Hello friends!

I am writing this from beautiful San Francisco, where I had the pleasure of presenting Wild Inside to a sold-out crowd in the biggest theater at the Roxie yesterday. Special thanks to filmmaker Jesse Moss (Boys State, The Overnighters, and coming soon to Netflix: Teenage Wasteland) for hosting a fantastic Q&A. We also sold out at the Coolidge in Boston, the Nitehawk in Prospect Park, Cinema21 in Portland, the Clairidge in Montclair and a bunch of other theaters around the country. As of now we’ve booked close to 100 theaters (find one near you here, or request one if it’s not playing at your local theater), which is a tiny release yet pretty epic for an indie doc! Audiences are loving it, and I am feeling super emotional to have the privilege of sharing Flaco’s funny, inspiring, tragic story with you all.

Yesterday, a man told me that the film made him cry for the first time in 18 years.
Folks, this is it.
This is why we do this.

But how do we do this?
How do we get viewers to care that deeply about some person (or owl) they’ve never met?

How to make a real person into a character

A few weeks back, I wrote about the peculiarity of making a documentary with an animal as the protagonist. But the truth is, making a documentary character out of a human being is just as weird — if not weirder!

Real people are not characters. Real people are inconsistent, repetitive, opaque, contradictory, and sometimes kinda boring. They possess infinite constellations of interests and desires and experiences and narratives, most of which lead nowhere and don’t obviously all fit together. They behave in ways that don’t make sense. Their lives do not really have arcs.

Movie characters are different. We expect a character to be coherent and to want something identifiable. We expect their choices to reveal who they are. We expect the details we are shown to add up to some kind of meaningful pattern.

So when documentary filmmakers talk about “finding” a character, we’re being a little coy. We don’t simply find characters. We create them — we craft them — by highlighting certain pieces of a real person and leaving countless others behind.

In order to succeed, we must take a real person and make them into a persona.

What do you mean by using the word “characters”? Isn’t that a fiction thing?

We refer to the people in our documentaries with a few different terms. Each of these terms comes loaded with its own preconceptions and philosophical baggage:

1. Subjects is the most common word. It’s usually seen as a neutral descriptor.

2. Participants is another option. Often used to signal a certain type of collaborative relationship between filmmakers and subjects.

3. Stars — basically never used. It’s kinda fascinating that everyone on reality TV or in porn, but not other forms of nonfiction media, is called a “star” — feel free to make of that what you will.

I use the word characters — especially when I’m casting and especially when I’m inside the edit — because it reminds me that I am indeed making movies.

But the word also names the central problem: How do you shape a messy, contradictory, real human being into a compelling movie character without lying about who they are? And what do you owe the real person who has to live forever with the character you have made from them?

Read more

Hello friends!

I am writing this from beautiful San Francisco, where I had the pleasure of presenting Wild Inside to a sold-out crowd in the biggest theater at the Roxie yesterday. Special thanks to filmmaker Jesse Moss (Boys State, The Overnighters, and coming soon to Netflix: Teenage Wasteland) for hosting a fantastic Q&A. We also sold out at the Coolidge in Boston, the Nitehawk in Prospect Park, Cinema21 in Portland, the Clairidge in Montclair and a bunch of other theaters around the country. As of now we’ve booked close to 100 theaters (find one near you here, or request one if it’s not playing at your local theater), which is a tiny release yet pretty epic for an indie doc! Audiences are loving it, and I am feeling super emotional to have the privilege of sharing Flaco’s funny, inspiring, tragic story with you all.

Yesterday, a man told me that the film made him cry for the first time in 18 years.
Folks, this is it.
This is why we do this.

But how do we do this?
How do we get viewers to care that deeply about some person (or owl) they’ve never met?

How to make a real person into a character

A few weeks back, I wrote about the peculiarity of making a documentary with an animal as the protagonist. But the truth is, making a documentary character out of a human being is just as weird — if not weirder!

Real people are not characters. Real people are inconsistent, repetitive, opaque, contradictory, and sometimes kinda boring. They possess infinite constellations of interests and desires and experiences and narratives, most of which lead nowhere and don’t obviously all fit together. They behave in ways that don’t make sense. Their lives do not really have arcs.

Movie characters are different. We expect a character to be coherent and to want something identifiable. We expect their choices to reveal who they are. We expect the details we are shown to add up to some kind of meaningful pattern.

So when documentary filmmakers talk about “finding” a character, we’re being a little coy. We don’t simply find characters. We create them — we craft them — by highlighting certain pieces of a real person and leaving countless others behind.

In order to succeed, we must take a real person and make them into a persona.

What do you mean by using the word “characters”? Isn’t that a fiction thing?

We refer to the people in our documentaries with a few different terms. Each of these terms comes loaded with its own preconceptions and philosophical baggage:

1. Subjects is the most common word. It’s usually seen as a neutral descriptor.

2. Participants is another option. Often used to signal a certain type of collaborative relationship between filmmakers and subjects.

3. Stars — basically never used. It’s kinda fascinating that everyone on reality TV or in porn, but not other forms of nonfiction media, is called a “star” — feel free to make of that what you will.

I use the word characters — especially when I’m casting and especially when I’m inside the edit — because it reminds me that I am indeed making movies.

But the word also names the central problem: How do you shape a messy, contradictory, real human being into a compelling movie character without lying about who they are? And what do you owe the real person who has to live forever with the character you have made from them?

Read more

People often place animation and documentary on opposite ends of the cinematic spectrum. This receptive dissonance is understandable, to an extent. It is true that documentaries do capture unobstructed reality, and animation is often employed to construct other-worldly visuals that interrupt our very understanding of reality. However, throughout history, some filmmakers have blended these two genres quite effectively to narrate stories that are equally as moving as they are imaginative. Throughout the history of innovation at the National Film Board of Canada, several animated documentaries have brought the genres together in ways that are sure to expand your perspective. Here are ten films available to watch on the NFB website right now, that fit this bill.  

Fiddle-de-dee (1947)

Aptly described as a “painting on film,” Fiddle-de-dee is Norman McLaren’s experimental work that translates music into a collection of indescribable images. Choreographed to the tune of “Mocking Bird” as played by a fiddler, McLaren’s images twist, turn, dance, shape-shift, and transform to visualize the rhythm being produced by the fiddle. A musical kaleidoscope of sorts, the rapidly changing scenery leaves the meaning up to interpretation as it loses itself to the beat of the song.

Fiddle-de-dee, Norman McLaren, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Cosmic Zoom (1968)

The film opens with the image of a massive factory standing next to a river. The camera tilts down revealing a small rowboat being paddled by a boy, as his dog stands guard on the opposite end. The camera freezes on this unassuming image as the scene shifts from live action to animation and we zoom out to the sky, the stars, and everything beyond. Mimicking a boomerang’s rebound, the film pauses and begins to zoom back in past the cosmic visuals and towards the boy, going past him to the mosquito on his arm and in to cellular level compositions, in one uninterrupted camera movement.

Cosmic Zoom, Robert Verrall, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Mirrors of Time (1990)

Employing animation to capture the expansive and ever-present history of time itself, the film does so quite effectively. It features a variety of 2D animation styles, some of which are reminiscent of Popeye and Asterix comics while others are designed with a chiaroscuro-style lighting to evoke a more mature composition. The entertaining animations are used to construct micro-narratives across a series of set-pieces that explore calendars, seasons, the solar system, and constellations.

Mirrors of Time , Jean-Jacques Leduc, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Minoru: Memory of Exile (1992)

The eponymous Minoru is a nine-year-old Canadian of Japanese descent, who was deported from his country following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The film, directed by Minoru’s son Michael, employs animation to reconstruct the fragmented and underdiscussed history of thousands of Japanese Canadians including Minoru, who were forced into internment camps and ultimately out of the country as they were considered ‘enemies of the state.. Minoru artfully blends animation with archival footage brought together with a revelatory voiceover from Minoru himself creating an animated documentary that brings to light a severely underrepresented story in an exceptionally moving manner.

Minoru: Memory of Exile, Michael Fukushima, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Ryan (2004)

An Academy Award winning animated short about the legendary Oscar nominee, Ryan Larkin. The film is an achievement in animation and storytelling, framing Larkin’s struggles with addiction as the central metaphor in both the visuals and the narrative. Ryan is an excellent example of how animation can be employed to capture real stories in an authentic manner without downplaying their seriousness.

Ryan, Chris Landreth, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Lipsett Diaries (2010)

Another doc about a Canadian filmmaking maestro, Lipsett Diaries captures Arthur Lipsett’s struggles with depression, externalizing his internal turmoil. The film restructures sounds and images from Lipsett’s own work across a series of dream-like portraits that evoke the madness that the film seeks to picturize. Like Ryan and Minoru, Lipsett Diaries is a film that visualizes the potential of animation as a medium to relay more complicated stories.

Lipsett Diaries, Theodore Ushev, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Paula (2011)

In a style that evokes monochrome watercolour paintings, Paula captures a working-class neighbourhood where families cross paths with prostitutes. Featuring no dialogues or voiceover, the dreamy animation style is complemented by the vivid soundscape that ebbs and flows, guiding the viewer through the emotionally and physically charged narrative of the film.

Paula, Dominic-Étienne Simard, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Wall (2017)

The only feature film on this list, Wall boasts a peculiar animation style that portrays how animation can impact a viewer’s reception of the story over time. The experimental 3D motion capture form resembles a video game, which is further complicated by the monochrome tone of the film. However, as narrator David Hare takes us across the wall separating Israel and Palestine, the film’s odd form becomes arresting and its colourless images fitting for the harrowing reality it captures. At times it does feel like watching a film about David Hare’s thoughts on Israel-Palestine rather than one about the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine, but it does sustain intelligent and well-informed commentary throughout that sympathizes with Palestinians.

WALL, Cam Christiansen, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Three Thousand (2017)

Three Thousand features a compilation of archival footage in the form of newsreels and films discussing Inuit culture, stories, and people, reframing these depictions of the community with director Asinnajaq’s own vision for their people’s future. The structuring of the archival footage explores the history of Inuit representation in Canada, especially the propagandistic and performative nature of early docs featuring them. The animated sequence that concludes the film interrupts this problematic history with a truly spectacular, luminescent scene that artfully visualizes the filmmaker’s aspirations for the future of her people.

Three Thousand, Asinnajaq, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Amma (2024)

Filmmaker Akash Jones uses stop-motion animation to immortalize his mother’s ‘micro-lessons’ that continue to guide his life long after he has moved out. The whimsical format of his mother’s multiple reminders alongside a smart use of colour, texture and set design bring Jones’ characters and story to life.

Amma, Akash Jones, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

The post Stop/Motion: 10 NFB Docs that Blend Animation and Documentary appeared first on POV Magazine.

Four new releases are highlighted in the newsletter this week, and three of them could be classified in or near the true-crime genre. Two of those are international works that show crimes committed in other countries with much different legal procedures and cultural expectations. The average true-crime junkie isn’t going to be drawn to these films, but they should broaden their interest and give them a look. One involves a case quite similar to another that’s at the center of a very popular new Netflix documentary. The other takes place in a nation that’s at the center of current events. Of course, the reality is that the two films out this week about or connected to Charles Manson are the ones that typical true-crime fans will flock to.

Without further ado, below are this week’s documentary highlights, followed by daily listings for all known releases and broadcasts, along with a brief look at what’s coming soon for doc fans (including the latest features from Oscar-nominated directors Rory Kennedy, Sam Green, and David France). Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive more in-depth highlights and reviews in the future, plus full access to special posts like our best-of lists, and to give me more time to watch more (if not everything) available. If you have a doc needing coverage or a mention, you can now reach us at nonficseditor (at) gmail.

Nonfics Pick Of The Week: A Child Of My Own (2026)

Maite Alberdi, who has already had two documentary features nominated for Academy Awards this decade, is back with another unique nonfiction film. A Child of My Own tells the story of a hospital worker who faked her pregnancy and stole a newborn from the maternity ward to pass off as her own. This woman, Eleonor “Ale” Alejandra Marín Mendoza, gives her side of the case in voiceover as her account is depicted in dramatized fashion with actors and a candy-colored visual scheme. Normally, this level of “reenactment” would turn me off. The performances and production design held my attention, however, even as I wondered if the documentary was going anywhere more interesting than a literal representation.

About halfway into A Child of My Own, the film becomes more conventional, with talking head interviews and footage of the real Mendoza in her present life as she prepares to leave prison (with occasional dramatizations still sprinkled in). This section unveils at least one big twist, though it’s not a concrete rejection of what we’ve heard in the first half. Psychology, belief, and memory are involved as much as truth and lies. Audiences may be split on what they think of Mendoza in the end. The thing about documentaries where the truth is uncertain is there’s less room for empathy. You can’t be sure of the shoes you’re meant to walk in. So it comes down to whether you sympathize with the subject.

I have watched the ending of A Child of My Own a few times and still haven’t decided what I think of the real Mendoza. I like the portrayed version in the first half of the film a lot, and it may take another full viewing to sync the two up enough to even sympathize with the genuine — or actual, at least — version. As for the film, I’m also not completely decided on whether I like it or love it. I also might grow to dislike it the more I think about its story. But I can’t deny its originality in form and aesthetic, which engaged me unlike anything else I’ve seen this year. Alberdi continues to make singular nonfiction films, and while I haven’t enjoyed them all as much as the Oscars have, I definitely appreciate her creative efforts in this space.

A Child of My Own will be released in select theaters on Friday, August 7, 2026, and will begin streaming exclusively on Netflix on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

Other Documentary Highlights

The Battle Of The Somme (1916)

When you Google “what was the first documentary feature?” the disappointing answer “Nanook of the North” still prevails. Depending on how you define a documentary and/or a feature, the search engine (and the mistaken claims it pulls from) is off by as much as 25 years. Among the most well-known examples is The Battle of the Somme, a feature-length propaganda film that mixes actual and staged combat footage to depict the titular World War I battle. The documentary turns 110 years old this week, having premiered in London on August 10, 1916, ahead of its very successful (in terms of attendance and impact) theatrical release. Watch it and feel not only educated but satisfied that you know better than our technological overlords.

The Battle of the Somme has been restored and is available on DVD and YouTube.

Cookie Queens (2026)

Here’s the one new release that has no connection to the true-crime genre. At least that we know of! There is a character in Cookie Queens who seems to have an overly demanding home, but I wouldn’t go so far as to assume anything beyond that. Still, this documentary feature, which follows a handful of children as they sell Girl Scout Cookies, is hardly the lighthearted puff piece it appears to be on the surface. The kids are cute, with one in particular stealing the whole movie, but as I wrote in my review, “their stories carry hints of an ugly truth about the Girl Scout Cookie trade.” Here’s another excerpt from a Sundance Film Festival review roundup:

“Only one of the young characters, a five-year-old with type-1 diabetes and a very modest sales goal, appears to be truly happy in her efforts, and when she does hit a challenge, she tackles it with the sort of enterprising ingenuity you’d hope to come out of being a member of an organization like Girl Scouts. And she does it altruistically, not to be the best. It may not be the point of the film, but it’s a good reminder of the importance of quality over quantity.”

Cookie Queens will be released in theaters nationwide on Friday, August 7, 2026, via Roadside Attractions.

Coroner To The Stars (2025)

The titular coroner, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, is currently 99 years old. I don’t know how old he was when he was interviewed for Coroner to the Stars, but he was old enough to be thankful he was still alive and able to tell his own story. I prefer having biographical documentary subjects tell their own stories, or at least as much as firsthand familiarity benefits (they can’t be the only ones telling their own stories). It’s the difference between a list of timeline points and achievements and a sharing of the experience of going through those points and realizing those achievements.

As L.A. County’s Chief Medical Examiner, Noguchi was involved in the autopsies and death investigations of such celebrities as Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, John Belushi, William Holden, Robert F. Kennedy, and Sharon Tate. He’s been a significant part of true-crime history, even proposing the idea of Tate and friends’ murders being cult-related before the Manson Family discovery and arrests were made. His accounts of just these cases (the documentary is fairly brief and brisk, leaving us wanting more stories) are done with terrific recollection and conviction.

His life story is also filled with obstacles concerning race for a Japanese-American, political scrutiny for sticking to his often-controversial conclusions, and media attention, the last of which was partly of his own doing. For those old enough to remember the TV series Quincy, you’ll be fascinated to see how much he inspired Jack Klugman’s whitewashed character. Coroner to the Stars is a swift survey of a long life that revolved around death. And despite all he has seen, he still gets emotional about losing a loved one, notably his ex-wife, with whom he reconciled before she passed.

Coroner to the Stars will be released digitally on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

An Eye For An Eye (2025)

What does true-crime look like for citizens of Iran? An Eye for an Eye depicts a murder case that picks up after the convicted killer’s release from prison. Now she faces an even harsher sentence. Under Sharia law, the family of the victim can either forgive her, for a fee labeled “blood money,” or have her executed. The victim happens to have been her husband, and the murder was allegedly in defense of his ongoing domestic abuse. But maybe that wasn’t the whole story.

The documentary follows the woman and her son as they try to raise the requested fee with the help of an anti-execution activist. Simultaneously, the film reveals more and more details about her case from the time of her investigation and trial. There is a bit of a twist, but this revelation is not a proven fact, nor is it handled as sensationally as one would expect in an American true-crime documentary. Instead, An Eye for an Eye stretches its storytelling to an unfortunate length and pace, overplaying dramatic scenes while failing to show certain pieces of the plot. In the end, I think it leaves viewers with less to think about regarding the law and what justice looks like in Iran and more to wonder about this specific story and who is more deserving of justice.

An Eye for an Eye will be released in theaters on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, and will begin streaming exclusively on the Jolt platform on Friday, August 14, 2026.

The Only 4 Oscar Winners For Best Documentary

Last week, I wrote a piece for my series on Oscar-winning documentaries that examines the four titles that tied for the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1943. The Battle of Midway, Kokoda Front Line!, Moscow Strikes Back, and Why We Fight: Prelude to War are often credited as the first films to win in the Best Documentary Feature Film category, but only two of them qualify as features per the Academy’s rules. The other two winners, as well as the other 21 nominees, are shorts. The honor that year was for documentaries of any length, and the category hasn’t existed since.

Patricio Guzmán Documentaries

Fitting for an edition of this newsletter where the Pick of the Week is by a Chilean filmmaker, I’d also like to spotlight the career of the most notable Chilean documentarian: Patricio Guzmán, who turns 85 on Tuesday. He is best known for making The Battle of Chile, a trilogy of documentaries released in the 1970s about the political crisis and coup d’état that occurred in his country earlier that decade. His most widely seen film here, though, is Nostalgia for the Light, which deals with astronomical and traumatic searches in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Other Guzmán documentaries you should watch for his birthday include Salvador Allende and The Pinochet Case, both of them related to the same political change in his country as The Battle of Chile. Also, check out his more recent films The Pearl Button and The Cordillera of Dreams, which complete a trilogy that began with Nostalgia for the Light. There’s his latest, My Imaginary Country, and there’s 1997’s Chile, an Obstinate Memory, which marked his return to his homeland after Pinochet’s dictatorship ended. All of the mentioned documentaries are available to stream on OVID, with a few also being on Kanopy, Hoopla, and Kino Film Collection.

The War Game (1966)

One of the most contentious titles among the winners of the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature is The War Game, a film that only consists of made-up material. Thinking broadly about what documentaries are, though, I think it counts, and I think it’s worth seeing either way (whether it’s a “feature” is another matter). Directed by Peter Watkins, the film imagines a nuclear attack, meaning it’s a speculative documentary. It’s an example of a documentary set in the future, and there are more of those than you might think. It’s also one of the scariest nonfiction films, and it was surely more so for the people of Britain at the time of its release 60 years ago.

The War Game will be released anew on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD disc via Severin Films on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, with a whole bunch of bonus features.

Awards Highlights

The 2026 Albie Awards Honorees

Last week, the Maysles Documentary Center announced its honorees for the 7th annual Albie Awards, kicking off the awards season for nonfiction films. None of these three documentaries are available to the public yet (outside of festivals), but they’re still worth highlighting ahead of their respective release dates this fall. The 2026 honorees, which will be awarded at a ceremony on September 23, are Once Upon a Time in Harlem (release date: October 16), Rehearsals for a Revolution (release date TBD), and Barbara Forever (release date: September 4).

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Documentary Release Calendar 7/31/26 – 8/6/26

Friday, August 7, 2026

The Big Cheese (2025) – A documentary feature that follows an American team competing in France’s Mondial du Fromage. (In Theaters)

CatVideoFest 2026 (2026) – The latest in a series of anthology films that compile cat videos. (In Theaters)

A Child of My Own (2026) – A documentary feature by two-time Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent; The Eternal Memory) about a woman who faked her pregnancy. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

Cookie Queens (2026) – A documentary feature about Girl Scouts selling cookies. See our highlights section for more info. Read our review of Cookie Queens. (In Theaters)

Saturday, August 8, 2026

Aqua Antics (1942) – A short documentary showcasing the water skiing talents of the California Water Bugs club. (TCM)

Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies (2026) – A concert film presenting a Grateful Dead show performed at Giants Stadium on June 17, 1991. (Theatrical Event)

The Real Murders of Atlanta Season 4, Episode 5: “Halloween Horror” – The latest installment of an Atlanta-focused true-crime docuseries. This episode involves a woman who finds a human foot on her porch the night before Halloween. (Oxygen)

Sunday, August 9, 2026

911: Did the Killer Call? Season 2, Episode 5: “The Sound of Fear” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about cases where the murderer is on the 911 call. (Investigation Discovery)

The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls (2026) – A six-part docuseries in which Bear Grylls takes the cast of The Chosen on wilderness adventures. (Prime Video)

The Cincinnati Kid Plays According to Hoyle (1965) – A short film about magician and gambler Jay Ose, who served as a technical advisor for the film The Cincinnati Kid. (TCM)

Decades in Sports Episodes 3: “1980s” – The third installment of a six-part docuseries executive produced by Tom Hanks about milestones in sports in America. (CNN)

Hazardous History with Henry Winkler Season 2, Episode 16: “Precarious Parenting” – The latest installment of a docuseries about dangerous toys and household items that used to be common. This episode involves the bygone time of more lax rules when it came to children’s safety. (History)

It Looks Like Rain (1945) – A short film about the tools used to forecast the weather. (TCM)

The Mega-Brands That Built America Season 4, Episode 2: “The Game Makers” – The return of a docuseries about iconic brands. This installment covers game shows. (History)

NASCAR Americana Episode 1: “Rebel Roots” – The first installment of a three-part docuseries about NASCAR’s place in American history. (USA Network)

Night Life in Chicago (1948) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Chicago. (TCM)

Unknown Serial Killers of America Season 2, Episode 2: “Paul Stephani” – The latest episode of a true-crime series about less-famous murderers. (Oxygen)

Monday, August 10, 2026

Grandad of Races (1950) – An Oscar-winning short covering the annual horse race held in the Piazza del Campo in Siena. (TCM)

Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies (2026) – A concert film presenting a Grateful Dead show performed at Giants Stadium on June 17, 1991. (Theatrical Event)

A Killer Among Friends Season 2, Episode 4: “Staging a Murder” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about murders that tear friend groups apart. This episode involves the killing of a young woman in California who was part of a theater group. (Investigation Discovery)

Somebody Knows Something Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2: “The Baby in the Yellow Blanket” & “Lost in the Night” – The first two installments of a true-crime series about unsolved murder and missing persons cases. (Freeform)

Spade Cooley: King of Western Swing (1945) – A short film showcasing the titular musician. (TCM)

Sport Slants #10 (1932) – A short documentary in the Sport Slants series that looks at jai alai and deep-sea fishing. (TCM)

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Blu-Ray: Art of the Disc (2025) – A documentary about the invention of the Blu-ray disc. (DVD)

Coroner to the Stars (2025) – A documentary feature about Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the former chief medical examiner for Los Angeles County, who performed autopsies on many celebrities. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (VOD)

Dark Side of the Ring Season 7, Episode 7: “Paul Orndorff: Saving Mr. Wonderful” – The latest installment of a docuseries that shares the darkest stories of professional wrestling. (Vice)

DVD: The Digital Video Disc (2025) – A documentary about the history of DVDs. (DVD)

The Edge of Nature (2023) – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox (GasLand) about his experience with long COVID while living in a one-room cabin in the Pennsylvania forest. (DVD)

Elementary Cinema: The Early Films of Sherlock Holmes (2026) – A medium-length documentary about the titular detective character’s adaptation to cinema. (Blu-ray)

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2025) – A documentary feature directed by Baz Luhrmann starring Elvis as he returns to the stage in his later years. Read our review of EPiC: Elvis Presley in Theaters. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD)

The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine (2024) – A documentary feature about gold miners who develop a machine to extract the precious metal. (OVID)

The First VCR (2019) – A medium-length documentary about the invention of the VCR in 1956. (DVD)

A Game of Double Standards (2026) – A documentary feature about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. (DVD)

Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks Episode 2 – The latest installment of the Hard Knocks franchise (technically Hard Knocks Season 22) goes behind the scenes with the titular football team. (HBO and HBO Max)

Homestead Rescue: Intervention Season 1, Episode 4 – The latest episode of a docuseries that follows wilderness experts as they save lives. (Discovery)

In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey (2026) – A documentary feature narrated by Jeff Bridges about wolves and other animals and their relevance to American history. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Michael Jackson: Devotion (2009) – A medium-length documentary about the death of the titular pop star. (DVD)

Michael Jackson: A Tribute (2010) – A medium-length documentary about the titular pop star’s music and charity work. (DVD)

A Radical Thread (2024) – A documentary about 50 years of innovative sustainability in a Sierra Foothills community. (DVD)

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 7, Episode 13: “Heating Up” – The latest installment of a docuseries about UFO phenomena at the Skinwalker Ranch. (History)

Visiting Italy (1951) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Rome, Pisa, and Florence. (TCM)

The War Game (1966) – An Oscar-winning docudrama that imagines what a nuclear attack on Britain would look like. See our highlights section for more info. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD)

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

911: Did the Killer Call? Season 2, Episode 6: “Judging Reactions” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about cases where the murderer is on the 911 call. (Investigation Discovery)

Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes (2026) – A true-crime docuseries about the titular cult leader. (Netflix)

Delicious Dishes (1950) – A short film that demonstrates a kitchen cutlery set. (TCM)

Eons: Life and Death on Pangea Episode 4: “A Tale of Tusks and Saber Teeth” – The latest installment of a six-part docuseries on the mass-extinction event known as the “Great Dying.” (PBS)

ER: Caught on Camera Season 1, Episode 6 – The latest installment of a docuseries in which medical patients recall experiences in hospital emergency rooms. (TLC)

An Eye for an Eye (2025) – A documentary feature about a woman convicted of killing her husband and now facing execution under Sharia law. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Katseye: Wild Hearts (2026) – A documentary about the titular girl group. (In Theaters)

Thursday, August 13, 2026

A Child of My Own (2026) – A documentary feature by two-time Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent; The Eternal Memory) about a woman who faked her pregnancy. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (Netflix)

Engineering from Above Episode 1: “Fortresses” – The first installment of a docuseries presenting aerial views of engineering marvels. This episode involves a massive wall surrounding a Colombian city. (History)

Infinity According to Florian (2022) – A documentary about the artist Florian Yuriev. (OVID)

Kapr Code (2022) – A documentary opera about communist Czech composer Jan Kapr. (OVID)

Monsters of God Episode 2: “Operation Cobra” – The second installment of a five-part docuseries by Tiger King co-director Eric Goode about the history of exotic reptile smugglers. (HBO and HBO Max)

Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear (2026) – A documentary about the titular Blink-182 drummer. (Hulu)

Whispers (1941) – A short film about the power of gossip. (TCM)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

8/19 – Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rory Kennedy (The Last Days of Vietnam) about the jet manufacturer deemed responsible for multiple plane crashes. This film is a follow-up to Kennedy’s 2022 documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing. Watch the new trailer for Freefall here. (Netflix)

8/19 – Lion – A nature docuseries produced by Jon Favreau and scored by Hans Zimmer about a real lion cub on his journey to become king. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (National Geographic)

8/21 – Bouchra – A hybrid film with some documentary elements about a queer Moroccan jackal living in New York City and his relationship with his mother in Casablanca. (VOD)

8/25 – Untold: The Testimony of Vince Young – The latest installment of the sports anthology series Untold. This documentary covers the story of the titular professional football player. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Netflix)

8/28 – Runa Simi – A documentary about a father and son who dub The Lion King into the endangered Indigenous language Quechua. (In Theaters)

9/10 – The Oldest Person in the World – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green (The Weather Underground) about people who have held the titular record over the last decade. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

9/11 – Mighty Mary – A documentary feature about the first-ever all-women’s sailing crew to compete for the America’s Cup. (In Theaters)

9/18 – The History of Concrete – A documentary feature by John Wilson about concrete. Watch the new teaser trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

9/20 – Bucks County, USA – A five-part docuseries directed by Robert May (Kids for Cash) and Barry Levinson that follows the community of the titular Pennsylvania county through the first years of the 2020s. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (PBS)

10/9 – My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile – A documentary sequel directed by Julia Loktev that follows the characters from My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow after they leave Russia. (In Theaters)

10/12 – Free Leonard Peltier – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker David France (How to Survive a Plague) about the titular member of the American Indian Movement as he hopes to be released from prison after 50 years and experience freedom again before he dies. (Netflix)

11/5 – The Bridge – A music-centered documentary feature about survivors of the October 7 attacks in Israel who travel to Los Angeles to attend the Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp. (In Theaters)

Four new releases are highlighted in the newsletter this week, and three of them could be classified in or near the true-crime genre. Two of those are international works that show crimes committed in other countries with much different legal procedures and cultural expectations. The average true-crime junkie isn’t going to be drawn to these films, but they should broaden their interest and give them a look. One involves a case quite similar to another that’s at the center of a very popular new Netflix documentary. The other takes place in a nation that’s at the center of current events. Of course, the reality is that the two films out this week about or connected to Charles Manson are the ones that typical true-crime fans will flock to.

Without further ado, below are this week’s documentary highlights, followed by daily listings for all known releases and broadcasts, along with a brief look at what’s coming soon for doc fans (including the latest features from Oscar-nominated directors Rory Kennedy, Sam Green, and David France). Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive more in-depth highlights and reviews in the future, plus full access to special posts like our best-of lists, and to give me more time to watch more (if not everything) available. If you have a doc needing coverage or a mention, you can now reach us at nonficseditor (at) gmail.

Nonfics Pick Of The Week: A Child Of My Own (2026)

Maite Alberdi, who has already had two documentary features nominated for Academy Awards this decade, is back with another unique nonfiction film. A Child of My Own tells the story of a hospital worker who faked her pregnancy and stole a newborn from the maternity ward to pass off as her own. This woman, Eleonor “Ale” Alejandra Marín Mendoza, gives her side of the case in voiceover as her account is depicted in dramatized fashion with actors and a candy-colored visual scheme. Normally, this level of “reenactment” would turn me off. The performances and production design held my attention, however, even as I wondered if the documentary was going anywhere more interesting than a literal representation.

About halfway into A Child of My Own, the film becomes more conventional, with talking head interviews and footage of the real Mendoza in her present life as she prepares to leave prison (with occasional dramatizations still sprinkled in). This section unveils at least one big twist, though it’s not a concrete rejection of what we’ve heard in the first half. Psychology, belief, and memory are involved as much as truth and lies. Audiences may be split on what they think of Mendoza in the end. The thing about documentaries where the truth is uncertain is there’s less room for empathy. You can’t be sure of the shoes you’re meant to walk in. So it comes down to whether you sympathize with the subject.

I have watched the ending of A Child of My Own a few times and still haven’t decided what I think of the real Mendoza. I like the portrayed version in the first half of the film a lot, and it may take another full viewing to sync the two up enough to even sympathize with the genuine — or actual, at least — version. As for the film, I’m also not completely decided on whether I like it or love it. I also might grow to dislike it the more I think about its story. But I can’t deny its originality in form and aesthetic, which engaged me unlike anything else I’ve seen this year. Alberdi continues to make singular nonfiction films, and while I haven’t enjoyed them all as much as the Oscars have, I definitely appreciate her creative efforts in this space.

A Child of My Own will be released in select theaters on Friday, August 7, 2026, and will begin streaming exclusively on Netflix on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

Other Documentary Highlights

The Battle Of The Somme (1916)

When you Google “what was the first documentary feature?” the disappointing answer “Nanook of the North” still prevails. Depending on how you define a documentary and/or a feature, the search engine (and the mistaken claims it pulls from) is off by as much as 25 years. Among the most well-known examples is The Battle of the Somme, a feature-length propaganda film that mixes actual and staged combat footage to depict the titular World War I battle. The documentary turns 110 years old this week, having premiered in London on August 10, 1916, ahead of its very successful (in terms of attendance and impact) theatrical release. Watch it and feel not only educated but satisfied that you know better than our technological overlords.

The Battle of the Somme has been restored and is available on DVD and YouTube.

Cookie Queens (2026)

Here’s the one new release that has no connection to the true-crime genre. At least that we know of! There is a character in Cookie Queens who seems to have an overly demanding home, but I wouldn’t go so far as to assume anything beyond that. Still, this documentary feature, which follows a handful of children as they sell Girl Scout Cookies, is hardly the lighthearted puff piece it appears to be on the surface. The kids are cute, with one in particular stealing the whole movie, but as I wrote in my review, “their stories carry hints of an ugly truth about the Girl Scout Cookie trade.” Here’s another excerpt from a Sundance Film Festival review roundup:

“Only one of the young characters, a five-year-old with type-1 diabetes and a very modest sales goal, appears to be truly happy in her efforts, and when she does hit a challenge, she tackles it with the sort of enterprising ingenuity you’d hope to come out of being a member of an organization like Girl Scouts. And she does it altruistically, not to be the best. It may not be the point of the film, but it’s a good reminder of the importance of quality over quantity.”

Cookie Queens will be released in theaters nationwide on Friday, August 7, 2026, via Roadside Attractions.

Coroner To The Stars (2025)

The titular coroner, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, is currently 99 years old. I don’t know how old he was when he was interviewed for Coroner to the Stars, but he was old enough to be thankful he was still alive and able to tell his own story. I prefer having biographical documentary subjects tell their own stories, or at least as much as firsthand familiarity benefits (they can’t be the only ones telling their own stories). It’s the difference between a list of timeline points and achievements and a sharing of the experience of going through those points and realizing those achievements.

As L.A. County’s Chief Medical Examiner, Noguchi was involved in the autopsies and death investigations of such celebrities as Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, John Belushi, William Holden, Robert F. Kennedy, and Sharon Tate. He’s been a significant part of true-crime history, even proposing the idea of Tate and friends’ murders being cult-related before the Manson Family discovery and arrests were made. His accounts of just these cases (the documentary is fairly brief and brisk, leaving us wanting more stories) are done with terrific recollection and conviction.

His life story is also filled with obstacles concerning race for a Japanese-American, political scrutiny for sticking to his often-controversial conclusions, and media attention, the last of which was partly of his own doing. For those old enough to remember the TV series Quincy, you’ll be fascinated to see how much he inspired Jack Klugman’s whitewashed character. Coroner to the Stars is a swift survey of a long life that revolved around death. And despite all he has seen, he still gets emotional about losing a loved one, notably his ex-wife, with whom he reconciled before she passed.

Coroner to the Stars will be released digitally on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

An Eye For An Eye (2025)

What does true-crime look like for citizens of Iran? An Eye for an Eye depicts a murder case that picks up after the convicted killer’s release from prison. Now she faces an even harsher sentence. Under Sharia law, the family of the victim can either forgive her, for a fee labeled “blood money,” or have her executed. The victim happens to have been her husband, and the murder was allegedly in defense of his ongoing domestic abuse. But maybe that wasn’t the whole story.

The documentary follows the woman and her son as they try to raise the requested fee with the help of an anti-execution activist. Simultaneously, the film reveals more and more details about her case from the time of her investigation and trial. There is a bit of a twist, but this revelation is not a proven fact, nor is it handled as sensationally as one would expect in an American true-crime documentary. Instead, An Eye for an Eye stretches its storytelling to an unfortunate length and pace, overplaying dramatic scenes while failing to show certain pieces of the plot. In the end, I think it leaves viewers with less to think about regarding the law and what justice looks like in Iran and more to wonder about this specific story and who is more deserving of justice.

An Eye for an Eye will be released in theaters on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, and will begin streaming exclusively on the Jolt platform on Friday, August 14, 2026.

The Only 4 Oscar Winners For Best Documentary

Last week, I wrote a piece for my series on Oscar-winning documentaries that examines the four titles that tied for the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1943. The Battle of Midway, Kokoda Front Line!, Moscow Strikes Back, and Why We Fight: Prelude to War are often credited as the first films to win in the Best Documentary Feature Film category, but only two of them qualify as features per the Academy’s rules. The other two winners, as well as the other 21 nominees, are shorts. The honor that year was for documentaries of any length, and the category hasn’t existed since.

Patricio Guzmán Documentaries

Fitting for an edition of this newsletter where the Pick of the Week is by a Chilean filmmaker, I’d also like to spotlight the career of the most notable Chilean documentarian: Patricio Guzmán, who turns 85 on Tuesday. He is best known for making The Battle of Chile, a trilogy of documentaries released in the 1970s about the political crisis and coup d’état that occurred in his country earlier that decade. His most widely seen film here, though, is Nostalgia for the Light, which deals with astronomical and traumatic searches in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Other Guzmán documentaries you should watch for his birthday include Salvador Allende and The Pinochet Case, both of them related to the same political change in his country as The Battle of Chile. Also, check out his more recent films The Pearl Button and The Cordillera of Dreams, which complete a trilogy that began with Nostalgia for the Light. There’s his latest, My Imaginary Country, and there’s 1997’s Chile, an Obstinate Memory, which marked his return to his homeland after Pinochet’s dictatorship ended. All of the mentioned documentaries are available to stream on OVID, with a few also being on Kanopy, Hoopla, and Kino Film Collection.

The War Game (1966)

One of the most contentious titles among the winners of the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature is The War Game, a film that only consists of made-up material. Thinking broadly about what documentaries are, though, I think it counts, and I think it’s worth seeing either way (whether it’s a “feature” is another matter). Directed by Peter Watkins, the film imagines a nuclear attack, meaning it’s a speculative documentary. It’s an example of a documentary set in the future, and there are more of those than you might think. It’s also one of the scariest nonfiction films, and it was surely more so for the people of Britain at the time of its release 60 years ago.

The War Game will be released anew on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD disc via Severin Films on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, with a whole bunch of bonus features.

Awards Highlights

The 2026 Albie Awards Honorees

Last week, the Maysles Documentary Center announced its honorees for the 7th annual Albie Awards, kicking off the awards season for nonfiction films. None of these three documentaries are available to the public yet (outside of festivals), but they’re still worth highlighting ahead of their respective release dates this fall. The 2026 honorees, which will be awarded at a ceremony on September 23, are Once Upon a Time in Harlem (release date: October 16), Rehearsals for a Revolution (release date TBD), and Barbara Forever (release date: September 4).

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Documentary Release Calendar 7/31/26 – 8/6/26

Friday, August 7, 2026

The Big Cheese (2025) – A documentary feature that follows an American team competing in France’s Mondial du Fromage. (In Theaters)

CatVideoFest 2026 (2026) – The latest in a series of anthology films that compile cat videos. (In Theaters)

A Child of My Own (2026) – A documentary feature by two-time Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent; The Eternal Memory) about a woman who faked her pregnancy. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

Cookie Queens (2026) – A documentary feature about Girl Scouts selling cookies. See our highlights section for more info. Read our review of Cookie Queens. (In Theaters)

Saturday, August 8, 2026

Aqua Antics (1942) – A short documentary showcasing the water skiing talents of the California Water Bugs club. (TCM)

Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies (2026) – A concert film presenting a Grateful Dead show performed at Giants Stadium on June 17, 1991. (Theatrical Event)

The Real Murders of Atlanta Season 4, Episode 5: “Halloween Horror” – The latest installment of an Atlanta-focused true-crime docuseries. This episode involves a woman who finds a human foot on her porch the night before Halloween. (Oxygen)

Sunday, August 9, 2026

911: Did the Killer Call? Season 2, Episode 5: “The Sound of Fear” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about cases where the murderer is on the 911 call. (Investigation Discovery)

The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls (2026) – A six-part docuseries in which Bear Grylls takes the cast of The Chosen on wilderness adventures. (Prime Video)

The Cincinnati Kid Plays According to Hoyle (1965) – A short film about magician and gambler Jay Ose, who served as a technical advisor for the film The Cincinnati Kid. (TCM)

Decades in Sports Episodes 3: “1980s” – The third installment of a six-part docuseries executive produced by Tom Hanks about milestones in sports in America. (CNN)

Hazardous History with Henry Winkler Season 2, Episode 16: “Precarious Parenting” – The latest installment of a docuseries about dangerous toys and household items that used to be common. This episode involves the bygone time of more lax rules when it came to children’s safety. (History)

It Looks Like Rain (1945) – A short film about the tools used to forecast the weather. (TCM)

The Mega-Brands That Built America Season 4, Episode 2: “The Game Makers” – The return of a docuseries about iconic brands. This installment covers game shows. (History)

NASCAR Americana Episode 1: “Rebel Roots” – The first installment of a three-part docuseries about NASCAR’s place in American history. (USA Network)

Night Life in Chicago (1948) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Chicago. (TCM)

Unknown Serial Killers of America Season 2, Episode 2: “Paul Stephani” – The latest episode of a true-crime series about less-famous murderers. (Oxygen)

Monday, August 10, 2026

Grandad of Races (1950) – An Oscar-winning short covering the annual horse race held in the Piazza del Campo in Siena. (TCM)

Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies (2026) – A concert film presenting a Grateful Dead show performed at Giants Stadium on June 17, 1991. (Theatrical Event)

A Killer Among Friends Season 2, Episode 4: “Staging a Murder” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about murders that tear friend groups apart. This episode involves the killing of a young woman in California who was part of a theater group. (Investigation Discovery)

Somebody Knows Something Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2: “The Baby in the Yellow Blanket” & “Lost in the Night” – The first two installments of a true-crime series about unsolved murder and missing persons cases. (Freeform)

Spade Cooley: King of Western Swing (1945) – A short film showcasing the titular musician. (TCM)

Sport Slants #10 (1932) – A short documentary in the Sport Slants series that looks at jai alai and deep-sea fishing. (TCM)

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Blu-Ray: Art of the Disc (2025) – A documentary about the invention of the Blu-ray disc. (DVD)

Coroner to the Stars (2025) – A documentary feature about Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the former chief medical examiner for Los Angeles County, who performed autopsies on many celebrities. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (VOD)

Dark Side of the Ring Season 7, Episode 7: “Paul Orndorff: Saving Mr. Wonderful” – The latest installment of a docuseries that shares the darkest stories of professional wrestling. (Vice)

DVD: The Digital Video Disc (2025) – A documentary about the history of DVDs. (DVD)

The Edge of Nature (2023) – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox (GasLand) about his experience with long COVID while living in a one-room cabin in the Pennsylvania forest. (DVD)

Elementary Cinema: The Early Films of Sherlock Holmes (2026) – A medium-length documentary about the titular detective character’s adaptation to cinema. (Blu-ray)

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2025) – A documentary feature directed by Baz Luhrmann starring Elvis as he returns to the stage in his later years. Read our review of EPiC: Elvis Presley in Theaters. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD)

The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine (2024) – A documentary feature about gold miners who develop a machine to extract the precious metal. (OVID)

The First VCR (2019) – A medium-length documentary about the invention of the VCR in 1956. (DVD)

A Game of Double Standards (2026) – A documentary feature about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. (DVD)

Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks Episode 2 – The latest installment of the Hard Knocks franchise (technically Hard Knocks Season 22) goes behind the scenes with the titular football team. (HBO and HBO Max)

Homestead Rescue: Intervention Season 1, Episode 4 – The latest episode of a docuseries that follows wilderness experts as they save lives. (Discovery)

In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey (2026) – A documentary feature narrated by Jeff Bridges about wolves and other animals and their relevance to American history. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Michael Jackson: Devotion (2009) – A medium-length documentary about the death of the titular pop star. (DVD)

Michael Jackson: A Tribute (2010) – A medium-length documentary about the titular pop star’s music and charity work. (DVD)

A Radical Thread (2024) – A documentary about 50 years of innovative sustainability in a Sierra Foothills community. (DVD)

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 7, Episode 13: “Heating Up” – The latest installment of a docuseries about UFO phenomena at the Skinwalker Ranch. (History)

Visiting Italy (1951) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Rome, Pisa, and Florence. (TCM)

The War Game (1966) – An Oscar-winning docudrama that imagines what a nuclear attack on Britain would look like. See our highlights section for more info. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD)

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

911: Did the Killer Call? Season 2, Episode 6: “Judging Reactions” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about cases where the murderer is on the 911 call. (Investigation Discovery)

Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes (2026) – A true-crime docuseries about the titular cult leader. (Netflix)

Delicious Dishes (1950) – A short film that demonstrates a kitchen cutlery set. (TCM)

Eons: Life and Death on Pangea Episode 4: “A Tale of Tusks and Saber Teeth” – The latest installment of a six-part docuseries on the mass-extinction event known as the “Great Dying.” (PBS)

ER: Caught on Camera Season 1, Episode 6 – The latest installment of a docuseries in which medical patients recall experiences in hospital emergency rooms. (TLC)

An Eye for an Eye (2025) – A documentary feature about a woman convicted of killing her husband and now facing execution under Sharia law. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Katseye: Wild Hearts (2026) – A documentary about the titular girl group. (In Theaters)

Thursday, August 13, 2026

A Child of My Own (2026) – A documentary feature by two-time Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent; The Eternal Memory) about a woman who faked her pregnancy. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (Netflix)

Engineering from Above Episode 1: “Fortresses” – The first installment of a docuseries presenting aerial views of engineering marvels. This episode involves a massive wall surrounding a Colombian city. (History)

Infinity According to Florian (2022) – A documentary about the artist Florian Yuriev. (OVID)

Kapr Code (2022) – A documentary opera about communist Czech composer Jan Kapr. (OVID)

Monsters of God Episode 2: “Operation Cobra” – The second installment of a five-part docuseries by Tiger King co-director Eric Goode about the history of exotic reptile smugglers. (HBO and HBO Max)

Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear (2026) – A documentary about the titular Blink-182 drummer. (Hulu)

Whispers (1941) – A short film about the power of gossip. (TCM)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

8/19 – Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rory Kennedy (The Last Days of Vietnam) about the jet manufacturer deemed responsible for multiple plane crashes. This film is a follow-up to Kennedy’s 2022 documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing. Watch the new trailer for Freefall here. (Netflix)

8/19 – Lion – A nature docuseries produced by Jon Favreau and scored by Hans Zimmer about a real lion cub on his journey to become king. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (National Geographic)

8/21 – Bouchra – A hybrid film with some documentary elements about a queer Moroccan jackal living in New York City and his relationship with his mother in Casablanca. (VOD)

8/25 – Untold: The Testimony of Vince Young – The latest installment of the sports anthology series Untold. This documentary covers the story of the titular professional football player. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Netflix)

8/28 – Runa Simi – A documentary about a father and son who dub The Lion King into the endangered Indigenous language Quechua. (In Theaters)

9/10 – The Oldest Person in the World – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green (The Weather Underground) about people who have held the titular record over the last decade. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

9/11 – Mighty Mary – A documentary feature about the first-ever all-women’s sailing crew to compete for the America’s Cup. (In Theaters)

9/18 – The History of Concrete – A documentary feature by John Wilson about concrete. Watch the new teaser trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

9/20 – Bucks County, USA – A five-part docuseries directed by Robert May (Kids for Cash) and Barry Levinson that follows the community of the titular Pennsylvania county through the first years of the 2020s. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (PBS)

10/9 – My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile – A documentary sequel directed by Julia Loktev that follows the characters from My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow after they leave Russia. (In Theaters)

10/12 – Free Leonard Peltier – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker David France (How to Survive a Plague) about the titular member of the American Indian Movement as he hopes to be released from prison after 50 years and experience freedom again before he dies. (Netflix)

11/5 – The Bridge – A music-centered documentary feature about survivors of the October 7 attacks in Israel who travel to Los Angeles to attend the Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp. (In Theaters)

Four new releases are highlighted in the newsletter this week, and three of them could be classified in or near the true-crime genre. Two of those are international works that show crimes committed in other countries with much different legal procedures and cultural expectations. The average true-crime junkie isn’t going to be drawn to these films, but they should broaden their interest and give them a look. One involves a case quite similar to another that’s at the center of a very popular new Netflix documentary. The other takes place in a nation that’s at the center of current events. Of course, the reality is that the two films out this week about or connected to Charles Manson are the ones that typical true-crime fans will flock to.

Without further ado, below are this week’s documentary highlights, followed by daily listings for all known releases and broadcasts, along with a brief look at what’s coming soon for doc fans (including the latest features from Oscar-nominated directors Rory Kennedy, Sam Green, and David France). Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive more in-depth highlights and reviews in the future, plus full access to special posts like our best-of lists, and to give me more time to watch more (if not everything) available. If you have a doc needing coverage or a mention, you can now reach us at nonficseditor (at) gmail.

Nonfics Pick Of The Week: A Child Of My Own (2026)

Maite Alberdi, who has already had two documentary features nominated for Academy Awards this decade, is back with another unique nonfiction film. A Child of My Own tells the story of a hospital worker who faked her pregnancy and stole a newborn from the maternity ward to pass off as her own. This woman, Eleonor “Ale” Alejandra Marín Mendoza, gives her side of the case in voiceover as her account is depicted in dramatized fashion with actors and a candy-colored visual scheme. Normally, this level of “reenactment” would turn me off. The performances and production design held my attention, however, even as I wondered if the documentary was going anywhere more interesting than a literal representation.

About halfway into A Child of My Own, the film becomes more conventional, with talking head interviews and footage of the real Mendoza in her present life as she prepares to leave prison (with occasional dramatizations still sprinkled in). This section unveils at least one big twist, though it’s not a concrete rejection of what we’ve heard in the first half. Psychology, belief, and memory are involved as much as truth and lies. Audiences may be split on what they think of Mendoza in the end. The thing about documentaries where the truth is uncertain is there’s less room for empathy. You can’t be sure of the shoes you’re meant to walk in. So it comes down to whether you sympathize with the subject.

I have watched the ending of A Child of My Own a few times and still haven’t decided what I think of the real Mendoza. I like the portrayed version in the first half of the film a lot, and it may take another full viewing to sync the two up enough to even sympathize with the genuine — or actual, at least — version. As for the film, I’m also not completely decided on whether I like it or love it. I also might grow to dislike it the more I think about its story. But I can’t deny its originality in form and aesthetic, which engaged me unlike anything else I’ve seen this year. Alberdi continues to make singular nonfiction films, and while I haven’t enjoyed them all as much as the Oscars have, I definitely appreciate her creative efforts in this space.

A Child of My Own will be released in select theaters on Friday, August 7, 2026, and will begin streaming exclusively on Netflix on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

Other Documentary Highlights

The Battle Of The Somme (1916)

When you Google “what was the first documentary feature?” the disappointing answer “Nanook of the North” still prevails. Depending on how you define a documentary and/or a feature, the search engine (and the mistaken claims it pulls from) is off by as much as 25 years. Among the most well-known examples is The Battle of the Somme, a feature-length propaganda film that mixes actual and staged combat footage to depict the titular World War I battle. The documentary turns 110 years old this week, having premiered in London on August 10, 1916, ahead of its very successful (in terms of attendance and impact) theatrical release. Watch it and feel not only educated but satisfied that you know better than our technological overlords.

The Battle of the Somme has been restored and is available on DVD and YouTube.

Cookie Queens (2026)

Here’s the one new release that has no connection to the true-crime genre. At least that we know of! There is a character in Cookie Queens who seems to have an overly demanding home, but I wouldn’t go so far as to assume anything beyond that. Still, this documentary feature, which follows a handful of children as they sell Girl Scout Cookies, is hardly the lighthearted puff piece it appears to be on the surface. The kids are cute, with one in particular stealing the whole movie, but as I wrote in my review, “their stories carry hints of an ugly truth about the Girl Scout Cookie trade.” Here’s another excerpt from a Sundance Film Festival review roundup:

“Only one of the young characters, a five-year-old with type-1 diabetes and a very modest sales goal, appears to be truly happy in her efforts, and when she does hit a challenge, she tackles it with the sort of enterprising ingenuity you’d hope to come out of being a member of an organization like Girl Scouts. And she does it altruistically, not to be the best. It may not be the point of the film, but it’s a good reminder of the importance of quality over quantity.”

Cookie Queens will be released in theaters nationwide on Friday, August 7, 2026, via Roadside Attractions.

Coroner To The Stars (2025)

The titular coroner, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, is currently 99 years old. I don’t know how old he was when he was interviewed for Coroner to the Stars, but he was old enough to be thankful he was still alive and able to tell his own story. I prefer having biographical documentary subjects tell their own stories, or at least as much as firsthand familiarity benefits (they can’t be the only ones telling their own stories). It’s the difference between a list of timeline points and achievements and a sharing of the experience of going through those points and realizing those achievements.

As L.A. County’s Chief Medical Examiner, Noguchi was involved in the autopsies and death investigations of such celebrities as Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, John Belushi, William Holden, Robert F. Kennedy, and Sharon Tate. He’s been a significant part of true-crime history, even proposing the idea of Tate and friends’ murders being cult-related before the Manson Family discovery and arrests were made. His accounts of just these cases (the documentary is fairly brief and brisk, leaving us wanting more stories) are done with terrific recollection and conviction.

His life story is also filled with obstacles concerning race for a Japanese-American, political scrutiny for sticking to his often-controversial conclusions, and media attention, the last of which was partly of his own doing. For those old enough to remember the TV series Quincy, you’ll be fascinated to see how much he inspired Jack Klugman’s whitewashed character. Coroner to the Stars is a swift survey of a long life that revolved around death. And despite all he has seen, he still gets emotional about losing a loved one, notably his ex-wife, with whom he reconciled before she passed.

Coroner to the Stars will be released digitally on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

An Eye For An Eye (2025)

What does true-crime look like for citizens of Iran? An Eye for an Eye depicts a murder case that picks up after the convicted killer’s release from prison. Now she faces an even harsher sentence. Under Sharia law, the family of the victim can either forgive her, for a fee labeled “blood money,” or have her executed. The victim happens to have been her husband, and the murder was allegedly in defense of his ongoing domestic abuse. But maybe that wasn’t the whole story.

The documentary follows the woman and her son as they try to raise the requested fee with the help of an anti-execution activist. Simultaneously, the film reveals more and more details about her case from the time of her investigation and trial. There is a bit of a twist, but this revelation is not a proven fact, nor is it handled as sensationally as one would expect in an American true-crime documentary. Instead, An Eye for an Eye stretches its storytelling to an unfortunate length and pace, overplaying dramatic scenes while failing to show certain pieces of the plot. In the end, I think it leaves viewers with less to think about regarding the law and what justice looks like in Iran and more to wonder about this specific story and who is more deserving of justice.

An Eye for an Eye will be released in theaters on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, and will begin streaming exclusively on the Jolt platform on Friday, August 14, 2026.

The Only 4 Oscar Winners For Best Documentary

Last week, I wrote a piece for my series on Oscar-winning documentaries that examines the four titles that tied for the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1943. The Battle of Midway, Kokoda Front Line!, Moscow Strikes Back, and Why We Fight: Prelude to War are often credited as the first films to win in the Best Documentary Feature Film category, but only two of them qualify as features per the Academy’s rules. The other two winners, as well as the other 21 nominees, are shorts. The honor that year was for documentaries of any length, and the category hasn’t existed since.

Patricio Guzmán Documentaries

Fitting for an edition of this newsletter where the Pick of the Week is by a Chilean filmmaker, I’d also like to spotlight the career of the most notable Chilean documentarian: Patricio Guzmán, who turns 85 on Tuesday. He is best known for making The Battle of Chile, a trilogy of documentaries released in the 1970s about the political crisis and coup d’état that occurred in his country earlier that decade. His most widely seen film here, though, is Nostalgia for the Light, which deals with astronomical and traumatic searches in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Other Guzmán documentaries you should watch for his birthday include Salvador Allende and The Pinochet Case, both of them related to the same political change in his country as The Battle of Chile. Also, check out his more recent films The Pearl Button and The Cordillera of Dreams, which complete a trilogy that began with Nostalgia for the Light. There’s his latest, My Imaginary Country, and there’s 1997’s Chile, an Obstinate Memory, which marked his return to his homeland after Pinochet’s dictatorship ended. All of the mentioned documentaries are available to stream on OVID, with a few also being on Kanopy, Hoopla, and Kino Film Collection.

The War Game (1966)

One of the most contentious titles among the winners of the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature is The War Game, a film that only consists of made-up material. Thinking broadly about what documentaries are, though, I think it counts, and I think it’s worth seeing either way (whether it’s a “feature” is another matter). Directed by Peter Watkins, the film imagines a nuclear attack, meaning it’s a speculative documentary. It’s an example of a documentary set in the future, and there are more of those than you might think. It’s also one of the scariest nonfiction films, and it was surely more so for the people of Britain at the time of its release 60 years ago.

The War Game will be released anew on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD disc via Severin Films on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, with a whole bunch of bonus features.

Awards Highlights

The 2026 Albie Awards Honorees

Last week, the Maysles Documentary Center announced its honorees for the 7th annual Albie Awards, kicking off the awards season for nonfiction films. None of these three documentaries are available to the public yet (outside of festivals), but they’re still worth highlighting ahead of their respective release dates this fall. The 2026 honorees, which will be awarded at a ceremony on September 23, are Once Upon a Time in Harlem (release date: October 16), Rehearsals for a Revolution (release date TBD), and Barbara Forever (release date: September 4).

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Documentary Release Calendar 7/31/26 – 8/6/26

Friday, August 7, 2026

The Big Cheese (2025) – A documentary feature that follows an American team competing in France’s Mondial du Fromage. (In Theaters)

CatVideoFest 2026 (2026) – The latest in a series of anthology films that compile cat videos. (In Theaters)

A Child of My Own (2026) – A documentary feature by two-time Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent; The Eternal Memory) about a woman who faked her pregnancy. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

Cookie Queens (2026) – A documentary feature about Girl Scouts selling cookies. See our highlights section for more info. Read our review of Cookie Queens. (In Theaters)

Saturday, August 8, 2026

Aqua Antics (1942) – A short documentary showcasing the water skiing talents of the California Water Bugs club. (TCM)

Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies (2026) – A concert film presenting a Grateful Dead show performed at Giants Stadium on June 17, 1991. (Theatrical Event)

The Real Murders of Atlanta Season 4, Episode 5: “Halloween Horror” – The latest installment of an Atlanta-focused true-crime docuseries. This episode involves a woman who finds a human foot on her porch the night before Halloween. (Oxygen)

Sunday, August 9, 2026

911: Did the Killer Call? Season 2, Episode 5: “The Sound of Fear” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about cases where the murderer is on the 911 call. (Investigation Discovery)

The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls (2026) – A six-part docuseries in which Bear Grylls takes the cast of The Chosen on wilderness adventures. (Prime Video)

The Cincinnati Kid Plays According to Hoyle (1965) – A short film about magician and gambler Jay Ose, who served as a technical advisor for the film The Cincinnati Kid. (TCM)

Decades in Sports Episodes 3: “1980s” – The third installment of a six-part docuseries executive produced by Tom Hanks about milestones in sports in America. (CNN)

Hazardous History with Henry Winkler Season 2, Episode 16: “Precarious Parenting” – The latest installment of a docuseries about dangerous toys and household items that used to be common. This episode involves the bygone time of more lax rules when it came to children’s safety. (History)

It Looks Like Rain (1945) – A short film about the tools used to forecast the weather. (TCM)

The Mega-Brands That Built America Season 4, Episode 2: “The Game Makers” – The return of a docuseries about iconic brands. This installment covers game shows. (History)

NASCAR Americana Episode 1: “Rebel Roots” – The first installment of a three-part docuseries about NASCAR’s place in American history. (USA Network)

Night Life in Chicago (1948) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Chicago. (TCM)

Unknown Serial Killers of America Season 2, Episode 2: “Paul Stephani” – The latest episode of a true-crime series about less-famous murderers. (Oxygen)

Monday, August 10, 2026

Grandad of Races (1950) – An Oscar-winning short covering the annual horse race held in the Piazza del Campo in Siena. (TCM)

Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies (2026) – A concert film presenting a Grateful Dead show performed at Giants Stadium on June 17, 1991. (Theatrical Event)

A Killer Among Friends Season 2, Episode 4: “Staging a Murder” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about murders that tear friend groups apart. This episode involves the killing of a young woman in California who was part of a theater group. (Investigation Discovery)

Somebody Knows Something Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2: “The Baby in the Yellow Blanket” & “Lost in the Night” – The first two installments of a true-crime series about unsolved murder and missing persons cases. (Freeform)

Spade Cooley: King of Western Swing (1945) – A short film showcasing the titular musician. (TCM)

Sport Slants #10 (1932) – A short documentary in the Sport Slants series that looks at jai alai and deep-sea fishing. (TCM)

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Blu-Ray: Art of the Disc (2025) – A documentary about the invention of the Blu-ray disc. (DVD)

Coroner to the Stars (2025) – A documentary feature about Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the former chief medical examiner for Los Angeles County, who performed autopsies on many celebrities. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (VOD)

Dark Side of the Ring Season 7, Episode 7: “Paul Orndorff: Saving Mr. Wonderful” – The latest installment of a docuseries that shares the darkest stories of professional wrestling. (Vice)

DVD: The Digital Video Disc (2025) – A documentary about the history of DVDs. (DVD)

The Edge of Nature (2023) – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox (GasLand) about his experience with long COVID while living in a one-room cabin in the Pennsylvania forest. (DVD)

Elementary Cinema: The Early Films of Sherlock Holmes (2026) – A medium-length documentary about the titular detective character’s adaptation to cinema. (Blu-ray)

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2025) – A documentary feature directed by Baz Luhrmann starring Elvis as he returns to the stage in his later years. Read our review of EPiC: Elvis Presley in Theaters. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD)

The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine (2024) – A documentary feature about gold miners who develop a machine to extract the precious metal. (OVID)

The First VCR (2019) – A medium-length documentary about the invention of the VCR in 1956. (DVD)

A Game of Double Standards (2026) – A documentary feature about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. (DVD)

Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks Episode 2 – The latest installment of the Hard Knocks franchise (technically Hard Knocks Season 22) goes behind the scenes with the titular football team. (HBO and HBO Max)

Homestead Rescue: Intervention Season 1, Episode 4 – The latest episode of a docuseries that follows wilderness experts as they save lives. (Discovery)

In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey (2026) – A documentary feature narrated by Jeff Bridges about wolves and other animals and their relevance to American history. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Michael Jackson: Devotion (2009) – A medium-length documentary about the death of the titular pop star. (DVD)

Michael Jackson: A Tribute (2010) – A medium-length documentary about the titular pop star’s music and charity work. (DVD)

A Radical Thread (2024) – A documentary about 50 years of innovative sustainability in a Sierra Foothills community. (DVD)

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 7, Episode 13: “Heating Up” – The latest installment of a docuseries about UFO phenomena at the Skinwalker Ranch. (History)

Visiting Italy (1951) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Rome, Pisa, and Florence. (TCM)

The War Game (1966) – An Oscar-winning docudrama that imagines what a nuclear attack on Britain would look like. See our highlights section for more info. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD)

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

911: Did the Killer Call? Season 2, Episode 6: “Judging Reactions” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about cases where the murderer is on the 911 call. (Investigation Discovery)

Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes (2026) – A true-crime docuseries about the titular cult leader. (Netflix)

Delicious Dishes (1950) – A short film that demonstrates a kitchen cutlery set. (TCM)

Eons: Life and Death on Pangea Episode 4: “A Tale of Tusks and Saber Teeth” – The latest installment of a six-part docuseries on the mass-extinction event known as the “Great Dying.” (PBS)

ER: Caught on Camera Season 1, Episode 6 – The latest installment of a docuseries in which medical patients recall experiences in hospital emergency rooms. (TLC)

An Eye for an Eye (2025) – A documentary feature about a woman convicted of killing her husband and now facing execution under Sharia law. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Katseye: Wild Hearts (2026) – A documentary about the titular girl group. (In Theaters)

Thursday, August 13, 2026

A Child of My Own (2026) – A documentary feature by two-time Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent; The Eternal Memory) about a woman who faked her pregnancy. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (Netflix)

Engineering from Above Episode 1: “Fortresses” – The first installment of a docuseries presenting aerial views of engineering marvels. This episode involves a massive wall surrounding a Colombian city. (History)

Infinity According to Florian (2022) – A documentary about the artist Florian Yuriev. (OVID)

Kapr Code (2022) – A documentary opera about communist Czech composer Jan Kapr. (OVID)

Monsters of God Episode 2: “Operation Cobra” – The second installment of a five-part docuseries by Tiger King co-director Eric Goode about the history of exotic reptile smugglers. (HBO and HBO Max)

Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear (2026) – A documentary about the titular Blink-182 drummer. (Hulu)

Whispers (1941) – A short film about the power of gossip. (TCM)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

8/19 – Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rory Kennedy (The Last Days of Vietnam) about the jet manufacturer deemed responsible for multiple plane crashes. This film is a follow-up to Kennedy’s 2022 documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing. Watch the new trailer for Freefall here. (Netflix)

8/19 – Lion – A nature docuseries produced by Jon Favreau and scored by Hans Zimmer about a real lion cub on his journey to become king. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (National Geographic)

8/21 – Bouchra – A hybrid film with some documentary elements about a queer Moroccan jackal living in New York City and his relationship with his mother in Casablanca. (VOD)

8/25 – Untold: The Testimony of Vince Young – The latest installment of the sports anthology series Untold. This documentary covers the story of the titular professional football player. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Netflix)

8/28 – Runa Simi – A documentary about a father and son who dub The Lion King into the endangered Indigenous language Quechua. (In Theaters)

9/10 – The Oldest Person in the World – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green (The Weather Underground) about people who have held the titular record over the last decade. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

9/11 – Mighty Mary – A documentary feature about the first-ever all-women’s sailing crew to compete for the America’s Cup. (In Theaters)

9/18 – The History of Concrete – A documentary feature by John Wilson about concrete. Watch the new teaser trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

9/20 – Bucks County, USA – A five-part docuseries directed by Robert May (Kids for Cash) and Barry Levinson that follows the community of the titular Pennsylvania county through the first years of the 2020s. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (PBS)

10/9 – My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile – A documentary sequel directed by Julia Loktev that follows the characters from My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow after they leave Russia. (In Theaters)

10/12 – Free Leonard Peltier – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker David France (How to Survive a Plague) about the titular member of the American Indian Movement as he hopes to be released from prison after 50 years and experience freedom again before he dies. (Netflix)

11/5 – The Bridge – A music-centered documentary feature about survivors of the October 7 attacks in Israel who travel to Los Angeles to attend the Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp. (In Theaters)

Exclusive: The “Secret Agent” director’s film will be the inaugural selection for the festival’s new NYFF Encounters initiative, which invites filmmakers to shoot new films at the festival.

Episode Summary

What happens when the money runs out—but the film isn’t finished?

For many documentary filmmakers, securing initial funding feels like the biggest hurdle. But as the months stretch into years, a different challenge begins to emerge: how do you sustain both your film and yourself through a process that rarely follows a straight line?

In this episode of The Documentary Life, Chris G. Parkhurst is joined by veteran documentary filmmaker and grant mentor Jilann Spitzmiller for an honest conversation about the realities of long-form documentary production. Together they explore sustaining funding over years—not months—why pauses in production don’t mean failure, and how filmmakers can navigate the emotional, financial, and creative demands of projects that unfold over time.

Whether you’re waiting on grants, balancing freelance work with your film, or wondering if your documentary has simply taken too long, this conversation offers reassurance that endurance—not uninterrupted momentum—is often what brings meaningful nonfiction stories to completion.

In This Episode

• Why long production timelines are the norm—not the exception
• Sustaining your documentary through years of uncertainty
• Navigating the emotional and financial realities of long-form filmmaking
• Balancing paid work while keeping your film alive
• Letting go of guilt when life forces your documentary to pause
• Building resilience through community, mentorship, and support
• Why taking a break doesn’t mean you’ve failed
• Endurance as one of the most important documentary filmmaking skills

Chapters

00:00 – Why sustaining a documentary is harder than starting one

04:53 – Why long-form documentaries take years to complete

07:28 – Jilann Spitzmiller on the realities of long-haul filmmaking

14:26 – What happens when the funding runs out?

20:11 – Navigating the emotional middle of a documentary project

23:29 – Balancing paid work while keeping your film alive

28:28 – Finding personal grounding during long productions

31:21 – Why taking longer doesn’t mean you’re failing

33:20 – Building support through mentorship and community

36:13 – Final reflections and resources for documentary filmmakers

Featured Guest

Jilann Spitzmiller is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, producer, and mentor with more than 30 years of experience creating long-form, character-driven nonfiction films. Her work has been supported by organizations including the Sundance Institute, ITVS, and the Open Society Institute, and includes acclaimed documentaries such as Shakespeare Behind Bars and Meow Wolf: Origin Story. As an educator and grant mentor, Jilann has helped countless filmmakers navigate the realities of documentary funding, production, and distribution. Drawing on decades of experience making films that unfold over many years, she offers a candid and deeply reassuring perspective on sustaining both a documentary project and the filmmaker behind it.

Website

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Episode #142 How Do I Fund My Film? with Liz Nord

Episode #69 The Art of Film Funding with Carole Lee Dean

Episode #15 Shaking the Money Tree with Morrie Warshawski

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Quotes from the Episode

“A documentary isn’t measured by uninterrupted momentum. The question isn’t whether your film pauses. The question is whether, when the time comes, you find your way back.” — Chris G. Parkhurst

“If I had known then just how torturous this process would become… I probably never would have made the film. And maybe that’s one of documentary’s quiet mercies.” — Chris G. Parkhurst

“Making a film is about commitment.” — Jilann Spitzmiller

“There’s no shame in having to step away. It’s just the normal ebb and flow of making a long-term documentary.” — Jilann Spitzmiller

“Your film is going to come and go. But you’re sort of stuck with yourself the whole time.” — Jilann Spitzmiller

About The Documentary Life

The Documentary Life is a podcast exploring the craft, business, and lived experience of documentary filmmaking. Through conversations with filmmakers from around the world, host Chris G. Parkhurst explores not only how documentaries are made, but what it means to build a meaningful, sustainable creative life.

And Lastly…

Stories matter. Listening matters. Human connection matters.

Thanks for spending part of your documentary life with us.

I mentioned in my Miami International Film Festival doc preview that Alison Ellwood and Alex Gibney’s Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place was not one of my most anticipated. I hadn’t heard good buzz at Sundance on the film, and I’m not a huge fan of Gibney lately anyway. Also, his doc on Hunter S. Thompson, Gonzo, was a huge disappointment f…

Read more

I mentioned in my Miami International Film Festival doc preview that Alison Ellwood and Alex Gibney’s Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place was not one of my most anticipated. I hadn’t heard good buzz at Sundance on the film, and I’m not a huge fan of Gibney lately anyway. Also, his doc on Hunter S. Thompson, Gonzo, was a huge disappointment f…

Read more