Documentary of the Week
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Technology has made non-fiction film easier to make, more available and more popular than ever before. Here, WNYC selects the best documentaries as they come to screens of any size. Every week, WNYC tells you about the best documentaries as they become available on screens of any size. Our hosts are Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, co-founders of the Pure Nonfiction podcast and the DOC NYC..
Documentary of the Week
1w ago
"Angola Do You Hear Us?" follows Liza Jessie Peterson as she performs her one woman show, "The Peculiar Patriot" at Louisiana's Angola Prison. Filmmaker Cinque Northern captures how the event raises excitement for the inmates and tensions for the guards.
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Documentary of the Week
2w ago
"38 at the Garden" looks back on Jeremy Lin's phenomenal scoring streak with the New York Knicks in 2012 and what it meant for Asian Americans. Filmmaker Frank Chi interviews Lin along with comedian Hassan Minaj, journalist Lisa Ling and others who reflect on how "Linsanity" became about more than just basketball.
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Documentary of the Week
3w ago
In "Bad Axe," filmmaker David Siev documents his immigrant family running their restaurant during the 2020 challenges of COVID and a racial reckoning. When tensions rise, the family has to choose when and how to make a stand.
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Documentary of the Week
1M ago
"Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb" looks at the relationship between Lyndon Johnson's biographer and his editor. Filmmaker Lizzie Gottlieb brings a personal perspective as the editor's daughter.
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Documentary of the Week
1M ago
Joyce Chopra, who made the ground-breaking 1972 personal documentary "Joyce at 34," has published a new memoir called "Lady Director." A collection of her films is now available on Criterion.
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Documentary of the Week
1M ago
"To the End" follows young activists with the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats as they join forces with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to push the Green New Deal. Filmmaker Rachel Lears examines the idealism, road blocks and breakthroughs as the activists face pushback from the fossil fuel industry and its political supporters.
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Documentary of the Week
2M ago
"2nd Chance" profiles the complicated life Richard Davis whose invention of body armor saved lives while he ducked scandals. Filmmaker Ramin Bahrani explores American myth-making around guns, retribution and redemption.
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Documentary of the Week
2M ago
"Descendant" explores the legacy of the last known slave ship that arrived in Mobile, Alabama in 1860. Filmmaker Margaret Brown profiles the descendants of enslaved Africans who were aboard the ship and the family that financed it.
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Documentary of the Week
2M ago
Before there was Robert Downey Jr., there was his namesake father, an underground filmmaker, who's profiled in "Sr." Documentarian Chris Smith follows the two generations of Downeys as they seek to become closer and the father feels his mortality.
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Documentary of the Week
2M ago
"Fragments of Paradise" celebrates the life of Jonas Mekas, co-founder of New York's Anthology Film Archives, who left a lasting legacy on the New York film world. Directed by KD Davison, the film premieres among nearly 200 films at the DOC NYC festival in theaters and online.
"Fragments of Paradise" premieres Saturday, Nov. 12 at DOC NYC.
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