By James Van Maanen

In Mardi Gras: Made in China, David Redmon asks revelers in pre-Katrina New Orleans if they have any idea where the beads they're throwing in exchange for a glimpse of mammaries were made. In short, nope.

Laura Kern in the New York Times: "A startling look at both the effects of globalization and at a dramatic cultural divide, the film contrasts the lives of the Chinese, hard workers who are forced to make serious sacrifices at very young ages, with indulgent Americans intent on having a good time and seemingly at ease with their lack of awareness. With any luck, this film will manage to open a few closed eyes (or minds)."

James Van Maanen talks with Redmon about the many projects he's working on with producer Ashley Sabin and the many more they'll be distributing shortly.

By David D'Arcy

"This is part of the endless war machine. The war machine grinds on. They used to run Cold War simulations there. Now they run Iraq simulations there. They're beginning to evolve more into Afghan War simulations. For all I know, it'll be Iran in two years. They only have to re-jigger the actors and the sets, and the war continues."

That's Jesse Moss, talking about the National Training Center, which has built Medina Wazl, a fictional town out in the Mojave Desert, where soldiers train to fight the real war in Iraq. David D'Arcy talks with him and his filmmaking partner, Tony Gerber, about their documentary Full Battle Rattle, currently at Film Forum in New York through Tuesday.

Keep an eye on their blog for further screenings.

By Steve Erickson

"Sometimes, if you're a documentary filmmaker, you can search years looking for the right subject," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. "At other times the subject will walk right up to your camera, which is pretty much what happened with Operation Filmmaker, an absorbing story about the best intentions gone terribly and comically awry." As David Edelstein puts it in New York, this "stupendous documentary" is "the story of a grand American liberal-humanitarian gesture gone kerflooey."

Steve Erickson talks with director Nina Davenport about her "very long, slow and painful process of disillusionment."

By Erin Donovan

"Yeah yeah yeah, we all love Al Gore and his jaunty powerpoint presentation but Inconvenient Truth is not the only fruit, dear viewers. Here I suggest a few other environmentally-focused documentaries to make you laugh, cry, act - and seethe with anger."

With the release of The 11th Hour and Sharkwater today, and the notoriety received by a certain Oscar-winning doc about global warming last year, Erin Donovan brings us recommendations for some other environmental documentaries you need to see.