ADVERTISEMENT

    Documentary Week Returns to the Gateway Film Center

    Something you might not have noticed about the Oscars this year: every nominated documentary screened at Gateway Film Center’s Columbus Documentary Week last year. Pretty impressive.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    You can get in on next year’s nominations early by attending the film center’s celebration of nonfiction film when it returns this Thursday (3/27) for the first of its bi-annual visits.

    The festival runs from the 27th to April 3rd, and, according to Gateway’s official press release, offers, “some of this year’s most compelling and cutting-edge documentary films.”

    How is it the film center manages to land such an exceptional slate of docs? For film center president Chris Hamel, scheduling is a labor of love.

    “Documentaries are by far my favorite genre of film,” he says. “It’s not exactly a chore to have to read up, and I watch a lot of these films at different festivals. Whenever I hear about a doc that’s well received or has a lot of buzz, I try to get a copy of it early. That gives me a chance to really review and try to pick out the best of the best.”

    Hamel believes he has quite a few crowd pleasers in the lineup.

    “Audiences are going to love Maidentrip,” he predicts. “It’s about a 14-year-old with her own camera who tries to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone. It’s shockingly beautiful considering it’s made by a teenage girl with a handheld camera.”

    Other personal favorites promise to bring out the geek in all of us.

    “If you are in the science nerd category,” he cautions, “which I fit in very well.”

    “Particle Fever is a documentary about the Large Hadron Collider. And it is amazing – there it is; you can hear the nerd coming out right now!” he laughs. “It shows the actual machinery in incredible intimacy. You get a bird’s eye view.”

    Naturally, you’ll find a rock doc among the offerings.

    “Mistaken for Strangers is the documentary about The National. They’re from Cincinnati, and we’re premiering the film the same time it’s premiering in New York and LA,” he boasts. “I always try to get at least one really great rock doc. I think with the huge fan base The National has in Columbus, this will continue the traditional.”

    While much of Hamel’s approach mimics plans from previous festivals, he’s also leaned on feedback from previous efforts to help him improve the program. Based on requests and thoughts from last year’s audiences, Hamel has chosen fewer films for the docket this time, and he’s also assigned loose categories.

    “This is the first doc week where we’ve tried to break the documentaries up into segments,” he says.

    Categories are Science and Nature, Life, Arts and Entertainment, and Science and Politics.

    “The feedback we’ve gotten from our patrons is that they all look great, which one do I watch?” he says. “This gives a little bit of a distinction about what these documentaries are about.“

    Hamel believes that programming fewer titles will help as well. He says, “I feel like the number of films is perfect because I think people can actually see a lot of them.” Feedback suggested strongly that previous Doc Week exhibitions scheduled too many films. “People couldn’t catch all of them.”

    Is that why the center offers Doc Week twice a year?

    Says Hamel, “It’s incredibly popular.”

    He also notes a recent uptick in the production of high quality docs as a rich source for his programming, but it’s Hamel’s commitment to the genre that fuels his commitment to the festival.

    “If it were not for Doc Week, many of the documentaries that were nominated for awards or had great buzz wouldn’t have made it to Columbus last year,” he says. “And that was the original intention of Doc Week, to just find a way for these movies to find a home in the city.”

    The complete schedule with trailers:

    THE CARBON RUSH

    Thursday, 3/27: 7PM — Saturday, 3/29: 3 PM — Monday, 3/31: 4PM — Tuesday, 4/1: 8PM — Wednesday, 4/2: 11AM — Thursday, 4/3: 5PM

    PARTICLE FEVER

    Friday, 3/28: 6PM — Saturday, 3/29: 1PM — Sunday, 3/30: 2PM — Monday, 3/31: 12PM — Tuesday, 4/1: 11AM — Wednesday, 4/2: 6PM — Thursday, 4/3: 4PM

    THE END OF TIME

    Friday, 3/28: 11AM — Saturday, 3/29: 9PM — Sunday, 3/30: 5PM — Tuesday, 4/1: 6PM — Wednesday, 4/2: 1PM

    MAIDENTRIP

    Friday, 3/28: 3PM — Saturday, 3/29: 12PM — Sunday, 3/30: 3PM — Monday, 3/31: 1PM — Wednesday, 4/2: 12PM

    VISITORS

    Friday, 3/28: at 5PM — Saturday, 3/29: 11AM — Sunday, 3/30: 6PM — Monday, 3/31: 2PM — Tuesday, 4/1: 1PM — Wednesday, 4/2: 5PM — Thursday, 4/3: 12PM

    FREE THE MIND

    Friday, 3/28: 1PM — Saturday, 3/29: 5PM — Monday, 3/31: 5PM — Wednesday, 4/2: 7PM — Thursday, 4/3: 11AM

    MISTAKEN FOR STRANGERS

    Thursday, 3/27: 10PM — Friday, 3/28: 9PM — Saturday, 3/29: 6PM — Sunday, 3/30: 7PM — Monday, 3/31: 6PM — Tuesday, 4/1: 4PM — Wednesday, 4/2: 8PM — Thursday, 4/3: 8PM

    THE FINAL MEMBER

    Thursday, 3/27: 9PM — Sunday, 3/30: 4PM — Tuesday, 4/1: 2PM

    ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME

    Friday, 3/28: 7PM — Saturday, 3/29: 2PM — Sunday, 3/30: 11AM — Monday, 3/31: 7PM — Tuesday, 4/1: 3PM — Wednesday, 4/2: 4PM — Thursday, 4/3: 1PM

    THE HUMAN SCALE

    Thursday, 3/27: 8PM — Friday, 3/28:12PM — Monday, 3/31: 3PM — Tuesday, 4/1: 12PM — Thursday, 4/3: 2PM

    SWEET DREAMS

    Friday, 3/28: 2PM — Saturday, 3/29: 4PM — Sunday, 3/30: 1PM — Monday, 3/31: 11AM — Tuesday, 4/1: 5PM — Wednesday, 4/2: 3PM

    The Gateway Film Center is located at 1550 North High Street. Regular pricing applies. For more information, visit gatewayfilmcenter.com .

    A full slate of movie reviews is available on my website www.maddwolf.com. You can also follow me on Twitter @maddwolf and like me on Facebook at facebook.com/MaddWolfColumbus .

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Subscribe

    More to Explore:

    Gateway’s New Program Celebrates Women Making Horror

    Hot on the heels of Gateway Film Center’s frosty...

    Cinema Columbus Returns to Venues Across CBUS

    Cinema Columbus returns to local theaters beginning Wednesday, April...

    Loads of Spooky Goodness for March

    So much spookiness to choose from this week: family-friendly,...

    Good Looking Batch of New Movies

    You will find an excellent crop of new movies...

    So Much Kung Fu! Plus Oscar Nominees and More

    It's Oscar weekend! Do you need to brush up?...
    Hope Madden
    Hope Maddenhttps://columbusunderground.com
    Hope Madden is a freelance contributor on Columbus Underground who covers the independent film scene, writes film reviews and previews film events.
    ADVERTISEMENT