Documentaries

Documentarian Gabriela Cowperthwaite is no stranger to danger stemming from upsetting those in powerful and moneyed positions. Her 2013 film Blackfish, which detailed the systemic abuse of captive orcas at SeaWorld, and involved no small amount of clandestine shooting, brought plenty of threats her way.

Spanning nineteen years, The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone reveals the memories of Georgie Stone, an Australian transgender teen as she helps change laws, affirms her gender, finds her voice, and emerges into adulthood. Australian director Maya Newell – whose 2013 documentary, Gayby Baby, followed four children of LGBQTI families –  began filming Georgie and her family six years ago, after hearing about her advocacy and wanting to document the teenager’s point of view.

So-called “alternate history” has a long tradition, especially within literature. Speculating about what would have happened had various wars turned out differently is a particularly rich intellectual parlor game.

Nonfiction cinema does many things well. It can generate empathy by dropping audiences into circumstances vastly different from their own.

Disease in all forms, and the manner in which it robs us of our loved ones, is a terrible and sad thing. But the crippling disease of addiction can deliver special heartache, because of the manner in which it not only destroys one life but metastasizes through families, ripping them apart and sometimes pitting loved ones against one another in the debate over how to best assist a person in need.

Director-screenwriter Damian Harris, the eldest son of legendary British actor Richard Harris, has collaborated with his two brothers, actors Jared (Chernobyl, The Crown), and Jamie (Carnival Row, West Side Story) on the long-awaited documentary about their father, The Ghost of Richard Harris.   Regarded, alongside Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton, as one of the greatest actors of his generation, Harris was born in Limerick, Ireland, and performed in numerous stage productions.

We’ve all seen news coverage of terrible tragedies, specifically natural disasters, and had our hearts ripped out by footage of people coping with the loss of their homes and livelihoods. We’ve likely, at some point, donated to humanitarian relief funds.

If an innate sense of curiosity, openness toward others different from ourselves, and the capacity for cooperation is evident in children from birth, it’s also true that the notion of democracy — which benefits incredibly from these traits — must be learned. To that end, civic education is essential, providing the foundational bedrock upon which later adult civic engagement relies.

When a thriving, top-ranked, predominantly African American elementary school is threatened with replacement by a new high school favoring a community’s wealthier residents, a passionate group of parents, students and educators band together to fight for their institution’s survival in the documentary Let the Little Light Shine. After benefitting from a world premiere earlier this year at the True/False Film Festival, one of the United States’ most prestigious showcases of nonfiction cinema, director Kevin Shaw’s movie is enjoying theatrical engagements this month and throughout autumn, in advance of a “POV” showcase presentation on PBS stations later this fall.

Once described as the “intellectual Johnny Appleseed of the counterculture,” writer Stewart Brand, member of the Merry Pranksters and founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, cut an influential swath through the 60s, the 70s, and beyond, helping to birth and shape what we now recognize as the modern-day environmental movement.   The documentary We Are As Gods, receiving limited theatrical exposure in advance of its release across digital platforms on September 6, chronicles Brand’s standing within this community of environmental defenders, and a great schism which has now made enemies of many past friends and supporters.