what (not) to doc

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, June 21:
THE STORY WON’T DIE

Director:
David Henry Gerson

World Premiere:
Hot Docs 2021

Select Festivals:
AFI Docs, Watch Docs, Poland’s American Fest, Woods Hole

About:
A portrait of a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to process their ongoing trauma and to express themselves as they never could under the repressive regime that forced them into exile.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, June 21:
THE BEATLES AND INDIA

Director:
Ajoy Bose, Peter Compton

World Premiere:
UK Asian Film Festival 2021

Select Festivals:
Thessaloniki Doc, Valladolid, Gent

About:
A unique historical chronicle of the enduring love affair between The Beatles and India, which started more than half a century ago.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Wednesday, June 22:
WE (NOUS)

Director:
Alice Diop

World Premiere:
Berlin 2021

Select Festivals:
IDFA, New Directors/New Films, BFI London, Karlovy Vary, Indieslisboa, Bergen, Cinéma du Réel, Taipei, Cairo, Bilbao, DOXA, Visions du Réel

About:
A nuanced, kaleidoscopic portrait of people from largely Black and immigrant communities in the Parisian suburbs.

Coming to ESPN’s 30 for 30 series as well as ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21:
37 WORDS

Director:
Dawn Porter, Nicole Newnham

World Premiere:
ESPN (June 2022)

About:
A docuseries chronicling the hard-fought battle of Title IX in upholding equal rights in education and athletics.

Coming to Fuse tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21:
BEING BEBE

Director:
Emily Branham

World Premiere:
Tribeca 2021

Select Festivals:
Provincetown, NewFest, Outfest, BFI Flare, Tallgrass, Sound Unseen, Image+Nation, Heartland

About:
In 2009, Bebe Zahara Benet was crowned the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, but the franchise hadn’t yet achieved notoriety, so without an infrastructure to support her next steps, Bebe is confronted with the fickleness of fame.

Coming to HBO and HBO Max today, Monday, June 20:
MIND OVER MURDER

Director:
Nanfu Wang

World Premiere:
HBO (June 2022)

About:
A docuseries chronicling the bizarre and psychologically complex story of the “Beatrice Six,” convicted for the 1985 murder of a beloved 68- year-old grandmother, Helen Wilson, in Beatrice, Nebraska, but later exonerated by DNA evidence, dividing the rural town.

Coming to PBS’s POV tonight, Monday, June 20:
WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN?

Director:
Christine Choy, Renee Tajima-Peña

World Premiere:
New Directors/New Films 1987

Notable Recognition:
The film was was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

About:
An in-depth investigation into the racially motivated murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, murdered by two white men, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, in Detroit, Michigan on June 19, 1982, and a chronicle of how the case brought together disparate Asian American communities into a national movement. Re-presented in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Chin’s murder.

Coming to Film Movement Plus today, Friday, June 17:
SELFIE

Director:
Agostino Ferrente

World Premiere:
Berlin 2019

Select Festivals:
Sheffield, Cinéma du Réel, BAFICI, Thessaloniki Doc, Reykjavik, Goteborg, Taiwan Doc

About:
Two 16-year-olds film themselves with a cell phone to tell the story of their friendship, the tragedy of Davide, and their lives in the rough Traiano district of Naples.