Category Archives: Releases

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>May 7
On VOD

INDIGO GIRLS: IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL
Sundance 2023

Director:
Alexandria Bombach

About:
Blending 40 years of home movies, film archives, and intimate present-day vérité, a poignant reflection from Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of iconic folk rock duo Indigo Girls. A timely look into the obstacles, activism, and life lessons of two queer friends who never expected to make it big.

>May 7
On DVD

KIM’S VIDEO
Sundance 2023

Director:
David Redmon, Ashley Sabin

About:
Playing with the forms and tropes of various cinema genres, the filmmaker sets off on a quest to find a legendary lost video collection of 55,000 movies in Sicily.

>May 10
In Theatres

POWER
Sundance 2024

Director:
Yance Ford

About:
Driven to maintain social order, policing in the United States has exploded in scope and scale over hundreds of years. Now, American policing embodies one word: power.

>May 17
Streaming: On Netflix

POWER
Sundance 2024

Director:
Yance Ford

About:
Driven to maintain social order, policing in the United States has exploded in scope and scale over hundreds of years. Now, American policing embodies one word: power.

>May 20
On TV: Independent Lens

THE TUBA THIEVES
Sundance 2023

Director:
Alison O’Daniel

About:
From 2011 to 2013, tubas were stolen from Los Angeles high schools. This is not a story about thieves or missing tubas. Instead, it asks what it means to listen.

>May 21
Streaming: Paramount+

LOLLA: THE STORY OF LOLLAPALOOZA
Sundance 2024

Director:
Michael John Warren

About:
In the summer of ’91, the Lollapalooza music festival was born. What started as a farewell tour for the band Jane’s Addiction rose from the underground to launch a cultural movement and change music forever.

>May 28
On DVD

ALL THAT BREATHES
Sundance 2022

Director:
Shaunak Sen

About:
Against the darkening backdrop of Delhi’s apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protect one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the Black Kite.

>May 30
Streaming: On OVID

MIDNIGHT TRAVELER
Sundance 2019

Director:
Hassan Fazili

About:
The filmmaker, his wife, and their two daughters face an uncertain road to asylum when they are forced to flee Afghanistan.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>April 1
Streaming: Max

THE SYNANON FIX
Sundance 2024

Director:
Rory Kennedy

About:
Exploring the rise and fall of the Synanon organization — through the eyes of the members who lived it — from its early days as a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation program to its later descent into what many consider a cult.

>April 2
On DVD

INFLUENCE
Sundance 2020

Director:
Diana Neille, Richard Poplak

About:
A deep dive into the rise and fall of disgraced PR/reputation management firm Bell Pottinger.

>April 5
In Theatres

KIM’S VIDEO
Sundance 2023

Director:
David Redmon, Ashley Sabin

About:
Playing with the forms and tropes of various cinema genres, the filmmaker sets off on a quest to find a legendary lost video collection of 55,000 movies in Sicily.

>April 5
Streaming: Apple TV+

GIRLS STATE
Sundance 2024

Director:
Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss

About:
Teenage girls from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri navigate a week-long immersive experiment in American democracy, build a government from the ground up, and reimagine what it means to govern.

>April 9
Streaming: OVID

SIRENS
Sundance 2022

Director:
Rita Baghdadi

About:
On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and Shery, co-founders and guitarists of the Middle East’s first all-female metal band, wrestle with friendship, sexuality, and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars.

>April 10
In Theatres

INDIGO GIRLS: IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL
Sundance 2023

Director:
Alexandria Bombach

About:
Blending 40 years of home movies, film archives, and intimate present-day vérité, a poignant reflection from Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of iconic folk rock duo Indigo Girls. A timely look into the obstacles, activism, and life lessons of two queer friends who never expected to make it big.

>April 12
On TV: Independent Lens

SPACE: THE LONGEST GOODBYE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Ido Mizrahy

About:
Social isolation affects millions of people, even Mars-bound astronauts. A savvy NASA psychologist is tasked with protecting these daring explorers.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>March 8
In Theatres, On VOD, & Streaming

SPACE: THE LONGEST GOODBYE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Ido Mizrahy

About:
Social isolation affects millions of people, even Mars-bound astronauts. A savvy NASA psychologist is tasked with protecting these daring explorers.

>March 12
On DVD

SPACE: THE LONGEST GOODBYE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Ido Mizrahy

About:
Social isolation affects millions of people, even Mars-bound astronauts. A savvy NASA psychologist is tasked with protecting these daring explorers.

>March 14
Streaming: Amazon Prime Video

FRIDA
Sundance 2024

Director:
Carla Gutiérrez

About:
An intimately raw and magical journey through the life, mind, and heart of iconic artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought vividly to life by lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.

>March 15
In Theatres

THE TUBA THIEVES
Sundance 2023

Director:
Alison O’Daniel

About:
From 2011 to 2013, tubas were stolen from Los Angeles high schools. This is not a story about thieves or missing tubas. Instead, it asks what it means to listen.

>March 29
On VOD

SUE BIRD: IN THE CLUTCH
Sundance 2024

Director:
Sarah Dowland

About:
In her 21-year professional career, WNBA basketball legend Sue Bird has won five Olympic gold medals and become the most successful point guard to ever play the game. Alongside her fiancée, US soccer star Megan Rapinoe, Sue confronts her next challenge: retiring from the only life she’s ever known.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>February 2
On TV & Streaming: Paramount+ with Showtime

KOKOMO CITY
Sundance 2023

Director:
D Smith

About:
Four Black transgender sex workers explore the dichotomy between the Black community and themselves, while confronting issues long avoided.

>February 20
On VOD

I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE
Sundance 2022

Director:
Reid Davenport

About:
Spurred by the spectacle of a circus tent that goes up outside his Oakland apartment, a disabled filmmaker launches into an unflinching meditation on freakdom, (in)visibility, and the pursuit of individual agency.

>February 27
Streaming: Paramount+

AS WE SPEAK
Sundance 2024

Director:
JM Harper

About:
Bronx rap artist Kemba explores the growing weaponization of rap lyrics in the United States criminal justice system and abroad — revealing how law enforcement has quietly used artistic creation as evidence in criminal cases for decades.

>February 27
On TV: HBO

GOD SAVE TEXAS: HOMETOWN PRISON
Sundance 2024

Director:
Richard Linklater

About:
Three directors offer their unique and personal perspectives on their home state of Texas, creating vivid portraits of a state that mirrors the United States’ past, present, and future. Inspired by the book God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright.

Huntsville, Texas sits at the heart of an expansive prison industrial complex. Yet, for many residents, these prisons exist in another realm, disconnected from their lives. Richard Linklater revisits his hometown to explore its diverse inhabitants, painting a vibrant portrait that encapsulates the criminal justice system of Texas.

>February 28
On TV: HBO

GOD SAVE TEXAS: LA FRONTERA
Sundance 2024

Director:
Iliana Sosa

About:
Three directors offer their unique and personal perspectives on their home state of Texas, creating vivid portraits of a state that mirrors the United States’ past, present, and future. Inspired by the book God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright.

Iliana Sosa examines how “nepantla,” an embrace of in-betweenness, characterizes relations to both her Mexican heritage and her hometown of El Paso, Texas. An exploration revealing how the city’s humanity and unique hybridity catalyzed unity, nurturing healing in the aftermath of a devastating mass shooting in 2019.

>February 28
On TV: HBO

GOD SAVE TEXAS: THE PRICE OF OIL
Sundance 2024

Director:
Alex Stapleton

About:
Three directors offer their unique and personal perspectives on their home state of Texas, creating vivid portraits of a state that mirrors the United States’ past, present, and future. Inspired by the book God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright.

As the world’s energy capital, Houston is a city that manufactures both its prominence and demise. Alex Stapleton explores the industry’s impact on her family, who arrived as enslaved people in the 1830s, built thriving communities, and now must cope with the human costs of Texas’ biggest money-maker.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>January 8
On TV: HBO & Streaming: MAX

GOING TO MARS
Sundance 2023

Director:
Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson

About:
Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of legendary poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy.

>January 8
On TV: Independent Lens

BEYOND UTOPIA
Sundance 2023

Director:
Madeleine Gavin

About:
Hidden camera footage augments this perilous, high-stakes journey as we embed with families attempting to escape oppression, ultimate revealing a world most of us have never seen.

>January 9
On DVD/VOD

PIANOFORTE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Jakub Piątek

About:
Young pianists take part in the legendary International Chopin Piano Competition. A unique chance of a lifetime, portrayed from backstage and set to Chopin’s music.

>January 9
On VOD

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Nicole Newnham

About:
Shere Hite’s 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings rocked the American establishment and presaged current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy. So how did Shere Hite disappear?

>January 12
In Theatres: Anthology Film Archives

LAST THINGS
Sundance 2023

Director:
Deborah Stratman

About:
Evolution and extinction from the point of view of rocks. A humid take on minerals, where sci-fi meets sci-fact. The geo-biosphere is a place of evolutionary possibility, where humans disappear but life endures.

>January 18
Streaming: Hulu

INVISIBLE BEAUTY
Sundance 2023

Director:
Bethann Hardison, Frédéric Tcheng

About:
Fashion revolutionary Bethann Hardison looks back on her journey as a pioneering Black model, modeling agent, and activist, shining a light on an untold chapter in the fight for racial diversity.

>January 23
On DVD/VOD

SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD
Sundance 2023

Director:
Anna Hints

About:
In the darkness of a smoke sauna, women share their innermost secrets and intimate experiences, washing off the shame trapped in their bodies and regaining their strength through a sense of communion.

>January 24
On DVD

PLAN C
Sundance 2023

Director:
Tracy Droz Tragos

About:
A hidden grassroots organization doggedly fights to expand access to abortion pills across the United States keeping hope alive during a global pandemic and the fall of Roe v Wade.

>January 29
Streaming: Netflix

THE GREATEST NIGHT IN POP
Sundance 2024

Director:
Bao Nguyen

About:
In 1985, 46 music icons, including Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder, came together for the most star-studded recording session in history. This is the untold story of the legendary global pop song “We Are the World” — which very nearly didn’t happen.

>January 30
On DVD

FANTASTIC MACHINE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck

About:
From the first camera to 45 billion cameras worldwide today, the visual sociologist filmmakers widen their lens to expose both humanity’s unique obsession with the camera’s image and the social consequences that lay ahead.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>December 1
In Theatres

PIANOFORTE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Jakub Piątek

About:
Young pianists take part in the legendary International Chopin Piano Competition. A unique chance of a lifetime, portrayed from backstage and set to Chopin’s music.

>December 1
In Theatres

JOONAM
Sundance 2023

Director:
Sierra Urich

About:
Spurred by a provocative family memory and a lifetime of separation from the country her mother left behind, a young filmmaker delves into her mother and grandmother’s complicated pasts and her own fractured Iranian identity.

>December 19
On DVD

INVISIBLE BEAUTY
Sundance 2023

Director:
Bethann Hardison, Frédéric Tcheng

About:
Fashion revolutionary Bethann Hardison looks back on her journey as a pioneering Black model, modeling agent, and activist, shining a light on an untold chapter in the fight for racial diversity.

>December 21
Streaming: Paramount+

WILLIE NELSON & FAMILY
Sundance 2023

Director:
Thom Zimny, Oren Moverman

About:
The first authorized work exploring the extraordinary life of Willie Nelson traverses the personal and career ups, downs, and in-betweens of one of the world’s most beloved musicians, by turns spiritual, dramatic, and playful.

>December 31
Re-released on DVD

THE AMBASSADOR
Sundance 2012

Director:
Mads Brügger

About:
A provocative look at high level international governmental corruption.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>November 3:
In Theatres

GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT
Sundance 2023

Director:
Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson

About:
Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of legendary poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy.

>November 3
In Theatres

TWICE COLONIZED
Sundance 2023

Director:
Lin Alluna

About:
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter has long fought for the rights of her people. When her son suddenly dies, Aaju embarks on a journey to reclaim her language and culture after a lifetime of whitewashing and forced assimilation. But can she both change the world and mend her own wounds?

>November 7
On DVD

MURDER IN BIG HORN
Sundance 2023

Director:
Razelle Benally, Matthew Galkin

About:
The deaths of a group of Native American women in rural Montana are the focus as Native families, journalists, and local law enforcement reveal a violent crisis set in motion almost 200 years ago.

>November 10
In Theatres

A STILL SMALL VOICE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Luke Lorentzen

About:
An aspiring hospital chaplain begins a yearlong residency in spiritual care, only to discover that to successfully tend to her patients, she must look deep within herself.

>November 14
On VOD

PLAN C
Sundance 2023

Director:
Tracy Droz Tragos

About:
A hidden grassroots organization doggedly fights to expand access to abortion pills across the United States keeping hope alive during a global pandemic and the fall of Roe v Wade.

>November 17
In Theatres

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Nicole Newnham

About:
Shere Hite’s 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings rocked the American establishment and presaged current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy. So how did Shere Hite disappear?

>November 24
In Theatres

SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD
Sundance 2023

Director:
Anna Hints

About:
In the darkness of a smoke sauna, women share their innermost secrets and intimate experiences, washing off the shame trapped in their bodies and regaining their strength through a sense of communion.

>November 24
In Theatres

AGAINST THE TIDE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Sarvnik Kaur

About:
Two friends, both Indigenous fishermen, are driven to desperation by a dying sea. Their friendship begins to fracture as they take very different paths to provide for their struggling families.

>November 28
On DVD

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL
Sundance 2023

Director:
Mstyslav Chernov

About:
As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war’s atrocities.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>October 6:
In Theatres

PLAN C
Sundance 2023

Director:
Tracy Droz Tragos

About:
A hidden grassroots organization doggedly fights to expand access to abortion pills across the United States keeping hope alive during a global pandemic and the fall of Roe v Wade.

>October 13
In Theatres

FANTASTIC MACHINE
Sundance 2023

Director:
Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck

About:
From the first camera to 45 billion cameras worldwide today, the visual sociologist filmmakers widen their lens to expose both humanity’s unique obsession with the camera’s image and the social consequences that lay ahead.

>October 21
In Theatres

LEAP OF FAITH: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON THE EXORCIST
Sundance 2020

Director:
Alexandre O Philippe

About:
A dissection of the 1973 horror classic through an extensive conversation with its director.

>October 23-24
In Theatres

BEYOND UTOPIA
Sundance 2023

Director:
Madeleine Gavin

About:
Hidden camera footage augments this perilous, high-stakes journey as we embed with families attempting to escape oppression, ultimate revealing a world most of us have never seen.

>October 24
On DVD & Streaming

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLEN GINSBERG
Sundance 1993

Director:
Jerry Aronson

About:
A chronicle of the life of the famed father of beat poetry, from his childhood days in New Jersey to his years spent at Columbia University.

>October 27
In Theatres

BAD PRESS
Sundance 2023

Director:
Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler

About:
When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring its free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian country.

>October 27
In Theatres

DEEP RISING
Sundance 2023

Director:
Matthieu Rytz

About:
The fate of the planet’s last untouched wilderness, the deep ocean, is under threat as a secretive organization is about to allow massive extraction of seabed metals to address the world’s energy crisis.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>September 11:
Streaming: OVID

CHILE, OBSTINATE MEMORY
Sundance 1998

Director:
Patricio Guzmán

About:
After twenty-three years in exile, the filmmaker returns to Chile to document the memories of the survivors from deposed democratic leader Salvador Allende’s intimate circle.

>September 13
Streaming: OVID

USERS
Sundance 2021

Director:
Natalia Almada

About:
A thought-provoking essay about the unexpected consequences of our dependence on technology.

>September 15
In Theatres

INVISIBLE BEAUTY
Sundance 2023

Director:
Bethann Hardison, Frédéric Tcheng

About:
Fashion revolutionary Bethann Hardison looks back on her journey as a pioneering Black model, modeling agent, and activist, shining a light on an untold chapter in the fight for racial diversity.

The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:

>August 11:
In Theatres

THE ETERNAL MEMORY
Sundance 2023

Director:
Maite Alberdi

About:
Augusto and Paulina have been together for 25 years. Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Both fear the day he no longer recognizes her.

>August 11
In Theatres & On VOD

KING COAL
Sundance 2023

Director:
Elaine McMillion Sheldon

About:
The cultural roots of coal continue to permeate the rituals of daily life in Appalachia even as its economic power wanes. The journey of a coal miner’s daughter exploring the region’s dreams and myths, untangling the pain and beauty, as her community sits on the brink of massive change.

>August 15
On VOD

KOKOMO CITY
Sundance 2023

Director:
D Smith

About:
Four Black transgender sex workers explore the dichotomy between the Black community and themselves, while confronting issues long avoided.