DFT @ Home | May 4, 2020
Updated Jul 20, 2022
DFT @ HOME is a virtual screening room that presents new Detroit Film Theatre selections every week, all week, at your convenience. In addition to providing access to the best new international feature films and documentaries as they become available, the DIA will receive revenue from every ticket sold, helping to assure that when the current crisis is over, the DFT’s beloved 1927 auditorium will be ready to greet you again.
New this week
The Booksellers (USA/2019—directed by D.W. Young)
This captivating and critically acclaimed new documentary is a lively tour of New York’s book world, populated by an assortment of obsessives, intellects, eccentrics and dreamers, past and present. Visit the Park Avenue Armory’s annual Antiquarian Book Fair, where original editions can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars; the Strand and Argosy bookstores, still standing against all odds (as of a few months ago, at least); and the wonderfully crammed apartments of collectors and buyers. The Booksellers features a range of passionate commentators, including Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean, Gay Talese, Nicholas Lowry and more, as well as a community of dedicated book dealers and collectors who believe in the wonder of the object and what it holds between its covers. Standing ovation, 2019 New York Film Festival. (99 minutes)
“The Booksellers is for anyone who can still look at a book and see a dream, a magic teleportation device, an object that contains the world.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Watch The Booksellers here >(opens in new window)
Also available on DFT @ HOME
The Wild Goose Lake (China/France/2019—directed by Diao Yinan)
The Wild Goose Lake is a visually splendid crime drama set in the densely populated streets of pre-coronavirus Wuhan, China. This stylized thriller follows the attempts of a small-time mob boss Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) to manage the organizational problem of a bounty on his head. Director Diao Yinan (Black Coal) manages to conjure at once a romance between Zhou and a mysterious woman, a landscape overflowing with eroticism and intangible danger and a stark portrait of socioeconomic upheaval in contemporary China.
"One of the best movies at the Toronto Film Festival… A spellbinding pulp noir with a stylish edge.” - Rolling Stone
Watch The Wild Goose Lake here >(opens in new window)
The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (Canada/2019—directed by Alison Reid)
In 1956, 23-year-old biologist Anne Innis Dagg made an unprecedented solo journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild. In The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, Anne, now 86, retraces her steps, and with stunning, preserved 16mm film footage, offers an intimate self-portrait of herself as a young woman and world’s first ‘giraffologist’.
“When we see this remarkable woman return to the scene of her pioneering research, it’s clear she’s finally back where she belongs.” -The New York Times
Watch The Woman Who Loves Giraffes here >(opens in new window)
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (USA/2019—directed by Rob Garver)
In a field that historically embraced few women film critics, Pauline Kael (1919-2001) was not only controversial, witty and fiercely discerning, she was, as Roger Ebert wrote, “The most powerful, loved, and hated film critic of her time.”
Arguably the greatest film critic who ever lived. You got addicted to her freedom of thought, and the film does a fantastic job of channeling it.” -Variety
Watch What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael here >(opens in new window)
Best of Catvideofest: Creature Comforts Edition
This special CatVideoFest program is 45 minutes of pure, spirit-lifting pleasure for the family. Since it’ll be presented on home screens across metro Detroit, that includes feline members who can now experience this visual catnip with you. Ready to pounce?
Watch Best of CatVideoFest here >(opens in new window)
Sorry We Missed You (UK/2019—directed by Ken Loach)
Sorry We Missed You is a relevant and deeply humane drama about the way today’s gig economy shapes the lives of a British package delivery man and his family. Nominated for Best Film at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and 2020 BAFTA Awards.
The Booksellers
DFT @ HOME is a virtual screening room that presents new Detroit Film Theatre selections every week, all week, at your convenience. In addition to providing access to the best new international feature films and documentaries as they become available, the DIA will receive revenue from every ticket sold, helping to assure that when the current crisis is over, the DFT’s beloved 1927 auditorium will be ready to greet you again.
New this week
The Booksellers (USA/2019—directed by D.W. Young)
This captivating and critically acclaimed new documentary is a lively tour of New York’s book world, populated by an assortment of obsessives, intellects, eccentrics and dreamers, past and present. Visit the Park Avenue Armory’s annual Antiquarian Book Fair, where original editions can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars; the Strand and Argosy bookstores, still standing against all odds (as of a few months ago, at least); and the wonderfully crammed apartments of collectors and buyers. The Booksellers features a range of passionate commentators, including Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean, Gay Talese, Nicholas Lowry and more, as well as a community of dedicated book dealers and collectors who believe in the wonder of the object and what it holds between its covers. Standing ovation, 2019 New York Film Festival. (99 minutes)
“The Booksellers is for anyone who can still look at a book and see a dream, a magic teleportation device, an object that contains the world.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Watch The Booksellers here >(opens in new window)
Also available on DFT @ HOME
The Wild Goose Lake (China/France/2019—directed by Diao Yinan)
The Wild Goose Lake is a visually splendid crime drama set in the densely populated streets of pre-coronavirus Wuhan, China. This stylized thriller follows the attempts of a small-time mob boss Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) to manage the organizational problem of a bounty on his head. Director Diao Yinan (Black Coal) manages to conjure at once a romance between Zhou and a mysterious woman, a landscape overflowing with eroticism and intangible danger and a stark portrait of socioeconomic upheaval in contemporary China.
"One of the best movies at the Toronto Film Festival… A spellbinding pulp noir with a stylish edge.” - Rolling Stone
Watch The Wild Goose Lake here >(opens in new window)
The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (Canada/2019—directed by Alison Reid)
In 1956, 23-year-old biologist Anne Innis Dagg made an unprecedented solo journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild. In The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, Anne, now 86, retraces her steps, and with stunning, preserved 16mm film footage, offers an intimate self-portrait of herself as a young woman and world’s first ‘giraffologist’.
“When we see this remarkable woman return to the scene of her pioneering research, it’s clear she’s finally back where she belongs.” -The New York Times
Watch The Woman Who Loves Giraffes here >(opens in new window)
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (USA/2019—directed by Rob Garver)
In a field that historically embraced few women film critics, Pauline Kael (1919-2001) was not only controversial, witty and fiercely discerning, she was, as Roger Ebert wrote, “The most powerful, loved, and hated film critic of her time.”
Arguably the greatest film critic who ever lived. You got addicted to her freedom of thought, and the film does a fantastic job of channeling it.” -Variety
Watch What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael here >(opens in new window)
Best of Catvideofest: Creature Comforts Edition
This special CatVideoFest program is 45 minutes of pure, spirit-lifting pleasure for the family. Since it’ll be presented on home screens across metro Detroit, that includes feline members who can now experience this visual catnip with you. Ready to pounce?
Watch Best of CatVideoFest here >(opens in new window)
Sorry We Missed You (UK/2019—directed by Ken Loach)
Sorry We Missed You is a relevant and deeply humane drama about the way today’s gig economy shapes the lives of a British package delivery man and his family. Nominated for Best Film at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and 2020 BAFTA Awards.
