List
Spotlight on Women Directors: Documentaries
Enjoy this wide array of critically acclaimed documentaries from around the world. Compiled by Sharon, Rummanah, and Chris.
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Four Daughters
2024Get this itemThis 2023 Oscar nominated documentary by Kaouther Ben Hania pushes the boundaries of what constitutes a documentary by inserting metacommentary and actors playing the roles of absent people. What could have been a sensationalized story of radicalism becomes a nuanced look at the complex relationships among mother and daughter, a patriarchal society, and intergenerational trauma.
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Being Thunder
2023Get this itemIndependent filmmaker Stéphanie Lamorré turns her lens on Sherente Mishitashin Harris, a two-spirit genderqueer teenager from the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island, chronicling their activism and efforts for more gender inclusivity in the traditionally female competitive fancy shawl dance. It’s revealing, insightful, moving, and joyful.
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Every Body
2023Get this itemAn eye-opening documentary that shines a light on the too often ignored intersex community. Julie Cohen’s empathetic storytelling makes this film a personal journey as she spotlights the lives of three charismatic and endearing intersex activists. This 2024 GLAAD nominee is a must watch, as is her previous Oscar nominated documentary, RGB.
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Writing with Fire
2022Get this itemCreated by husband and wife team Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas, this gives the audience an intimate look at the caste system and what it means to be a woman in India. Their story is multi-layered, fascinating, and inspiring. This must-watch documentary was nominated for an Oscar in 2022.
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Attica
2022Get this itemCodirectors Traci Curr and Stanley Nelson delve into the history and circumstances of the 1971 prison uprising at Attica Correctional Facility. Via interviews from several involved and archival/news footage, they deliver a powerful and jarring narrative of events that ties directly to existing injustices in the criminal justice system 50 years later. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2022.
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Faya dayi
2022Get this itemShot over the course of a decade, Jessica Beshir's film takes viewers deep into the rural Ethiopian region of Harar, where she lived as a child. Lyrically filmed in black and white, it explores Khat, the flowering evergreen shrub known for its narcotic properties. This is not just an issue film, nor is it some dour polemic, but rather something almost ambient, more interested in texture, mood, flow, and intoxication. It won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary in 2022.
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Breaking Bread
2022Get this itemDr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel was the first Muslim Arab to win Israel’s reality TV show MasterChef. Believing that food is a path to social change, she initiated a food festival in Haifa where Arab and Jewish chefs work side by side to cook up delicious dishes. Director Beth Elise Hawk unveils the universal message of friendship and hope.
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Time
2022Get this itemOne of the most compelling documentaries in recent years, filmmaker Garrett Bradley focuses on Sibil Fox Richardson, who spent two decades fighting to get her husband paroled from prison. Bradley ingeniously combines original film and home videos, which leads us to the unforgettable final scene. It is no wonder that this was nominated for an Oscar in 2021.
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Ascension
2022Get this itemFilmed across China, Jessica Kingdon looks at the labor force, productivity, and innovation (from factory workers to executive positions), as well as supply chains, social classes, and the pursuit of wealth. We admire her choice to use an observational structure to make a truly absorbing, unconventional doc. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature in 2022.
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Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It
2021Get this itemRita Moreno is a distinguished performer who has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards, and director Mariem Pérez Riera beautifully showcases her incredible path and the challenges of racism and sexism she faced in the entertainment industry. With new interviews, archival movie clips, and photos, along with current footage, this engrossing film was nominated at Sundance Film Festival in 2021.
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The Mole Agent
2020Get this itemFrom Maite Alberdi, this 2021 Oscar nominated documentary follows Sergio, a man in his 80s, who finds himself acting as a real life sleuth when he accepts an unusual job offer. Sergio doesn’t exactly stick to the task at hand, and universal themes such as aging, family, and loneliness hit the mark. Maite Alberdi's latest documentary, "Eternal Memory,” was also nominated for an Oscar in 2023.
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For Sama
2019Get this itemSyrian journalist, filmmaker, and activist Waad Al-Kateab narrates her experiences as she lives through horrendous events in war-torn Aleppo during the five-year uprising. Working with codirector Edward Watts, they present an intimate scrapbook of Al-Khateab's life as a young woman through marriage, childbirth, and then the agonizing decision over whether to flee Aleppo for her family’s safety. This doc made history when it was nominated for multiple BAFTA awards and the Oscars in 2020.
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Honeyland
2019Get this itemDirected by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov, this gorgeous 2020 Oscar nominated documentary introduces us to Hatidže Muratova, a beekeeper of wild bees in a remote area of North Macedonica. Keeping the balance between humanity and a fragile, vulnerable ecosystem is her life.
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Cameraperson
2017Get this itemMade up of unused footage from various projects she's worked on in more than 25 years as a documentary cinematographer, Kirsten Johnson's film weaves together something entirely new and singular. We see the technique, the process, and the respect that goes into her craft, showing the innermost and oftentimes perilous lives of others. We also get glimpses of her own life, fragments of moments, a kind of visual diary. This was nominated for several awards including the Film Independent Spirit Award. If you like this documentary be sure to check out the Emmy winner Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020).
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Kedi
2017Get this itemFilmmaker Ceyda Torun captures seven stray cats on camera through the streets of Istanbul as they live and interact with various people who take care of them. It is a unique inside look at an ancient city and the humans who cherish their feline friends. A heartwarming cinematic experience, it was nominated for several awards and won the Critic's Choice Documentary Awards for Best First Documentary in 2017.
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