A fourth grader's documentary about school lunch

Have you guys heard about Yuck, the documentary about school lunches written and directed by a fourth grader? Zachary is the brave filmmaker who goes undercover to reveal the truth about the gross meals at his NYC elementary school. He's hilarious, adorable (love his polo shirt and gelled hair!) and totally intrepid ("I could get in big trouble for this," he says, while sneaking his mini HD camera into the cafeteria). He has a big future ahead of him!

Here's the trailer, below, and you can watch the full 20-minute documentary online here.

P.S. 20 favorite documentaries, and cooking with toddlers.

New Yorker cartoonists documentary

Director Leah Wolchok is filming a documentary about New Yorker cartoonists. Did you know that the regular cartoonists submit 10 to 15 cartoons a week, every week, to the magazine; even some of the best cartoonists sell just one a month; they commiserate about rejection during weekly lunches, a tradition that started in the early days of the magazine; and their day jobs include gravestone portraiture, fit modeling and furniture reconditioning?

Leah is about halfway through her fundraising goal on Kickstarter. I made a a contribution, since I'd love to see this funny film. Back it here, if you'd like. Good luck, Leah!

P.S. 20 best documentaries.

(Cartoons above from the Conde Nast Store, by Christopher Weyant, Roz Chast and Charles Barsotti)

56 Up!

As you may know, the Up series is a series of eight fascinating documentary films that has tracked the lives of fourteen English schoolchildren since 1964, when they were seven years old. Every seven years, the director Michael Apted releases a new documentary that checks in on their increasingly varied lives (when they're aged 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49...). The children all came from very different socio-economic backgrounds, and the director, Michael Apted, wanted to see how this would affect their futures.

The documentary films are wildly compelling—you follow these people as they graduate from school, move cities, find jobs, lose jobs, have children, get married, have affairs, dash their dreams, find happiness, lose their way, face whatever life brings. Each episode, you think you know where their lives are headed, but I've been shocked, thrilled and devastated to see certain updates. The most recent installment—56 Up—came out in England this past May, and I've been waiting with baited breath for it to reach the United States.

Well, 56 Up is finally released today! (Right now I see showtimes for just New York, but it should be hitting more cities on January 18th.) Film critic Roger Ebert called the films, "Brilliant! The 'Up' series is on my list of the 10 greatest films of all time." He also wrote a great overview here.

Will you see it? I highly, highly recommend the series.

P.S. 19 more fantastic documentaries...

10 great documentaries

Are you a fan of documentaries? A while back, I wrote a list of our 10 favorites, but since then we've watched dozens more. So, here are ten more documentaries I'd highly recommend...

* Being Elmo is an award-winning documentary about the puppeteer who created Elmo, many children's first friend.
* Happy explores what actually lifts our spirits; the bracingly honest interviews with people from Tokyo to Denmark to Louisiana offer surprising insights that honestly could change your life.
* Love Etc. follows five couples in New York City: young, old, gay, straight, falling in love, getting married, having babies, breaking up. Heartbreaking and beautiful.
* First Position chronicles five young ballet dancers in an international competition, as well as their wildly different paths to the stage.
* Elvis '56 tells the story of how the naive young singer catapulted to intense world fame in just one year. Endearing and surprisingly poignant. (I just wanted to give him a hug!)
* Bill Cunningham New York profiles the cheerful octogenarian fashion photographer of the New York Times. While biking around NYC on a vintage Schwinn, he changed the way people see fashion.
* Touching the Void recounts the astonishing story of two friends' disastrous attempt to climb a mountain in Peru. A leg is broken, a rope is cut...who will survive?
* Babies was a breath of fresh air when I was (very) pregnant. How reassuring to see four families raising happy children in such remarkably different ways.
* The September Issue reveals how the Vogue editors create the magazine, including fashion shows, photo shoot and lots of passive aggression. A must-watch for fans of The Devil Wears Prada—this is the real deal!
* Born Rich is a documentary about the experience of growing up as a child in one of the world's richest families. Creator Jamie Johnson (an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune) profiled his own social circle, including Trumps, Vanderbilts and Bloombergs. These twentysomethings seem to have perfect lives, until you spot the cracks.

Have you seen any other good documentaries? What have we missed? I'd love to hear...

P.S. 10 more documentaries.
P.P.S. And apologies for the late post today! A pipe burst in our apartment, so we've been a little out of pocket this week:)