2023 Movies : Documentary

With Ted Youngs

With their superstar “Rigo” Urán coming back from a catastrophic injury, the U.S.A.’s oldest professional cycling team must come together as they face the sport’s biggest contest: the Tour de France.

Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is a limited docuseries exposing the truth beneath the wholesome Americana surface of reality tv’s favorite mega-family, The Duggars, and the radical organization behind them: The Institute in Basic Life Principles. As details of the family and their scandals unfold, we realize they’re part of an insidious, much-larger threat already in motion, with democracy itself in peril.

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

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 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 Sean Claffey

Americonned is a film about income inequality in the US and the tragic destabilizing effects to Americans. Radical inequality has led to radicalization at every level of society, and this powerful documentary depicts what happens when America hits its tipping point by looking back through our history at similar critical moments of instability. The labor movement of the past was born in times just like these. We must restore the path to the once great middle class that now suffers in silence. Despite increases in productivity in recent decades, compensation for the American worker has been stagnant. And now, 47% of American jobs are at high risk of being lost to automation and A.I. by the mid-2030s.

With Natalia Almada

Users begins with a mother’s question–will my children love the perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother? She pushes the button and a smart crib lulls her crying baby to sleep, flawlessly every time. This question guides her inquiry into the intimate relationship we have with technology that is increasingly driving all aspects of our society. We explore the unintended and often dehumanizing consequences of our society's embedded belief that technological progress will lead to the betterment of humanity. Is technological progress inevitable? Are we all increasingly isolated? Do we really have agency to direct its course? Is technology an expression of our humanity or is technology destroying our humanity? The film will be a critical and intimate meditation on these questions.

With Sean Claffey

Americonned is a film about income inequality in the US and the tragic destabilizing effects to Americans. Radical inequality has led to radicalization at every level of society, and this powerful documentary depicts what happens when America hits its tipping point by looking back through our history at similar critical moments of instability. The labor movement of the past was born in times just like these. We must restore the path to the once great middle class that now suffers in silence. Despite increases in productivity in recent decades, compensation for the American worker has been stagnant. And now, 47% of American jobs are at high risk of being lost to automation and A.I. by the mid-2030s.

With David Attenborough

Unlock the mysteries of billions of animals on the move across Earth in this nature documentary series about our planet's great migrations.

With David Gelb

Director David Gelb weaves this footage together to tell the story of Lee’s life, both successes and pitfalls alike. Voice recordings are accompanied by archived interview clips, newsreels, and even clay models that immerse fans in his incredible yet complicated mind. Some of the writer’s closest colleagues, like Flo Steinberg, also provide their voices to this engaging film, which offers an intimate look at arguably the most influential comic publisher of all time.

With Rene De Dios • James “JD Hammer” Fuqua • Shannon Bustamante • William Fundora • Albert Poledri • Jorge Ramos • Kevin Pagan

In 1970s Miami Beach, a group of teenage outcasts bond together on a rocky sport fishing pier, one-upping each other for bragging rights to the biggest shark catch of all time. The epic endless summers of surfing and skating ultimately remind us that sport and craft can be the cornerstones to teaching life lessons bigger than just fishing. A film about lost legends, a band of brothers, and the greatest fish stories told on screen since Jaws, with a galvanizing blend of jaw-dropping archival footage and interviews with original club members who recall stories ranging from uproarious to riveting.

With Lachlan McLeod • Sandra Pankhurst

Trauma cleaners clean spaces that no one else will touch – hoarder sites, meth-labs, murder scenes, deaths and suicides. They clean the homes of some of society’s most vulnerable people – the neglected, the lonely, the addicted, and the mentally unwell. When illness forces her away from her beloved trauma cleaning business, Sandra Pankhurst faces up to her traumatic past and begins a search for her birth mother. Meanwhile, her workers approach this difficult work with camaraderie and humor, bringing hope to their clients despite carrying trauma of their own. Clean shows us that life is more fragile than we might think, but there is hope and reassurance in human connection.

With Jack Youngelson

The documentary film Here. Is. Better. follows four of these Veterans, each with diverse backgrounds and service experience, as they undergo the most clinically effective, evidence-based trauma psychotherapies for PTSD.

With Alex Holmes • Perico Delgado • Laurent Fignon • Cyrille Guimard • Greg LeMond • Kathy LeMond

The heroic true story of American cyclist Greg LeMond, considered to be one of the greatest cyclists of all time, who defied the odds for one of the most triumphant comeback stories in sporting history. The first, and only, American to win the Tour de France, LeMond came back from the brink of death to beat his famed rivals in the historic and nail-biting race at the 1989 Tour de France.

With Nancy Buirski

A half century after its release, Midnight Cowboy remains one of the most original and groundbreaking movies of the modern era. With beguiling performances from Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman as two loners who join forces out of desperation, blacklist survivor Waldo Salt's brilliant screenplay, and John Schlesinger's fearless direction, the 1969 film became the only X- rated film to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Its vivid and compassionate depiction of a more realistic, unsanitized New York City and its inhabitants paved the way for a generation’s worth of gritty movies with complex characters and adult themes. But this is not a documentary about the making of Midnight Cowboy: it is about the deeply gifted and flawed people behind a dark and difficult masterpiece; New York City in a troubled time of cultural ferment; and the era that made a movie and the movie that made an era. Featuring extensive archival material and compelling new interviews, director Nancy Buirski illuminates how one film captured the essence of a time and a place, reflecting a rapidly changing society with striking clarity.

With Aditya Thayi

From groundbreaking human cloning research to a scandalous downfall, this documentary tells the captivating story of Korea’s most notorious scientist.

With Susan Stern

Before Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE, there was Susan Stern’s BARBIE NATION - a gritty, inside look into the evolution of the cultural phenomenon. From Barbie beauty contests, to Barbie crucifixions, and even a report on the consumption of Barbie heads for sexual gratification, BARBIE NATION explores the peculiar ways in which people have embraced Barbie throughout history.

With Benjamin Cantu

A glittery nightclub in 1920s Berlin becomes a haven for the queer community in this documentary exploring the freedoms lost amid Hitler’s rise to power.

With Peter Nicks

Reflecting upon “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Anthem” follows acclaimed composer Kris Bowers (“Bridgerton,” “When They See Us,” “King Richard”) and GRAMMY®-winning music producer Dahi (Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Drake) as they take a musical journey traveling across America to create a new sound, inspired by what our country’s national anthem might be if written in today’s time.

With Stephen Kijak

One of Hollywoods most iconic leading men of the 1950s & '60s, Rock Hudson was the embodiment of romantic masculinity & heterosexuality until his diagnosis & death from AIDS in 1985. The documentary Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed tells the story of a man living a double life – while his public persona was carefully manufactured by his handlers, orchestrated by the studio system, and reinforced by a marriage of convenience, Hudson had to keep his private life shrouded in secrecy since the revelation of who he really was would have ended his career given the anti-gay attitudes of the time. Hiding his true sexuality from the media and the fans who were eager to embrace such a paragon of male heterosexuality, Hudson enjoyed a private lifestyle at odds with his public image. Through the lens of colleagues, close friends and lovers, and with a wealth of well-chosen film clips, personal photographs and home videos, the film contextualizes Hudson’s cinematic contribution as one of the last great stars of the studio system and celebrates his enduring legacy as a screen icon who helped change the public perception of AIDS forever.

With James Lapine • Rose Styron

Tony-winning playwright and director James Lapine (Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George) befriends Rose Styron, the widow of the great American novelist William Styron (Sophie’s Choice). Rose shares the fascinating story of her complex life as a poet, journalist, human rights activist, life partner to William, and friend of the Kennedys, Phillip Roth, Carly Simon, the Clintons, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein, Meryl Streep, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and many other luminaries of her time.

With Noah Oppenheim • River Gallo • Julie Cohen • Tommy Nguyen • Molly O'Brien • Alicia Roth Weigel • Sean Saifa Wall • Elizabeth Fischer • Liz Cole • Andy Berg

A revelatory investigation of the lives of intersex people. The film tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and instead came out as their authentic selves.