#Documentary
Sophia Nahli Allison Directing Follow-Up Special to Civil Rights Docuseries “Eyes on the Prize”
For her next project, Oscar-nominated “A Love Song for Latasha” filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison will embark on a journey begun by Henry Hampton’s Peabody-winning civil rights...
Trailer Watch: Rep. Barbara Lee Has Been “Speaking Truth to Power” Throughout Her Career
“I see myself more as a public servant, not necessarily a politician,” Congresswoman Barbara Lee tells us in the trailer for “Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power.” From...
Trailer Watch: “Julia” Child Doc Sees Betsy West & Julie Cohen Paying Tribute to a Revolutionary Cook
Julia Child transformed the way Americans cook, and her impact on the culinary would cannot be overstated. A new trailer for “Julia,” an upcoming doc about the trailblazer, emphasizes...
Pick of the Day: “No Ordinary Man”
In January 1989, jazz musician Billy Tipton died from a bleeding ulcer with his son, Billy Tipton, Jr., by his side. When the paramedics arrived, they and the younger Tipton discovered Billy —...
Trailer Watch: Kristine Stolakis Exposes the Toll of Gay Conversion Therapy in “Pray Away”
Kristine Stolakis pulls back the curtain on the “ex-gay movement” in “Pray Away,” a doc exploring how former leaders of Exodus International, the largest conversion therapy...
Lucy Walker Wildfire Doc “Bring Your Own Brigade” Gets a Release Date
Lucy Walker’s latest has found a home. A press release announced that CBSN snagged rights to “Bring Your Own Brigade,” the two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s look inside the...
Trailer Watch: Trailblazer Valerie Taylor Welcomes Us into the Underwater World in “Playing with Sharks”
“Every dive has the potential to be a great adventure. I would slide into the water into another world,” says Valerie Taylor in a new trailer for “Playing with Sharks.” From...
Dawn Porter Has a Doc About Cirque du Soleil in the Works
Dawn Porter is nothing if not prolific. The documentary filmmaker has added yet another project to her slate. Just weeks ago it was announced that the Emmy-nominated director will helm a multi-part...
July 2021 Film Preview
By Kara Headley and Vicki A. Lee Women kick ass. This is something that we know and we witness on the news, in our friends and relatives, and even in ourselves — but it’s always nice to be...
Trailer Watch: “Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters” Revisits a Trailblazing Ballet
“We were hurting, but our work was a way that we kept going,” says Bill T. Jones in a new trailer for “Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters.” Rosalynde...
Pick of the Day: “The Legend of the Underground”
Arriving on HBO as Pride Month comes to a close, Giselle Bailey and Nneka Onuorah’s documentary “The Legend of the Underground” follows a group of non-conformist Nigerian men in the...
SXSW Winner “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America” Acquired by Sony Pictures Classics
Ahead of its world premiere at SXSW 2021, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler described “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America” as a film “about confronting this country’s...
Ladies Who Rock: VOD, Webseries, and Podcast Picks
Music is an avenue for letting the unspoken be sung out loud, for sharing with the world the emotions that stir within us. Great music can reach an audience anywhere, relating differently to each...
Trailer Watch: Sonia Kennebeck Searches for Truth in the Age of Misinformation in “Enemies of the State”
An investigation into secrets, lies, and cover-ups, “Enemies of the State” explores the strange case of Wikileaks courier and hacker Matt DeHart. Sonia Kennebeck’s doc finds DeHart...
Trailer Watch: Three Sisters Fight to Win in Martial Arts Doc From Iran “Platform”
“Becoming a champion is easy; staying one is hard,” we are told in the new trailer for “Platform,” a documentary about women martial artists in Iran. Described as a...
Apply Now: Inaugural AXS Film Fund for Creators of Color With Disabilities
Founded to support ethnic minorities with disabilities in getting recognition and job opportunities within the film industry, the AXS Film Fund is now accepting applications for support grants. Up to...
Still I Rise Announces Inaugural Fellowship Recipients
Still I Rise Films has announced the recipients of their inaugural Still I Rise Films Fellowship. The documentary film series and platform has chosen eleven women — from more than 90...
Pick of the Day: “Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer”
“Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer” spotlights people and events that have been “disappeared by history,” as one interviewee puts it. Dawn Porter’s latest documentary...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Kristine Stolakis – “Pray Away”
Interview by Cody Corrall Kristine Stolakis is a director whose films explore power, politics, and prejudice — and the way they unfold in real people’s lives. Stolakis’ directorial debut,...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Bernadette Wegenstein – “The Conductor”
Bernadette Wegenstein is an Austrian-born linguist, author, and documentary filmmaker living in Baltimore. She is a professor at Johns Hopkins University. Her films and books bring together her...
Trailer Watch: The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Fights for Equal Pay in “LFG”
“The story’s the same everywhere: women get paid less to do the same job,” says Megan Rapinoe in a new trailer for “LFG.” Directed by Academy Award-winners Andrea Nix...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Maya Cueva and Leah Galant – “On the Divide”
Maya Cueva is a Latina award-winning director and producer with a background in radio and podcast producing. Her short documentary “The Provider” premiered at SXSW and was nominated for...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Andrea Nix Fine- “LFG”
Andrea Nix Fine is an Oscar, Emmy, and Peabody award-winning filmmaker. In 2021, she, along with her husband and partner Sean Fine, launched impact studio Change Content to develop true stories into...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Shannon Post – “Building a Bridge”
Shannon Post is a queer documentary filmmaker from Florida. She attended college in Orlando, and Pulse nightclub was a safe place for her and her friends to have fun and be out and proud. Her first...
Stéphanie Lamorré Talks “Being Thunder,” Her Portrait of A Two-Spirit Genderqueer Teen
Stéphanie Lamorré is a French documentary filmmaker working as an international independent writer, director, and producer. She’s shot documentaries in Iraq, Africa, South America, and...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Jessica Kingdon – “Ascension”
New York-based Jessica Kingdon is a Chinese-American director and producer. She was named one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film” by Filmmaker Magazine and selected for the 2020 DOC NYC...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Heather O’Neill – “No Ordinary Life”
Heather O’Neill is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker. She produced “Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi,” which screened at the Hot Docs International Film Festival...
Assia Boundaoui, Débora Souza Silva, & More Receive Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grants
Eighteen non-fiction projects, at various stages of production, have received funding from the latest round of Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grants. The initiative provides a total of $590,000...
Tribeca 2021 Preview: Sisters Racing Their Way into History, Nigerians Fighting for LGBTQ+ Rights, & More
Slated to run from June 9-20 with a mix of online screenings and live in-person events at outdoor venues, Tribeca Film Festival is celebrating its 20th edition with a feature lineup that is 60...
Trailer Watch: “The Legend of the Underground” Tackles LGBTQ Discrimination in Nigeria
“I want to encourage billions and zillions of people, telling them that you have rights. You know why? Because you’re human,” says one of the characters featured in “The...
Trailer Watch: “Sisters on Track” Race Toward Their College Dreams
“You’ve got to work for your dreams. They don’t just come because you say, ‘Oh, please come,'” we’re told in a new trailer for “Sisters on Track.”...
June 2021 Film Preview
By Kara Headley and Vicki A. Lee Since the 1969 Stonewall Uprising members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies have celebrated Pride Month every June, honoring the social, cultural, and...
Trailer Watch: Jamila Wignot Honors a Visionary Choreographer & the Boundlessness of Black Joy in “Ailey”
“When I was 14 I discovered the theater and it touched something in me — but there was nobody Black,” says Alvin Ailey in a new trailer for Jamila Wignot’s...
Barbara Shearer Directing Ghislaine Maxwell Docuseries for Peacock
Barbara Shearer is bringing the story of alleged Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell to Peacock. She directed the three-part docuseries “Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell,”...
AFI DOCS Reveals 2021 Program, 52 Percent of Films Are Directed By Women
AFI DOCS has once again reached gender parity. This year’s lineup includes 77 films from 23 countries, with 52 percent of the titles directed by women, 40 percent by BIPOC directors, and 18...
Martha Stewart Doc Coming to Netflix
A documentary about Martha Stewart is heading to Netflix. From “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” director R.J. Cutler, the doc will explore the “life and times”...
Abby Ginzberg’s Barbara Lee Doc “Speaking Truth to Power” Acquired by Greenwich Entertainment
It can be hard to remember in times like this, but there are actually people in Congress who are on the right side of history. A documentary about one of them has landed at Greenwich Entertainment, a...
Women’s Secret Histories: Crowdfunding Picks
One of the best ways to learn about the world and its many peoples is by listening to stories. When underrepresented groups are given the chance to share — and to be heard — it can...
Guest Post: Do We Have to Choose Between Directing and Motherhood?
Guest Post by Sasha Joelle Achilli I was 24 when I started working in the TV documentary film world. I never thought that one day I would have the opportunity to make a living from traveling the...
Dawn Porter Named 2021 Guggenheim Honoree by American Film Institute
Dawn Porter is following in Barbara Kopple, Laura Poitras, and Freida Lee Mock’s footsteps. AFI Docs, the American Film Institute’s documentary film festival, announced that it will...
Human Rights Watch Film Fest 2021 Women Directors: Meet Jana Matthes and Andrea Schramm – “Tacheles – The Heart of the Matter”
Jana Matthes and Andrea Schramm work as directors and producers for arte, 3sat, ARD, and ZDF. After studying journalism in Leipzig and directing in Potsdam-Babelsberg, they founded Schramm Matthes...
Human Rights Watch Film Fest 2021 Women Directors: Meet Brooke Swaney – “Daughter of a Lost Bird”
“Daughter of a Lost Bird” is Brooke Swaney’s first feature documentary. She recently made the Blacklist’s Inaugural Indigenous List with “Tinder On The Rez” along with...
Human Rights Watch Film Fest 2021 Women Directors: Meet Ashley O’Shay – “Unapologetic”
Ashley O’Shay is a Chicago-based DP and documentarian whose work focuses on illuminating marginalized voices. Most recently, she filmed the final episode of Dr. Martens’ “Tough As You”...
Issa Rae Is Rebooting “Project Greenlight” at HBO Max
Issa Rae is spearheading a “Project Greenlight” reboot at HBO Max. The Emmy-nominated “Insecure” co-creator and star is set to appear in every episode of the...
Garrett Bradley’s Naomi Osaka Documentary Will Open AFI Docs
Garrett Bradley’s follow-up to her Oscar-nominated portrait of a modern-day abolitionist is set to open AFI Docs 2021. The fest will host the world premiere of the “Time”...
Pick of the Day: “Us Kids”
Described by director Kim S. Snyder as “a coming-of-age story about a bunch of regular teenage kids who live their lives against the backdrop of this horrendous national issue of gun violence,”...
Pick of the Day: “144”
An all-access look into a WNBA season like no other, “144” takes viewers inside the bubble of the 2020 season, which saw the league creating a single site at the IMG Academy in Bradenton,...
Kristine Stolakis Conversion Therapy Doc “Pray Away” Lands at Netflix
“Pray Away” has found a home ahead of its world premiere at next month’s Tribeca Film Festival. Deadline reports that Netflix snagged rights to Kristine Stolakis’ conversion...
Trailer Watch: Pink Brings Her Family on the Road in “All I Know So Far”
“I want it to be worth it for my family. It’s a concert, it’s a tour, but it’s also the story of our life,” says Pink in a new trailer for her upcoming Amazon Prime...
Dawn Porter and National Geographic Join Forces on Tulsa Massacre Doc “Rise Again”
Dawn Porter’s latest documentary delves into one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the United States — yet one that is routinely left out of the history books. “Rise...
“Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters” Acquired by Kino Lorber
Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz’s tribute to “D-Man in the Waters,” a trailblazing ballet inspired by the AIDS crisis, has secured distribution. Kino Lorber scored North American...