Documentaries to Watch — and Watch Out For

Posted on January 27, 2018 at 3:14 am

Patheos has a new Docs/Ology section with recommended documentaries like two of 2017’s best, “Jane” and “Faces Places.”

And Daily Dot has a great guide to the best documentaries on Amazon Prime.  Some of my favorites on the list include “Gleason,” the “Paradise Lost” trilogy, and “I Am Not Your Negro.”

Both are terrific sources for making sure you can find the best of the real stories made by the best filmmakers.

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Critics Documentary

Trailer: America’s Musical Journey with Morgan Freeman

Posted on January 25, 2018 at 6:18 pm

Morgan Freeman narrates “America’s Musical Journey,” a 3D documentary exploring the story of American jazz, blues, country, rock, and more.

Grammy Award®-nominated singer and songwriter Aloe Blacc traces the roots of America’s music, following the footsteps of Louis Armstrong through the colorful locales and cultures where America’s music was born. Moving through such iconic cityscapes as New Orleans, Chicago, New York City, Nashville, Memphis, Miami and more, America’s Musical Journey explores the collision of cultures that gave birth to such American art forms as jazz, the blues, country, rock and roll, hip-hop and more.

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3D Documentary Music Trailers, Previews, and Clips

PBS Tonight: Unrest, about Chronic Fatigue

Posted on January 8, 2018 at 8:00 am

Unrest” is a very personal story of the misunderstood and underestimated disease of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  Filmmaker Jennifer Brea was a Harvard PhD student soon to be engaged when she was struck down by a mysterious fever that left her bedridden. As her illness progressed she lost even the ability to sit in a wheelchair, yet doctors insisted it was “all in her head.” Unable to convey the seriousness and depth of her symptoms to her doctor, Jennifer began a video diary on her phone that eventually became the powerful and intimate documentary. Once Jennifer was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), she and her new husband, Omar, were left to grapple with how to shape a future together in the face of a lifelong illness.

 

Follow the hashtag #UnrestPBS and add your own story.

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Documentary Illness, Medicine, and Health Care Television

A Community, a Drive-In, and Some Movie Magic: Jan 3 at Alamo Drafthouse in Virginia

Posted on December 30, 2017 at 11:20 pm

In the 1950s, there were over 4000 drive-in theaters across the country. There are only about 330 left today. Don’t miss “At The Drive-In,” the award-winning true story of the Mahoning Drive-In Theater (@MahoningDIT), with a live Q&A with director Alexander Monelli (@Monellifilms), January 3, 2018 at 7:20pm.

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Documentary Movie History

11/8/16 — A Documentary About Election Day 2016

Posted on November 8, 2017 at 8:47 pm

A year ago today, film crews across the country followed Americans as they voted and worked to get others to vote, as they wrote the news and watched the news, as they explained what issues mattered most to them and why, and as they participated in our quadrennial, Constitutionally-mandated Presidential election process. Pretty much everyone, Trump and Clinton supporters alike, optimists, pessimists, experts and amateurs, thought that Hillary Clinton was going to win. Pretty much everyone was surprised by the results. A new documentary, “11/8/16” brings those stories together.

Though we know the outcome, it is a gripping story, frustrating, sometimes sad, but ultimately very hopeful in the level of engagement, passion for progress, and willingness to work for change shown in almost every community.

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Documentary Trailers, Previews, and Clips
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