The past year has been a big one for buzzy documentaries, but 2020 has already presented a fresh list of captivating documentaries:Greetings" , «Tiger King" and"Last Dance" ensured that some of the year's most talked about films were left out. fictional. And that's not all. From Hillary Clinton and French fries to 1980s girl band biographies and an Obama film about the disabled revolution, these are documentaries you won't want to miss this year.
Completely under control
Official White House Photographer Pete Souza captures two of the most iconic presidents in history: President Ronald Regan and President Barack Obama. With the help of director Dawn Porter, the famed photojournalist reveals how he went from capturing the action to becoming the voice of the silent in a political climate where facts are everything. Using archival footage and photographs of him, this is the ultimate lesson in what it takes to be one of the country's most powerful people. A political documentary about US presidents through the eyes of the photographer who shot them.
John Lewis: Good problem
If you're unfamiliar with John Lewis, or only learned about him because of his death this year, this is a particularly important film. Follow his long career, from being an activist alongside Martin Luther King Jr. to a long career in politics. He inspires so many other legislators, civil rights activists, and Black Lives Matter allies across the US (many of whom talk about his influence in the film) that you begin to understand his profound and unambiguous influence. Pair it with his recentNew York Times piece, published after his death, and inspired to continue his struggle.
Welcome to Chechnya
Another inspiring and brutal story,Welcome to Chechnya, takes us deep into the persecution against LGBTQ people in Chechnya and a small group of activists working to save the lives of people in the queer community. Academy Award-nominated director David France addresses underreporting of the persecution and documents the atrocities with a penetrating and unwavering eye. It provides a much-deserved, much-needed look at the ongoing tragedy and is a must see. A political documentary about Chechnya, of course, they won’t tell you everything, but if you are interested in the Chechen Republic, we recommend watching it.
The Go-Go's
The first (and only!) all-female band to compose, sing and play their own instruments to worldwide fame, Go-Go is the quintessential “instant success” – with a twist. Rock stars of the 80s speak candidly about the divisions and frustrations within the band, the opportunities and pitfalls of becoming female breakthrough artists, their breakups (and reunions) during the band's lifetime, and their relationship now. A small summer tour, which will take place in 2021, will allow you to see women who will forever remain an integral part of each other's lives.
Disclosure: Trans Life on Screen
The documentary covers popular culture's long and often gruesome depiction of transgender characters, from others to atrocities and comments about sexual perversion. And yet, despite the seriousness of the topic, it is entertaining, comprehensive and at the same time very educational, especially if you are not familiar with this topic - you will be surprised how many films are anti-transgender once you carefully look at them. LaVerne Cox does interviews and is also an executive producer here. She is often used as an expert in explaining transgender identity and uses the documentary as a way to offer a final, hopefully final, word on the topic.
Last dance
If you know anything about basketball (or don't), you know something about Michael Jordan. This ESPN docu-series wisely doesn't cover every aspect of his long epic career, instead focusing on his final season with the Chicago Bulls. The document is accompanied by never-before-seen footage of the epic drama taking place behind the scenes. If reviews, recaps, and think that parts of a somewhat controversial series is an indicator, everyone is watching. And there's something for you too, even if you don't exercise.
Spaceship earth
The first time I saw this trailer, I turned to my husband and said, “Wait. This is real?" See for yourself: in 1991, eight people go on an "adventure" in Biosphere 2, a self-sustaining copy of the Earth's ecosystem filled with food, water and air. The community tries to live there for two years without ever leaving - and as you will see, things are starting to becomevery lord of the flies. Was it just a cult, the critics said? Was it a group of dreamers who hoped to find a solution to climate change? Was it something completely different? One of the best documentaries about space and our planet in 2020.
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
This documentary, directed by Obama, explores the historic movement towards equality and access for people with disabilities - and it all began with a group of teenagers at a summer camp near Woodstock. What begins as a study of a close-knit group of people turns into minute-by-minute documentation of a nationwide campaign. From the first moment you feel frustration, anger and devastation, which serve as the spark needed for change.
After the Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News
Like many of the documentaries on this list, this is a heavy but necessary viewing. Before the "fake news" we currently hear about, there was real "fake news": propaganda and disinformation (deliberately telling lies to advance one's agenda) that have a devastating effect on truth and credibility. Even if you don't watch the news every day, understanding the real, concrete danger associated with these lies is absolutely essential.
Aggie
Agnes Gund, a longtime philanthropist, looked13 ava movieDuVernay - another must-see documentary - and was soshocked that she immediately sold her beloved Lichtenstein painting for $165 million to start Art for Justice. Because the foundation is focused on helping imprisoned artists and groups who are fighting mass incarceration, she has dedicated her time, energy and meager money to criminal justice reform. The initial debut at Sundance gives him very positive reviews, both as a tribute to Gund and as another important look at the need for prison reform.The New York Times wonders if she is "the last good rich person".
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness
This Netflix docu-series was a resounding success (pun intended, sorry). If all your friends haven't already told you, the series covers Joe Exotic, an eccentric polygamist musician and presidential candidate who owned and operated a big cat zoo. Yes, as strange as it may sound. Oh, and he's in jail on a charge of assassination, which is the driving force behind the narrative. The show is currently getting a backlash from some of the respondents as well as animal rights activists, but taking a deep dive into the crazy world of big cat owners and the horrendous conditions they live in was completely candid for me.
Babies
Not even parents will find something to love here: 15 babies, their parents and 36 famous scientists work together to figure out exactly how a small child turns into a tiny human over the course of a year. There are a lot of cute moments with all those arms and legs, but the Netflix seriesreally explores evolution and science. How can we become ... human? What does it mean to be alive? How does our first year affect the rest of our existence? If any of these questions bother you, this is a wonderful watch.
Hillary
It may be difficult to relive the 2016 election, but this four-part Hulu documentary offers a deeper look behind the scenes of that disastrous year, including never-before-seen footage from the Clinton campaign. It is also an intimate look at her life and political career, as well as interviews with the Clinton family, journalists and colleagues. The documentary doesn't shy away from tough issues, from the Lewinsky scandal to "her emails" to this year's Democratic candidates in ballet. As we prepare for the 2020 election, it's time to look back, understand what happened, and hear from a woman who hoped (and hopes) for a different outcome. Perhaps the closest US presidential candidate is Hillary Clinton, in this documentary about US politics, you will be told about the events of 2016 - the presidential election.
Apothecary
Dan Schneider lost his son to a drug-related shooting and set out to get the killer off the street. Then he changed direction. After he began seeing healthy young people writing prescriptions for OxyContin while working as a pharmacist, he recognized the signs of addiction in his community. This Netflix documentary follows the tale of David vs. Goliath to date, with one knowledgeable, heartbroken, determined individual who is once again everything from Big Pharma. With the opioid epidemic continuing to rage, this is essential to understanding how the pharmaceutical industry works.
Survivor Jeffrey Epstein
In the next chapter of the Survival series (after "Survivors R. Kelly" and "Survivors R. Kelly II" ) this summer Lifetime will present a new docu-series. It will be an equally complex topic: it details the Epstein scandal, including the financier's trial and death in 2019. But, since this topic has already received a lot of time and airtime, it will also offer coverage outside of the news and TV segments.The Revenant Jeffrey Epstein talks about how the former financier was able to get away with his predation for so long, as well as the network that helped, abetted and profited from his acquisition of underage girls. It will be a devastating but necessary observation.
Be water
Completed with contributions from Bruce Lee's family and friends,Be Water (premiering at Sundance and now ESPN 30 out of 30) explores the martial arts icon through its philosophy and activism. He is best known for his acting and athletic ability, but he has also advocated for diversity in film and worked to change attitudes towards Asian Americans in the United States. The name is taken from the kung fu mantra of adaptability and strength, which Lee is now known for popularizing and integrating into his work and life. The director foresees what Lee would do if he were still alive, including working with young martial arts and potentially political restrictions.
Visible: on TV
This Apple TV+ documentary series is a must-watch, especially if you only know Ellen DeGeneres as a mega-successful talk show host. (DeGeneres came out in 1997 via an Oprah interview, and her titular character similarly admitted that she was hilarious in an episode later that day. To say that it was controversial, and that there was backlash, would be an understatement.) Adoption LGBTQ+ cataloging and representation on TV, especially in the last 20 years, the series gets incredible first-person interviews from the likes of Rachel Maddow, Oprah Winfrey, and Lena Waithe. This is an emotional look at how the small screen has played a pivotal role in the long and difficult road to progress.
The Killer Within: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez
Many of us know the basics of the story: Hernandez, then a New England Patriots footballer, was charged with the murder of three people (and convicted of killing one, his future brother-in-law). But what's appealing about this Netflix docu-series - besides the sports stuff, if that's none of your business - is how intimate we get to see the former player's life. We even hear from him through recorded recordings from prison and learn more about his family life, his sexuality and the traumas that formed the basis of his short tragic life.
Greetings
Another one you may have already heard of, you should definitely run to watch the Netflix docuseriesCheer . In case your friends haven't allllll told you about it in a stacked plan, here's the gist: The Navarro College Bulldogs Cheer Team is considered one of, if notv the best teams in the country. There are 40 members in total, and the selection is just the beginning. The series talks about how to "make a rug", or choose 20 team members who will participate in the finals. By the time we get to the national cheerleading championship, we'll love half the team. It's a nice balance for some of the others on this list.
More than 40,000 people have been reported as "missing" in Mexico, many of them as a result of the country's ongoing wars with drug cartels. One case that has come to symbolize the absence of the rule of law in Mexico is that of 43 college students from a teacher training school who have been missing and allegedly killed since September 26, 2014, when their convoy was attacked in Iguala. a city in the southwest of the country, local police officers and other masked attackers, a working criminal gang, and a mayor. Six people were killed, dozens injured, 43 male students were forcibly "disappeared" and why they were targeted remains a mystery. In interviews with surviving students and heartbroken family members, this new documentary by Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, which will premiere at Sundance, explores the psychological and emotional impact of widespread violence and systemic injustice in Mexico.
Miss Americana
When Taylor Swift took the stage at the 2019 American Music Awards, where she was named Artist of the Decade, she opened her act by singing "The Man" while wearing an all-white shirt dress with the titles of her six albums in large black print. inscriptions resembling the stripes of a prison uniform. The outfit and the song were a nod to what the singer revealed on social media ten days earlier: Scoot Borchetta and Scooter Braun, founders of Big Machine Label Group, her former label, are not allowing her to perform songs from her archive. Suffice it to say that it was a crazy few years in the life of the famous singer. Director Lana Wilson followed Swift to the premiere of the highly anticipated documentary on the opening day of this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Free! Film
"I've always known that my love of french fries and years of experience in the field should serve a higher purpose," Teigen said in a statement to Variety. We can't wait to see it, partly because theaters will probably serve fries instead of popcorn, right? RIGHT?!
The fight
Thirty-six hours after President Donald Trump signed the executive order known as the Muslim ban, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union walked out of Brooklyn Courthouse with their fists raised in triumph: they had won their first decisive victory in preventing the ruling. from entry into force.The fight, produced by, among others, Kerry Washington and premiered at Sundance, chronicles the courthouse battle and other events unleashed by the ACLU in the years since Trump's election, including the administration's efforts to expel transgender people from the military, deny the right to vote , to separate children from their parents at the US-Mexico border, and to prevent abortions among teenage migrants. The film depicts the ultimate David vs. Goliath story as the ACLU's patchwork lawyers serve to test the president's authority at every turn.
The killers
In film "The killers" , which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, directed by Ryan White, creator of the recent hits "Ask Dr. Ruth" from Hulu and"Keepers" Netflix, details the trial of the female killers, exploring whether the women were really trained killers or ignorant and innocent pawns. for North Korea.
A thousand cuts
In 2018, Maria Ressa, an American Filipino-American journalist and co-founder of Rappler, a Manila-based investigative news site, told PBS Frontline about how the Philippine government has created a powerful propaganda machine to spread misinformation on Facebook by suppressing factual reports. from Ressa and others on the corruption and crimes committed by the authoritarian regime of President Rodrigo Duterte. “This is death by a thousand cuts,” she said. A version of this quote is now the title of a documentary by American Filipino-American documentary maker Ramona S. Diaz, which will premiere this year at the Sundance Festival. The film takes viewers backstage with Ressa as she documents abuses of power and fights for the truth, even as she gets thrown in jail for it. Get ready to be inspired.
Coded offset
When Joy Buolamwini was a college student studying computer science, she couldn't complete an artificial intelligence (AI) face detection task because the software couldn't detect her black face. Black Buolamwini had to borrow her white roommate's face to complete the project, she wrote inThe New York Times . The AI-fuelled discrimination continued when she was a graduate student at MIT's Media Lab — she used a white mask to guide her work — but this time, she had the power to do something about it. Today, as the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, Buolamwini works to combat what she calls the "coded view" by highlighting algorithmic bias and advancing the development of more inclusive technologies.Coded Bias , which will premiere at Sundance, follows Buolamwini as she works to pass the first ever AI regulation in the United States, along with compelling feedback from people whose lives have been affected by unfair algorithms.
