Documentary Features

 

BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT: Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek

Bobi Wine is a famous musician in Uganda who uses his notoriety to challenge the 35-year term of the nation's President. As with any longterm ruler, President Museveni is corrupt and Wine envisions a better future for the people.  He uses his music to rally the people to courageous stand up for what's right.

THE ETERNAL MEMORY: Maite Alberdi

This film CRUUUUUUUUUSHED me. It follows Augusto, who has Alzheimers, and Paulina, an extraordinary actress who is also Augusto's caretaker. At the beginning of the film it is still early in the progression of the disease, and the sweet, kind, accomplished Augusto still reads and worries with his love about what it will be like when he no longer remembers her and worse, when he no longer remembers himself.  But he seems so robust that you almost don't believe that he will have a severe decline. Yet Alzheimers eventually takes everyone and watching Paulina so beautifully and compassionately love him, even in the times when he has no idea who she is, is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I sobbed.

FOUR DAUGHTERS: Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

This was an incredible film in which a woman and her two daughters try to unpack the process by which the older two daughters (who are now in jail) became radicalized and joined ISIS.  In unpacking the past, the filmmaker hires two actresses to play the older daughters in reenactments of the horrors that all four girls had to live through, and we see the impact of constant trauma on the psyches of all four children.

TO KILL A TIGER: Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim

A young 13 year old girl is raped by 3 young men in a village in India and somehow, the village takes the side of the boys. Under "normal" rape circumstances, they would require the raper and his victim/survivor to get married, since (and I'm not making this up, this is the language villagers used) the girl now has a "terrible stain on HER." But this young girl's father does the unthinkable and supports his daughter. They report the rape to the police and the case gets international attention.  Very few rapes are reported in India, and I can't tell you how many villagers came to threaten this family for taking this to law enforcement. It is absolutely infuriating, but a shockingly outstanding ending to the film.

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

I sense that this one is the winner.  These incredibly brave AP reporters stay in Mariupol, Ukraine during the first few days of the war and document and show the world the terrible evil that Putin and Russia are perpetrating on the innocent people there. While Putin lies about not targeting civilians, this small town has tanks blowing up apartment buildings. Pregnant women are under fire in the hospitals. And still the filmmakers capture the footage and broadcast it to the world any chance they get. This film is a punch to the face, but hopefully it will help combat the absurd people who are supporting Russia in this war, and maybe will even soften the hearts of a handful of lawmakers to realize that we MUST support Ukraine in this war.