Brimstone & Glory

Tultepec, Mexico is known for just one thing: fireworks. The city manufactures more than half of all fireworks made in Mexico, a good percentage of which will be set off at the small town's annual festival for San Juan de Dios. With that background, you can let statistics fall by the wayside and fully immerse yourself in this spectacular, thunderous film, a true marvel of nonfiction cinema. Employing every trick in the cinematographer's handbook (and making up a few new ones), Jakovleski keeps his camera in the midst of the action as explosions flower around him and smoke fills the scene. Paired with a symphonic score by Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Brimstone & Glory is an adrenaline-fueled kaleidoscopic thrill ride for the ages. (True/False Film Festival)