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 This year documentaries run the gamut of topics from digital
currency in "The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin," to the last natural
habitat for Africa's endangered mountain gorillas in "Virunga"
and "Misconception" about the consequences of world population
growth.
"Dior and I," which opens on Thursday, follows creative director
Raf Simons, 46, as he prepares his first couture collection for
Christian Dior, and uncovers similarities between the Belgian
designer and the French founder of the famous Parisian fashion
house.
"There were all these uncanny things," said New York-based,
French-born director Frederic Tcheng about the two men, both
shy, reserved and inspired by the arts.
"There was a sense of reincarnation," he added.
Using voiceover excerpts from Dior's 1956 memoir "Christian Dior
& I," Tcheng introduces viewers to Dior, both the man and the
fashion house he created.
He shows how Simons created his 2012 collection with its
strapless, full-skirted gowns in printed art-inspired patterns,
flowing dresses with belted waists and feminine but sexy pant
outfits.
"The goal for me as a documentary filmmaker is always to expand
your horizons and in the case of this film getting to know
seamstresses and their work and having access to this social
environment that I really didn't know," Tcheng said.
"This is the closest I've come to a subject," said the director
who has also worked on films about Italian designer Valentino
and fashion Diana Vreeland, who died in 1989.
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BALLET AND SHAKESPEARE
Director Jody Lee Lipes takes a fly-on-the-way approach in "Ballet
422" as New York City Ballet dancer Justin Peck, 25, choreographed
an original ballet for the company founded by George Balanchine in
the 1940s.
Audiences also go behind the scenes in director Jeremy Whelehan's
"Now: In the Wings on a World Stage," with double Academy
Award-winner Kevin Spacey ("American Beauty" and "The Usual
Suspects") and director Sam Mendes, who won a directing Oscar in
2000 for "American Beauty," as they take "Richard III" on the road
across three continents.
The production was their first collaboration in more than a decade.
The film follows the tour from London, to Doha, China, Turkey,
Singapore, Australia, Italy, Hong Kong and the United States.
"There are a multitude of challenges that come with being in a new
theater in an unknown city every few weeks. There were some tears,
but also a lot of laughs," Spacey said about the film.
(Editing by Mary Milliken and Andrew Hay)
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