Documentaries

CHICAGO – When one man wanted to screen independent films beyond Chicago, he founded the Lake County Film Festival (LCFF). That Founder and now Executive Director is Nat Dykeman, and the 13th LCFF will take place over the next two weekends, with Opening Night on Halloween. For details and tickets, click 13th LCFF.

CHICAGO – Call me a critical cheater but I separated out documentary films from my traditional Best of 2012 but I don’t want to let the strong year for non-fiction film go un-recapped. The broad variety of documentary work in 2012 was incredibly notable from true crime stories to historical documents to stories of cities in crisis. Let’s hope 2013 is just as strong for the form.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Detroit, Michigan has more fires every year than any other city in the United States. As the city’s population dwindles (from 1.8 million in 1950 to just over 710k in 2010), people are burning what’s left behind to the tune of 30,000 fire calls a year. Executive produced by Denis Leary, the stellar documentary “Burn,” opening in Detroit and Chicago today, offers viewers a chance to spend a year in a Motown firehouse and the result is riveting filmmaking that both captures the personalities on the truck and the larger issues at play in a city on fire.

CHICAGO – Two of the best documentaries of 2010 were recently released on DVD and both are well-worth your time in the very near future as they serve as prime examples of the vitality of the form of non-fiction filmmaking. Both “A Film Unfinished” and the Oscar-winning “Inside Job” are riveting filmmaking, proof that subjects that one might consider dry can be turned into a devastating experience.