''17 Blocks'' is a 2019 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, directed by

Davy Rothbart David Ira Rothbart (born April 11, 1975) is an American author, filmmaker, contributor to ''This American Life'', and the editor/publisher of '' Found Magazine''. Career Davy Rothbart's magazine ''Found'' is dedicated to discarded notes, letter ...

, written by Rothbart and

Jennifer Tiexiera Jennifer Tiexiera is an American documentary filmmaker. She is known for directing the films '' P.S. Burn This Letter Please'', ''Subject'' and '' Speak''. Career Tiexiera's editorial debut feature documentary, '' I Trust You to Kill Me'', was o ...

. The film revolves around the Sanford family, who spent 20 years filming themselves. The film had its world premiere at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 27, 2019. It was released in

virtual cinema Virtual cinema is a term referring to video-on-demand streaming services facilitated by independent film distributors and art-house theaters to release new films and to share profits. Under the service, part of the admission price supports a physi ...

on February 19, 2021, by MTV Documentary Films.

Synopsis

The film follows the Sanford family, who spent 20 years filming themselves, living just 20 minutes away from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on April 27, 2019. The film also screened at

AFI Docs The AFI Docs (formerly Silverdocs) documentary film festival was an American international film festival. Created by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel, it was held annually in Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, D.C., fro ...

on June 20, 2019. In July 2019, MTV Documentary Films acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released in

on February 19, 2021.

Reception

''17 Blocks'' received positive reviews from film critics. It holds approval rating on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on reviews, with an average of . On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film holds a rating of 79 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title 2019 documentary films 2019 films American documentary films Documentary films about families MTV Films films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films