every misstep that Ramshaw might have taken, The 19th* had some triumphs. Haines was the first reporter to get an exclusive interview with family members of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African American nursing student who was shot to death in March 2020, by white police officers while sleeping in her home in Louisville, Kentucky. The officers claimed it was a case of a mistaken identity because they went to the wrong house during a warrant raid. The 19th* was also the first media outlet to interview Kamala Harris after it was officially announced that she would be Joe Biden’s vice presidential running mate. Haines got that scoop too.

Sosin was at the forefront of reporting many LGBTQ+ issues, especially in the trans community where health care and crime have disproportionately more devastating effects than for cisgender people. For example, many states have been slashing public health funding for gender affirmation surgeries. And crimes against transgender people are often underreported or often don’t get adequate investigations, compared to crimes against cisgender people.

Sosin’s story for The 19th* about how the pandemic was affecting transgender surgeries ends up being one of the biggest viral stories for The 19th* in that period of time. Sosin is shown interviewing people such at Transhealth in Northampton, Massachusetts, including CEO Dallas Ducar, charge nurse Arin McLona and pediatrician Dr. Drew Cronyn. They all express concerns about how certain U.S. states are starting to make their work more restricted or illegal.

Carrazana tells her personal story about being a Cuban American. She says that coming from an immigrant, working-class family gives her more empathy and understanding in covering underrepresented communities for economic news stories. Almost all of The 19th* employees featured are shown working from home during the pandemic lockdowns.

The movie also briefly shows the personal lives of featured employees of The 19th*, as a way of demonstrating that these are well-rounded people. Ramshaw, Zamora, Sosin and Carrazana are seen with their spouses or partners. Haines is shown having a close relationship with her mother, whom she calls on a regular basis. And most of these employees have adorable dogs, who sometimes amusingly get in the way while the employees try to work from home.

“Breaking the News” includes footage of how The 19th* covered historical moments, such as the 2020 U.S. presidential election; the U.S. Capitol riots that occurred on January 6, 2021; and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade that gave federal protection for abortion. The documentary does not over-simplify or gloss over the real problems that The 19th* has or the mistakes that were made by the company’s leadership. The measure of any group’s future is how it can learn from its mistakes and make improvements.

It remains to be seen how long The 19th* will last. However, “Breaking the News” is an insightful look at the early years of this resourceful news media outlet. It’s not only an inspiring documentary but also a stark reminder that with all the progress made in women’s rights, a female-dominated news media outlet is still a rarity today.

UPDATE: The PBS series “Independent Lens” will premiere “Breaking the News” on February 19, 2024.

Review: ‘Maestra’ (2024), starring Mélisse Brunet, Tamara Dworetz, Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, Zoe Zeniodi and Ustina Dubitsky

June 18, 2023

by Carla Hay

Zoe Zeniodi in “Maestra” (Photo courtesy of Foleo Films)

“Maestra” (2024)

Directed by Maggie Contreras

Some language in French, Greek and Polish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2022, in France, Greece, the United States, and Poland, the documentary “Maestra” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few black people and Asians) who are connected in some way to the international classical music industry.

Culture Clash: Five women go to Paris to compete in the 2022 La Maestra competition, the only all-female contest for classical music orchestra conductors. 

Culture Audience: “Maestra” will appeal primarily to classical music fans and people who are interested in watching an engaging documentary about women in a male-dominated profession.

Mélisse Brunet in “Maestra” (Photo by Isabelle Razavet)

“Maestra” offers a riveting look at the challenges and triumphs experienced by five contestants competing in the all-female La Maestra competition for classical orchestra conductors. In total, there were 14 contestants chosen for the 2022 La Maestra competition in Paris, where most of this documentary was filmed. The musicianship is excellent, but the human stories have more impact. “Maestra” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Directed by Maggie Contreras, “Maestra” doesn’t do anything innovative or groundbreaking in filmmaking, but this documentary does excel in choosing interesting contestants and in how the film editing skillfully weaves their stories together. All five of the contestants who are the focus of this movie have personalities and backgrounds that are very different from each other. Unless a viewer is not paying attention, it’s very easy to tell these contestants apart.

These are the five contestants who get the spotlight in the documentary:

  • Mélisse Brunet is a bachelorette originally from France but currently lives in the United States. At the time this documentary was filmed, Brunet was working as a classical music teacher in Iowa City, Iowa. Brunet is a self-admitted neurotic who expresses many times during the film that she’s nervous about going back to her hometown of Paris, because it will bring back traumatic memories for her.
  • Tamara Dworetz is an American living with her husband Stephen Delman in Atlanta. Dworetz has an optimistic and upbeat personality. She and her husband, who been married since 2018, are trying to start a family. Dworetz worries about when the right time would be for her to become a mother and how it parenthood might affect her career.
  • Anna Sułkowska-Migoń is Polish and living with her husband Maciej Migoń in Warsaw, Poland. Sułkowska-Migoń is the youngest and least-experienced of the five contestants featured in the documentary. At the time this documentary was filmed, Sułkowska-Migoń was in her last year of college and had only started being a conductor in the previous year.
  • Zoe Zeniodi (based in her native Athens, Greece) is an outspoken single mother to twins (a son and a daughter), who were about 4 to 6 years old when this documentary was filmed. Zeniodi is a freelance conductor, so she has to do a lot of traveling to wherever her work takes her. Zeniodi says she has constant challenges with balancing her career with parenting very young children.
  • Ustina Dubitsky, who is from Ukraine, is introduced much later in the documentary than the other four subjects. She’s not shown in her home because by the time Dubitsky is seen in Paris for the competition, the Ukraine had been invaded by Russia and engaged ina brutal war. Understandably, this turmoil weighs heavily on quiet and introverted Dubitsky during the Maestra competition.

Although all of these contestants have compelling stories, it’s fairly obvious that the “Maestra” filmmakers thought that Brunet is the most fascinating one out of the five, because she gets the most screen time. The movie also opens with a scene of Brunet teaching a class in Iowa City. Brunet is the one who seems the most intense about winning the competition because she’s a mid-career contestant who needs the exposure of La Maestra so that she can get a professional job with an orchestra instead of only being a teacher.

Brunet also keeps talking about experiencing trauma that happened to her in Paris and being afraid of going back to Paris because of this trauma. Brunet says that this trauma left her so emotionally affected, she is living with anxiety and depression. Clearly, the filmmakers of “Maestra” were expecting Brunet to eventually reveals details of this trauma. And sure enough, Burnet does tell more information. Her trauma is exactly what you probably think it is.

Dworetz is the happy-go-lucky cheerleader in the group. She is the one who’s most likely to give pep talks and praise to other contestants. If she is feeling any fear or sadness, she likes to keep it private. Dworetz is seen briefly at home with her husband, who is completely supportive of her conductor ambitions.

Sułkowska-Migoń is also seen having a happy home life with her husband. In the documentary, Sułkowska-Migoń (who is eager and slightly insecure) gives a lot of credit to her mentor: her father Piotr Sułkowski, a classical musical conductor who has worked with the Warmia-Masuria Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland. Sułkowska-Migoń comments: “My father, he is the best conductor of my life.” Sułkowski is shown briefly in the documentary in a video conference call with her.

If Brunet is the one in the group who is the most emotionally fragile, then Zeniodi is the one who is the emotionally resielient and most tough-talking. However, she also shows a compassionate side, such as a moment of solidarity when she gives Dworetz some advice on being a parent juggling a career as an orchestra conductor. Zeniodi tells Dworetz that there never really is a perfect time in a female conductor’s career to have children but that working mothers in these siutations can learn as they go along.

Zeniodi has experienced significant ups and downs in her career, as a freelance conductor and as the oldest member of the five contestants. She mentions that she was fired from a conductor job in Athens because she was pregnant. Zeniodi does not elaborate on what she did about this discrimination, but it’s implied that she did nothing about it, out of fear of being blacklisted from the industry.

Because of her quiet personality, Dubitsky isn’t shown doing much talking in the documentary. When she does talk, she’s mainly preoccupied with what’s going on in her home country of Ukraine, because most of her family members and friends are at risk of being killed or injured during the war. Many people in the La Maestra competition express sympathy and empathy to Dubitsky for what she and her fellow Ukrainians are going through in her lives.

Aside from showing the five contestants’ interactions with each other, “Maestra” has a great deal of footage of the contestants rehearsing and performing. Music performed in the documentary includes pieces from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Louise Farrenc and Maurice Ravel. Of the five contestants, Zeniodi moves around the most on stage while conducting. Dworetz has the quirkiest facial expressions while conducting; she has a tendency to lick her lips and quickly touch her nose. She might want to work on some of those quirks because they make her look really nervous or look like she’s under the influence of a stimulant.

Brunet comments in a “Maestra” documentary interview: “The only place where I’m really happy is when I open the score,” she says of the first step of a conductor’s performance. Dworetz says she likes to practice her conductor moves alone. She shares her philosophy on her conducting style: “You just have to conduct the music the way you want to go. It’s not really about the timing. It’s about the shape, the color, the character.”

Other people interviewed in “Maestra” are several La Maestra competition officials and other classical music experts. Interviwees include conductor Paul David, who is on the La Maestra selection committee; conductor Kwamé Ryan, who is a La Maestra judge; and conductor Kenneth Kiesler. Anaïs Smart and Aline Sam-Giao, who are both on the La Maestra selection committee, both say that the chemistry between a conductor and an orchestra can make or break a performance. An excellent conductor in the competition might have the bad luck of being paired an orchestra, resulting in little or no chemistry in the performance and the conductor contestant most likely to be eliminated from the competition.

Many of the interviewees also talk about how the conductor expresses emotions during the performance is a major factor in the judging process. An intangible “authenticity” is also frequently mentioned as a quality that sets apart the conductors who are considered to be very good and those who are considered to be outstanding. Passion is important during a performance, but a conductor can’t be too passionate to the point where it’s a distraction during the performance.

Deborah Borda, La Maestra chair and New York Philharmonic president/CEO, comments in the documentary: “One of the things we look for as a conductor is our authentic self. That’s what we all strive for. We can’t fake it.” Kenneth Kiesler, a conductor, mentions that the one thing that all La Maestra winners have in common is that they all look like they belong there.

“Maestra” does a capable job of exploring the reasons why La Maestra exists in the first place. It’s no secret that being an orchestra conductor is a very male-dominated profession. La Maestra was a created as a way to showcase female conductors in ways that they might not otherwise be showcased and to give them a level playing field, in terms gender. Marin Alsop, a conductor and a La Maestra judge, says of this feminist approach to creating opportunities for female conductors: “We have a responsibility to make the path easier for future generations.”

Observant viewers will notice that “Maestra shows,” rather than tells, some of the subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination that plays out during the La Maestra competition. It would be very easy (and frankly, quite boring) to have talking heads drone on and on in interviews about sexism in the industry. But even when only women are contestants, the sexism and ageism find ways to seep into the competition.

This review won’t give away who ends up winning this particular competition. However, it can be noted that the older female contestants get a lot more criticism than the younger contestants for “showing too much energy.” The contestants who get this criticism wonder aloud to themselves and other contestants if a man who did the exact same performance would have gotten the same criticism. It’s valid speculation.

And although it’s not said out loud, the women are also judged by the way they are dressed during a performance. One of the five contestants keeps it casual by wearing a white button-down shirt and slightly messy hair. Other contestants dress a little more formally.

There’s much thought that goes into whether a contestant will decide to wear bright colors or neutral colors. Do men have to put this much thought into their wardrobes for a conductor contest? Probably not, because women tend to be judged more harshly than men, when it comes to clothing and outward physical appearances.

As contestants are eliminated and other contestants advance to the next round, “Maestra” gets a little more suspenseful. For obvious reasons, the judges are not interviewed in the documentary while the contest is taking place. But viewers get snippets of what the judges might be thinking when the eliminated contestants reveal in the documentary what the judges gave them as feedback.

There’s an old saying that the true measure of someone’s character isn’t just by how someone achieves victories or accomplishments but also by how someone handles failures and defeats. “Maestra” is an example of how a high-profile competition such as La Maestra, while certainly important in the classical music world, should not fully define someone’s career. It should be a “win” to even be part of this highly selective competition. And how the contestants handle the results of this competition are largely indicators of how they handle challenges in life.

UPDATE: Worldwide Pants Incorporated will release “Maestra” in New York City on May 24, 2024, and in Los Angeles in June 7, 2024.

2023 Tribeca Festival: complete list of winners

The following is a press release from the Tribeca Film Festival:

The 22nd annual Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, today announced the winning storytellers in its competition categories at an awards ceremony at Racket NYC. The top honors went to Cypher for the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature, A Strange Path for Best International Narrative Feature, and Between the Rains for Best Documentary Feature. Awards were given in the following competition categories: Feature Film, Short Film, Audio Storytelling, Immersive, Games, Human / Nature, AT&T Untold Stories, and Tribeca X.

The Festival, which hosts more than 600 events across New York City, concludes on June 18th.

“We take great pride in recognizing this year’s collection of diverse, trailblazing works and creators,” said Cara Cusumano, Festival Director and Vice President of Programming. “Today’s honorees are a compelling testament that storytelling across genres and platforms is on a vibrant and inspiring trajectory.”

Some award winners received the unique Tribeca Festival Art Award from a selection of artists led by curator Racquel Chevremont. Supported by CHANEL, the world-class artists donated work to honored filmmakers.

Winners of the Audience Award, which are determined by audience votes throughout the Festival, will be announced at a later date.

Select awarded films, including A Strange Path, Between the Rains, and Boca Chica will be available to watch via the Tribeca at Home platform beginning June 19 through July 2, 2023.

2023 Winners and Special Jury Mentions, as selected by the 2023 Festival Jury, are as follows:

U.S. NARRATIVE COMPETITION

“Cypher”

Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature: Chris Moukarbel for Cypher, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For its kaleidoscopic use of music, created imagery and found materials, in service of an interrogation of celebrity, conspiracy culture and the nature of narrative reality itself.” This award is sponsored by OKX. 

Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature: Ji-Young Yoo for Smoking Tigers, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For this actor’s skill in holding the depth of their character’s experience with a quiet strength, vulnerability and a willingness to stay soft and open to their scene partners and camera alike.”

“Smoking Tigers”

Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature: So Young Shelly Yo for Smoking Tigers, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “This screenplay pulled us into its leading characters, making us care deeply about their pasts and futures. It skillfully juggled multiple storylines and journeys with nuance, emotional honesty, deft sequencing until the final beautiful scene.”

Mina Sundwall in “The Graduates”

Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature: Caroline Costa for The Graduates, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “From the very first frame, it was clear the cinematographer was someone in complete command of their craft. From their naturalistic approach to lighting to tight compositions, the cinematographer supported the emotional journey of the film at every turn.”

U.S. Narrative Feature Special Jury Mention: Monica Sorelle for Mountains, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For its authentic, specific portrayal of a culture we had not seen on screen. A deeply emotional and empathetic portrait of a family in a changing world with brilliant leading performances.”

INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE COMPETITION

Lucas Limeira in “A Strange Path”

Best International Narrative Feature: Guto Parente for A Strange Path, (Brazil) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “In considering the International Narrative Feature Award, one film rose to the top with its surprising warmth and deeply compelling storytelling. We are honored to present the best International Narrative Feature award to Guto Parente for A Strange Path.”

Best Performance in an International Narrative Feature: Carlos Francisco for A Strange Path, (Brazil) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “In a slate full of compelling performances, one radiated a magnetic realism. In a brief but essential turn, this actor balanced the nuances of humanity and demanded to be watched. We happily honor Carlos Francisco with Best Performance in an International Narrative Feature.”

Carlos Francisco in “A Strange Path”

Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature: Guto Parente for A Strange Path, (Brazil) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “A great screenplay is a combination of structure and poetry. Our award is going to a screenplay that gave us not only the grief of reconciliation but a joyful expression of absurdity.”

Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature: Linga Acácio for A Strange Path, (Brazil) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “The Winner in this category blew us away with the strength of their visual force. Cinematography that illuminates the narrative with not only the natural beauty of the location, but the psychological landscape of the lead.”

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Patrick Achucka and Kole Achucka in “Between the Rains” (Photo by Andrew H. Brown)

Best Documentary Feature: Andrew H. Brown and Moses Thuranira for Between the Rains, (Kenya) – World Premiere.Jury comment: “For craft, storytelling, impact — and above all a raw, elegant coming-of-age portrait of resilience that unanimously blew us away.”

Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature: Andrew H. Brown for Between the Rains, (Kenya) – World Premiere. Jury comment:”Combining the patience and elegance of portraiture — with the immediacy of observational cinema verite — this cinematographer truly transported us into a rarely seen world.”

“The Gullspång Miracle” (Photo by Pia Lehto)

Best Editing in a Documentary Feature: Mark Bukdahl and Orvar Anklew for The Gullspång Miracle, (Sweden, Norway, Denmark) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For cleverly and adeptly taking us on an entertaining and emotionally-layered mystery that zigs, zags and surprises.”

Documentary Competition Special Jury Mention: David Gutnik for Rule of Two Walls, (Ukraine) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For embedding us with a group of artists who refused to be stripped of their heritage and cultural expression, we would like to give a special jury mention for human rights and artistic expression to Rule of Two Walls.”

BEST NEW NARRATIVE DIRECTOR AWARD

Sponsored by Canva

Laura Galán in “One Night With Adela” (Photo by Diego Trenas)

Hugo Ruiz for One Night With Adela (Spain) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “When we think about what makes a great director, we think about a bold, singular vision. An artist with an ability to sustain a point of view, take risks and surprise us with their unique perspective. This director conjured a superb conductor’s ability to reign in a symphony, delivering a highly ambitious first film that left us all affected viscerally. Unanimously. We are excited and curious to see what they will make next.”

ALBERT MAYSLES AWARD FOR BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR

Sponsored by Bulleit

A scene from “Q” (Photo by Jude Chehab)

Jude Chehab for Q, (Lebanon, United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “At the end of the day the Jury chose to recognize the rising luminance of a young director who epitomizes the essence of the New Director award. “She did it all.” She wrote, produced, directed and shot this oblique and complicated family story in the closed world of a  mysterious Syrian spiritual order. Her photography is gorgeous, and she speaks with the indomitable drive of a voice demanding to be heard. We are united in our curiosity to follow her development as an artist and observe what she does next.”

Best New Documentary Director Award Special Jury Mention: co-Director Nate Pommer for Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “The first Special Jury mention goes to Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story, for the enduring use of art as a weapon against cant and authoritarianism. We are grateful to the director for translating Gogol Bordello’s rebellious joy and rage at remaining human and vibrant in the face of everything time has thrown in its path.”

New Documentary Director Special Jury Mention: Jane M. Wagner for Break the Game, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “We gave the special jury mention to BREAK THE GAME for taking the innovative risks in its execution, that its protagonist took discovering her authentic self. Within the sterile confines of an electronic universe, the director revealed the critical core of human connection, kindness and growth, which we can shorthand as the real meaning of love.

NORA EPHRON AWARD

Scarlet Camila in “Boca Chica” (Photo by Micaela Cajahuaringa)

Gabriella A. Moses, Boca Chica, (Dominican Republic) – World Premiere. “With strong visual language that drew us in, lived in performances and original magnetic storytelling, this movie fearlessly confronted family dynamics. The filmmaker expertly portrays the disparity between how the American dream  is perceived outside of the US versus the experience of immigrants freshly arriving on American soil. Honoring the chaos of puberty while introducing its exploitation.”

Nora Ephron Award Special Jury Mention: Smoking Tigers, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “A film with an intimate power, captivating performances and striking cinematography. This film tenderly explores the complexity of adolescence, the immigrant experience, being a child of divorce and how familial trauma can impact romantic relationships.”

HUMAN / NATURE AWARD

Sponsored by Bulleit

Jason Momoa in “Common Ground” (Photo courtesy of Big Picture Ranch)

Common Ground, (United States) – World Premiere. Sobering yet hopeful, Common Ground exposes the interconnectedness of American farming policy, politics, and illness. Follow the solution-driven plight of Regenerative Farmers as they make a case for soil health across the continent and beyond. Directed by Rebecca Tickell, Josh Tickell. Produced by Rebecca Tickell, Josh Tickell, Eric Dillon.

SHORTS COMPETITION

Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Lilas-Rose Cantin and Leane Labreche-Dor in “Dead Cat” (Photo by Shawn Pavlin)

Best Narrative Short: Annie-Claude Caron and Danick Audet for Dead Cat, (Canada) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “Out of the impressive list of narrative shorts, this one stood out as a complete work that surprised, entertained, and resonated on a universal level. This film tells the story of parents trying to shield their daughter from the reality of death, but it does so with equal amounts of grounded humor and depth.”

Narrative Short Special Jury Mention: Gabrielle Demers for Blond Night, Jury comment: “Takes you on a most unexpected journey. It challenges our understanding of sexuality as told through the unique lens of disability. The protagonist gives a performance that’s steeped in authenticity and leaves an indelible mark long after the credits roll.”

Narrative Short Special Jury Mention: Annelise Hickey for Hafekasi, Jury comment: “The film threads the needle through the nuanced and complex relationship between a mother and daughter but pulls a specific focus on the divide that occurs between them when differing cultures are ignored.”

Best Animated Short: Mitra Shahidi for Starling, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “On its surface, mourning the death of a child is a challenging subject matter, but this film explores it with charm, mischievousness, and a dash of hope. The animation is immersive and stylized in the best ways. To select this as the winner was unanimous.”

Student Visionary Award: Daniela Soria Gutiérrez for Fairytales, (Mexico) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “This director brought a naturalistic style to a child’s imagination with uncanny and nuanced hints of revulsion woven into a greater story of friendship.”

Best Documentary Short: Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson for Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “A story that has yet to be told about a vital driving force in music, culture, and society spanning multiple generations.”

Documentary Short Special Jury Mention: Devon Blackwell for Goodbye, Morganza, Jury comment: “This film is a beautiful, humanity filled portrait of a family that tells the larger American story of race, economic inequity, and home.”

TRIBECA IMMERSIVE COMPETITION

“The Pirate Queen A Forgotten Legend”

Main Competition – Storyscapes Award: Eloise Singer for The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend, (United Kingdom) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For its outstanding technical execution, immersive user experience, and unique and untold story of a nearly forgotten woman in history.”

Storyscapes Special Jury Mention: Kinfolk for Kinfolk: Black Lands, (United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “A profound and authentic representation of the Black experience in America, KINFOLK’s mission to bring history to contemporary audiences through AR technology not only celebrates the richness of Black culture and history in New York City and beyond, but also serves as a powerful tool for education and understanding, making it a standout contender deserving of recognition.”

New Voices Award: Terril Calder for Meneath: The Mirrors of Ethics, (Canada) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “Both a dream and a nightmare, the work incites a necessary conversation with exceptional use of craft, storytelling and unexpected use of technology with the potential to iterate in a way that undoubtedly will empower future work.”

New Voices Special Mention: Poulomi Basu for Maya: The Birth (Chapter 1), (United Kingdom, France, United States, India) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “An imaginative way to tell an everyday story in a vivid world. Presenting a shift in perspective, the project opens new imaginaries with under-told narratives. This project left us on a hook and the jury is excited to see its next steps and continued development.”

TRIBECA GAMES AWARD

KO_OP, Goodbye Volcano High, (Canada, United States) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For how much this game felt of the moment and questions whether you should still care about anything when everything sucks — complete with doom scrolling, dinosaurs and high school band drama.”

Special Jury Mention for Tribeca Games: Julián Cordero and Sebastian Valbuena for Despelote, (New York, Ecuador) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For how it offers a dreamlike portal into a soccer-obsessed child’s everyday life, and shows how cultural expression—whether through sports or creative pursuit—can make our lives richer.”

TRIBECA AUDIO STORYTELLING COMPETITION

“The Very Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen”

Fiction Audio Storytelling Award: Alex Kemp for The Very Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen (Wolf at the Door Studios) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “This piece is an ambitious production that drew the listener in, and had us wondering what mysteries would unfold. It was intriguing, moving, and created a strong sense of place in its audio storytelling. We can’t wait to hear the next episode of The Very Worst Thing That Could Possibly Happen.”
 

Narrative Nonfiction Audio Storytelling Award: Aline Laurent-Mayard for Free From Desire (Paradiso Media) – World Premiere. Jury comment: “For its delightfulness, its fresh perspective, and its deceptively-easy-sound, we would like to award the Tribeca Audio Award for Established Audio to “Free From Desire” by Paradiso Media. This compelling personal story has lessons and insights for anyone with a body. Aline’s evocative and charming writing was a spoonful of sugar for a deeply-entrenched problem in larger society: the ways we do and don’t talk about sexuality, and how that impacts our sense of belonging in the world.”

Independent Fiction Audio Storytelling Award: Cory Choy and Feyiṣayo Aluko for Aisha – World Premiere. Jury comment: “To listen to “Aisha” is to inhabit this piece and also to be a body within it. The experience that this piece provided not only gave us a firm view of the main character’s external plight, but also insight into their internal struggle and conflict through sound design that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. “Aisha” warrants repeat listening.”

Independent Nonfiction Audio Storytelling Award: David Modigliani for Shalom, Amore – World Premiere. Jury comment: “An unexpectedly moving narrative that blends the personal, political, and comical. Through the uncovering of family letters written decades earlier, Shalom Amore takes us on a journey across generations and continents. From the hosts’ grandparents’ first kiss and a torn stocking to the exploration of rising antisemitism in our own time.”

AT&T PRESENTS UNTOLD STORIES

Color Book, (United States) – Following the passing of his wife, a devoted father is learning to raise his son with Down Syndrome as a single parent. While adjusting to their new reality, the two embark on a journey through Metro Atlanta to attend their first baseball game. Written and directed by David Fortune. Untold Stories is a multi-year, multi-tier alliance between AT&T and the Tribeca Festival that awards $1 million dollars, mentorship, and distribution support to systemically underrepresented filmmakers to produce their films. Color Book will also be guaranteed a premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival.

TRIBECA X AWARD COMPETITION

Sponsored by Tubi

Best Feature: Farhoud Meybodi for Earthbound (Gjenge Makers) – Earthbound: Nzambi Matee, executive produced by Orlando Bloom, explores the life and achievements of Nzambi Matee, a Kenyan innovator and entrepreneur who is tackling the plastic waste epidemic in her hometown of Nairobi. Directed by Farhoud Meybodi.

Best Short: Rudy Valdez for Translators (U.S. Bank) – Translators, follows Harye, Densel, and Virginia, a few of the over 11 million child translators in the United States, as they translate for their parents in everyday situations. Directed by Rudy Valdez.

Best Series: Patrick Daughters for Full Bleed (Adobe) – Full Bleed, a documentary series taking viewers inside these iconic moments, going beyond the expected creator profile to explore what it takes to push boundaries, and examine how obstacles can become the conduit for groundbreaking work. Episode one of three, submitted here, centers the decade-long development of Freedom Tower with celebrated architect Daniel Libeskind. Directed by Patrick Daughters.

Best Immersive: Jamie Hewlett and Fx Goby for Gorillaz Presents… Skinny Ape (Google) – Gorillaz Presents… Skinny Ape, sets out to revolutionize the concept of musical performances by transforming the streets of New York and London into stages for two groundbreaking experiences. On December 17 and 18 fans gathered together to witness Gorillaz play in real life – actually larger than life – with Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russel towering over them in the midst of two of the world’s most iconic skylines. Created by Jamie Hewlett and Fx Goby.   

Best Audio: Pedro Mendes for Making an Impossible Airplane (Atlassian) – Making an Impossible Airplane: The Untold Story of the Concorde, a podcast part of Atlassian’s brand evolution to be seen as a champion of open collaboration. Our goal was to tell a story that hadn’t been told before to engage audiences, solidify Atlassian’s philosophy & promise of ‘impossible alone’, and unleash the potential in each team: engineers in two different countries, with two different languages, two different units of measurement, forced together by politics. Directed by Pedro Mendes.

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About the Tribeca Festival


The Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, brings artists and diverse audiences together to celebrate storytelling in all its forms, including film, TV, music, audio storytelling, games, and XR. With strong roots in independent film, Tribeca is synonymous with creative expression and entertainment. Tribeca champions emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning talent, curates innovative experiences, and introduces new ideas through exclusive premieres, exhibitions, conversations, and live performances.

The Festival was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2001 to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan following the attacks on the World Trade Center. The annual Tribeca Festival will celebrate its 22nd year from June 7–18, 2023 in New York City.

In 2019, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems bought a majority stake in Tribeca Enterprises, bringing together Rosenthal, De Niro, and Murdoch to grow the enterprise.

About the 2023 Tribeca Festival Partners


The 2023 Tribeca Festival is presented by OKX and with the support of our partners: AT&T, Audible, Black Women on Boards, Canva, CHANEL, City National Bank, Diageo, Easterseals Disability Services, Expensify, Indeed, NBC4 and Telemundo 47, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, National CineMedia, New York Magazine, Novartis, P&G, ServiceNow, Spring Studios New York, The Wall Street Journal, Tubi, United Airlines, Variety and Vulture.

Review: ‘Enter the Clones of Bruce,’ starring Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, Bruce Li and Bruce Liang

June 13, 2023

by Carla Hay

Mars and Phillip Ko in “Enter the Clones of Bruce” (Photo courtesy of Severin Films)

“Enter the Clones of Bruce”

Directed by David Gregory

Some language in Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in Hong Kong, the documentary film “Enter the Clones of Bruce” features a predominantly Asian group of people (with some white people and one African American) discussing how the legacy of martial-arts actor Bruce Lee spawned imitators and a low-budget action films that have some connection to Lee’s history and persona.

Culture Clash: Many actors who became known as Bruce Lee knockoffs experienced exploitation and typecasting.

Culture Audience: “Enter the Clones of Bruce” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Lee and action movies inspired by him.

Dragon Lee (pictured at left) in “Enter the Clones of Bruce” (Photo courtesy of Severin Films)

“Enter the Clones of Bruce” is a breezy and fascinating deep dive into Bruce Lee-inspired movies and actors who tried to continue the legacy of Lee after his tragic death. The movie’s commentary is superb and includes some people who rarely give interviews. Martial-arts star Lee died of a cerebral edema in 1973. He was 32 years old. This documentary explores how far-reaching his influence was by showing how Bruce Lee imitators and ripoffs flooded the movie industry after his death.

Directed by David Gregory, “Enter the Clones of Bruce” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival. The documentary shows how the enduring popularity of Lee helped fuel a renaissance of Hong Kong-based filmmaking in the 1970s and 1980s. Shaw Brothers Studio, a Hong Kong-based film company that existed from 1925 to 2011, is mentioned frequently in the documentary as the biggest generator of Bruce Lee imitation movies. Although Lee was an American who was born in San Francisco, his parents were from Hong Kong, and they raised him there shortly after he was born. He maintained homes and had dual citizenship in the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Lee’s breakthrough to international audiences was co-starring as Kato in the American superhero TV series “The Green Hornet,” from 1966 to 1967. Movie stardom soon followed. Lee’s best-known films are 1971’s “The Big Boss,” 1972’s “Fist of Fury,” 1972’s “The Way of the Dragon” and 1973’s “Enter the Dragon,” which remains his biggest hit movie. Lee died six days before “Enter the Dragon” was released on July 26, 1973.

“Enter the Clones of Bruce” makes a case in proving that Lee’s sudden and unexpected death left a void that others rushed to fill in the 1970 and 1980s. The overall mindset was that people believed Lee would have soared to even greater movie-star heights if he had lived. Why not make the types of movies that he would have made if he had been alive? In addition to action flicks with fictional Bruce Lee-inspired characters, there were numerous sequels, prequels and spinoffs to biopics about Lee.

The documentary doesn’t sugarcoat that most of the imitation Bruce Lee movies and imitation Bruce Lee actors were fueled by greed. In the documentary and elsewhere, it’s called Bruceploitation. But many of those involved in Bruceploitation also had genuine admiration for Lee and wanted to continue his legacy in some way. A lot of Bruceploitation merchandise came out of this era, but “Enter the Clones of Bruce” focuses mainly on the Bruceploitation movies and the people who made them.

One of the best aspects of “Enter the Clones of Bruce” is how the movie has an impressive array of interviews with people who were involved with or are experts in Bruceploitation. It’s obvious that the documentary filmmakers took a lot of time and care in tracking down many of these people, in order to make the documentary as complete as possible. Although this low-budget movie’s film editing and other production values are little rough around the edges, the documentary’s research is impeccable, while the narrative is easy to understand.

Almost all of the best-known Bruce Lee-inspired, low-budget actors from the 1970s and 1980s are interviewed in the documentary. Bruce Li (real name Ho Chung-tao), who is originally from Taiwan, comments in the documentary about his Bruce Lee-like persona: “It was really a gimmick.” Li starred in movies such as 1975’s “Dragon Dies Hard” and 1976’s “Bruce Lee: The True Story,” also known as “Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth.” In the documentary, actor/writer Eric Tseng says that Li was good at what he did, but Li’s career would have been better if he hadn’t been typecast as a Bruce Lee imitator. Li says in the documentary that he didn’t think he ever really looked like Bruce Lee.

Dragon Lee (real name: Moon Kyung-seok), also known as Moon Lee, is a native of South Korea. Just like Li, Dragon Lee relocated to Hong Kong for his Bruceploitation career. Dragon Lee says that he met with Bruce Lee’s widow Linda to consult with her about how to portray Bruce. Dragon Lee also says that Bruce Lee’s signature move of thumbing his nose mainly came from a need to wipe sweat from his face. Dragon Lee’s Bruceploitation movies include 1976’s “The Real Bruce Lee,” 1978’s “Enter Three Dragons” and 1981’s “The Clones of Bruce Lee.”

Bruce Le, whose heritage is Chinese, grew up in Macau as a refugee from Burma. He moved to Hong Kong for the Bruce Lee phase of his career. Le, who was a contract player for Shaw Brothers, says of movie producer Bruce Randall, who was behind many Bruceploitation films: “He was like my godfather.” Le’s film credits include 1976’s “Bruce’s Deadly Fingers,” 1977’s “Return of Bruce” and 1977’s “Bruce and the Shaolin Bronzemen.” In archival footage from a TV talk show interview, Le is shown making the far-fetched claim that he drinks snake blood to stay strong.

“Enter the Clones of Bruce” also includes interviews with two martial-arts actors whose careers flourished because of Bruce Lee’s legacy but who aren’t Asian men: Angela Mao, who retired from acting in the 1990s, was considered the “first lady of kung fu” during her heyday movie career. In a rare interview for a documentary, Mao says of how Bruce Lee impacted her life: “I’m very grateful to him.” Meanwhile, Ron Van Clief (who is African American) tells the story in his documentary about how Bruce Lee was the one who gave Van Clief the nickname the Black Dragon.

Other actors interviewed in the documentary include Bruce Liang, Sammo Hung, Lo Meng, Casanova Wong, Eric Tseng, Caryn Wade, David Chiang, Long Ko, Roy Wade, Yasuaki Kurata, Phillip Ko and Mars. Bolo Yeung (also known as Yeung Sze), who is from Hong Kong, is described in the documentary as the actor who did more Bruceploitation movies than anyone else. Yeung isn’t interviewed in the documentary, but his son David Yeung has a short interview clip in the film.

Experts interviewed in “Enter the Clones of Bruce” include Mike Leeder, a Hong Kong expert who has some of the most insightful commentary in the film; Valerie Sou, professor of Asian studies at San Francisco State University; “Bruceploitation Bible” author Michael Worth; and “Fists of Bruce Lee” author Stephen Nogues. Nogues is from France, which is mentioned along with the United States, as the biggest markets for Bruceploitation outside of Asia.

It’s mentioned that many of the Bruceploitation actors were exploited themselves by having to work extremely long hours in non-union jobs, often while injured. Several of the Bruceploitation actors interviewed in the film say that the contracts they signed did not include getting royalties from the movies that they made. In other words, if people got rich from these Bruceploitation films, they weren’t the actors who starred in these movies.

Jackie Chan is mentioned as a next-generation beneficiary of Bruce Lee’s legacy. Unlike the Bruceploitation actors, who portrayed skilled action characters in all of their movies, Chan created an action-hero persona where his character often bumbled his way through fights that he lost until the very end when his character would emerge victorious. As for other action stars directly influenced by Bruce Lee, there is curiously no mention in the documentary of Chuck Norris, whose work with Bruce Lee kickstarted Norris’ career.

The filmmakers interviewed in the documentary include director Godfrey Ho, director Lee Chiu and producer Andre Morgan. Morgan is formerly an executive with Golden Harvest Films (now known as Orange Sky Golden Harvest Films), a company that co-produced several Bruce Lee films, including “Enter the Dragon” and 1978’s controversial “Game of Death.” The movie was controversial because it promised more than it delivered in unreleased Bruce Lee footage. In “Enter the Clones of Bruce,” Morgan doesn’t deny how disappointing “Game of Death” is to many Bruce Lee fans, but Morgan makes no apologies for it either.

There are two different versions of “Game of Death,” both of which cobbled together unreleased footage (about 15 minutes) of Bruce Lee and substituted other actors in scenes that were supposed to have the Billy Lo character portrayed by Bruce Lee. The quality of the filmmaking in “Game of Death” is so low, a cardboard cutout of Bruce Lee’s face was used over another actor’s real face in one of the scenes. Many scenes were badly lit and had terrible film editing. Numerous fans have complained that “Game of Death” is an insult to Bruce Lee instead of it being the fitting tribute to Bruce Lee that it should have been.

Morgan insists in the documentary that there is no hidden Bruce Lee movie footage anywhere that could be released in another movie. Based on everything shown in this documentary, if any of that footage existed, then it would have been exploited and re-exploited years ago. Although there’s no secret treasure trove of Bruce Lee archival movie footage, “Enter the Clones of Bruce” is a gem of a documentary for any fans of Bruce Lee and martial arts films.

UPDATE: Severin Films will release “Enter the Clones of Bruce” in select U.S. cinemas with a tour that begins in Los Angeles on April 12, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on April 30, 2024, and on Blu-ray on May 21, 2024.

Review: ‘Milli Vanilli,’ starring Fab Morvan, Brad Howell, Charles Shaw, Ingrid Segieth, Linda Rocco, Jodie Rocco and Ken Levy

June 11, 2023

by Carla Hay

An archival photo of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus in “Milli Vanilli” (Photo by Ingrid Segeith/Paramount+)

“Milli Vanilli”

Directed by Luke Korem

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Milli Vanilli” has a group of black people and white people, mostly with ties to the music industry, discussing pop duo Milli Vanilli, whose career peaked in 1989 and 1990, before the duo was exposed for not singing any of the songs on Milli Vanilli’s blockbuster debut album.

Culture Clash: Milli Vanilli members Rob Pilatus (from Germany) and Fab Morvan (from France) say that they were exploited by German music producer Frank Farian, who came up with the idea for this fraud.

Culture Audience: “Milli Vanilli” will appeal primarily to people who used to be fans of Milli Vanilli and anyone who wants to watch a documentary about how the music industry was in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Fab Morvan in “Milli Vanilli” (Photo by Luke Korem/Paramount+)

“Milli Vanilli” is a riveting, must-see documentary that goes deeper than any “Behind the Music” episode because it exposes the exploitation behind the scandal. Music producer Frank Farian, the story’s chief villain, is absent, but the damage he caused is on full display. The movie is a scathing indictment of not just Farian but also other people behind the scenes who knew that Milli Vanilli was a fraud but went along with it because they were personally profiting off of this fraud. Some of those people are interviewed in the documentary, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Even though former Milli Vanilli member Fabrice “Fab” Morvan has told his story in interviews many times since Milli Vanilli was disgraced in 1990, the documentary allows Morvan to have more of a voice than previous Milli Vanilli documentaries. Rob Pilatus, the other member of Milli Vanilli, died in 1998, of an overdose of alcohol and prescription medication, after years of battling substance abuse. Pilatus’ year of birth has been disputed, but he was believed to be 32 or 33 when he died.

Directed by Luke Korem, the “Milli Vanilli” documentary fills in some of the blanks that were noticeable in VH1’s “Behind the Music” episode on Milli Vanilli, the artist profiled in the very first “Behind the Music” episode in 1997. Pilatus was still alive and participated in that “Behind the Music” episode, but there were some unanswered questions in the “Behind the Music” episode that the “Milli Vanilli” documentary mostly answers, such as record company involvement in covering up the scam. (MTV Entertainment Studios, the production company behind the Milli Vanilli documentary, is owned by Paramount, which also owns VH1.)

Morvan (who was born in 1966 in Paris) says he wanted to be a singer and a dancer from an early age. He describes his childhood as being an “abusive environment.” Morvan adds, “So, I ran away.” Morvan met Pilatus at a dance seminar at a club in Munich, Germany. The two immediately bonded over similar backgrounds and shared goals.

Morvan says of Pilatus, “Just like me, he was looking for family.” Pilatus, who was biracial, was adopted by a white family in Germany. His white biological mother was a stripper, while his black biological father is unknown.

In the documentary, the story is retold about how Morvan and Pilatus, both struggling and desperate, met German producer Farian in 1988. Morvan had relocated to Germany by then, and he and Pilatus were getting small gigs as DJs and dancers. Pilatus also worked as a model. At the time, Morvan and Pilatus were part of a short-lived trio called Empire Bizarre, whose other member was a woman named Charliene. Morvan says that he and Pilatus were living together in poverty and were close like brothers.

Farian’s main claim to fame at the time was Boney M, a pop/R&B group that had a string of hits (mostly in Europe) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, such as “Daddy Cool,” “Ma Baker,” “Belfast,” “Sunny,” “Rasputin,” “Mary’s Boy Child/Oh My Lord” and “Rivers of Babylon.” Just like Milli Vanilli, Boney M was later exposed to be a group that had other people recording the vocals on the songs.

Morvan and Pilatus had been getting some local publicity in Germany, which is how Farian heard about them. Farian invited them to his recording studio in Frankfurt, Germany. Pilatus and Morvan recorded a demo with Farian, who dictated what his vision for them would be. He said that we would sign them and give them all the funds that they needed to launch a music career but they could not sing on their first album.

After Milli Vanilli was exposed as a singing fraud, Morvan and Pilatus (when he was alive) repeatedly said in interviews that at the time they signed the contract with Farian, he had promised them that they could sing on Milli Vanilli’s second album, but Farian reneged on that promise. This dispute ultimately led to the downfall of Milli Vanilli. Morvan and Pilatus said that before they became famous and had signed with Farian, they had regrets about the contract and tried to back out of it, but Farian threatened to sue them for all the money he had already invested in them.

Milli Vanilli’s rapid rise to success is a well-known story that is repeated here. Milli Vanilli’s 1989 debut album, “Girl You Know It’s True,” was an instant smash, first in Europe (where the album was released in 1988, under the title “All or Nothing,” with a slightly different track listing) and then in several other continents. The album had major hits, including “Girl You Know It’s True,” “Blame It on the Rain,” “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” and “Baby Don’t Forget My Number.” In 1990, Milli Vanilli won the Grammy for Best New Artist. In the end, it was Farian who exposed the Milli Vanilli vocals fraud when Morvan and Pilatus threatened to expose the fraud because Farian wouldn’t let them sing their real vocals on Milli Vanilli’s second album.

Farian, who now lives in seclusion, is not interviewed in the documentary. He did not respond to the filmmakers’ requests for an interview. However, the “Milli Vanilli” documentary has interviews with several people who knew the truth behind the scenes, including Ingrid Segieth, whose nickname Milli was the inspiration for the Milli Vanilli name.

Segieth was Farian’s secretary and girlfriend at the time. She says she was very close to Pilatus, although she denies that she and Pilatus ever had a romantic relationship. The most she will admit to is that she and Pilatus would platonically cuddle and sleep in the same bed on many occasions. “We loved each other without the sex,” Segieth comments.

Segieth was the person who found Pilatus dead of an overdose in Friedrichsdorf, Germany. She cries in the documentary over this memory and says she is ashamed of any part she played in his downfall. She denies any claims that Farian threatened to sue Morvan and Pilatus if they backed out of the contract. Segieth also says in the documentary that Morvan and Pilatus willingly signed the contract and didn’t object to having other people sing Milli Vanilli songs on the first Milli Vanilli album.

Morvan admits it, up to a point, because he still claims that he and Pilatus regretted the contract soon after they signed it, but they tried to justify those regrets after success came quickly for them. Morvan says that he and Pilatus “got sucked into the fame, power and adoration … We embraced the lie … It was difficult not to say no to this new life … That became very addictive.”

Other people interviewed in the documentary who knew the truth from the beginning are the people who sang on Milli Vanilli’s first album: Brad Howell, who did the vocals that Pilatus lip synced in public; Charles Shaw, who did the vocals that Morvan lip synced in public; and twin sisters Linda Rocco and Jodie Rocco, who both did backup vocals on the album. They don’t have much to say that they haven’t already talked about in other interviews.

Shaw was the first to go public (in 1988) about Pilatus and Morvan not singing on Milli Vanlli’s first album. But by his own admission, Farian paid him off, and Shaw retracted his statements at the time. Shaw was replaced by John Davis, who died in 2021, at the age of 66.

And what about people at Milli Vanilli’s record companies? This is where the “Milli Vanilli” documentary gets interesting. Milli Vanilli was signed to Arista Records (led by Clive Davis at the time) in the United States. Davis is not interviewed in the documentary.

However, Ken Levy, who was a senior vice president at Arista at the time, is interviewed and essentially admits that high-ranking people at Arista (including Davis) knew that Pilatus and Morvan didn’t sing on Milli Vanilli’s first album, but only after the album was released in Europe and after Milli Vanilli had signed with Arista. Thomas Stein, who worked for Ariola Records (Milli Vanilli’s record company in Germany), denies knowing that Morvan and Pilatus did not sing on Milli Vanilli’s first album before the album was released in Europe.

Richard Sweret, who worked in artist A&R at Arista, says that people from the record company weren’t allowed in the studio for Milli Vanilli sessions, which he says were under Farian’s tight control. Mitchell Cohen, another former A&R executive for Arista, echoes that claim and says that although it was weird not to see Morvan and Pilatus do any recordings in the studio, Arista took the album “on faith” from Farian that everything was legitimate.

Arista had signed Milli Vanilli after Milli Vanilli’s first album was a success in Europe, so these former Arista executives say that they didn’t question the validity of the vocals at the time that Milli Vanilli had completed the album. The “All or Nothing” album released in Europe actually didn’t have the names of Morvan and Pilatus on it, but the former Arista executives interviewed in the documentary say that they didn’t notice that detail at the time.

When it came time for Milli Vanilli to do live performances, that’s when more people behind the scenes found out that Morvan and Pilatus didn’t sing the vocals on the album. The former Arista executives say that by then, Milli Vanilli was a success for a lot of people, and it would’ve been too embarrassing for the secret to be exposed. When Milli Vanilli went on tour or performed on TV, it was common for several artists to lip sync to recordings, so there were many people behind the scenes who didn’t question when Pilatus and Morvan did that too.

However, Mill Vanilli’s backup touring musicians knew the truth early on. Keith Yoni, the bass player for Milli Vanill’s backup band, says in the documentary that he knew something was “off” in their first rehearsals when the backup musicians were there but the “singers” were not. It’s easy to see how these backup musicians would not tell this secret because they wanted to keep their jobs.

The documentary mentions the infamous incident on July 21, 1989, in Bristol, Connecticut, when Milli Vanilli was performing on stage for the Club MTV tour. The recording that Pilatus and Morvan were lip syncing to got stuck and repeated loudly. Pilatus and Morvan ran off stage in embarassment. The crowd got angry and rowdy, not because of the lip syncing but because Pilatus and Morvan cut their performance short. “Downtown” Julie Brown, who was a VJ on MTV at the time and was on the Club MTV tour, says in the documentary that Pilatus had a meltdown backstage over this incident.

However, this public glitch didn’t slow down Milli Vanilli, since many people who saw this mishap assumed that Morvan and Pilatus still recorded the songs on Milli Vanilli’s first album but were lip syncing to the songs in concert. Lip syncing in concert is a common practice that is looked down on by critics but accepted by most fans. Lip syncing in concert was less accepted then as it is now. Artists in pop music tend to get a more leniency about lip syncing in concert, compared to other genres where artists are expected to have more authenticity.

The usual perils of sudden fame are detailed in the documentary. Morvan says that he and Pilatus indulged in a lot of drugs and promiscuity. Pilatus’ ego began to get out of control, as he began making statements in interviews that Milli Vanilli was better and more talented than legendary artists such as Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger.

The beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli was winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Shaw comments, “Once they won the Grammy, they hung themselves.” Documentary interviewees who knew Farian at the time say that that Farian did not want Milli Vanilli to be submitted for any Grammy Awards consideration, out of fear that the vocals fraud secret would be exposed.

However, Todd Headlee, who was the assistant to Sandy Gallin (Milli Vanilli’s manager at the time) didn’t know that. (Gallin died in 2017. He was 76.) Headlee went ahead on his own initiative and submitted Milli Vanilli for Best New Artist and other Grammy categories. Headlee says in the documentary that he thought he was doing a good thing for Milli Vanilli with these Grammy submissions and was confused when many people in Milli Vanilli’s inner circle were upset over Milli Vanilli being submitted for the Grammys.

The Recording Academy, which was then known as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), is the industry group that votes for the Grammys. NARAS had a policy at the time that any artist performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony had to perform live. However, Segieth says in the documentary that people at Arista Records (she doesn’t name names) bribed Michael Greene, who was NARAS CEO from 1988 to 2002, to let Milli Vanilli lip sync on the Grammy Awards in 1990. Twelve years later, Greene resigned from NARAS in disgrace over allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

After Farian exposed Milli Vanilli for being vocal frauds, Pilatus and Morvan did a notorious press conference in November 1990, when they gave back their Grammy Award trophies that they won in February of that year. The media people at the press conference asked tough questions, and many of the reporters were visibly angry. However, the documentary does a very good job of pointing out that while most people in the media and the general public focused their wrath on Pilatus and Morvan, the person who masterminded this fraud (Farian) escaped relatively unscathed. There are also racial implications to what Farian did, since he built his entire career on exploiting black artists.

Farian would go on to produce a band called the Real Milli Vanilli, with members that included Davis and Howell, but that band flopped. And so did comeback attempts by Pilatus and Morvan, who renamed their act Rob & Fab, which released a self-titled album in 1993. Pilatus died before doing a promotional tour for Rob & Fab’s “Back and in Attack” album, which was never released.

Morvan has been a solo artist for several years (he says he no longer lip syncs when performing live), and he seems content with his current life, although he’s still obviously affected by Pilatus’ death and the highs and lows of Milli Vanilli. The documentary includes an interview with Morvan’s Dutch partner Tessa van der Steen, who is the mother of Fab’s children and who works as a health coach/orthomolecular therapist. She says she didn’t know who he was when she first met him.

Carmen Pilatus, Rob’s adoptive sister, comments on what led to Rob’s downward spiral: “He sought attention that he didn’t get as a child.” She also describes Rob in his youth as someone who would make up elaborate stories about himself. She says that Rob felt tremendous guilt about the fraud from the beginning of Milli Vanilli.

Morvan comments on how Rob dealt with the guilt: “He drank and took more drugs to black out.” Carmen says that Rob could be “vicious when he was on drugs.” Most of her disgust is for Farian, whom she says showed up at Rob’s funeral, after the service was over, just so he could be photographed by the media.

Other people interviewed in the documentary include recording engineer Tom Gordon, who worked on the “Fab & Rob” album; songwriter Diane Warren, who wrote “Blame It on the Rain” and says she didn’t know about the lip syncing until after the song was a hit; music producer/songwriter Timbaland; former BET executive Stephen Hill; music producer/songwriter Toby Gad; and music journalists/critics Rob Sheffield, Hanif Abdurraqib and Gil Kaufman. “Milli Vanilli” is a documentary about one of the biggest scandals in the music industry, but it’s also a cautionary “be careful what you wish for” tale for entertainers who want to be rich and famous at any cost.

UPDATE: Paramount+ will premiere “Milli Vanilli” on October 24, 2023.

January 23, 2024 UPDATE: Frank Farian died in his Miami home on January 23, 2024. He was 82.

Review: ‘Rule of Two Walls,’ starring Lyana Mytsko, Stepan Burban, Diana Berg, Bob Basset, Kinder Album, Bohdana Davydiuk and Iryna Hirna

June 9, 2023

by Carla Hay

Lyana Mytsko and Stepan Burban in “Rule of Two Walls” (Photo courtesy of New City/Old City)

“Rule of Two Walls”

Directed by David Gutnik

Ukrainian with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Ukraine from April to November 2022, the documentary film “Rule of Two Walls” features an all-white group of people who were affected by the Russian invasion war that began that year.

Culture Clash: Several artists show resistance to the Russian invasion in various ways as their lives remain in danger.

Culture Audience: “Rule of Two Walls” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching a documentary about the horrors of the Ukrainian war from an artist perspective.

Lyana Mytsko in “Rule of Two Walls” (Photo courtesy of New City/Old City)

Harrowing and inspiring, the documentary “Rule of Two Walls” sometimes gets unfocused in its cinéma vérité style of showing how some Ukrainian artists responded to and were affected by the war that began in 2022. It’s still very insightful filmmaking. “Rule of Two Walls” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Directed by David Gutnik, “Rule of Two Walls” was originally going to be about Ukrainian refugees in Poland, according to Gutnik’s statement in the “Rule of Two Walls” production notes. He adds, “But by the time I crossed the border into Ukraine, it was clear to me that I was going to make a film about Ukrainians who stayed.” Gutnik is American, but he says most of his family members are from Ukraine.

“Rule of Two Walls” (which was filmed in Ukraine from April to November 2022) opens with a seemingly idyllic scene of two live-in lovers in their 30s waking up together in bed at their home in Kharkiv, in April 2022. They are artist Lyana Mytsko and musician Stepan Burban, who are featured prominently in the movie. Stepan says his gall bladder hurts. Lyana jokes that Stepan must be getting old, “Little Stepanko, 95 years old.”

But this domestic bliss soon gets a harsh reality check, because the Russian invasion war on Ukraine had begun in February 2022. Mytsko comments that in these times, it’s important that the couple’s “windows haven’t been blown out yet.” Later, Mytsko (who describes herself as an “activist” and a “feminist”) is the director of the Lviv Municipal Arts Center, which features some of her own artwork. The fate of the arts center is in jeopardy because of the war. The National Art Museum of Ukraine is also featured in the documentary.

Throughout “Rule of Two Walls,” artists are shown talking about how their lives and their art have been affected by the war. Burban performs industrial rock music and is the lead singer of his band. He begins writing more protest songs. Burban is shown performing with his band to an enthusiastic crowd of mostly young people who are angry about the war.

Photography artist Bob Basset shows his collection of photos of people wearing gas masks. Two young women are shown putting up a handmade poster that reads, “We are not afraid of you, Russia. We hid our monument because we don’t want you to see our shame.” In the documentary, Mytsko explains that since the war began, what she expresses in her art is “to regain some control over all this crazy shit.” Bohdana Davydiuk and Iryna Hirna are two other Ukrainian artists featured in the documentary.

A female artist, who did not want her face shown on camera, seems to have a specialty in painting nude people. The movie’s end credits identify her as Kinder Album. She shows the paintings she made of real horrors of war that she witnessed.

One of her more disturbing paintings shows a naked woman kneeling, with her hands tied behind her back. She is surrounded by standing soldiers, who are seen from the neck down. One of the soldiers has his pants down, as if he is about to rape or just raped the woman. Another painting shows a woman cleaning a large pool of blood on a street.

The overall sentiment of the Ukrainian artists interviewed in the documentary is one of defiance in refusing to let Russia erase or take over their land, their lives and their culture. Art curator/manager Diana Berg, who is also an artist, comments in the documentary: “No war can deprive us of our culture and traditions. When [Russian president Vladimir] Putin says we [Ukrainians] have no culture, we have no nation.” She adds sarcastically, “Does that mean everything we create is Russian?”

Sensitive viewers should be warned that “Rule of Two Walls” also has several scenes of murdered bodies (most are human and some are animals) on streets. In one scene, bodies that were set on fire are seen with smoke still coming out of the ashen remains. It’s a jolting but necessary look at the tragedies and incalculable loss of lives during this terrible war.

Not all of the imagery and subject matter in “Rule of Two Walls” are completely depressing. Mytsko tells a heartwarming story of how people teamed up to rescue a cat that happened to be fairly well-known in the area because of the cat’s Instagram following. It seems that fame has privileges, even for animals in a war. An unidentified man talks about bringing food and other aid from Lviv to Kyiv. He had to send his wife and son away, for their own safety.

Gotnik has a “no frills” approach to this film and only inserts himself into the movie in the last third of the documentary, when he briefly shows himself on camera and talks about how all of his bank accounts have been frozen (he suspects the Russian government is behind it), so he is temporarily stuck in Ukraine. “Rule of Two Walls” sometimes has a rambling tone that occasionally makes the movie look disjointed and in need of tighter film editing. However, the documentary succeeds in its intention to juxtapose the damage of the war with the resilience and vibrant spirit of the Ukrainian people.

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