While other networks are out in the water swimming with sharks, IFC is safely on the 'doc' with a week-long festival of riveting documentaries in Doc Week, airing every night beginning Monday, January 21 at 8:00PM/ET and continuing to Friday, January 25.
Doc Week presents the cablecast premiere of Wim Wender's Oscar®-nominated documentary, The Buena Vista Social Club on Monday, January 21 at 8:30PM/ET. IFC Original productions featured in the festival include Steven Cantor's Crossover, Lisa Ades and Lesli Klainberg's Indie Sex: Taboos, and Werner Herzog's My Best Fiend. Additional documentaries include Steven Mark Kitchell's Berkeley in the '60s; Terry Zwigoff's Crumb; and Jennie Livingston's Paris is Burning, among others.
Doc Week's noteworthy line-up of documentaries includes:
The Buena Vista Social Club (1999) – directed by Wim Wenders
Monday, January 21 at 8:30PM/ET
When famed guitarist Ry Cooder rediscovered a forgotten group of outstanding Cuban musicians and recorded them for an award-winning CD, Wim Wenders captured their subsequent concerts in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall.
Crossover (2001) – directed by Steven Cantor
Monday, January 21 at 10:15PM/ET
This IFC Original follows the throngs of musicians who have taken the leap into acting and filmmaking, simultaneously filling concert halls and packing movie houses, a not-so-recent phenomenon that has spanned generations, genders and genres. Featured interviews include Bette Midler (The Rose), Meatloaf (Fight Club), Dwight Yoakam (Sling Blade), Mos Def (Bamboozled) and Duran Duran's John Taylor (Sugar Town), among others.
Berkeley in the '60s (1990) – directed by Mark Kitchell
Monday, January 21 at 11:45PM/ET
The 1960's alumni of the University of California, Berkeley campus tell their stories in this sweeping, Oscar®-nominated documentary about how the quiet school became the site of massive political activism on the part of students fighting for their right of political expression on campus and then against the Vietnam War.
My Best Fiend (1999) – directed by Werner Herzog
Tuesday, January 22 at 8:30PM/ET
In this IFC Original production, writer-director Werner Herzog looks back at the love-hate relationship he shared with the late actor Klaus Kinski. In this personal documentary, Herzog traces the often violent up and downs of their relationship, revisiting the Munich apartment where they first met (and thrashed), and the various locations of their films together.
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (1997) – directed by Michael Paxton
Tuesday, January 22 at 11:30PM/ET
The Oscar:reg;-nominated documentary, narrated by Sharon Gless, provides a perceptive profile of the provocative author Ayn Rand ("The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged"). The film features interviews with Rand's friends and colleagues along with the writer's own television interviews.
Wonderland (1997) – directed by John O'Hagan
Wednesday, January 23 at 8:00PM/ET
A film festival favorite, this whimsical documentary looks at Long Island's Levittown, the world's first mass-produced suburb.
Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern Tale (1995) – directed by Jeanne Jordan
Wednesday, January 23 at 9:30PM/ET
Since 1867, the Jordan family has farmed in Iowa. However, the farm crisis of the 1980s and 1990s catches up with them, and they are in danger of losing their land. One of the daughters, documentary filmmaker Jeanne Jordan, comes home to chronicle the extraordinary efforts of her family as they struggle to keep the family farm. This Oscar®-nominated documentary follows the family's attempt to save the Iowa acreage they have been farming for generations.
Vernon, Florida (1981) – directed by Errol Morris
Wednesday, January 23 at 11:00PM/ET
Errol Morris documents the mysterious and odd inhabitants of this small Southern town. Interviewees include the quirky preacher as he defines the word "Therefore" and the obsessive turkey hunter who speaks reverentially of the "gobblers" he likes to track down and kill.
Year of the Horse – directed by Jim Jarmusch
Thursday, January 24 at 8:00PM/ET
This rockumentary not only follows Neil Young and Crazy Horse's 1996 tour, and intersperses backstage footage from the band's long 30-year history.
Paris is Burning (1990) – directed by Jennie Livingston
Thursday, January 24 at 10:00PM/ET
This Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner captures the glamour and competition of Harlem's flamboyant and entertaining drag queens. The universally acclaimed documentary interviews performers as they prepare for and compete in various drag queen 'balls.'
Wigstock: The Movie (1995) – directed by Barry Shils
Thursday, January 24 at 11:30PM/ET
This provocative documentary offers an in-depth on-stage and behind-the-scenes look at New York's annual drag queen festival. Highlights include a performance by drag diva, Ru Paul, and the infamous Lypsinca.
Crumb (1994) – directed by Terry Zwigoff
Friday, January 25 at 8:00PM/ET
This remarkably frank documentary chronicles the horrific life and celebrated career of Sixties' underground artist Robert Crumb. Through interviews with his family and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, viewers are treated to a dark comic ride through one man's subconscious mind. As Crumb's acid-trip induced images flicker, audiences gain insight into this complex and highly creative individual.
Indie Sex: Taboos (2001) – directed by Lisa Ades and Lesli Klainberg
Friday, January 25 at 10:15PM/ET
Exploring sexuality in a way that Hollywood would never dare, the IFC Original goes beyond the sexual revolution to probe the minds of some of the most revered independent filmmakers, including interviews with veteran directors John Waters (Desperate Living), Allison Anders (Sugar Town) and Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) as well as today's directors Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck) and Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex) who are not afraid to talk "dirty" about their films and the work of others.
Document of the Dead (1989) – directed by Roy Frumkes
Friday, January 25 at 11:15PM/ET
This insightful documentary tracks the career of macabre master, George Romero, and follows the indie maverick as he struggles to finance and shoot Dawn of the Dead. Not to be mistaken as a behind-the-scenes film, the documentary thoroughly examines Romero's filmmaking style and provides a deeper appreciation for Romero's work.
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