Filmmaker Jennifer Deschamps’ focused and impressionable Inside Lehman Brothers looks at the collapse of one of America’s most prominent lending firms from the viewpoints of men and women who dared to question their employer’s greedy, underhanded, and bafflingly illogical accounting practices.
Hot Docs 2019
Prolific and constantly evolving Canadian indie film mainstay Ingrid Veninger (Porcupine Lake, The Animal Project) tries her hand at documentary filmmaking for the first time with The World or Nothing, a well drawn, observational look at a pair of twin brothers trying to chase their dreams of stardom and make a living in the new gig economy.
Filmmaker Rama Rau delivers her second exceptional film in as many months (following the recent completion of her fictional filmmaking debut, Honey Bee) with The Daughter Tree, an eye opening look at the misogynistic and sexist basis for India’s current population crisis.
Born in Evin, Iranian-German director Maryam Zaree’s deep dive into her family’s unspoken past is a detailed and empathetic look at why parents choose to keep secrets from their children and the psychological toll such repression takes on parent-child relationships.
If the intense and thoroughly captivating documentary Last Breath doesn’t leave viewers with quickened pulses and goosebumps, they might want to consult their physicians.
Sara Dosa’s documentary The Seer and the Unseen sounds like it has a quirky, somewhat outlandish premise, but it’s actually a resoundingly empathetic film that looks at Iceland’s ongoing economic woes from unique spiritual and ecological perspectives.
A powerful and moving elegy to the vanishing emotional bond and shared respect between humans and wild animals, director David Hambridge’s Kifaru might be the saddest and one of the most important documentaries of the year.
If nothing else, Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts is refreshing in its blunt force honesty.
A detailed oriented and appropriately gorgeous sit-down with controversial Scottish painter Peter Howson, director Charlie Paul’s Prophecy offers insight into the process and mind of an artist known for his shocking images of death, destruction, and cultural depravity.
A well intentioned, but somewhat lacking microcosmic examination into Chinese influence in Africa, filmmaker Nicole Schafer’s documentary Buddha in Africa follows an interesting subject caught between two cultures, but sometimes frustratingly forgets to look beyond the margins for deeper, more meaningful connections.