Documentary Movies 2017 List

With Errol Morris

Profiles portrait photographer Elsa Dorfman through her work with the Polaroid Land 20x24 camera and her Cambridge, Mass., studio, where she captured families, Beat poets, rock stars and Harvard standouts.

With T. C. Christensen

The inspiring true story of the miraculous life of Kennedy Hansen.

With Zeva Oelbaum • Sabine Krayenbühl

The story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. Bell shaped the destiny of Iraq after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. More influential than her friend and colleague T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia), why has she been written out of the history?

With Chris Brown • Andrew Sandler • Andrew Listermann

Features new interviews with singer-songwriter Chris Brown and reveals long-awaited answers about his passion for making music, his tumultuous and much publicized relationships, and the pitfalls of coming of age in the public eye. It also includes brand-new concert footage, behind-the-scenes access and special interviews from Usher, Jennifer Lopez, DJ Khaled, Mary J Blige, Mike Tyson, Rita Ora, Jamie Foxx, Terrence Jenkins and more.

With Andrew Cohn

Indianapolis has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country. For adult learners Greg, Melissa and Shynika, finally earning their high school diplomas could be a life-changing achievement. Andrew Cohn’s documentary observes their individual pursuits, fraught with the challenges of daily life and the broader systemic roadblocks faced by many low income Americans.

With Lorenzo DeStefano

Introduces the world to the young musician & composter Rachel Flowers. Born premature, she soon lost her eyesight but had perfect pitch. The film illuminates the bonds of family and the divine mysteries of creativity.

With Sierra Pettengill • Pacho Velez

The Reagan Show is constructed entirely through 1980s network news and videotapes created by the Reagan administration itself to track former President Ronald Reagan's Hollywood-powered and public-savvy image.

With James Cameron • Danny Elfman • Quincy Jones • Matt Schrader • Hans Zimmer • Rachel Portman • Trent Reznor

What makes a film score unforgettable? Score: A Film Music Documentary brings Hollywood's elite composers together to give viewers a privileged look inside the musical challenges and creative secrecy of the world's most international music genre: the film score. A film composer is a musical scientist of sorts, and the influence they have to complement a film and garner powerful reactions from global audiences can be a daunting task to take on. The documentary contains interviews with dozens of film composers who discuss their craft and the magic of film music while exploring the making of the most iconic and beloved scores in history: James Bond, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Titanic, The Social Network, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Psycho.