A Thousand Cuts - 2020 LAAPFF Documentary Review

The Documentary: A Thousand Cuts

The Director: Ramona S. Diaz

The Story: A look at how Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte uses social media to spread disinformation.

Finding YingYing - 2020 LAAPFF Documentary Review

The Movie: Finding YingYing

The Director: Jiayan 'Jenny' Shi

The Story: After a young Chinese student goes missing on an American university campus, her family travels to the U.S. for the first time, hoping to unravel the mystery of her disappearance.

All In: The Fight for Democracy - Documentary Review

The Documentary: All In: The Fight for Democracy

The Directors: Lisa Cortes and Liz Garbus

The Story: The documentary takes a look at the history, and current activism against voter suppression; barriers to voting that most people don't even know is a threat to their basic rights as citizens of the United States.

Hail to the Deadites - Fantasia 2020 Documentary Review

Documentary Review: Hail to the Deadites

The Director: Steve Villeneuve

The Story: A documentary about the fans of the Evil Dead films and explores the classic franchise's undying and ever-growing popularity.

Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business - Fantasia 2020 Documentary Review

The Documentary: Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business

The Director: Justin McConnell

The Story: Following five years in the life and career of an independent filmmaker, supported by dozens of interviews, posing one question: how does an indie filmmaker survive in the current film business?

Boys State - Documentary Review

The Movie: Boys State

The Directors: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss

The Story: A thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas join together to build a representative government from the ground up.

Rebuilding Paradise - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Rebuilding Paradise

The Director: Ron Howard

The Story: The community of Paradise, California, a town in the Sierra Nevada foothills, attempts to rebuild after devastating wildfires in 2018.

Earth - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Earth

The Director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter

The Story: Several billion tons of earth are moved annually by humans - with shovels, excavators and dynamite. 'Earth' observes people, in mines, quarries and large construction sites, engaged in a constant struggle to take possession of the planet.

The Wind: A Documentary Thriller - 2020 Slamdance Documentary Review

The Documentary: The Wind: A Documentary Thriller

The Director: Michal Bielawski

The Story: The halny wind is the most unpredictable element in the Polish mountains. It comes in cycles, in every spring and autumn. One never knows if or when it turns into a destructive gale.

Shoot to Marry - 2020 Slamdance Documentary Review

The Documentary: Shoot to Marry

The Director: Steve Markle

The Story: A heartbroken documentary filmmaker focuses his camera on interesting women with hopes of meeting the love of his life.

Jasper Mall - 2020 Slamdance Documentary Review

The Documentary: Jasper Mall

The Director: Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb

The Story: A year in the life of a dying shopping mall.

Apollo 11 - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Apollo 11

The Director: Todd Douglas Miller

The Story: A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilots Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

Honeyland - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Honeyland

The Directors: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov

The Story: The last female bee-hunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.

The Serengeti Rules - Documentary Review

The Documentary: The Serengeti Rules

The Director: Nicolas Brown

The Story: Exploring some of the most remote and spectacular places on Earth, five pioneering scientists make surprising discoveries that flip our understanding of nature on its head, and offer new hope for restoring our world.

Kampai! Sake Sisters - 2019 Hawaii International Film Festival Documentary Review

The Movie: Kampai! Sake Sisters

The Director: Mirai Konishi

The Cast: Miho Imada, Rebekah Wilson-Lye and Marie Chiba

The Story: Once forbidden to set foot into sake breweries, today women are the ones driving the most exciting changes within the sake industry in Japan. This documentary delves into the passionate lives of three pioneering women.

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool - Documentary Review

The Movie: Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

The Director: Stanley Nelson

The Story: Miles Davis: Horn player, bandleader, innovator. Miles was a singular force of nature, the very embodiment of cool. The central theme of Miles Davis' life, and of this film is Davis' restless determination to break boundaries and live life on his own terms.

Le Chocolat de H - Movie Review

The Movie: Le Chocolat de H

The Director: Takashi Watanabe

The Story: Explore the world of Hironobu Tsujiguchi and his award-winning artisanal chocolates.

MEMORY - The Origins of Alien - SIFF 2019 Documentary Review

The Documentary: MEMORY - The Origins of Alien

The Director: Alexandre O. Philippe

The Story: The untold origin story behind Ridley Scott's Alien - rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies, underground comics, the art of Francis Bacon, and the dark visions of Dan O'Bannon and H.R. Giger.

Enormous: The Gorge Story - 2019 SIFF Documentary Review

The Documentary: Enormous: The Gorge Story

The Director: Nic Davis

The Story: "The Gorge" has brought over 7 million fans, and the world's biggest musicians, to a patch of rural Washington farmland "150 miles from nowhere."

Lynch: A History - SIFF 2019 Documentary Review

The Documentary: Lynch: A History

The Director: David Shields

The Story: Lynch: A kaleidoscopic look at NFL star Marshawn Lynch and his use of silence as a form of protest and how his journey parallels the black experience in America.