Doc News: “Connected” Acquired; CIA-Produced Film Discovered; “Superheroes” on HBO

– Tiffany Shlain’s “Connected” (formerly subtitled “An Autoblogography About Love, Death & Technology”) has been acquired by Paladin four months following its Sundance debut, according to indieWIRE. The distributor will release the doc in the fall, beginning with a bow in San Francisco this September ahead of the usual NYC/LA opening. I saw the film in Park City, where I was impressed with its ability to balance a personal first-person story with an informative exploration of, well, everything. At the time I wrote a note about it being like a sequel to “We Live in Public.” Mix in the ambition, if not necessarily the levels of achievement, of “Sherman’s March” and “The Tree of Life,” and I’m maybe still with that note.

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News: “Gasland” Sequel; “Food, Inc.” Continued; “Being Elmo” Release Plans

Which of this year’s Oscar-nominated documentaries has a sequel on the way? That would be Josh Fox’s “Gasland,” which has done wonders to out the issue of hydraulic fracking since its Sundance 2010 premiere. According to a recent article in Rolling Stone, Fox is currently shooting the follow-up for an early 2012 release, and this time he’s focusing on the politics involved with the issue, on all levels. It’s unclear if he’s doing the sequel first-person style, following in the footsteps of Michael Moore, who he’s been likened to, or if this could be like what the new doc sequel “Revenge of the Electric Car” is to its predecessor, “Who killed the Electric Car?” That could equally mean an improved style, but it could also be a more conventional one. And much of the favor for the first “Gasland” is in the amateur investigator angle. Either way, I’m looking forward to the continuing story. [via All These Wonderful Things]