Sundance starts this Thursday and the ScreenAnarchy team is here to bring you a look at a few of the festival's documentaries on offer in the US and World Documentary competitions and the Documentary Premieres section. Check back tomorrow for more previews and follow all our coverage at our Sundance Hub.
City of Gold
No Impact Man director Laura Gabbert takes us inside Los Angeles's culinary world with this bio of Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold. -Ryland Aldrich
US Documentaries
Being Evel
Daniel Junge, a veteran of TIFF and Tribeca, Oscar nominated for one of his shorts in 2010, and director of 2012's Saving Face for HBO, is now set to tell the story of the legendary stuntman Robert Craig 'Evel' Knievel. I might have to wear a cycle helmet and cape for this one. - Jason Gorber
US Documentaries
Best Of Enemies
The crew behind the Oscar-winning 20 Feet From Stardom returns with an in-depth look at the changing face of American news in the 1960s. Charting the 1968 ABC News debates between staunch rivals William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal, Best Of Enemies looks to jump start an interesting bit of media history with fervor and verve. - Ben Umstead
US Documentaries
Racing Extinction
This long-awaited second feature by The Cove director Louie Psihoyos is... as it sounds, an expose on mass extinction. -Ryland Aldrich
US Documentaries
Call Me Lucky
Bobcat Goldthwait has made some of the more interesting and provocative genre movies in recent times but with Call Me Lucky he's turning his focus back to comedy. Call Me Lucky looks at stand-up comic, club owner, satirist and author Berry Crimmins, and promises to be as provocative as it will be hilarious. - Jason Gorber
US Documentaries
3 1/2 Minutes
Director Marc Silver looks at a case that continues to resonate deeply within the current political climate. Jordan Russell Davis was just 17 when he was shot at a gas station in Florida, ostensibly because his assailant objected to the loud music coming from the adjoining car. With plenty of opportunity to get beyond the soundbites and headlines, hopefully the documentary probes into the circumstances surrounding a bleak and surreal murder. - Jason Gorber
US Documentaries
The Visit
This docu looking into the United Nations' Office for Outer Space Affairs explores potential contact we may have already had with beings from another planet. The film is directed by Michael Madsen... but not the one you're thinking of. -Ryland Aldrich
World Documentaries
Chuck Norris vs Communism
A title that is sure to perk up the ScreenAnarchy audience, Ilinca Calugareanu's debut is perhaps not what you think it is. Collecting the stories of the Romanian people who went to great risk to hold underground screenings of American action movies during Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime, Chuck Norris vs Communism touts fascinating possibilities on the freeing power of movies... and especially the VCR. - Ben Umstead
World Documentaries
The Chinese Mayor
This fascinating-looking documentary by Zhou Hao examines what happens when a mayor tries to relocate 500,000 residents to promote tourism in his mining town. -Ryland Aldrich
World Documentaries
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
This is being touted as "the first fully authorized portrait" of the Nirvana frontman, but frankly Brett Morgen's passion piece -- he's been toiling on it since 2007 -- promises to be one of the more inventive and groundbreaking docs of the season. With a mix of footage, voiceover and animation, Morgen set the scene for contemporary docs with his fantastic 2002 take on Robert Evans, The Kid Stays In the Picture. My gut tells me this film just might make a similar impact in the flannel fest that is Sundance - Jason Gorber
Documentary Premieres
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon
Given the subject, this documentary is likely to entertain fervently as it tracks the brazen humor magazine's rise to acclaim, its stint in Hollywood, its launching of the careers of much-beloved comedians, and its inevitable fall at the clutches of the excesses that made the organization such a loose, biting delight. - Zach Gayne
Documentary Premieres
What Happened, Miss Simone?
In addition to Brett Morgen's Kurt Cobain film, Sundance is proving to be a rich venue for rock-umentaries with Liz Garbus' What Happened, Miss Simone?, an exploration of the fascinating, enigmatic songstress Nina Simone, one of soul/jazz music's true queens. Anyone who's seen footage of Simone knows it doesn't get much better, and Garbus' film is an exciting addition to the well of archives. Hopefully, her film offers a wealth of unseen materials that will paint a revealing portrait of the black power icon and her eloquently tortured soul.- Zach Gayne
Documentary Premieres
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Docu vet Stanley Nelson (Jonestown: The Life & Death of the Peoples Temple, Freedom Summer) turns his keen camera on the rise and fall of the Black Panthers organization. -Ryland Aldrich
Documentary Premieres
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Investigative documentarian Alex Gibney, the director responsible for probing revelations such as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side, returns with, perhaps, his most challenging subject to date. The Church of Scientology has been, thus far, successful at keeping a lid on these type of exposes, but somehow, Gibney has pierced through the veil. One can only imagine what he's brought to light in the process. - Zach Gayne
Documentary Premieres