LIST: Top 10 Docs of 2010

Joshua Ligairi » 12.31.10 »

Those of you who read my annual best of lists know that I don't typically rate films numerically, but when Documentary Blog editor, Jay Cheel (who I host a podcast with), asked if I would be interested in submitting a Top 10 for his site, I could hardly resist. Of course, being out of practice, I ended up blowing it right away by forgetting to list one of my favorite films of the year, Sweetgrass. I hate to knock any other films out because I enjoyed them all, but suffice it to say that Sweetgrass would have ranked very high on the list.

Read the full write-up and see lists from Jay and the rest of the Documentary Blog staff here. Check out my section of the article and the closest I could come to a Top 10 below:

Release dates for independent make end-of-year lists tricky, so rules always play a big part in how I form my lists. For this one, I’m discounting festivals altogether and sticking to films that either played theatrically, on television, or went straight to DVD in 2010. That is especially good this year because I had a film of my own that premiered at the end of 2009 and played the festival circuit in 2010, but since we aren’t getting our theatrical release until 2011, I can hold off a while longer on the awkward and unethical recommendation of my own film. I should also mention that I have not seen all of the year’s supposed best documentaries. Among the notable omissions are Armadillo, Client 9, Happy People, Nostalgia for the Light, Genius Within, Inside Job, The Kids Grow Up, La Danse, Precious Life, Presumed Guilty, The Thorn in the Heart, and Waste Land. Disclaimers out of the way, here are my top ten documentaries of 2010:

1. Alamar

2. Marwencol

3. Exit Through the Gift Shop

4. A Film Unfinished

5. Best Worst Movie

6. Last Train Home

7. The Oath

8. 45365

9. Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

10. 12th & Delaware

Honorable Mentions: American Radical, Czech Peace, The Elephant In the Living Room, Gasland, Google Baby, Restrepo, Smile ‘Til It Hurts, The Tillman Story, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, and Winnebago Man.

For the very best in non-fiction news, reviews, lists, and commentary visit TheDocumentaryBlog.com. Read the original post and find 2010 lists from Jay, Charlotte, and Sean here. Listen to Jay and I interviewing some of the best documentary filmmakers of our day on the site's new podcast.

PODCAST: Midwest white trash

First off, I've had a few complaints about the podcast post titles being offensive or too reductive, specifically with regard to the post title for Episode 3 of the podcast "The gays take over." Before we go any further down that road with criticisms of me of writing-off the very human subjects of the breathtakingly beautiful film that is 45365 as "midwest white trash," let me simply state that reductive is the point. Seriously? It's a joke. A joke rendered even less funny by this explanation.

But chuckle-seekers are in luck because, this week, we are offering up the funniest episode of the podcast so far, talking to Bill and Turner Ross really made me wish there were more laughs in our podcast. We're not a comedy show, but I'm making a concerted effort to bring a little more personality to the table on future episodes. The Brothers Ross are hilarious guys and very talented filmmakers. It is almost hard to imagine that a couple of guys with such wacky senses of humor could turn in such a mature and measured film as 45365...but they did.

Tune in now for a great conversation. My podcast co-host and the editor of The Documentary Blog, Jay Cheel, did a write-up and posted a link to download the pod on his site. Check out the original post and download the podcast here.

Jay Cheel » 11.18.10 »

Once again, it’s time for a new episode of The Documentary Blog Podcast! This week Jay Cheel and Joshua Ligairi are joined by the Ross brothers (Turner and Bill), directors of last year’s SXSW festival favourite 45365. They join us for the entire show as we talk about some documentary recommendations and I discuss my experience at this years CPH:DOX film festival. We also talk to Turner and Bill about their experience making 45365 and the success that followed it. It’s also worth noting that I was suffering jet lag when we recorded this episode, so I take no responsibility for how slow I talk or the things I say. Having said that, this was one fun show! Gotta love those Ross Bros™! Have a listen to the show below and be sure to subscribe to the show on iTunes (and rate us while you’re at it).

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Show notes, credits, links and more at TheDocumentaryBlog.com