New Nonfiction DVDs

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in nonfiction DVD. Click an image for availability.

Charlie Is My Darling: Ireland 1965 (Not Rated) Shot during a quick tour of Ireland just weeks after “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” hit # 1 on the charts, The Rolling Stones Charlie is my Darling – Ireland 1965 is an intimate, behind-the-scenes diary of life on the road with the young Stones. It features the first professionally filmed concert performances of the band and documents the early frenzy of their fans and the riots the band’s appearances inspired. The band is shown traveling through the Irish countryside by train; dashing from cabs to cramped, basement dressing rooms through screaming hordes of fans. Motel rooms host impromptu songwriting sessions and familiar classics are heard in their infancy as riff and lyric are united. Charlie is my Darling is the invaluable frame that captures the spark about to combust into The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World. The Rolling Stones Charlie is my Darling – Ireland 1965 DVD incorporates the new 2012 version of the film as well as the director s cut and producer’s cut, plus significant unseen additional performance and other footage shot in Dublin and Belfast in September of 1965.

41 (Not Rated) From his beloved summer home in Kennebunkport, ME, where he has come nearly every year since childhood, George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States, tells the story of his life. Capturing the president while driving around the property in a golf cart (with his Maltese mix Bebe in tow) as he shares the history of the house and its surrounding structures (including the fishing shed that holds his prize catches) and sitting for one-on-one interviews, 41 offers a rare glimpse at the life and times of a living former president. In between his many public appearances, which have slowed only recently due to the developing Parkinsonism in his legs, the 87-year-old Bush now spends much of his time on his boat, where he feels, “I’m still in the game,” and with children and grandchildren who come to visit him and his wife, Barbara. Over the course of this feature documentary, which deftly weaves personal photos, black-and-white family films, news and archival footage, George H. W. Bush reflects on the highs and lows (including the loss of a 3-year old daughter to leukemia) of his life, sharing personal anecdotes from his childhood, his family, serving in WWII, his political career, and more.

Magic of the Snowy Owl (Not Rated) A team of intrepid filmmakers provides an intimate look at the snowy owl, a bird made popular by Harry Potter’s faithful companion Hedwig. Though snowies naturally stand out for their beauty, intelligence and charm, in their eerie, bleak Arctic home it is their determination and survival skills that are truly magical.

Samsara (Rated PG-13) Filmed over a period of almost five years and in twenty-five countries, Samsara explores the wonders of the world from sacred grounds to industrial sites, looking into the unfathomable reaches of man s spirituality and the human experience.  Photographed entirely in 70mm and transferred to 4K digital projection format, Samsara‘s mesmerizing images of unprecedented clarity illuminate the links between humanity and the rest of nature, showing how our life cycle mirrors the rhythm of the planet. Neither a traditional documentary nor a travelogue, Samsara is a guided meditation on the current of interconnection that runs through all of our lives.

Visions of 8 (Rated G) A Documentary about the 1972 Munich Olympics from eight of the world’s most accomplished directors capture what the naked eye cannot see. All the pain – the joy – the triumph – and especially the struggle to reach the pinnacle in mankind’s most exacting competition. The eight segments are directed by eight different directors – Milos Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Arthur Penn, John Schlesinger, Mai Zetterling, Juri Ozerov, Michael Pfleghar. Music by Henry Mancini. Winner of the 1974 Golden Globe for Best Documentary.

Plot synopses from Amazon.