There was a time when documentary filmmaking felt a little bit like the red-headed stepchild of the film industry, and, to be sure, they still tend not to challenge fiction features at the box office unless they’re furiously topical political manifestos like “March of the Penguins,” awe-inspiring testaments to the grandeur of nature like “Jackass 3D” or gross-out slapstick like “Fahrenheit 9/11.” But the rise of streaming services, and the fall of Western democracy, have given non-fiction filmmaking a new lease on life: not only are the incisive and dedicated perspectives of documentarians of all stripes more necessary than ever now to help us make sense of an increasingly senseless world, they also tend to be more available to us than ever before.

Continue reading The Best Documentaries Of 2017 at The Playlist.

The American Cinema Editors revealed their nominees for the 68th Annual ACE Eddie Awards. to kick off the New Year, which will certainly see Oscar prognosticators adjusting their predictions accordingly.

While the ACE Eddie Awards obviously allow for more contenders with more categories at play, it’s nice to see “Blade Runner 2049,” “Baby Driver,” and “The Shape Of Water” get some recognition, after being mostly shut out so far this awards season.

Continue reading ACE Eddie Award Nominees Include ‘Blade Runner 2049,’ ‘Get Out,’ ‘Dunkirk’ & More at The Playlist.

[Posted Feb. 4]

Winner prediction:
1. “Icarus”
2. “Faces Places”
3. “Last Man in Aleppo”
4. “Strong Island”
5. “Abacus: Small Enough To Jail”

Continue reading 2018 Best Documentary Oscars Predictions at The Playlist.

Remember when “truth is stranger than fiction” used to be a thing that boring people said to fill awkward post-anecdote gaps at dinner parties and before it became the literal truth of every waking moment living in the Western world in 2017? Yeah, us neither. But of all cinematic forms perhaps it’s our appreciation of documentary filmmaking that has been most affected by the experience of living in such unsettled times — with only a few exceptions the docs we’ve been most impressed by this year have commented on the state we’re in right now, even when they ostensibly have done nothing of the sort.

Continue reading The 20 Best Documentaries Of 2017 So Far at The Playlist.

As heartrending as it is heart-racing, “LA 92” will make an uneasy fit when it gets broadcast on National Geographic alongside episodes of “Monster Fish” and “Locked Up Abroad.” Receiving its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s unnerving documentary is one of several retrospectives coming out this year on the 25th anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Continue reading ‘LA 92’ Is A Harrowing, Incendiary Epic Of The 1992 Los Angeles Riots [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.