This Week In Documentary
Theatrical & Streaming Releases - New & Recommended - April 26-May 2, 2024
As we finish out the month of April, and with it the first third of the year, I want to thank all my subscribers for following along with me as I highlight the best and most notable documentaries of 2024, plus several recommended classics. As a sign of my gratitude, I’m temporarily making the latest edition of This Week in Documentary completely available for all readers. That includes the day-by-day release calendar listings and preview sections that are usually only accessible to paid subscribers beyond the paywall.
Given that this newsletter’s timeframe goes into the first couple of days of May, that means you can all see listings of every known documentary coming to streaming services on the first of the new month. I recommend looking closely at that day’s releases on The Criterion Channel, which always offers new doc-focused programs on day one of each month. I’ve also highlighted one of these programs below as our Pick(s) of the Month.
I’m also offering a discounted yearly paid subscription during this time to encourage more readers to upgrade and get access to these features of the This Week in Documentary newsletter plus any bonus posts, including box office reports, and all of our past content that entered the paywalled archives. We are looking to ramp up our exclusive features with more deep dives into documentary classics and a series reviewing selections on Sight & Sound’s list of the Greatest Documentaries of All Time, compiled from their 2014 poll (which I contributed to).
Before we get to this week’s highlights, we have some birthdays to celebrate over the next seven days. April 26 is the 126th anniversary of John Grierson’s birth. The man credited with coining the term “documentary” in 1926 and one of the most important names in the history of the mode (he’s even the namesake for an annual awards celebration), Grierson also directed the films Drifters (streaming on Ovid) and Granton Trawler (unofficially on YouTube). He produced such classics as The Song of Ceylon (Ovid), Night Mail (Ovid and Kanopy), and Coal Face (unofficially on Vimeo).
April 26 was also the birthday of Paul Almond, who was born in 1931 and died in April 2015. He is best known for directing the first installment of the Up series, Seven Up! (available to stream with the whole series on BritBox). And now also celebrating his birthday on April 26 is Jules Naudet, who makes documentaries about historical tragedies and other events with his brother Gédéon. They’re best known for directing the 2002 film 9/11 (now on VOD) and more recently helmed November 13: Attack on Paris (streaming on Netflix) and January 6th (Discovery+), which is about the U.S. Capitol attack in 2021.
On April 30, Oscar-winning filmmaker James Marsh celebrates his birthday. He has primarily directed narrative features over the last decade, but his documentaries Man on Wire and Project Nim, both of which are available on Kanopy, are masterpieces. One day earlier is the birthday of a documentary subject. Timothy Treadwell, who posthumously starred in the Werner Herzog film Grizzly Man (streaming on The Criterion Channel, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Pluto TV, and Kanopy), was born on April 29, 1957. As the 2005 feature documents, Treadwell and his girlfriend were killed by brown bears while camping in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve in 2003.
And now we present this week’s top recommendation and additional highlights of new, notable, and currently relevant documentaries followed by our daily listings of theatrical, home video, and streaming releases plus a handful of previews of what is coming soon.
Nonfics Pick(s) Of The Week: First-Person Asian American Documentaries
One of my favorite things about The Criterion Channel is that they curate seemingly very niche programs that often are anything but. Take First-Person Asian American Documentaries, which begins on Wednesday, May 1. That label might seem quite specific, but the 11 titles included in the program represent a broad spectrum of what that means. Sure, a majority are rather arty and experimental, like personal essay films, and most deal with related concepts of identity, family, and heritage. But each filmmaker (some of whom work with co-directors) has a unique voice and story. Some of the films are more accessible in an entertainment sense than others — Twinsters is probably the most conventional and might provide the best gateway for viewers.
These documentaries span 30 years and multiple generations, as some are more introspective while others focus on parents and grandparents. They recognize the wars and other issues in their family’s origin country and why they emigrated to the U.S. or Canada. The directors include Korean Americans, Vietnamese Americans, and Filipino Americans. One of the films, When I Walk, is by a filmmaker of South Asian descent — Jason DaSilva — and chronicles his life after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Roddy Bogawa’s I Was Born, But… is like if Ross McElwee made a concert film and was also Japanese American. Renee Tajima-Pena’s My America…or Honk if You Love Buddha and Miko Revereza’s No Data Plan are distinctly different American road movies (well, one is a rail movie), the former looking at racism in the U.S. and the latter dealing with immigration.
While they all go together and some of them provide a comparative context for others, watching them together isn’t going to provide any definition of what first-person filmmaking has to look like or what it means to be Asian American. I don’t know what kind of lesson or conclusion a class teaching this syllabus would come to. Rather, it will open your eyes to more variety in cinema and humanity and introduce you to filmmakers I guarantee you don’t already know — Tajima-Pena is probably the most famous and still not anything close to a household name. All are new to The Criterion Channel, with half of them exclusive to the streaming service after being completely unavailable. This program will expose you to cerebral mixes of personal and political, and many of these films will likely affect you to the point of happy or sad tears. I recommend them all.
In chronological order by release year:
Who’s Going to Pay for These Donuts Anyway? (1992)
a.k.a. Don Bonus (1995)
My America . . . or Honk if You Love Buddha (1997)
First Person Plural (2000)
I Was Born, But . . . (2004)
Oh, Saigon (2007)
When I Walk (2013)
Twinsters (2015)
95 and 6 to Go (2016)
No Data Plan (2019)
Wisdom Gone Wild (2022)
Other Documentary Highlights
The Contestant (2023)
In the early days of reality television, a Japanese program chronicled the day-to-day of a man stripped of his clothes and confined to a tiny apartment for 15 months. He could only eat items he won through mail-in magazine sweepstakes. He lost all sense of time and some of his sanity as he essentially lived in a solitary prison, albeit one he could supposedly leave at any point. The Contestant (debuting on Hulu on April 30), tells his story, primarily through footage from the show and a running testimonial from the titular participant. There’s also an interview with the show’s producer, a real-life equivalent of The Truman Show’s Christof character but who considers himself the Devil rather than God.
The Contestant ultimately has little to say but lets its outrageous material speak for itself — the interviewees don’t provide all that much in the way of revelatory insight — and ends on a positive note, making it an absorbing yet uncomfortable watch. While the footage of the show is necessary to illustrate the story, I can’t help but think it also just resurfaces the embarrassing and problematic scenes that we’re meant to be appalled by. Certainly, a lot of the audience for the documentary will be entertained by the trauma of Tomoaki Hamatsu, a.k.a. Nasubi, just as the TV and webcam audience was decades ago. Depending on whether you side with Nasubi or the Devil (Toshio Tsuchiya) on what they created, that may not be an issue.
The Jinx - Part Two Episode 2
After making it last week’s Pick of the Week, I may need to continue highlighting each new episode of The Jinx - Part Two. The second episode of the sequel series (or second season, or whatever) is when things start getting interesting. This is because this episode, titled “Chapter 8: Friendships Die Hard” introduces Nick Chavin, a.k.a. Chinga Chavin, former pornographic rock star and BFF of Robert Durst and Susan Berman. There’s just enough of a tease of Chavin’s background to make me want a whole documentary about just him, his X-rated country songs, his double life as a real estate advertising executive, and his falling out with Durst. I also really want to know more about his relationship with his wife, who seems incompatible with him, as depicted in the series. Tune in Sunday on HBO/Max to see what I mean.
The Mothers Of The Plaza De Mayo (1985), The Devil Never Sleeps (1994), & Missing Young Woman (2001)
Last weekend, the documentary community lost an important filmmaker: Lourdes Portillo. The Mexico-born director broke out in 1985 with the feature The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which she made with Susana Blaustein Muñoz. It was one of two films nominated at the Oscars the following year about Argentina’s desaparecidos, or disappeared (the other was The Official Story, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was a contender in the Best Original Screenplay category). The documentary inspired me to visit the Plaza de Mayo when I traveled to Buenos Aires and watch the titular women activists, an act of cultural tourism I later regretted. I was in awe of them nonetheless.
Portillo’s solo directorial efforts include The Devil Never Sleeps, a significant entry in the true-crime documentary canon involving the suspicious death of the filmmaker’s uncle. That one is also on the National Film Registry. In 2001, she won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for Missing Young Woman, which investigates the disappearance of Mexican women near the American border. Those three essential documentaries released across three decades, along with The Days of the Dead, which she co-directed with Muñoz, and Corpus: A Home Movie About Selena, about the iconic Tejano singer, are all available to stream on Kanopy. You can find her other Selena doc, Conversations with Intellectuals About Selena, on The Criterion Channel.
Peabody Award Nominees
Nominees for the 84th Peabody Awards were announced this week, with PBS (via Frontline, Independent Lens, and POV) leading the pack in the documentary categories. Fourteen films are contending for the feature documentary award, including titles nominated for Academy Awards in 2023 and 2024: Oscar-winner 20 Days in Mariupol (streaming free via PBS.org), Oscar-nominee To Kill a Tiger (now on Netflix), Oscar-nominee The Eternal Memory (Paramount+), Oscar-nominee Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Disney+), Oscar-nominee All That Breathes (Max), and Oscar-nominee All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Max).
Joining them are the Emmy-winner Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+), The Stroll (Max), Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning (Max), Eternal Spring (currently unavailable for streaming), the POV installment While We Watched (unavailable to stream), and the Independent Lens presentations Sam Now (PBS Passport and The Criterion Channel), Hidden Letters (PBS Passport), and The Picture Taker (unavailable to stream).
In addition to 20 Days in Mariupol, other Frontline documentaries nominated for Peabody Awards include Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court and Inside the Iranian Uprising, both in the News category and both currently available to stream for free on the PBS website. Competing against them is the Wall Street Journal documentary short Shadow Men: Inside Wagner, Russia’s Secret War Company (streaming on WSJ’s YouTube channel). Three other Frontline documentaries, After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics, America and the Taliban, and America’s Dangerous Trucks, all of them currently streaming for free on PBS.org, are nominees for the Public Service award.
Welcome To Wrexham Season 3
Welcome to Wrexham was initially announced, in 2021, for only a two-season order, but its success on multiple levels has resulted in a third season (the first two episodes premiere on FX on May 2) and hopefully more to come. The series follows the rise of Wrexham A.F.C. since being bought by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Their success also called for the renewal of Welcome to Wrexham, as season 2 ended with the club being promoted to EFL League Two. You don’t have to tune in to find out how the team has done in the 2023-2024 season (spoiler: it’s heading to EFL League One in the fall!), but as we’ve seen from this series and many other sports documentaries, they can still be very entertaining regardless of whether you know the outcomes already.
We’re Here Season 4
Maybe it’s more reality TV than docuseries, but I love We’re Here and get to highlight it if I want to. Also, with perfect timing, the Critics Choice Association (which I work for) just announced that it is honoring We’re Here at the inaugural Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television. The event’s Reality TV Award is being presented to co-creators Johnnie Ingram and Stephen Warren, showrunner/director Peter LoGreco, and drag queens Sasha Velour, Priyanka, Jaida Essence Hall, and Latrice Royale. That isn’t happening until June 7, but in the meantime, the new season of We’re Here debuts its first episode on Max on April 26 with subsequent installments released weekly.
Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life And Time Of Tim Hetherington (2013) & Hondros (2017)
I finally went to see Alex Garland’s Civil War, which has been a huge hit for A24 this month, and while I liked some of it, much of the movie seemed silly and implausible, and I couldn’t help but think about Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros the whole time. The real-life photojournalists were killed in the same incident while covering the Libyan civil war in 2011. Since then, both have received their own respective documentary spotlights: Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington (on VOD), which was directed by his fellow Oscar-nominated Restrepo collaborator Sebastian Jungler; and Hondros (streaming on Kanopy). I recommend them both as doc options in contrast to the new theatrical release.
Documentary Release Calendar 4/26/24 - 5/2/24
Friday, April 26, 2024
Art Happens Here with John Lithgow (2024) - A one-hour documentary special in which John Lithgow promotes arts education. (PBS)
Bad Faith (2024) - A feature documentary on Christian Nationalism in the U.S. (VOD)
Beyond the Raging Sea (2019) - A feature documentary about two men crossing the Atlantic in a rowboat. (In Theaters)
Broken Horses (2024) - A feature installment of the docuseries The New York Times Presents focused on horse racing. (FX)
High & Low - John Galliano (2023) - A feature documentary by Kevin Macdonald about fashion designer John Galliano. Read our review. (Mubi)
Lyd (2023) - A feature documentary on a city that used to connect Palestine to the rest of the world. (In Theaters)
Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story (2024) - Docuseries about the titular band and its frontman, Jon Bon Jovi. (Hulu)
Uncropped (2023) - A documentary about photojournalist James Hamilton and his most iconic images. (In Theaters)
We’re Here Season 4, Episode 1 - The series following drag queens as they visit towns across America returns for a fourth season. (HBO/Max)
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Believe It or Not #9 (1931) - This installment of the Robert L. Ripley documentary franchise features a one-cent restaurant and more. (TCM)
Broken Horses (2024) - A feature installment of the docuseries The New York Times Presents focused on horse racing. (Hulu)
Exotic Mexico (1942) - A Traveltalks travelogue by James A. FitzPatrick spotlighting the southern region of Mexico. (TCM)
Sunday, April 28, 2024
The Jinx - Part Two Episode 2: “Chapter 8: Friendships Die Hard” - The continuation of this sequel true-crime series follows the trial of Robert Durst. (HBO/Max)
Sin City Murders Season 1, Episode 10: “Death in a Casino Stairwell” - The season finale of the Las Vegas-set true crime series. (Oxygen)
Monday, April 29, 2024
The Big Parade of Comedy (1964) - A feature documentary compiling clips from classic MGM comedies. (TCM)
Epcot Becoming: The Transformation (2024) - A documentary about the changes to Epcot at Walt Disney World. (National Geographic)
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Another Body (2023) - A SXSW-winning documentary about a college student who discovered deepfake pornography of herself. (Blu-ray)
Documenting Police Use of Force (2024) - A feature-length Frontline episode investigating deaths by various police tactics. (PBS)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972) - A mid-length documentary narrated by Dick Cavett about the history of MGM, including its decline. (TCM)
Ink & Linda (2022) - A documentary about the street art collaborations between a dancer in her 70s and an artist in his 20s. (DVD)
Mad Props (2024) - A feature documentary on the idea that movie props are works of art. (Blu-ray)
Remembering Gene Wilder (2023) - A feature documentary on the titular actor. (VOD)
That’s Entertainment! (1974) - A feature documentary showcasing moments from classic MGM musicals. (TCM)
The United States of Insanity (2021) - A feature documentary about Insane Clown Posse, their fans, and their troubles with the law. (DVD/Blu-ray)
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
The 11th Hour (2007) - A feature documentary starring Leonardo DiCaprio about the global environment and the threat of climate change. (Tubi)
95 and 6 to Go (2016) - A feature documentary about the director’s father, who decides to become a filmmaker at 90. (The Criterion Channel)
A.K.A. Don Bonus (1995) - A mid-length first-person documentary about co-director Sokly Ny’s final year of high school. (The Criterion Channel)
Behind the Music Season 2 - The second season of the Behind the Music reboot dives into the stories of Bell Biv Devoe, Trace Adkins, and Wolfgang Van Halen. (Paramount+)
Believe (2013) - A feature documentary following Justin Bieber as he embarks on his Believe tour. (Tubi)
Buena Vista Social Club (1999) - An Oscar-nominated documentary by Wim Wenders about legendary Cuban musicians brought together. Read our review. (The Criterion Channel)
Bye Bye Africa (1999) - A semi-documentary about a man who returns to Chad after living in France. (The Criterion Channel)
First Person Plural (2000) - A first-person documentary in which a couple adopts a child who still has parents back in Korea. (The Criterion Channel)
Fox Film (2020) - A short animated film in which Isabella Rossellini explains what domestication of animals did for evolution. (The Criterion Channel)
Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy Headed People (1984) - A short animated documentary directed by Ayoka Chenzira about Black women’s hair. (The Criterion Channel)
Hairat (2017) - A short documentary about one man’s venture outside the walls of Hairat, Ethiopia, to spend time with hyenas. (The Criterion Channel)
I Was Born, But . . . (2004) - A first-person documentary in which filmmaker Roddy Bogawa looks back at his time in the L.A. punk scene in the ‘70s. (The Criterion Channel)
In Dog Years (2019) - A short documentary about owners and their dogs. (The Criterion Channel)
Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind (2022) - A feature documentary about the titular rock and roll icon. (Netflix)
Life Below Zero: First Alaskans Season 3 - The complete latest season of the National Geographic series. (Hulu)
Love, Gilda (2018) - A feature documentary about actress and comedian Gilda Radner. (Hulu)
The Lure and the Lore (1988) - A short documentary by Ayoka Chenzira showcasing artist Thomas Pinnock performing his “immigrant folktales.” (The Criterion Channel)
Mutts (2019) - A short documentary about a stray dog refuge in Morocco. (The Criterion Channel)
My America . . . or Honk if You Love Buddha (1997) - A first-person documentary directed by Renee Tajima-Pena. (The Criterion Channel)
No Data Plan (2019) - A first-person documentary by Miko Revereza chronicling his travels by train around America. (The Criterion Channel)
Oh, Saigon (2007) - A first-person documentary about one refugee family’s reflection on the Vietnam War. (The Criterion Channel)
The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975) - An Oscar-nominated feature documentary co-directed by Shirley Maclaine about life in China. (The Criterion Channel)
Pigeons in the Square (1982) - A documentary about a man talking to children about pigeons. (The Criterion Channel)
Pull Your Head to the Moon: Stories of Creole Women (1992) - A short documentary by Ayoka Chenzira that parallels the trauma of a gay man during the HIV/AIDS crisis and his grandmother’s life in the Jim Crow-era South. (The Criterion Channel)
Rather (2023) - A feature documentary about TV journalist Dan Rather. (Netflix)
Syvilla: They Dance to Her Drum (1979) - A short documentary by Ayoka Chenzira that pays tribute to dancer-choreographer Syvilla Fort. (The Criterion Channel)
To Catch a Smuggler Season 6, Episode 1: “Not My Meth” - The latest season of this docuseries begins with an episode about drug smuggling. (National Geographic)
Town of Glory (2019) - A feature documentary about the Russian town of Yelyna and its people’s nostalgia for the USSR. (Ovid)
Twinsters (2015) - A first-person documentary about twin sisters separated at birth. (The Criterion Channel)
When I Walk (2013) - A first-person documentary directed by Jason DaSilva about his life following his multiple sclerosis diagnosis. (The Criterion Channel)
Who’s Going to Pay for These Donuts Anyway? (1992) - A first-person documentary directed by Janice Tanaka about her search for her father. (The Criterion Channel)
Whose Streets? (2017) - A feature documentary that shares an insider’s experience of the Ferguson protests of 2014 and 2015. Read our review. (Tubi)
Wisdom Gone Wild (2022) - A first-person documentary directed by Rea Tajiri about her mother, who suffers from dementia. (The Criterion Channel)
Zajota and the Boogie Spirit (1989) - A short animated documentary directed by Ayoka Chenzira about the African origins of funk, soul, and other rhythms. (The Criterion Channel)
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Bad Reputation (2018) - A feature documentary about rocker Joan Jett. (Hulu)
The Contestant (2024) - A feature documentary on a Japanese comedian who unwittingly became a reality TV star. (Hulu)
Lost Cities Revealed with Albert Lin (2023) - A marathon of this adventure docuseries about lost cities. (National Geographic)
The Proof is Out There Season 3 - The complete third season of the docuseries about mysteries of the unknown. (Hulu)
Secrets of the Neanderthals (2024) - A feature documentary narrated by Patrick Stewart about early man. (Netflix)
Welcome to Wrexham Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2: “Welcome to the EFL” & “Goals” - The first two episodes of this award-winning sports docuseries see the team return to the English Football League. (FX)
Sneak Peak At What’s Coming Soon
5/3 - Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg - A feature documentary about the titular actress, artist, model, and Rolling Stones muse. (In Theaters & VOD)
5/9 - Black Twitter: A People’s History - A docuseries about the influence of Black Twitter. (Hulu)
5/10 - Three Promises - A mid-length documentary about three critical moments in one woman’s life. (In Theaters)
5/17 - Taking Venice - A feature documentary about the possibility that the 1964 Venice Film Festival was rigged. (In Theaters)
5/31 - Rowdy Girl - A documentary about a Texas cattle rancher who decides that killing the livestock is wrong. (In Theaters)
5/31 - Flipside - A personal documentary in which the filmmaker attempts to save a record store while patching together footage from unfinished works. (In Theaters)