Documentaries

In conversation with strangers, politics and religion are generally seen as so-called “third rails. ” In cinema, too, religion is often viewed as verboten terrain — a self-limiting topic that should be avoided in order to effectively communicate with a broader audience.

William Shatner has existed as a larger-than-life legend for so long that it’s difficult to imagine a time before he stood astride pop culture, tossing off endearingly self-aggrandizing pronouncements. The 92-year-old actor, who of course found fame as Captain James T.

A bracing cinematic reminder of the fact that the personal is the political, most especially in autocratic systems, arrives in the form of Queendom, which enjoyed its world premiere at the 2023 South by Southwest Festival on March 11 in the Documentary Feature Competition section. In focusing on the story of a 22-year-old Russian artist who wants to change people’s perceptions of beauty and queerness, and bring attention to the harassment of the LGBTQ+ community, this nonfiction effort offers up a striking snapshot of the foolhardy courageousness of youth.

For those unversed in the world of Jean Rollin, Orchestrator of Storms is an informative documentary about one of Eurocult cinema’s most unique voices.   Rollin, who died in 2010, was a French film director, actor, and novelist known for his work in the fantastique genre.

Nonfiction films offer a great way to lift and celebrate the fascinating lives of lesser-known figures in all types of fields, shining a light on people from overlooked communities or influential figures who never really achieved mainstream appreciation. A great many such movies, however, spend a lot energy working to convince viewers of their subject’s brilliance, and thus noteworthiness.

We live in dichotomous times. Record numbers of people across the globe are fleeing war, political instability and persecution, mortal criminal threat, and more.

Heba Khaled sees it as her quest to speak for Syrian women who do not have a voice and who do not know how to protect their rights. With Under the Sky of Damascus, the Syrian director sheds light on a culture that is not yet ready for this quest.

An Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Short Film, Stranger at the Gate connects as a movie for these times. Against a real-world backdrop of swirling, often over-amplified political and religious extremism, its message of dissipated hatred and communal hopefulness is a welcome one.

In 1967’s The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman’s aimless Benjamin Braddock is plied with a piece of one-word career advice: plastics. It’s a quip which has long endured, finding its way onto the American Film Institute’s “100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes” list in 2005.

The heavy weight of history, its almost gravitational pull toward chaos, and the dark intersection of this with both personal trauma and self-betterment are all jointly explored to moving effect in Strangers to Peace. This interesting new documentary examines the attempts of three individuals to leave FARC, a Marxist guerrilla army which has waged a bloody campaign to overthrow the Colombian government for more than 50 years.