Documentary DVD & Blu-rays 2023 List

With Geeta Gandbhir • Sam Pollard

The passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 represented not the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement, but the beginning of a new, crucial chapter. Nowhere was this next battle better epitomized than in Lowndes County, Alabama, a rural, impoverished county with a vicious history of racist terrorism. In a county that was 80 percent Black but had zero Black voters, laws were just paper without power. This isn’t a story of hope but of action. Through first person accounts and searing archival footage, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power tells the story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power in Lowndes County.

With Garrett Stewart Sayre • Steve Sayre

Described as the definitive documentary on the subject of the afterlife based on all currently available scientific and historical evidence and has taken 12 years of in-depth research and investigation to complete. The feature-length film explores the paranormal and the relationship of life after life to science. Various religious and scientific perspectives are examined through interviews with some of the preeminent experts in their fields asserting that "death is not the end."

With Kathlyn Horan

Trailblazing, hell-raising country music legend Tanya Tucker defied the standards of how a woman in country music was supposed to behave. Decades after Tanya slipped from the spotlight, rising Americana music star Brandi Carlile takes it upon herself to write an entire album for her hero based on Tanya’s extraordinary life, spurring the greatest comeback in country music history.

The Return of Tanya Tucker follows Tanya’s richly creative, utterly captivating, bumpy ride back to the top as Brandi encourages her to push past her fears to create a new sound and reach a new audience. The writing, the experimenting, and refining of this new music mixes with all that came before – using rare archival footage and photographs to delve into Tanya’s history, beginning in a single wide trailer in Seminole, Texas.

With Bentley Dean • Chris Veerhuis

A feature length documentary that digs deep into the psyche of enigmatic West Australian ‘slab wave’ surfer Kerby Brown, a man whose connection with the ocean runs as deep as his love for his family. This film is far more than just a surfing story. It’s an unapologetic musing into the essence of Kerby and his family as we join them on his quest to ride a ferocious slab wave in the deep southern ocean that no one on the planet has surfed before. It’s a film about fear, addictions, and family bonds as we explore what drives Kerby, what anchors him and why he’s obsessed with pitting himself against one of nature’s most intimidating forces.

With Josh Alexander

Rabble rouser or activist? Opportunist or trailblazer? During his six-decade journey from pastoral prodigy to racial justice firebrand to elder media statesman, the Reverend Al Sharpton has been a polarizing figure on the national stage

With Renate Sachse • Patricio Guzmán

One day, without warning, a revolution exploded. It was the event that 80-year-old master documentarian Patricio Guzmán had been waiting for and working toward all his life: a million and a half people in the streets of Santiago, the Chilean capital, demanding justice, education, health care, and a new constitution to replace the strident rules imposed on the country during the Pinochet military dictatorship. Urgent and topical, My Imaginary Country features harrowing front-line protest footage and interviews with the dynamic activist leaders who are bringing about a regime change. Guzmán powerfully connects Chile's complex, bloody history to contemporary revolutionary social movements and the election of a popular new president.

With Lorenzo Arana Orellano • Jose Ruiz Orejon Casado • Rene Amor Fernandez • Juan Muñoz Santiago • Jose Antonio Sanchez Sanchez • Francisco Perez de los Cobos Avila

One of the best trans films you’ve likely never heard of, Antonio Giménez-Rico’s landmark 1983 documentary Dressed in Blue (Vestida de Azul) explores the lives and loves of a group of six transgender women living in Madrid in the years following Spain’s transition to democracy.

With Chase Joynt • Silas Howard • Jen Richards • Max Wolf Valerio • Stephen Ira • Zackary Drucker • Angelica Ross • Morgan M Page • Jules Gill-Peterson

The pseudonymous Agnes was a pioneering transgender woman who participated in an infamous gender health study conducted at UCLA in the 1960s. Her clever use of the study to gain access to gender-affirming healthcare led to her status as a fascinating and celebrated figure in trans history. In this innovative cinematic exercise that blends fiction and nonfiction, director Chase Joynt (No Ordinary Man) uses Agnes’s story, along with others unearthed in long-shelved case files, to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed. Through a collaborative practice of reimagination, an all-star cast of trans performers, artists, and thinkers – including Angelica Ross (Pose), Jen Richards (Mrs. Fletcher), and Zackary Drucker (Transparent) – take on vividly rendered, impeccably vintage reenactments, bringing to life groundbreaking artifacts of trans history.

With Luca Gudagnino

The documentary tracks Salvatore Ferragamo’s fascinating personal, artistic and business story, from his childhood in Bonito, where he made his first pair of shoes, to his journey to America to seek his fortune, from his experiences in Hollywood to his return to Italy, from the verge of bankruptcy to resurgence in his Florence factory and rise to definitive acclaim.

With Kevin Casanova Abrams

The explosive true story of America's most corrupt police unit, the Gun Trace Task Force, which terrorized the city of Baltimore for a half-decade. Based on the acclaimed book of the same name, this documentary takes viewers around every twist and turn of a real-life cat-and-mouse game where cops are also robbers and those meant to protect our safety turn out to be the ones jeopardizing it.

With Lizzie Gottlieb

Turn Every Page explores the remarkable fifty-year relationship between two literary legends, writer Robert Caro and his longtime editor Robert Gottlieb. Now 86, Caro is working to complete the final volume of his masterwork, The Years of Lyndon Johnson; Gottlieb, 91, waits to edit it. The task of finishing their life’s work looms before them. With humor and insight, this unique double portrait reveals the work habits, peculiarities and professional joys of these two ferocious intellects at the culmination of a journey that has consumed both their lives and impacted generations of politicians, activists, writers, and readers.

With Billy Boyd • Marlon Wayans • Abigail Breslin • Don Mancini • Brad Dourif • Jennifer Tilly • John Waters • Lin Shaye • Christine Elise McCarthy • Tony Timpone • Fiona Dourif • Alex Vincent • David Kirschner • James A. Janisse • Tony Gardner • Elle Lorraine • Kyra Elise Gardner • Dan Povenmire • Adam Hurtig • Kyra Gardner

Living with Chucky takes an in depth look at the groundbreaking Child’s Play franchise from the perspective of a filmmaker who grew up within it. Featuring interviews with cast and crew such as Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Alex Vincent, creator Don Mancini, and much more, this personal film recounts the dedication, creativity and sacrifice that went into making the franchise and its long-lasting impact on the horror community.

With Glenn Howerton • Hailee Cruzen • Brandon Ruiz • Sarah Minnich • Allison Otto

A captivating crime documentary about the heist one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century, Willem de Kooning's "Woman-Ochre," which was brazenly cut from its frame in 1985 while hanging at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. 32 years later, the painting was found hanging in the New Mexico home of an eccentric married couple with a keen eye for great works but a very unconventional method of collecting them.

With Willem Dafoe • Jennifer Peedom

An exploration of the timeless relationship between human civilization and Earth’s rivers. Spanning six continents, this visual and musical tour-de-force is by turns celebratory, cautionary, and ultimately hopeful that we are beginning to understand rivers in all their complexity and fragility. Narrated by Oscar Nominee Willem Dafoe.

With Barbara Bentree

Kevin Box has always known exactly what he intends to do with his life. In his words, "I want to have a conversation with people now and hundreds of years into the future." The "ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN FILM" is the origin story for Kevin and his wife Jennifer as they hone their craft of metal sculpture and develop powerful messages of peace…inspired from within their magical studio compound in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The film is also a Love Story and a beautiful spiritual transformation that begins during their relationship with a metal foundry in Thailand. Kevin has designed brilliant collaborations with Robert J. Lang, Beth Johnson and Michael LaFosse who are some of the most famous origami artists in the world! Their inspired and tireless journey will be appreciated by anyone who understands the tremendous leaps of faith that are necessary to become a successful entrepreneur and artist. Over 3 million people have visited their traveling exhibition titled "ORIGAMI IN THE GARDEN" and the word about Kevin and Jennifer Box is spreading fast. It’s truly amazing what Kevin can do starting with just a simple piece of paper!

With Marq Evans

A modern day Walt Disney, Will Vinton picked up a ball of clay and saw a world of potential. Known as the “Father of Claymation,” Vinton revolutionized the animation business during the 1980’s and 90’s. But after 30 years of being the unheralded king of clay, Will Vinton’s carefully sculpted American dream came crumbling down.

With Gianfranco Rosi

IN VIAGGIO: THE TRAVELS OF POPE FRANCIS is a decade-long chronicling of the head of the Catholic church, from Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi (FIRE AT SEA, NOTTURNO). In the first nine years of his pontificate, Pope Francis made trips to 53 countries, focusing on his most important issues: poverty, migration, environment, solidarity, and war. Composed mostly of archival footage, the documentary grants rare access to the public life of the pontifical, not only from the elevated security of a pulpit but from the more democratic grounds of unpaved streets and vast public avenues, creating a dialogue between footage of Francis' travels, images taken by Rosi himself, recent history, and the state of the world today.

With Bernard-Henri Lévy

French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy returns to the big screen with an ode to the courageous public and armed forces of Ukraine in the ongoing conflict with Russia. BHL's latest film stands as a call to action for the West to continue delivering support with increasing urgency and solidarity.

With Suzanne Raes

Go behind the scenes of the largest Vermeer exhibition ever mounted, now on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Capturing the imagination of the art world – with glowing reviews, global publicity, and tickets sold out through the entirety of its run – the Rijksmuseum's Vermeer retrospective is nothing short of an historic event. Suzanne Raes’s film follows curators, conservators, collectors, and experts in their joint mission to shine a new light on the elusive Dutch Master. This fascinating documentary reveals everything from the quiet diplomacy required to get the Vermeers to the Netherlands and the new technical knowledge gained by scanning the paintings layer by layer, to the shocking news that one work may not be by Vermeer after all. In the process, we discover how Vermeer was able to depict reality so differently from his contemporaries. But above all, Close to Vermeer shows the infectious love Vermeer’s art inspires.

With Lisa Cortés

Little Richard: I Am Everything tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything.

With Robert Englund • Kane Hodder • Lin Shaye • Eli Roth • Bill Moseley • Tony Todd • Adam Green • Christopher Griffiths • Lance Henriksen • Nancy Englund • Doug Bradley • Gary Smart • Heather Langenkamp

A classically trained actor and director, Robert Englund has become one of the most revolutionary horror icons of our generation. Throughout his career, Englund starred in many well-known movies, but shot to super-stardom with his portrayal of supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise. This unique and intimate portrait captures the man behind the glove and features interviews with Englund and his wife Nancy, Lin Shaye, Eli Roth, Tony Todd, Heather Langenkamp and more.

With Oliver Stone

NUCLEAR NOW takes viewers on a mind-opening journey with legendary director Oliver Stone as he reveals the true history of nuclear energy and its potential to solve climate change. The looming climate crisis remains unresolved, and the volume of carbon-free electricity needed over the next 30 years is almost unimaginable. This film aims to remove the fears associated with nuclear energy and highlight the sustainability and affordability it can bring in the pursuit of restoring the world’s ecosystems and economies.

With Jon Lovitz • Taylor Morden

Produced in a mixed-media format including animation and storyboarded sequences, Unstuffed: A Build-A-Bear Story explores the origins of the “teddy bear” as well as the psychological importance of stuffed animals in childhood development. Sprinkled with heartwarming stories of Build-A-Bear’s lasting and emotional impact on the lives of everyday people to celebrities, the documentary is told through the eyes of a teddy bear narrator (voiced by Jon Lovitz) as it follows the furry footsteps of a single idea that reimagined not one, but two industries. The documentary starts with founder Maxine Clark’s 1997 entrepreneurial inspiration to launch an experiential mall-based retailer where kids could make their own stuffed animals, to one that has grown into a multi-generational pop culture iconic brand with a global footprint.