DIY Documentaries

Until earlier today, I had only known that Kim Wilde was a one-hit wonder – but one of my favorites. Her 1981 Kids in America is an all-time hummable pop classic, a progenitor of ’80s new wave and a song that I can share with my kids (since Disney’s Jonas Brothers did a remix in 2006 for the Meet the Robinsons flick.)

But I had no idea that she wasn’t American! Or that her father, a British 50s pop star, and her brother wrote that song and all her others. And that she seems to have had more than just one hit (though mostly overseas.) I learned this from the mini-docs Wilde Life: 1981 and the newly-released Wilde Life: 1982. Seems that fan Marcel Rijs is culling old videos and earlier docs into ten minutes pieces about Kim devoted to a single year. I like it as an example of a do-it-yourself docs from a collector who seems to have every video image or photo of Kim to share it with the world. He says 28 more installments are coming. Four hours seems a lot of time to devote to someone who is mostly famous for three minutes, but maybe I’ve missed something over the years. The 1981 episode is below.

Tribute Doc to Jam Master Jay To Premiere in Hollywood

The Hollywood Black Film Festival announced that Two Turntables and a Microphone, a music doc about the life and death of Jam Master Jay, will open the festival on June 3. The film was produced and directed by JMJ’s cousin Phonz. Luminaries like Russell Simmons, Reverend Run, Jay-Z, LL Cool J and 50 Cent are scheduled to attend and some of those folks appear in the film to talk about JMJ’s legacy.

Born Jason MIzell, JMJ was shot and killed in a Queens studio in 2002. Just like the Tupac and Biggie killings, no one has ever been charged in his murder. We’ve examined the case for a news special but its thorny, full of suspects and others who don’t seem to be cooperating with the official investigation: there were six people in the studio when he was shot. Six years later, it is feeling like a cold case.

I haven’t seen the film (if I remember correctly, we got a peek at a very preliminary treatment a few years back).