documentary

THE NEW MAN: An Intimate Portrait Of Modern Fatherhood
THE NEW MAN: An Intimate Portrait Of Modern Fatherhood

The New Man is a fascinating insight into modern fatherhood, male identity, cultural expectation and the torturous path of late parenthood.

CAPTURE: An Unusual & Fun Documentary
CAPTURE: An Unusual & Fun Documentary

The humor in Capture is one of its best qualities. This isn’t the humor that comes from telling a good joke, but rather from the spontaneous situations that the people find themselves in.

LIVING IN THE AGE OF AIRPLANES: Harrison Ford Narrates Aviation Documentary
LIVING IN THE AGE OF AIRPLANES: Harrison Ford Narrates Aviation Documentary

From director Brian J. Terwilliger comes the National Geographic documentary short, Living in the Age of Airplanes. It was an easy sell for me, as I’ve enjoyed numerous aviation and spaceflight documentaries tailored for “edutainment”.

THE UNCONDEMNED: A Heartbreaking Real-Life Courtroom Drama That's Slow To Start
THE UNCONDEMNED: A Heartbreaking Real-Life Courtroom Drama

The brave Rwandan women and the inspiring conclusion of The Uncondemned make it a heartbreaking, human, and empowering watch, and it reveals an important part of forgotten history.

HOMO SAPIENS: A Portrait Of Humanity In Absentia
HOMO SAPIENS: A Portrait Of Humanity In Absentia

How can an unconventional documentary lasting 134 minutes and consisting entirely of the juxtaposition of naturalistic scenes be a compelling and rewarding cinematic journey capable of matching the most innovative 3D IMAX movie for sheer scale, awe and engagement?

Fighting For Equality Behind The Scenes: An Interview With Amy Adrion, Director of HALF THE PICTURE
Fighting For Equality Behind The Scenes: An Interview With Amy Adrion, Director of HALF THE PICTURE

Amy Adrion shared her insights on gender inequality in the film industry and how we can create change for women in Hollywood.

SAVING MES AYNAK: Making Archaeology Harrowing
SAVING MES AYNAK: Making Archaeology Harrowing

Saving Mes Aynak’s central figure, Qadir Temori, is an Afghan archaeologist more Don Quixote than Indiana Jones, fighting forces from all sides threatening to wrench from his country what is deemed the most significant find of the century.

YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED TOO: A Wasted Attempt At A Timely Documentary
YOU’VE BEEN TRUMPED TOO: A Wasted Attempt At A Timely Documentary

Imagine waking up from a coma and finding out that one of the nominees in the 2016 presidential election was a thin skinned egomaniac, with a penchant for airing his racist, misogynist and ableist views (and a platform that allows for homophobic views to boot). Imagine if you found out that he’d already set a precedent for his appalling behaviour, yet he was still inexplicably marching towards success, planning to grab the American electorate by the pussy. Having this news broken to you as your comatose body reanimates and prepares for a life in a new, quasi-dystopian future, is the only way you are likely to be shocked by any of Donald Trump’s antics.

ICE GUARDIANS: A Persuasive Argument For The Maligned Enforcers
ICE GUARDIANS: A Persuasive Argument For The Maligned Enforcers

Ice Guardians will broaden everyone’s view on the disparaged enforcers, framing itself as a plea to those who have sided against the bruisers without giving it much thought. After all, the lumbering men are just that, men, and Ice Guardians captures them and their role in all its complicated glory.

DANNY SAYS: A Portrait Of The Man Behind The Experimental Bands
DANNY SAYS: A Portrait Of The Man Behind The Experimental Bands

Magnolia Pictures brought important documentaries like Blackfish and Food, Inc to the public at large, and now they’re bringing us Danny Says. While Danny Says might not be an activist film meant to make an impact on our present day lives and the world we live in, Danny Fields made a huge impact on the world of music from behind the scenes – and this is his story, directed by Brendan Toller. Experimenting With Rock n Roll As a fan of documentaries, biographies and music, this film was right up my alley.

MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE: No Going Clear, But Clearly Good Fun
MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE: No Going Clear, But Clearly Good Fun

I, like a lot of people, don’t like scientology. I think it’s nonsense – nonsense propagated by arrogant people in an effort to coerce the desperate into giving them power and money. When I heard Louis Theroux was making a documentary about it, I was very excited.

REACH FOR THE SKY: The Questionable Cost Of High Stakes Education
REACH FOR THE SKY: The Questionable Cost Of High Stakes Education

When the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ranked global education systems in 2015, South Korea came in third. Its strict, demanding schools feed off the country’s zeal for education, with many people believing that your performance in school will determine your lifelong socioeconomic status. Given the country’s recent history, this assumption is far from unfounded.

13TH: Contextualizing A Movement

Ava DuVernay returns to the documentary format with 13th, a look at the amendment of the United States Constitution that simultaneously abolished slavery and established a loophole for denying rights to targeted groups. The troubling wording in the amendment has to do with convicted criminals, who are the only people exempt from the abolishment of slavery and involuntary servitude. That exemption, while small at the time, has snowballed into a huge issue thanks to America’s system of mass incarceration.

COMING OUT: A Modern Look At LGBTQ Lives
COMING OUT: A Modern Look At LGBTQ Lives

Coming Out is the personal story of young filmmaker Alden Peters. The film follows his coming out process as he tells his parents, friends and siblings how he has repressed his sexuality for a number of years. In using a homemade video style of filming, Coming Out gives us an insight into not only Peters’ journey but into his mindset as he starts to immerse himself into the 2016 LGBTQ lifestyle.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Admirable Intentions, Sadly Lacking
THE HOMESTRETCH: Admirable Intentions, Sadly Lacking

The sincerity of The Homestretch is certainly never in doubt. Depicting the plight of three homeless teens in Chicago, Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly’s documentary interweaves the personal stories with various facts and statistics highlighting the widespread nature of the issue. Unfortunately, despite its pure intentions, The Homestretch never really manages to succeed to be truly engaging, regardless of the clear warmth of the three featured youths.