Women-directed docs have been a major part of the awards conversation all year — if only we could say the same about equally deserving titles in the narrative world. Our favorite documentaries of 2019 offered us glimpses of life all around the globe, everywhere from Dayton, Ohio, to Aleppo, Syria. These projects tackled rape culture and all of its horrifying consequences, and offered hope in the form of trailblazers who refused to accept the status quo — in political office or at sea — and broke new ground in the fight for a more equitable future.
“Roll Red Roll” – Directed by Nancy Schwartzman
“Is this football town putting its daughters at risk by protecting its sons in a situation like this?” asks one of the characters in “Roll Red Roll,” a documentary exploring the crime that put Steubenville, Ohio, in national headlines. Nancy Schwartzman’s feature investigates how peer pressure, misogyny, and sports machismo factored into the rape of a young woman and its aftermath.
“Roll Red Roll” is a brutal reminder of what one character describes as “the complete lack of empathy” shown towards the assaulted teen, known only as Jane Doe. We see hateful tweets making light of the crimes and the girl whose life is changed. The doc also features media captured the night of the assault: between bursts of hysterical laughter, teens joke about how Jane Doe is “deader than O.J.’s wife” and how dead girls “don’t need foreplay.” It’s truly horrifying stuff.
As disturbing as “Roll Red Roll” is, the film is also a testament to the power of women: a true crime blogger who raised awareness about the case features prominently, and the doc includes moving footage from a rally held in Jane Doe’s honor which saw many women standing up and sharing their own stories of assault.
“Roll Red Roll” is a powerful call to arms as well. “I want people to feel connected, and to have a deeper understanding of how rape happens and what is our collective responsibility to prevent it,” Schwartzman told us. “I want people to think about their own lives and experiences as younger people or as adults. If they’ve been in similar situations and not done anything, or looked away, and ultimately, how we are all responsible for each other.” (Laura Berger)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Nancy Schwartzman.
“For Sama” – Directed by Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts
“For Sama”
“For Sama” is a groundbreaking documentary. First, it gives us the war in Aleppo from a woman’s perspective. Co-director Waad Al-Kateab is literally holding the camera, showing us what she is seeing and experiencing for five years in Aleppo, Syria — and it is not pretty. This doc is about the civilians who are on the ground, fighting for their country, their city, and their lives. It is also about the doctors and what a war against a population looks like. Families and friends carry injured bodies to the hospital. The doctors fight vigilantly in a virtually un-winnable situation.
Even though war and death are an all day, every day routine, life goes on. Waad falls in love, marries, and gives birth to a daughter, Sama. You see her hold Sama on her lap as she films her apartment being shelled. You hear Sama scream from the noise and impact. It is heartbreaking and you can’t take your eyes off of it.
Waad makes the difficult decision to escape Aleppo and smuggles out 15 hard drives of footage, which would eventually become this film. She is a truth teller in a way we have not seen before. (Melissa Silverstein)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Waad Al-Kateab.
“One Child Nation” – Directed by Nanfu Wang and Zhang Lynn
I didn’t really know what to expect from “One Child Nation,” but whatever it was that I did expect, the documentary itself exceeded it by miles. The film delves into the one child policy in China, which for me was always this amorphous rule that I didn’t really have any context to relate to.
What Nanfu Wang — who directed with Zhang Lynn — does is talk to the people who were forced to adhere to the policy and explores how it affected their lives. The population control measure prohibited Chinese families from having more than one child. This policy affected the women and their families and also affected the men and women who had to carry these orders out. It was cruel on so many levels, and the remnants of that cruelty has haunted people for their entire lives.
The second part of “One Child Nation” deals with the policy’s aftermath and the children it victimized. Some were abandoned. Some were taken away. Many were trafficked out of orphanages. The film focuses on the adoption industry and what happens when there are no records. Many of these children will never have any way to find their families in China. It’s heartbreaking. (MS)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Nanfu Wang.
“Maiden”
“Maiden”: TIFF
The story of “Maiden” begins and ends with Tracy Edwards. What a woman. She was a lost soul who found her way to the seas by becoming a cook on a ship competing in the 4th Whitbread round-the-world yacht race in 1985. Edwards was seriously hooked — so much so that she was determined to launch her own boat for the next race, set to be held in 1989.
This woman came from no money and had barely any connections, yet she was determined to make this happen. On top of that, add the fact that no woman had ever skippered a boat in this race. But Edwards did it. Just getting the team together and preparing the boat — which she helped fund with money from Jordan’s King Hussein — is enough of a story to win her the Amazing Woman of the Century Award. Watching those women competing against men who believed they did not belong there was easily one of the most inspirational things I have ever seen on-screen.
“Maiden” had me blubbering throughout its whole runtime. Do not miss it. (MS)
“The Great Hack” – Directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
Ask anyone who knows me how I feel about Facebook. Suffice it to say, I’m not a fan. This film was one of the big red flags to me about the subversion of our democracy by Facebook. This is the story of Cambridge Analytica and how data they took from Facebook altered the outcome of the 2016 election. And it’s going to happen again.
The goal of this movie is to scare the shit out of you. Mission accomplished. (MS)
“Untouchable” – Directed by Ursula Macfarlane
Harvey Weinstein ruled elite Hollywood for decades. He used his oversized personality, temper, and cover-ups and payoffs to conceal his predilection for sexual harassment and sexual assault, to keep his position. This film breaks down how he maintained his business and his abuse of women. We’re introduced to people who worked with him who knew something was off, but looked the other way. We also hear from some of the women Weinstein preyed upon, including Paz de la Huerta, who has worked for years to have people take her story of assault seriously while Weinstein worked very hard to make people think she was unhinged — doing such a convincing job that even she began to believe it. De la Huerta and the other women are survivors of a predator who thrived in an industry where all the systems were created to enable him and many others. (MS)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Ursula Macfarlane.
“At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal” – Directed by Erin Lee Carr
“At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal”
“How much is a little girl worth?” asks Rachael Denhollander in “At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal.” Denhollander was the first woman to publicly accuse former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse, inspiring hundreds of other women to come forward with their own horror stories about their trusted physician and friend.
Erin Lee Carr’s HBO documentary sees survivors speaking out, both in the courtroom and for intimate one-on-one interviews. The feature also explores how the system enabled Nassar to exploit and abuse his patients for more than three decades.
Given its subject matter, it’s no surprise that “At the Heart of Gold” is a difficult watch at times. As disturbing as the doc is, it’s also incredibly inspiring. Carr highlights the gymnasts’ awe-inspiring strength, both as athletes and as people. The doc’s most powerful moments come when the women take the stand to confront their abuser and speak their truths. (LB)
“American Factory” – Directed by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar
“American Factory” has been picking up honors since its world premiere at Sundance in January, where it took home the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary. Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar provide a look inside what happened when a Chinese billionaire opened an auto-glass factory in a shuttered General Motors plant in Dayton, Ohio, in 2014.
We meet former GM employees who are happy to get back to work — though at a significantly reduced pay grade. It’s not long, though, before major cultural clashes occur. The American employees balk at the lack of safety precautions in place and the absence of an appropriate break/lunchroom. The Chinese managers balk at their employees’ laziness and inefficiency.
Tensions among employees and management rise as some of the factory workers advocate for forming a union. The company is quick to spread misinformation about how unionizing would adversely affect workplace conditions, convincing many employees that a union wouldn’t benefit them.
One of the doc’s most interesting storylines includes a trip to the American factory’s Chinese counterpart, where employees work much faster in very different conditions with a very different attitude expected of them.
“American Factory” is a fascinating look into workplace culture both in the U.S. and China, and offers intimate access to folks on the factory floor and in offices. (LB)
“Knock Down the House” – Directed by Rachel Lears
“Knock Down the House”
Director Rachel Lears hit the jackpot when one of the four female candidates she was trailing for her documentary turned out to be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, now known to the world as AOC. “Knock Down the House” follows AOC along with Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin on their primary campaign journeys. They are all underdogs and untested candidates running against incumbents whom they are told over and over again that they will never beat. Three out of these four women do not win, but AOC does, and changes the world.
Unsurprisingly, the film takes a strong focus on AOC, trailing her as she psychs herself up for debates, and as we get to know her, we get to see why she is such a phenom: her authenticity. Her desire for change is palpable. She’s going be a huge star and this documentary really makes you feel like you got in on the ground floor of a political revolution. (MS)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Rachel Lears.
“The Kingmaker” – Directed by Lauren Greenfield
“The Kingmaker”: Lauren Greenfield
“The Kingmaker” is a fascinating story of behind-the-scenes power. It is also a story of corruption. Imelda Marcos — who spent her husband’s tenure as president of the Philippines as his emissary — is remembered by most for her shoes. When the Marcos family was deposed, the closet of shoes was the image of greed and corruption transmitted across the world. But the shoes were just a front.
The Marcos stole money from their country: so much money. In fact, the family still owns Herald Square in Manhattan. And then there’s the art. In the “Kingmaker” scene that sticks out most, Marcos puts the Monet and two other incredibly valuable pieces on display for the filmmaker, Lauren Greenfield. Yet when a commission tries to reclaim the stolen money, those pictures are mysteriously no longer on the wall. Marcos is cunning: she pretends to be a nice old lady by giving out money to kids as she traverses the city, but whose money is it, really?
Marcos has created her own reality. She is similar to Donald Trump in that way. She is plotting her return to power through her son and it seems she is not only a “Kingmaker,” but also a puppeteer. She might appear to be a sweet grandma, but it’s just a cover for her ruthlessness.
As compelling as Greenfield’s doc is, we would be remiss not to acknowledge the film Ramona Diaz made 15 years ago, “Imelda.” She was the first to bring this most fascinating and deceptive woman’s story to the screen. (MS)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Lauren Greenfield.
