Doc News: Ryan Reynolds, “Tabloid” Refuted, “The Life of Muhammad” Attacked

– The attention-hungry subject of Errol Morris’ “Tabloid,” Joyce McKinney, showed up at a Museum of Modern Art screening last week to refute the parts of her story the film allegedly gets wrong, according to Peter Labuza’s blog. She also claimed to be upset about everyone laughing at her expense, just as she had done at the infamous DOC NYC screening I attended last fall (see video of that one after the jump). I can’t say I disagree entirely that the film exploits and makes fun of its character a bit much, but she’s not exactly proving herself undeserving of scrutiny by hammily egging us all on like this. Little does she realize, I guess, is that in addition to her own personal agenda and attention-seeking, she’s also just making people more interested in the film. Hopefully she will regularly turn out for screenings (perhaps she could clone herself?) when IFC releases the doc July 15. [via IFC News]

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– Ryan Reynolds quickly returns to documentary narration (he voiced-over “Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics” last year) with Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit’s “The Whale,” which has reportedly just been picked up by Paladin (“Love Etc.”) for limited theatrical distribution later this summer. The film is about Luna, a killer whale that “tried to make friends with humans” on the coast of Vancouver Island. It didn’t end well. Watch a clip of Luna interacting with a dog on a boat, not necessarily part of the film (the trailer for which has been made private), below:

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– Not a big surprise, that three-part BBC documentary “The Life of Muhammad” announced last week is being attacked, sight-unseen by Iranian officials, including the culture minister, who are suspicious and worried about the “enemy”‘s film and “will certainly take serious action” if necessary. The BBC has already made it clear that the series should not be offensive to any followers of Islam. Let’s everyone wait to see the thing before judging, okay?

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– CineSport has announced an interactive documentary series titled “Sports Leagues vs. Players” about labor relations in sports. The four-episode series will debut its first three-minute “chapter” online July 25. The fourth chapter will feature a roundtable discussion based on viewer input. I don’t follow sports much, but I’m curious to see how this “digital doc” plays out. CineSport has other series planned for the future.

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– Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf’s Chely Wright doc “Wish Me Away” immediately followed its LAFF win with another top jury prize at the Frameline LBGT film festival in San Francisco. Honorable mention went to the Patty Schemel/Hole doc “Hit So Hard” while Stu Maddux’s “Gen Silent” took the Audience Award.

 

 

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