Documentaries on Day 5 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 fifth day of the festival the BFI presents us with six documentaries:

First up at the Odeon West End at 12pm is West of Memphis. In 1994, three teenagers, later nicknamed ‘The West Memphis 3′ were convicted of murdering three eight-year-old boys. Filmmaker Amy Berg decided to make a film of the more than controversial case and was lucky enough to be shooting when the court finally succumbed to increasing public and legal pressure and ‘freed’ The West Memphis 3.

Entering the festival arena is the documentary Canned Dreams at the VUE at 12.45pm. Canned Dreams is a lyrical and moving film charting the sometimes disturbing stories of the people and practices behind modern food production. –-This film is also screening at VUE on 17 October 3:15 pm and at the Rich Mix on 19 October 9pm.

What is Love examines what it says on the package, and according to the BFI “Ruth Mader’s contemplation of relationships between families, husbands and wives or with God, taking place in different strata of society, makes for an exquisite film. The film’s title is tellingly without a question mark, and while it would be difficult to argue it provides a definitive answer to what love is, What is Love suggests it can be something that is beautifully mundane.” You can catch this film at the Renoir at 1pm.

You can catch a nice portrait documentary at the Screen on the Green at 2pm. This doc, entitled For No Good Reason, depicts the wild life, and wilder art, of Ralph Steadman, a man frequently celebrated for his brilliant illustrations accompanying the writings of Hunter S Thompson, and their defining collaborations defining the Gonzo school of journalism that emerged to critically examine the American establishment during the eras of Vietnam and Nixon.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney comes with a new documentary entitled Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, screening at the BFI Southbank at 6.15pm. FHis film examines how for more than 25 years at St John’s School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin, the Catholic priest Lawrence C Murphy got away with sexually abusing pupils. Despite testimonies from victims and repeated warnings from American Archbishops that Murphy could be an embarrassment to the Church, the Vatican took little action. – This film will also be screening at the Renoir 18 October 9pm.

At the Empire at Leicester Square at 7.30pm, Marilyn Monroe reveals, in her own words, the depth and frailty of her intelligence, as well as the degree to which she was the architect of her own success in Love, Marilyn. – This film will also be screening at Odeon West End 15 October 12.30pm.

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