Documentaries on Day 2 of the LFF

During the BFI London Film Festival, DocGeeks will present you every day with a bite-size oversight of the documentaries screening at the various festival locations.

On the second day of the festival the BFI presents us with five new documentaries:

The much praised documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners is an authoritative and gripping documentary portrait by Shola Lynch in which she depicts the tale of one of the most significant figures of the American civil rights movement; Angela Davis. The documentary will screen at the VUE at 12:30pm. — This film will also be screening at the VUE on 13 October 6.15pm and at the Ritzy cinema on 15 October at 6.30pm.

Also at the VUE at 3.15pm is the premiere of Room 237 by director Rodney Ascher. This documentary examines the question: When Stanley Kubrick released The Shining, what did it mean?
You might think this to be a simple question, however, in over 30 years since its release, the cult following that the film has garnered includes a large number of people who insist that Kubrick was trying to do something other than just make a scary movie. A bizarre, humorous and original film is the result. — This film will also be screening at the VUE on 13 October 6pm and at the ICA cinema on 15 October at 2pm.

Normal School, by acclaimed director Celina Murga will screen at the BFI Soutbank at 3.45pm. As one of Latin America’s most resonant filmmakers Murga has created an elegant documentary set in her old secondary school in the Argentine city of Parana. Though, as the BFI says, “there is no high drama here,” the lively students, the teachers’ struggless and the almost comically bureaucratic administration of the school are expertly observed by “a camera that refuses to intrude invasively into the working environment of the school”. – This film will also be screening on 13 October at 2pm at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton.

At new festival venue Screen on the Green at 6.30pm you can catch a screening of the documentary Winter Nomads (Hiver nomade). This extraordinary documentary shows us a little known aspect of rural Europe as we follow an interestingly staunch couple leading their 800 sheep across Switzerland from one grazing area to another – a 600-kilometre journey. – This film will also be screening at the Ciné Lumière on 13 October 6.30pm and at the BFI Southbank on 16 October at 1.15pm.

Love from the Grave will be screening at the BFI Southbank at 9pm. The documentary was filmed over a number of years by David Vondráček’s who recorded the lives of Jan and Jana, a homeless couple who find refuge in a cemetery in the Prague borough of Strašnice. They hardly lead an easy life, living of food from garbage containers and trading the books and porn magazines. Despite all this though they manage to live a life of independence, love and humour. — This film will also be screening at the BFI Southbank on 12 October 1.15pm.

Tickets can be ordered on the BFI London Film Festival website.