This first full week of June is seemingly lighter for documentary releases, and I admit that I haven’t been around to watch enough of them anyway because I’ve taken other odd jobs that keep me busy and paid (I’m thinking of writing about some of them in a separate newsletter if anyone is interested). Nonfics continues to be more of a hobby these days as it brings in no real income. You can help out by upgrading to a paid subscription, but I understand if that’s not doable at this time. We’re all watching our subscription budgets, whether it’s with newsletters, streaming services, or whatever.
As a result, I’m opening this week’s newsletter fully to all subscribers. There’s too much work put into the release calendar and listings for only a few people to have access. Also, everyone ought to be aware of the last documentary spotlighted in the coming soon section. The trailer for Piece by Piece promises a film unlike anything we’ve seen before in the nonfiction cinema space.
Before we get to this week’s recommendations and other highlights, five filmmaker birthdays are worth recognizing. Stanley Nelson, an Oscar-nominee in 2022 for his feature documentary Attica (now streaming on Paramount+), celebrates his birthday on Friday, June 7. He’s best known for his films and series about Black history, and there are plenty available to watch online, including The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (Kanopy), The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (Kanopy), Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (VOD), Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (VOD), and Sound of the Police (Hulu).
The next day is a time to celebrate the work of Ernest B. Schoedsack, who was born on June 8, 1893. Although best known for his work on King Kong, The Most Dangerous Game, Mighty Joe Young, and other fiction films, Schoedsack got his start co-directing the anthropological documentaries Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (Kanopy and The Criterion Channel) and Chang: A Drama in the Wilderness (Kanopy). Editor and director Peter Wintonick was born on June 10, 1953, and is known for Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (Kanopy) and Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment (currently unavailable to stream), both of which are essential viewing.
On Tuesday, June 11, writer and director James Sanders celebrates his birthday. His must-watch work includes the classic Ric Burns series New York: A Documentary Film (PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel) and Burns’s four-hour feature Andy Warhol: A Documentary (EBTV YouTube Channel), both of which Sanders co-wrote. Finally, British documentary legend Basil Wright was born on June 12, 1907. His famous films in collaboration with producer John Grierson include the Empire Marketing Board documentary The Song of Ceylon (Colonial Film) and Night Mail (Kanopy and Ovid), which he co-directed with Harry Watt for the GPO Film Unit.
As for documentary anniversaries, which normally are mentioned in the intro to this newsletter, there’s only one worth acknowledging it, and it’s our Pick of the Week.
Nonfics Pick Of The Week: Birds Do It, Bees Do It (1974)
In the 1970s, you could see real sex on the big screen in movie theaters across the country. This was not just intercourse between humans. The documentary Birds Do It, Bees Do It, which turns 50 years old on June 7, offered images of animals of all species graphically mating. It’s more of an educational nature film than pornography, and part of that might be due to the fight with the MPAA, which initially gave the doc an R rating, and its subsequent editing to garner a PG (the tagline seen above, after all, says it should be seen with your children).
A little background on the film. Birds Do It, Bees Do It was produced by David L. Wolper, who’d won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar a few years earlier with the nature film The Hellstrom Chronicle. Like that film, this documentary features plenty of footage of insects, including a scene of praying mantis sex complete with the female eating the head of the male during their copulation. The documentary begins with a focus on morality in the animal kingdom followed by the point of creatures’ purpose to reproduce. The end of the film looks at genetic engineering plus artificial insemination and fertilization, anticipating human test tube babies a few years ahead of its reality.
Birds Do It, Bees Do It was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Documentary Feature — within the brief period of that category’s existence. It was not nominated for the same award at the Oscars but did receive a nod for its music score by Gerald Fried (I don’t think it’s that special, and unsurprisingly it lost to Jaws). Strangely, the film has been mostly forgotten and is relatively unavailable in any respectable form. You can find it on YouTube and the Internet Archive with poor-quality copies. I would love to see Columbia Pictures, via Sony, put out a restored home video release and maybe even a theatrical revival. I think it could be a cult classic if given a chance.
As mentioned, Birds Do It, Bees Do It is barely available to stream online via YouTube and the Internet Archive. I recommend pairing it with the new Peacock documentary Queer Planet about gay sex in the animal kingdom.
Other Documentary Highlights
How Music Got Free (2024)
MTV’s documentary about the dawn of digital music is messy at times, but there is a lot to learn about the history that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else. While charting the problems with the recording industry before and after the Napster craze and sharing commentary from the pirates and those they affected, the central point of the two-part documentary is to spotlight the significance of Dell Glover, a CD manufacturing plant worker who criminally changed the world for better and worse.
How Music Got Free is narrated by Method Man and features interviews with Timbaland, Eminem, and less-famous names in the music business along with Glover for a well-rounded if occasionally scatterbrained lesson in how rebels truly, if not run the world, regularly turn it on its head. I would have preferred it be presented as a single feature-length documentary instead of being split into two 45-minute installments, but at least it didn’t stretch the story out as a total docuseries. I also hope that Eminem doesn’t go on a quest to beat the shit out of the pirates on screen, as he implies he would.
How Music Got Free debuts on Paramount+ on Tuesday, June 11. I recommend pairing it with Alex Winter’s Downloaded (Kanopy) and Theo Love’s Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga (Netflix).
Brats (2024)
Who better to make a documentary about the young ‘80s Hollywood icons known as the “Brat Pack” than one of their own? Actor Andrew McCarthy, who starred in such Brat Pack movies as St. Elmo’s Fire and Pretty in Pink, wrote and directed the film. He reunites with fellow members Ally Sheedy, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Demi Moore, as well as many “Brat Pack-adjacent” stars like Jon Cryer and Lea Thompson to discuss the pros and cons of being lumped into a group like that.
Brats debuts on Hulu on Thursday, June 13. Pair it with a “Brat Pack” movie, preferably the ensemble pieces St. Elmo’s Fire and The Breakfast Club.
The Commandant's Shadow (2024)
This documentary feature had been meant for a minor Fathom Events release, but its popularity with those screenings last month, Warner Bros. Pictures is putting out the film in limited release in multiple cities around the U.S. this week. The Commandant’s Shadow is a Holocaust documentary about Hans Jürgen Höss, the now 87-year-old son of the notorious Nazi officer Rudolf Höss, who was commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, as he considers the crimes of his father. This is the real story behind the recent Oscar-winning drama The Zone of Interest, so it’s no surprise that it’s also been a hit.
The Commandant’s Shadow hits theaters in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami on Friday, June 7. When it’s out on home video, it’ll make for a perfect double feature with The Zone of Interest.
Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer (2024)
Another story that’s been dramatized to great success is that of Ann Burgess, the nurse turned researcher who consulted with the FBI on cases of serial killers. She was fictionalized as Dr. Wendy Carr (played by Anna Torv) in the Netflix series Mindhunter. The three-part docuseries Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer is focused on her rather than the agents she aided, and it’s great that the 87-year-old Burgess is on screen (or heard) so prominently and prevalently. It’s her story to tell, and she does it very well. In addition to the biographical content, she explains much of her research and findings about serial killers, including some specific cases, making for a doubly fascinating series.
Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer debuts on Hulu on Thursday, June 13. Pair it with a film on our list of the best documentaries about serial killers.
Ren Faire Finale
Finally, here’s a reminder that last week’s Pick of the Week, the Succession meets Game of Thrones docuseries Ren Faire, continues this week with its second and third episodes, wrapping up the story of “King George” and those who wish to succeed him as head of the Texas Rennaissance Festival. Watch the two episodes when they premiere on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 9.
Documentary Release Calendar 6/7/24 - 6/13/24
Friday, June 7, 2024
Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme (2024) - A feature documentary about one man’s desperation to become a movie star. (In Theaters)
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (2024) - A feature documentary about the relationship between a man and an otter. (National Geographic’s YouTube Channel)
The Commandant's Shadow (2024) - A feature documentary about the son of Rudolf Höss, the Camp Commandant of Auschwitz, confronting his father about the Holocaust. (In Theaters)
Fight Inc: Inside the UFC (2024) - A three-part docuseries about UFC, its president, and its stars. (Roku Channel)
Israelism (2023) - A feature documentary about young Jewish Americans changing how they feel about Israel after seeing their treatment of Palestinians. (VOD)
Protecting Paradise: The Story of Niue (2024) - A nature documentary about one of the world's largest marine protected areas. (National Geographic)
Written on the Landscape: Mysteries Beyond Chaco Canyon (2024) - A medium-length documentary about the ancient architecture found in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon. (In Theaters)
Saturday, June 8, 2024
Accident, Suicide or Murder Season 5, Episode 4: “Justice for Jennifer?” - The latest episode of this true-crime series involves the death of a college student. (Oxygen True Crime)
Protecting Paradise: The Story of Niue (2024) - A nature documentary about one of the world's largest marine protected areas. (Hulu/Disney+)
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Ren Faire Episodes 2 & 3: “Make Big Choices” & “We’re Done!” - The final two episodes of this docuseries directed by Lance Oppenheim (Spermworld) following a succession battle at a renaissance festival. Last week’s Pick of the Week. (HBO/Max)
Sins of the South Season 1, Episode 5: “Miami: Murder, Glamour & Greed” - The latest episode of this true-crime series involves the family that owns Miami’s Fontainebleau Hotel. (Oxygen True Crime)
World Eats Bread Episode 2: “Ramadan Pide in Turkey - The second installment of this docuseries about the roots of bread around the world focuses on two types of bread from Turkey. (National Geographic)
Monday, June 10, 2024
Erased: WWII Heroes of Color Episodes 3 & 4: “Dunkirk” & “Battle of the Bulge” - The second half of this docuseries narrated by Idris Elba about soldiers of color in World War II. (National Geographic)
Frank Miller - American Genius (2021) - A feature documentary about the comic book artist and writer. (In Theaters)
Six Schizophrenic Brothers (2024) - A four-part docuseries about a family where half of the dozen siblings were diagnosed with schizophrenia. (Discovery)
World Eats Bread Episode 2: “Ramadan Pide in Turkey - The second installment of this docuseries about the roots of bread around the world focuses on two types of bread from Turkey. (Hulu/Disney+)
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
The Bright Path - The Johnny Bright Story (2022) - A medium-length documentary about a player who changed college football forever. (DVD)
Finding the Money (2023) - A feature documentary about a group of economists attempting to make a major change in America. (DVD/Blu-ray)
How Music Got Free (2024) - A two-part documentary about the digitalization of music and how it spread and became popular through widespread piracy. (Paramount+)
Remembering Gene Wilder (2023) - A feature documentary about the star of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein. (DVD/Blu-ray)
Richland (2023) - A feature documentary about a nuclear company town. (DVD/VOD)
Tour de France: Unchained Season 2 - A continuation of the docuseries about the French bike race. (Netflix)
Traces of Glory: The Musical Journey of Idaho (2024) - A feature documentary about the slowcore band Idaho. (VOD)
Who Is Michael Jang? (2024) - A short documentary about the titular portrait photographer. (In Theaters)
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Fiennes Return to the Wild (2024) - The complete first season of this travel docuseries following Sir Ranulph Fiennes and actor Joseph Fiennes through British Columbia. (Hulu/Disney+)
King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch Season 2 - A series about rare collectibles. (Netflix)
Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors (2024) - A documentary revealing new information and secrets about the astonishing Chinese mausoleum. (Netflix)
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Brats (2024) - A feature documentary directed by actor Andrew McCarthy about the “Brat Pack,” which he belonged to in the ‘80s. (Hulu)
Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer (2024) - A three-part docuseries about Dr. Ann Burgess, who changed how the FBI hunts serial killers. (Hulu)
Remembering Gene Wilder (2023) - A feature documentary about the star of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein. (Netflix)
Welcome to Wrexham Season 3, Episode 8: “Down to the Wire” - The latest episode of this award-winning sports docuseries sees the team facing the likelihood of not being promoted. (FX)
Sneak Peak At What’s Coming Soon
6/14 - Queendom - A feature documentary about a young queer artist in Russia. (In Theaters/VOD)
6/28 - SOMM: Cup of Salvation - The latest installment of the Somm franchise looks at what wine means to human history. (In Theaters and VOD)
7/12 - Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger - A feature documentary narrated by Martin Scorsese about filmmakers Michael Powell and Emil Pressburger. (In Theaters)
7/19 - Join or Die - A feature documentary about social scientist Robert Puttman on the importance of community in America. (In Theaters)
8/9 - Sugarcane - A feature documentary about abused and missing children at an Indian residential school. (In Theaters)
10/11 - Piece by Piece - A feature documentary directed by Morgan Neville about Pharrell Williams — made with Lego bricks. (In Theaters)