Sundance 2012 Preview: Documentaries

Welcome back to day two of Park City Preview Week here at ScreenAnarchy. Yesterday we brought you a look at the Narrative Competition Films in both the US and World sections. Today we take a look at what Sundance has in store on the documentary side of things - both in competition and out.

US Documentary Competition


DETROPIA
Jesus Camp, Boys of Baraka, and 12th & Delaware directors Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady return to Park City with this docu about the decay of America's Motor City.


CHASING ICE
Jeff Orlowski chronicles National Geographic photographer James Balog's attempt to visually capture climate change by photographing Earth's shrinking glaciers. This one is sure to have some stunning cinematography.


THE INVISIBLE WAR
This Film is Not Yet Rated director Kirby Dick's latest is an exposé on sexual assault and rape in the US Military. Hide your children, hide your wife.


THE OTHER DREAM TEAM
This docu directed by the producer of Douchebag and Like Crazy chronicles the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic Basketball team.


THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
Eugene Jarecki told the tale of the Military Industrial Complex in his docu Why We Fight. His latest takes a hard hitting look at the War on Drugs.


THE ATOMIC STATES OF AMERICA
Don Argott and Sheena Joyce's (director and producer of The Art of the Steal) doc based on a book by Kelly McMasters examines the effects of nuclear energy in the US and those living in the shadows of the silos.

World Documentary Competition


THE AMBASSADOR
Mads Brugger snuck into North Korea with a pair of Danish-Korean comedians to expose the government's fascist hypocrisy in 2010's Sundance World Docu Competition winning The Red Chapel. In his latest, Brugger heads to central Africa on a purchased diplomatic passport to see just how much money can buy in a deeply corrupt economy.


THE IMPOSTER
Family members question the identity of a boy who is found in Spain three and a half years after going missing from San Antonio, Texas in Bart Layton's doc.


CHINA HEAVYWEIGHT
Up the Yangtzee director Yung Chang is back with this documentary about rural Chinese boxers.


INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE
Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky take a look at the world of indie game developers in their debut feature.

Documentary Premieres


SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: THE ART OF RAP
Rapper/actor Ice-Tt and filmmaker Andy Baybutt teamed up to make this docu chronicling the history of hip-hop, featuring Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Caz, Nas, Mos Def, Eminem, Chuck D, KRS-One, Run-DMC, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Snoop Dogg.


UNDER AFRICAN SKIES
West Memphis Three doc trilogy Paradise Lost director Joe Berlinger headed to South Africa with Paul Simon on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the release of his seminal Graceland in order to examine the impact of that album on apartheid and the birth of a nation.


WEST OF MEMPHIS
Amy Berg turns from sexual abuse by priests in her Oscar nom'd Deliver Us From Evil to one of the most controversial crimes in years in her West Memphis Three chronicle.


BONES BRIGADE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Stacy Peralta's last doc Crips and Blood: Made in America tackled a tough subject and failed to piece it all together in a cohesive way. With his fourth film, Peralta returns to the light hearted subject matter that made his first two films (Dogtown and Z-Boys and Riding Giants) so successful. This film focuses on the skateboarding crew that Peralta helped build in the skateboarding explosion of the 1980s - including: Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, and Rodney Mullen.