On the Transgressive Weirdness of HBO’s Neighbors

I’ve just finished my rewatch of Neighbors Season 1. I’m thrilled it was picked up for Season 2, but not surprised as it was HBO Max’s biggest unscripted debut ever?! It really is a very strange show (complimentary). I liked it more the more it went on, and I liked it even more after my second time through it. I have so many questions, such as:

• How did this completely insane television show, with its somehow equally funny and horrifying nature, come to exist?

• What about the show makes us / at least some people queasy? Is it just an exploitative freak show? How did they navigate these questions — ethically, practically, creatively — from casting through post?

• Is Neighbors reality TV, documentary, both, or neither? How is it different from other shows like Residential Rage (also on HBO Max)?

I’ll be talking about these topics in a Live Chat with series co-directors and tomorrow at 1pm ET.

The reason I am interested to speak with Dylan and Harrison about Neighbors is that the people, imagery and stories of Neighbors feel as if they belong more to reality TV than to respectable documentary, even while I don’t think the show is reality TV. (Maybe I’m overthinking this, but when I hear Dylan, off camera, saying, “We’re making a documentary,” I tend to agree with him. I’m interested in the gray areas here.)

Reality TV: the embarrassing cousin of documentary?

A few weeks back, two of my favorite reality TV shows — 90 Day Fiancé and Survivor — aired episodes, within days of one another, prominently featuring people pooping their pants.

For the uninitiated: these franchises are both hugely popular, but they could not be further apart in terms of their current cultural positioning. TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé squarely codes as “trash TV”: cheap, basic cable, lurid, guilty pleasure. Now in its 50th season on CBS, Survivor is about as mainstream, respectable, and prestigious as reality TV has ever been.1 Nobody would call either one “documentary.”

I watch both these shows religiously. But while I’ll happily confess my love for Survivor in polite society, I am embarrassed by my love for 90 Day. I am uncomfortable with it. I may even be ashamed. I’m not sure “love” is the right word, but how else can I describe my relationship to something I cannot stop watching?

Anyway, as different as they are, both shows happened to air pants-pooping episodes the very same week. I’m putting all the details in a footnote here2 to spare any of you whose delicate sensibilities I’ve already offended. Suffice it to say: in both cases it was played for comedy, but — surprising nobody in 2026! — Survivor probably handled it a little more humanely and tastefully.

But surely the most humane and tasteful thing to do would have been to leave out these unfortunate, embarrassing, disgusting events in the first place, right?

In neither case does the pants-pooping change the story in any significant way. You don’t “need” these scenes to better understand Christian’s strategy to win the game, or Lisa’s love story with Daniel.

Both incidents were immediately meme-ified, of course, as the producers surely predicted. These shows depend on people — like me! — making and sharing memes — the memes are essential marketing. Even the people making memes to criticize the show are doing marketing for the show.

Given this media world3 , even in the more humane and tasteful version of the pants-pooping episode (Survivor), the choice of the producers to include it at all is now a part of this person’s public story forever. Is that… good? Even if it was pretty funny?

This is a newsletter about the art and business of documentary filmmaking. I kind of can’t believe I am sitting here talking about people pooping their pants on reality TV.

If you haven’t already smashed the unsubscribe button faster than a Gen Z moviegoer confronted by a sex scene, I promise I’m going somewhere with this. It very well may be that reality TV is not the embarrassing cousin of documentary (as we like to think), but more like its monstrous twin, so enmeshed it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

But… reality TV is nothing like documentary!!!
Wait… what is the precise difference again?
What makes you so sure?

Read more

It was only a matter of time before I’d cross paths with Julia Loktev. I’ve been a fan of her lengthy film My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow for a while, even naming it one of the best documentaries of 2025. And we were in the same room at least once last fall when the film was nominated for Best Political Documentary at the 10th annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Still, we didn’t officially make each other’s acquaintance — albeit it virtually — until she did press for this week’s streaming debut of My Undesirable Friends, which is now available on Mubi.

By this point, it’d been almost a year since I watched all five and a half hours of the documentary, but it’s not hard to remember completely. And I was still curious about how Loktev and her collaborators came to create such an epic yet intimate film experience. I also really wanted to get some details on its upcoming sequel, My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile. We connected via Zoom this past Thursday for only 15 minutes, getting through only a smidgen of my questions. The good thing is I’m sure it won’t be the ast time we chat, and the next instance won’t take so long.

Below is our conversation in full, with light editing for clarity.

What was the original idea for the documentary? You obviously couldn’t anticipate where things would lead when you flew out to Russia to begin filming.

There was almost no time between conception and execution. Actually, the only thing that created time between them was that Russia wasn’t giving visas after COVID. So, there were a few weeks when I was waiting for one of the, I think, first tourist visas. I read a story in the New York Times in late Summer 2021, and the headline was something like “Russian Journalists Meet a Crackdown With Dark Humor.” It had a picture of these two young women, who looked like I could run into them in Bushwick, except they’d been named “foreign agents.” And I thought this was quite interesting. The humor was also like catnip to me.

What happened was that Russia started naming media and individual journalists “foreign agents” at this time. It started happening really quickly. Every Friday night, there would be a new list of “foreign agents” announced, which people would be checking over dinner. I thought I was going to make a film called “The Lives of ‘Foreign Agents,’” about these young journalists whom their government had declared “foreign agents.” It meant they had to put this really long paragraph description at the top of every story, in all caps, which said, “The following information has been created and/or distributed by a source of mass media foreign agent, blah blah blah.”

This would go on all your articles, on your videos, on your podcast, on your cat pictures on Instagram, in your parents’ chat. Everywhere you appeared in public, you had to first announce yourself as a “foreign agent.” And if you didn’t, it would be a fine the first time, second time is a fine, third strike is jail. Also, if you were interviewed somewhere. Let’s say TV Rain, which was Russia’s last remaining independent TV channel, had a guest, and they were a “foreign agent,” they had to say, “Well this is Christpher, who we must say is a foreign agent,” and if they didn’t they would also get a fine. It was this mechanism of control. It was new and incredibly disturbing, incredibly alarming, and I thought this was what the film was going to be about, facing this new level of crackdown on not only the media but also on simple society.

What we didn’t know at the time was that this was all a lead-up to Russia starting a full-scale war four and a half months later. And four and a half months later, all of our main characters fled the country, [along with] hundreds of thousands of other Russians opposed to the war, and their lives were about to change. Four and a half months later, it would not be possible anymore to be working as an independent journalist and speaking out against Putin physically in Russia.

I got incredibly lucky, I think, as a filmmaker. It feels wrong to say it, but it’s true. It’s like Joan Didion’s famous line, “It was gold.” I got to capture history live, and characters we come to really get to know as people.

I say that a lot too, that while also sad, it’s beneficial to documentary filmmakers when terrible things happen.

That’s what we’re there for, to tell a story that hopefully is important to be told.

You knew some of these women, right?

I knew Anna Nemzer, who is a co-director on the film. I knew her socially since like 2018, I think. We’d known each other for a few years. And she had a show that she just started on TV Rain. She had another political analyst show, but she started this brand new show that I adored called Who’s Got the Power? where she would interview activists and people who were trying to create a different Russia. This was her act of protest, and she’s just brilliant and amazing. So I talked to her about making the film, and we embarked on this crazy project together, and she knew everyone else. Or there was one degree of separation.

I think it made a huge difference, first, the fact that I’m from Russia originally. I left as a child, but Russian is the language that I speak to my own mom. So, I speak native Russian, and people feel at home with me. But also that I came with Anna, who was incredibly trusted and respected. She said, “Okay, here’s my friend Julia.” And so it helped people open up because I wasn’t coming in as an outsider. I came in and was kind of introduced and guided.

That’s one of my favorite things about the film, that there’s this balance of the personally intimate and the more removed, observational perspectives.

It’s not entirely observational. I don’t pretend I’m not there, but I don’t talk very much. People talk to me, which is the camera. It hopefully puts the viewer in a position where you become that person on the other side of the camera, like where you’re the perspective you’re viewing it from. I’ve had people say that, to them, it feels like these women become their undesirable friends too.

And they’re very, very desirable friends, I promise.

When did you realize the kind of film you were making, not just in terms of the content but also the structure, length, multi-part, etc.?

Everything changed the night that Russia started this historical war. Up until then, I thought it was going to be a slow burn of a film about people deciding how much repression they could take and trying to figure out how to keep working in this country. Is the time to leave tomorrow? Was the time to leave yesterday? How do we work under this increasingly oppressive regime? Then, Russia started a criminal full-scale war in Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of people fled, and I realized I was there capturing this historic moment because I was in Moscow the first week of the full-scale war, as the U.S. embassy was telling all Americans to leave. I said, “Okay, I think I’ll stay,” and I stayed until every one of my characters left the country.

At that point, I realized I’m capturing something that is absolutely historic. And I had the incredible advantage. It’s not that I flew over and started filming then. It would be a different film. I was capturing through people whom we’d known for four months already. We’d already lived through it. You knew them intimately. You knew them as characters the way you do in a fiction film. Suddenly, they’re having to flee their country with a carry-on suitcase in a few hours, and you’re living through this with them. And I think it’s really rare that you get to experience that, that you’re in a position as a filmmaker to capture something at this moment, capturing it live.

Actually, I kept filming them. I didn’t go home. I kept going from country to country to country filming them because there’s a Part II – Exile coming. Which also is like, if you think of all the different populations that have had to flee into exile, whether it’s the Iranians after the Revolution, Russians after the 1917 Revolution, it’s something that has happened to different populations. Where suddenly there is this mass exodus of people who find themselves no longer able to live in the country and not be arrested. Suddenly they’re spit out into the world. They have no idea what country they’re going to next. They have no idea what the future holds. All their professional lives have fallen apart. Their entire lives have collapsed.

I got to capture all of this live, and at that point I said, “Wow, I’m just gonna honor the footage. I’m going to make the film that it needs to be.” When people hear it’s five and a half hours, they think maybe it’s going to be slow, and it’s anything but slow. It’s five and a half hours of exhaustingly fast…It’s really dense. It’s fast, but it’s also a lot of details of life, which I think is what interests me. It’s not information you can get anywhere. You can read Wikipedia or a New York Times article, but what this gives you is a chance to live through it with people who, in a way, we usually only get in a fiction film. Made after the fact when you try to imagine what it was like to be there at this moment. Usually it takes fiction for that.

I think it seems to play faster the more you get to know them, too. Why did you decide to tell us the fates of these women long before you show those events?

Somebody asked me that the other day, and I didn’t really have a good answer. I was thinking about it: First of all, you’re going into this film knowing what happened. You know Russia starts a full-scale war. And I assume you know a lot of Russians fled, who were opposed to the war. But of course, you’re watching characters who have absolutely no idea for the first three hours that their country will invade Ukraine fully. (There’d been a war going on for eight years, but everyone had gotten used to it. The kind of war that’s now going on was unimaginable.) You’re watching these characters knowing something they don’t know. I figured to just lean into that.

There’s a different way that you watch something because it starts with the line “The world you’re about to see no longer exists.” You watch something very differently, just knowing that you are watching something that then becomes extinct. Because literally the entire ecosystem, the entire world the film shows, doesn’t exist anymore. It’s unimaginable, actually, now from where we are, that it did exist just a few months before the war. Because we’re thrown into this Moscow where there’s a television station that looks like MTV back in the day, where there are protest bands singing, “I’m the fifth column. I’m a national traitor. My Russia exists autonomously from yours. You throw people in jail and start wars. We have people too, and we’re stronger.”

That is absolutely un-effing-imaginable now. Any of these people would be thrown in jail immediately for doing what you see them doing. You’re watching this world on the verge of extinction, and I thought it was important to know that. Although somebody said it’s like film noir. Like you start out with a body in the pool, and you have to figure out how it got there.

Given the tremendous success of Part I, have you felt any pressure while working on Part II to make it just as good or just as important?

For this whole project, I’ve tried to just honor the footage. For Part I, I had somebody come in and say, “Great, we’ll give you all the full budget” — which I still haven’t fuly raised the full budget — but it would have meant committing to a 90 or 120 minute film. And I said, “No, thank you, I’m going to honor the footage.” I just have to spend time with the footage and make the film that I have to make. Luckily, it’s been very well received. So, I try not to worry about those things.

But it’s very different because Part I, you know, it all takes place in Moscow, as the title says, and it ends with everyone fleeing Moscow. Part II picks up literally like two days later in Instanbul, where a lot of people flew because it was one of the few places you could buy a plane ticket to. There aren’t planes flying to Europe, to the U.S., to Australia. There were only a few countries. There are still only a few countries that planes will fly to from Russia. They were flying before the war, obviously, but commercial airline traffic stopped. So they bought whatever tickets they could. They went to Istanbul, and one of the characters says this great thing, “Yesterday, I had a life. I was an anchor at TV Rain. I had a boyfriend and an apartment. And now I’m a loser in Istanbul.” Their entire lives have fallen apart.

Meanwhile, their country is waging this criminal war, and they all feel this imperative to get back up on their feet as soon as possible, even as they don’t have a place to live, and keep working as journalists. It follows them over the next years as they continue to work despite being threatened, facing incredible risks, many of them have criminal charges against them in Russia, some have been sentenced in Russia, they have been physically threatened. But they all continue to report on Russia for Russians, hoping to offer Russians an alternative to propaganda.

It’s this larger subject of exile. It’s not losing a home. It’s about decency. How do you take accountability when your country is waging a war that you oppose? None of them washes their hands of it. That’s all really important to me. They also talk about Russian war crimes in Ukraine, but they also don’t say, “This is not my problem.” They all feel complicit, and they feel responsible that they have to do something.

It still has humor, though, despite all those serious subjects. We still got jokes.

It was only a matter of time before I’d cross paths with Julia Loktev. I’ve been a fan of her lengthy film My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow for a while, even naming it one of the best documentaries of 2025. And we were in the same room at least once last fall when the film was nominated for Best Political Documentary at the 10th annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Still, we didn’t officially make each other’s acquaintance — albeit it virtually — until she did press for this week’s streaming debut of My Undesirable Friends, which is now available on Mubi.

By this point, it’d been almost a year since I watched all five and a half hours of the documentary, but it’s not hard to remember completely. And I was still curious about how Loktev and her collaborators came to create such an epic yet intimate film experience. I also really wanted to get some details on its upcoming sequel, My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile. We connected via Zoom this past Thursday for only 15 minutes, getting through only a smidgen of my questions. The good thing is I’m sure it won’t be the ast time we chat, and the next instance won’t take so long.

Below is our conversation in full, with light editing for clarity.

What was the original idea for the documentary? You obviously couldn’t anticipate where things would lead when you flew out to Russia to begin filming.

There was almost no time between conception and execution. Actually, the only thing that created time between them was that Russia wasn’t giving visas after COVID. So, there were a few weeks when I was waiting for one of the, I think, first tourist visas. I read a story in the New York Times in late Summer 2021, and the headline was something like “Russian Journalists Meet a Crackdown With Dark Humor.” It had a picture of these two young women, who looked like I could run into them in Bushwick, except they’d been named “foreign agents.” And I thought this was quite interesting. The humor was also like catnip to me.

What happened was that Russia started naming media and individual journalists “foreign agents” at this time. It started happening really quickly. Every Friday night, there would be a new list of “foreign agents” announced, which people would be checking over dinner. I thought I was going to make a film called “The Lives of ‘Foreign Agents,’” about these young journalists whom their government had declared “foreign agents.” It meant they had to put this really long paragraph description at the top of every story, in all caps, which said, “The following information has been created and/or distributed by a source of mass media foreign agent, blah blah blah.”

This would go on all your articles, on your videos, on your podcast, on your cat pictures on Instagram, in your parents’ chat. Everywhere you appeared in public, you had to first announce yourself as a “foreign agent.” And if you didn’t, it would be a fine the first time, second time is a fine, third strike is jail. Also, if you were interviewed somewhere. Let’s say TV Rain, which was Russia’s last remaining independent TV channel, had a guest, and they were a “foreign agent,” they had to say, “Well this is Christpher, who we must say is a foreign agent,” and if they didn’t they would also get a fine. It was this mechanism of control. It was new and incredibly disturbing, incredibly alarming, and I thought this was what the film was going to be about, facing this new level of crackdown on not only the media but also on simple society.

What we didn’t know at the time was that this was all a lead-up to Russia starting a full-scale war four and a half months later. And four and a half months later, all of our main characters fled the country, [along with] hundreds of thousands of other Russians opposed to the war, and their lives were about to change. Four and a half months later, it would not be possible anymore to be working as an independent journalist and speaking out against Putin physically in Russia.

I got incredibly lucky, I think, as a filmmaker. It feels wrong to say it, but it’s true. It’s like Joan Didion’s famous line, “It was gold.” I got to capture history live, and characters we come to really get to know as people.

I say that a lot too, that while also sad, it’s beneficial to documentary filmmakers when terrible things happen.

That’s what we’re there for, to tell a story that hopefully is important to be told.

You knew some of these women, right?

I knew Anna Nemzer, who is a co-director on the film. I knew her socially since like 2018, I think. We’d known each other for a few years. And she had a show that she just started on TV Rain. She had another political analyst show, but she started this brand new show that I adored called Who’s Got the Power? where she would interview activists and people who were trying to create a different Russia. This was her act of protest, and she’s just brilliant and amazing. So I talked to her about making the film, and we embarked on this crazy project together, and she knew everyone else. Or there was one degree of separation.

I think it made a huge difference, first, the fact that I’m from Russia originally. I left as a child, but Russian is the language that I speak to my own mom. So, I speak native Russian, and people feel at home with me. But also that I came with Anna, who was incredibly trusted and respected. She said, “Okay, here’s my friend Julia.” And so it helped people open up because I wasn’t coming in as an outsider. I came in and was kind of introduced and guided.

That’s one of my favorite things about the film, that there’s this balance of the personally intimate and the more removed, observational perspectives.

It’s not entirely observational. I don’t pretend I’m not there, but I don’t talk very much. People talk to me, which is the camera. It hopefully puts the viewer in a position where you become that person on the other side of the camera, like where you’re the perspective you’re viewing it from. I’ve had people say that, to them, it feels like these women become their undesirable friends too.

And they’re very, very desirable friends, I promise.

When did you realize the kind of film you were making, not just in terms of the content but also the structure, length, multi-part, etc.?

Everything changed the night that Russia started this historical war. Up until then, I thought it was going to be a slow burn of a film about people deciding how much repression they could take and trying to figure out how to keep working in this country. Is the time to leave tomorrow? Was the time to leave yesterday? How do we work under this increasingly oppressive regime? Then, Russia started a criminal full-scale war in Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of people fled, and I realized I was there capturing this historic moment because I was in Moscow the first week of the full-scale war, as the U.S. embassy was telling all Americans to leave. I said, “Okay, I think I’ll stay,” and I stayed until every one of my characters left the country.

At that point, I realized I’m capturing something that is absolutely historic. And I had the incredible advantage. It’s not that I flew over and started filming then. It would be a different film. I was capturing through people whom we’d known for four months already. We’d already lived through it. You knew them intimately. You knew them as characters the way you do in a fiction film. Suddenly, they’re having to flee their country with a carry-on suitcase in a few hours, and you’re living through this with them. And I think it’s really rare that you get to experience that, that you’re in a position as a filmmaker to capture something at this moment, capturing it live.

Actually, I kept filming them. I didn’t go home. I kept going from country to country to country filming them because there’s a Part II – Exile coming. Which also is like, if you think of all the different populations that have had to flee into exile, whether it’s the Iranians after the Revolution, Russians after the 1917 Revolution, it’s something that has happened to different populations. Where suddenly there is this mass exodus of people who find themselves no longer able to live in the country and not be arrested. Suddenly they’re spit out into the world. They have no idea what country they’re going to next. They have no idea what the future holds. All their professional lives have fallen apart. Their entire lives have collapsed.

I got to capture all of this live, and at that point I said, “Wow, I’m just gonna honor the footage. I’m going to make the film that it needs to be.” When people hear it’s five and a half hours, they think maybe it’s going to be slow, and it’s anything but slow. It’s five and a half hours of exhaustingly fast…It’s really dense. It’s fast, but it’s also a lot of details of life, which I think is what interests me. It’s not information you can get anywhere. You can read Wikipedia or a New York Times article, but what this gives you is a chance to live through it with people who, in a way, we usually only get in a fiction film. Made after the fact when you try to imagine what it was like to be there at this moment. Usually it takes fiction for that.

I think it seems to play faster the more you get to know them, too. Why did you decide to tell us the fates of these women long before you show those events?

Somebody asked me that the other day, and I didn’t really have a good answer. I was thinking about it: First of all, you’re going into this film knowing what happened. You know Russia starts a full-scale war. And I assume you know a lot of Russians fled, who were opposed to the war. But of course, you’re watching characters who have absolutely no idea for the first three hours that their country will invade Ukraine fully. (There’d been a war going on for eight years, but everyone had gotten used to it. The kind of war that’s now going on was unimaginable.) You’re watching these characters knowing something they don’t know. I figured to just lean into that.

There’s a different way that you watch something because it starts with the line “The world you’re about to see no longer exists.” You watch something very differently, just knowing that you are watching something that then becomes extinct. Because literally the entire ecosystem, the entire world the film shows, doesn’t exist anymore. It’s unimaginable, actually, now from where we are, that it did exist just a few months before the war. Because we’re thrown into this Moscow where there’s a television station that looks like MTV back in the day, where there are protest bands singing, “I’m the fifth column. I’m a national traitor. My Russia exists autonomously from yours. You throw people in jail and start wars. We have people too, and we’re stronger.”

That is absolutely un-effing-imaginable now. Any of these people would be thrown in jail immediately for doing what you see them doing. You’re watching this world on the verge of extinction, and I thought it was important to know that. Although somebody said it’s like film noir. Like you start out with a body in the pool, and you have to figure out how it got there.

Given the tremendous success of Part I, have you felt any pressure while working on Part II to make it just as good or just as important?

For this whole project, I’ve tried to just honor the footage. For Part I, I had somebody come in and say, “Great, we’ll give you all the full budget” — which I still haven’t fuly raised the full budget — but it would have meant committing to a 90 or 120 minute film. And I said, “No, thank you, I’m going to honor the footage.” I just have to spend time with the footage and make the film that I have to make. Luckily, it’s been very well received. So, I try not to worry about those things.

But it’s very different because Part I, you know, it all takes place in Moscow, as the title says, and it ends with everyone fleeing Moscow. Part II picks up literally like two days later in Instanbul, where a lot of people flew because it was one of the few places you could buy a plane ticket to. There aren’t planes flying to Europe, to the U.S., to Australia. There were only a few countries. There are still only a few countries that planes will fly to from Russia. They were flying before the war, obviously, but commercial airline traffic stopped. So they bought whatever tickets they could. They went to Istanbul, and one of the characters says this great thing, “Yesterday, I had a life. I was an anchor at TV Rain. I had a boyfriend and an apartment. And now I’m a loser in Istanbul.” Their entire lives have fallen apart.

Meanwhile, their country is waging this criminal war, and they all feel this imperative to get back up on their feet as soon as possible, even as they don’t have a place to live, and keep working as journalists. It follows them over the next years as they continue to work despite being threatened, facing incredible risks, many of them have criminal charges against them in Russia, some have been sentenced in Russia, they have been physically threatened. But they all continue to report on Russia for Russians, hoping to offer Russians an alternative to propaganda.

It’s this larger subject of exile. It’s not losing a home. It’s about decency. How do you take accountability when your country is waging a war that you oppose? None of them washes their hands of it. That’s all really important to me. They also talk about Russian war crimes in Ukraine, but they also don’t say, “This is not my problem.” They all feel complicit, and they feel responsible that they have to do something.

It still has humor, though, despite all those serious subjects. We still got jokes.

The electric guitar has been the most iconic instrument of musical inspiration and social change for almost one hundred years. Today, Yaron Deutsch is the world’s leading electric guitarist who bridges classical and contemporary music. This documentary is a portrait of the artist, and an exploration of the guitar’s evolution in music and electricity. Combining interview, master class, concert, and movie clips, the film asks what it means to interpret a composer’s work, and how legacy thrives in shadows of greatness.

Directed by H. Paul Moon

Produced by Thomas Fichter

Music composed by Fausto Romitelli, Pierluigi Billone, Rebecca Saunders & Klaus Lang

Music performed by @YaronDeutsch & @taleaensemble

Cameras and editing by H. Paul Moon

Additional camera by Kyabell Glass

Concert lighting design by Abigail Hoke-Brady

Concert recording and mix by Caley Monahon-Ward

Additional recording by Nico Osborne

Produced with the Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust, and the @TIMESPANSFestival

For more information, visit: https://zenviolence.com/shadowaxe

The electric guitar has been the most iconic instrument of musical inspiration and social change for almost one hundred years. Today, Yaron Deutsch is the world’s leading electric guitarist who bridges classical and contemporary music. This documentary is a portrait of the artist, and an exploration of the guitar’s evolution in music and electricity. Combining interview, master class, concert, and movie clips, the film asks what it means to interpret a composer’s work, and how legacy thrives in shadows of greatness.

Directed by H. Paul Moon

Produced by Thomas Fichter

Music composed by Fausto Romitelli, Pierluigi Billone, Rebecca Saunders & Klaus Lang

Music performed by @YaronDeutsch & @taleaensemble

Cameras and editing by H. Paul Moon

Additional camera by Kyabell Glass

Concert lighting design by Abigail Hoke-Brady

Concert recording and mix by Caley Monahon-Ward

Additional recording by Nico Osborne

Produced with the Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust, and the @TIMESPANSFestival

For more information, visit: https://zenviolence.com/shadowaxe

The more successful Nonfics gets (in its Substack era), the more we get requests for reviews, especially of documentaries not yet available to the public. Many of these are film festival premieres. Would our readers be interested in that kind of coverage? I’m not convinced. In my 26 years as a critic, I’ve rarely found much personal benefit in reviewing films that nobody can see, or that nobody is already anticipating seeing. I’ll cover Sundance premieres when I can, but only because there’s a good chance those documentaries will not only be released within the year but also be award contenders.

Being the transparent guy that I am, I will also admit that I was spoiled by film festivals themselves inviting me to attend, cover, and participate, either on their dime or at the expense of the local tourism board. That happened a lot in the early years of Nonfics (in its website-only era). I was always officially there in employment as an expert to serve as a moderator, panelist, or member of a jury, and if I had the time to review the films or the festival as a whole, that was a bonus for them. Such coverage rarely got much traffic, though, and so had little financial benefit to the site.

Things have gotten even worse in the last decade for that kind of coverage online, but with newsletter-driven outlets like the current iteration of Nonfics, SEO and whatever else matters for website income aren’t as important. Hopefully, you’re subscribing to learn about documentaries to seek out in the future, not just those I recommend (or not) that are coming to theaters and streaming over the next seven days. If true, I hope to eventually have the capacity (and paid subscription income) to review the festival premieres and other documentaries in need and share them directly with you.

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 (this week, we have trailers for the latest Disneynature documentary and the latest Lucretia Martel film!). 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 in need of coverage or a mention, you can reach me at christopherbartoncampbell (at) gmail.

Nonfics Pick Of The Week: My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air In Moscow (2024)

Surprisingly, My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow has never been a Nonfics Pick of the Week until now. The must-see five-hour-plus documentary has been a recommended highlight multiple times, whether timed to its theatrical releases and in recognition of its awards successes. The film even ranked in the top 10 on our list of the best documentaries of 2025. While I don’t have anything new to say (stay tuned for our interview with director Julia Loktev, as it’s her turn to speak here), it’s time to let it fully shine in celebration of its long-awaited streaming debut.

Here is yet another excerpt from our review of My Undesirable Friend: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, with the hope that you will check it out, despite the runtime:

“The distinction of My Undesirable Friends is that it’s an immersive, character-driven film more than just a record of recent events. We spend so much time with these women that it becomes personal rather than merely historical. Still, as a record of recent events, it’s the sort of documentary that shows history as it’s occurring. Despite the captions that foretell what will happen to these characters well in advance of showing these outcomes playing out on screen, the story unfolds in a linear chronology that gives us the sense that we’re experiencing it in real time. That’s not to say it’s slow, let alone that it feels longer than its 324 minutes. Quite the opposite, the film flies by the deeper you get.”

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow makes its streaming debut exclusively on Mubi on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Other Documentary Highlights

Frederick Wiseman’s U.S. Documentaries

We could never highlight Frederick Wiseman’s documentaries enough, not when he was alive nor now that he has passed away. In tribute to the iconic filmmaker (who was also a fan of My Undesirable Friends), the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York, has programmed a retrospective titled “Frederick Wiseman’s America.” It’s another excuse for us to recommend his work, specifically those documentaries set in the United States. If you can see any of these films on the big screen, do so. If you can only follow along with this series at home, they are available via Kanopy.

This week, specifically on Wednesday, April 8, and Thursday, April 9, you should watch Welfare (one of our picks for the best documentaries of all time and the best documentaries about New York City), High School (one of the best documentaries about student life and the education system), and the Emmy-winning Law and Order. We’ll highlight the rest of the program as it continues throughout this month.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025)

Another one of our favorite films of 2025, Mr. Nobody Against Putin recently won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Like My Undesirable Friends, it also concerns exiled chroniclers of Russia’s propaganda machine (and other corruptions). You can currently stream the documentary via Kino Film Collection or rent or buy it digitally. But you’re going to want to grab a physical copy because it’s that good, deserving of permanence in your collection. Plus, the DVD includes an introduction by co-director and cinematographer Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, who is also the film’s main character.

Here is a bit about Talankin from our review of Mr. Nobody Against Putin:

“At the film’s center is its co-director, Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, a primary school teacher from Karabash, Russia. He finally has enough of the regime when it impacts his job and the students he cares about, and Mr. Nobody Against Putin is the result of his virtuous resistance….The film should also give viewers some hope by showing that there are Russians like Talankin who aren’t the enemy. It is sad that he had to escape a country that he loved, even in its darkest times, and it is sad that Karabash has perhaps lost its most influential subversive (maybe one of his former students will take his place?), but he’s created and done something extraordinarily important.”

Mr. Nobody Against Putin will be released on DVD on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

My Sweet Land (2024)

We see a lot of documentaries about families having to leave their homes, whether because their country is at war or being led by a madman (or both). Unlike the exiles and refugees seen in My Undesirable Friends, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Midnight Traveler, In Exile, Flee, Ta’ang, Beyond Utopia, One in a Million, and many others, the subjects of My Sweet Land are followed not just as they flee but also as they return to their partially destroyed village to live amidst its ruins and leftover mines and carry on. (One in a Million follows its main character returning, but just as a visitor.)

The film concentrates on the perspective of a preteen ethnic-Armenian boy before, during, and after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Since then, his family has been forced out again, but the film portrays a community where the only thing that seems constant and certain is more wars to come. Children are assumed to be young soldiers in waiting. This is a tense way to exist, somewhat similar to the locals of Pompei: Beyond the Clouds who always feel on the verge of disaster, and it’s interesting, if often heartbreaking, to see this through Vrej’s eyes.

My Sweet Land makes its broadcast debut on PBS on Saturday, April 4, 2026.

The Tallest Dwarf (2025)

This week’s installment of Independent Lens is directed by Julie Wyman, and its title, The Tallest Dwarf, refers to her. She believes she is biologically part of the little people community despite her height of five feet, which is above the range for dwarfism. The exploration of this claim is intriguing, and Wyman ultimately reaches a satisfying scientific conclusion. Unfortunately, that takes a backseat to the film’s focus on the rest of the community during her attendance at the Little People of America National Conference. As a documentary on dwarf identity, medical concerns, and other topics devoted to this group, there’s enough appeal, but it’s not as compelling as the documentary the title promises.

The Tallest Dwarf makes its broadcast debut as an episode of Independent Lens on Monday, April 6, 2026, and will be available to stream on the PBS website, app, and YouTube channel afterward.

Trust Me: The False Prophet (2026)

Technically, I’m embargoed against writing much at all about Trust Me: The False Prophet ahead of its release, let alone my opinion. So, I’ll stick with a light synopsis, which should be enough to pique your interest in viewing the four-part true-crime docuseries. Directed by Rachel Dretzin (who previously helmed the related Netflix series Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, about Warren Jeffs), this new documentary follows a well-intended outsider couple embedded in the fundamentalist Mormon community of Short Creek as they unexpectedly find themselves investigating Samuel Bateman, the self-proclaimed new leader/prophet of FLDS, and his child sexual abuse ring.

Trust Me: The False Prophet premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.

The Truth And Tragedy Of Moriah Wilson (2026)

Another true-crime documentary coming to Netflix this week, The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson is one that I am at liberty to discuss. However, I don’t have a lot to share about the feature, which tells the story of the titular cyclist’s murder in Austin in 2022. For better or worse, the film is not sensational in the least. This means it’s pretty straightforward and respectful toward its victim, but it doesn’t have much bite.

I don’t consider that a criticism, as I do appreciate simply learning about Moriah Wilson and what the world is missing without her. And I do think the film does a great job of adapting part of the court case against her killer, showing how well law enforcement can track and trace a murderer’s steps. However, I can’t help but also wish I understood the killer’s psychology more. Maybe true-crime has ruined us?

The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Untold: Chess Mates (2026)

And we’re back to Netflix content that I can’t (yet) share my opinion on. Let me give a tease, if I may be so bold (forgive me, publicists). Last week, I admitted that, going into the latest season of the sports documentary series, I hadn’t ever seen an episode of Untold that I liked. Now I can say that I also didn’t care for the Season 6 premiere, Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom, either. So, why am I highlighting the next installment, Untold: Chess Mates? Hmm, I don’t know (no, I do know!). You’ll have to wait until its release date to find out. The answer may surprise you.

Untold: Chess Mates premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

Subscribe now

Documentary Release Calendar 4/3/26 – 4/9/26

Friday, April 3, 2026

Ancient Egypt (1939) – A short documentary from James A. FitzPatrick’s Traveltalk franchise focused on historical landmarks in Egypt. (TCM)

The Hidden Master (1940) – A short film about the importance of luck. (TCM)

Jimmy & The Demons (2025) – A documentary feature directed by Cindy Meehl (Buck) about James Grashow’s sculpture The Cathedral. (In Theaters)

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow (2024) – A documentary about a political threat against independent journalists in Russia. Read our review of My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow. *NONFICS PICK* (Mubi)

The Proof is Out There Season 6, Episode 4: “The Battle of Los Angeles, Chinese Dragon Discovery, and Celebrity UFO” – The latest installment of a docuseries investigating UFOs, conspiracies, and mythical creatures. (History)

Roger Corman: The Pope of Pop Cinema (2021) – A medium-length documentary about film producer Roger Corman. (TCM)

The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson (2026) – A true-crime documentary about the murder of pro cyclist Moriah Wilson. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (Netflix)

Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other (2024) – A documentary feature about married artists. (In Theaters)

Saturday, April 4, 2026

The Beginning or the End (1947) – A docudrama about the development and deployment of the atomic bomb. (TCM)

Buried in the Backyard Season 6, Episode 16 – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about the odd locations where murder victims were found. (Oxygen)

Made for March (2026) – A four-part docuseries following the Kansas Jayhawks and Michigan Wolverines in the current college basketball season. (Paramount+)

My Sweet Land (2024) – A feature documentary following a young boy in war-torn Artsakh. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (PBS)

Pandas 3D (2019) – A short 3D documentary narrated by Kristen Bell about pandas. Presented as part of AMC’s IMAX Documentary Showcase. (IMAX Theatrical Event)

Vet Detective Season 1, Episode 6: “The Bulldog’s Battle to Breathe” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the work of veterinarian Dr. Lauren Adelman. (National Geographic)

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Betrayal: Secrets & Lies Season 1, Episode 2: “Abuse & Alimony” – A true-crime docuseries involving stories of infidelity and deceit. (ABC, Disney+, and Hulu)

Gadgets Galore (1955) – An Oscar-nominated short documentary about the impact of the invention of the automobile. (TCM)

History’s Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe Season 1, Episode 7: “Backyard Treasures” – The latest installment of a docuseries about legendary treasures, relics, and artifacts from history. (History)

A Plan to Kill Season 2, Episode 5: “Killer Principal” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries on the meticulous planning conducted by serial killers. (Oxygen)

Monday, April 6, 2026

Fatal Attraction: I’d Kill to Be You Season 1, Episode 11: “A Sister’s Secret” – The latest installment of a true-crime series about cases involving jealousy. (TV One)

Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN (2026) – A documentary about the creation of ESPN in 1978. (ESPN)

The Tallest Dwarf (2025) – A documentary by Julie Wyman about her place in the Little People community. Presented as an episode of Independent Lens. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (PBS)

Where It Lies Episode 1: “Van Cortlandt Park” – The first installment of a four-part docuseries about public golf. (ESPN App)

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Action on the Beach (1964) – A short documentary about the making of the D-Day sequence in the film The Americanization of Emily. (TCM)

After the Millennium (2019) – A documentary feature about the TV series Millennium. (Blu-ray)

The Box (2022) – A three-part true-crime documentary about America’s worst serial killers. (Blu-ray)

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. Season 12, Episode 9: “Song of the South” – The latest installment of a docuseries presenting celebrities with their ancestral history. Actress Danielle Deadwyler and musician Rhiannon Giddens are the participants in this episode. (PBS)

Jeff Dunham’s The Cars That Drove Us Episodes 3 & 4: “Trans Am” & “Corvette” – The latest installments of an eight-part docuseries starring comedian Jeff Dunham about some of the most iconic vehicles in history. (Discovery)

Knock Out Blonde: The Kellie Maloney Story (2024) – A documentary about the titular transgender boxing manager. (DVD)

Lucy Worsley Investigates: The American Revolution Episode 1 – The first installment of a two-part documentary on the American Revolution. (PBS)

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025) – An Oscar-winning documentary feature about a Russian teacher who secretly exposes the militarization of youth in his country following the invasion of Ukraine. Read our review of Mr. Nobody Against Putin. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD)

Original Gangsters with Sean Bean (2025) – A four-part docuseries about notorious criminals, including Al Capone. (Sundance Now)

Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny Season 2, Episode 4: “Black Ops” – The latest installment of a docuseries about declassified government activities. (History)

Untold: Chess Mates (2026) – A documentary feature about the chess rivalry between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann. This is the second installment of the sixth season of Untold. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

We Are Not Machines (2025) – A documentary feature about Hispanic workers. (DVD)

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

The Bad Foot Clinic Season 1, Episode 4: “There’s Trouble Afoot” – The latest installment of a docuseries following a podiatrist couple in their work. (TLC)

Becoming Elephant: The Orphans of Reteti (2026) – A two-part documentary about the first community-owned elephant sanctuary in Africa. Presented as an episode of Nature. (PBS)

The Capital City: Washington, D.C. (1940) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Washington, D.C.’s famous buildings and monuments. (TCM)

Conspiracies & Coverups Episode 2: “Jersey Drone Panic” – The latest installment of a docuseries starring ex-CIA officer Andrew Bustamente about the biggest conspiracies in pop culture today. (Discovery)

Feds Season 2, Episode 6: “Hired to Kill” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the FBI on various cases. This episode involves a serial killer in Philadelphia. (Investigation Discovery)

Hunt for the Missing: Chicago Episode 6: “The Last Message” – The final installment of a six-part series following a retired police detective as she re-investigates cold cases. (Investigation Discovery)

Jamaica & Tamarindo: Afro Tradition in the Heart of Mexico (2019) – A short documentary about the Jamaica flower and tamarind. (OVID)

Relentless Memory (2024) – A documentary feature about an Indigenous Mapuche activist and researcher as she explores the atrocities against her ancestors. (OVID)

To Catch a Smuggler Season 10, Episode 7: “The Dope Boat” – The latest installment of a docuseries following U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. This episode involves cocaine and a rookie K9. (National Geographic)

Trust Me: The False Prophet (2026) – A four-part docuseries following an undercover investigation into FLDS leader Samuel Bateman. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

Where It Lies Episode 1: “Van Cortlandt Park” – The first installment of a four-part docuseries about public golf. (ESPN2)

Your Last Act (1941) – A short film on various odd bequests people made in their wills. (TCM)

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Donald Judd’s Marfa, Texas (1998) – A short documentary about the titular artist and critic. (OVID)

Extreme Weather Early Warning Systems (2026) – A short documentary about experts trying to improve weather warnings. Presented as an episode of the PBS Terra series Weathered. (PBS App and YouTube)

Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo Season 2, Episode 16: “Powerful Discoveries” – The latest installment of a docuseries exploring hidden worlds. (History)

Predator Hunters Episode 6: “High Risk Takedown” – The latest installment of a docuseries produced by Louis Theroux following the work of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. (A&E)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

4/10 – Fiume o Morte! – A comedic docudrama about a Croatian city occupied by an Italian poet in 1919. (In Theaters)

4/10 – Steal This Story, Please! – A documentary about Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

4/13 – The Last Twins – A documentary feature about Erno “Zvi” Spiegel, who saved several sets of twins from experimentation during the Holocaust. (PBS)

4/14 – The Dark Wizard – A four-part docuseries directed by The Alpinist filmmakers Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen about climber, base jumper, and highline walker Dean Potter. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (HBO and HBO Max)

4/17 – Everyone Is Lying to You for Money – A documentary feature directed by and starring actor Ben McKenzie about cryptocurrency. (In Theaters)

4/20 – Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie – A documentary about the legacy of the titular comedy duo. (Paramount+)

4/22 – Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool – A documentary feature about the titular country music superstar. (Netflix)

4/22 – Orangutan – A documentary feature from Disneynature narrated by Josh Gad about an adolescent orangutan. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Disney+)

4/23 – The Chaplain & The Doctor – A documentary feature about a chaplain and a doctor working together. (In Theaters)

4/24 – Bernstein’s Wall – A documentary about Leonard Bernstein. (In Theaters)

4/24 – Eraserheads: Combo on the Run – A documentary feature about the titular Filipino rock band. (In Theaters)

5/1 – Our Land – A documentary feature directed by Lucretia Martel about the case of the 2009 killing of an Indigenous leader in Argentina. Watch the trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

The more successful Nonfics gets (in its Substack era), the more we get requests for reviews, especially of documentaries not yet available to the public. Many of these are film festival premieres. Would our readers be interested in that kind of coverage? I’m not convinced. In my 26 years as a critic, I’ve rarely found much personal benefit in reviewing films that nobody can see, or that nobody is already anticipating seeing. I’ll cover Sundance premieres when I can, but only because there’s a good chance those documentaries will not only be released within the year but also be award contenders.

Being the transparent guy that I am, I will also admit that I was spoiled by film festivals themselves inviting me to attend, cover, and participate, either on their dime or at the expense of the local tourism board. That happened a lot in the early years of Nonfics (in its website-only era). I was always officially there in employment as an expert to serve as a moderator, panelist, or member of a jury, and if I had the time to review the films or the festival as a whole, that was a bonus for them. Such coverage rarely got much traffic, though, and so had little financial benefit to the site.

Things have gotten even worse in the last decade for that kind of coverage online, but with newsletter-driven outlets like the current iteration of Nonfics, SEO and whatever else matters for website income aren’t as important. Hopefully, you’re subscribing to learn about documentaries to seek out in the future, not just those I recommend (or not) that are coming to theaters and streaming over the next seven days. If true, I hope to eventually have the capacity (and paid subscription income) to review the festival premieres and other documentaries in need and share them directly with you.

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 (this week, we have trailers for the latest Disneynature documentary and the latest Lucretia Martel film!). 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 in need of coverage or a mention, you can reach me at christopherbartoncampbell (at) gmail.

Nonfics Pick Of The Week: My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air In Moscow (2024)

Surprisingly, My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow has never been a Nonfics Pick of the Week until now. The must-see five-hour-plus documentary has been a recommended highlight multiple times, whether timed to its theatrical releases and in recognition of its awards successes. The film even ranked in the top 10 on our list of the best documentaries of 2025. While I don’t have anything new to say (stay tuned for our interview with director Julia Loktev, as it’s her turn to speak here), it’s time to let it fully shine in celebration of its long-awaited streaming debut.

Here is yet another excerpt from our review of My Undesirable Friend: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, with the hope that you will check it out, despite the runtime:

“The distinction of My Undesirable Friends is that it’s an immersive, character-driven film more than just a record of recent events. We spend so much time with these women that it becomes personal rather than merely historical. Still, as a record of recent events, it’s the sort of documentary that shows history as it’s occurring. Despite the captions that foretell what will happen to these characters well in advance of showing these outcomes playing out on screen, the story unfolds in a linear chronology that gives us the sense that we’re experiencing it in real time. That’s not to say it’s slow, let alone that it feels longer than its 324 minutes. Quite the opposite, the film flies by the deeper you get.”

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow makes its streaming debut exclusively on Mubi on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Other Documentary Highlights

Frederick Wiseman’s U.S. Documentaries

We could never highlight Frederick Wiseman’s documentaries enough, not when he was alive nor now that he has passed away. In tribute to the iconic filmmaker (who was also a fan of My Undesirable Friends), the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York, has programmed a retrospective titled “Frederick Wiseman’s America.” It’s another excuse for us to recommend his work, specifically those documentaries set in the United States. If you can see any of these films on the big screen, do so. If you can only follow along with this series at home, they are available via Kanopy.

This week, specifically on Wednesday, April 8, and Thursday, April 9, you should watch Welfare (one of our picks for the best documentaries of all time and the best documentaries about New York City), High School (one of the best documentaries about student life and the education system), and the Emmy-winning Law and Order. We’ll highlight the rest of the program as it continues throughout this month.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025)

Another one of our favorite films of 2025, Mr. Nobody Against Putin recently won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Like My Undesirable Friends, it also concerns exiled chroniclers of Russia’s propaganda machine (and other corruptions). You can currently stream the documentary via Kino Film Collection or rent or buy it digitally. But you’re going to want to grab a physical copy because it’s that good, deserving of permanence in your collection. Plus, the DVD includes an introduction by co-director and cinematographer Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, who is also the film’s main character.

Here is a bit about Talankin from our review of Mr. Nobody Against Putin:

“At the film’s center is its co-director, Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, a primary school teacher from Karabash, Russia. He finally has enough of the regime when it impacts his job and the students he cares about, and Mr. Nobody Against Putin is the result of his virtuous resistance….The film should also give viewers some hope by showing that there are Russians like Talankin who aren’t the enemy. It is sad that he had to escape a country that he loved, even in its darkest times, and it is sad that Karabash has perhaps lost its most influential subversive (maybe one of his former students will take his place?), but he’s created and done something extraordinarily important.”

Mr. Nobody Against Putin will be released on DVD on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

My Sweet Land (2024)

We see a lot of documentaries about families having to leave their homes, whether because their country is at war or being led by a madman (or both). Unlike the exiles and refugees seen in My Undesirable Friends, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Midnight Traveler, In Exile, Flee, Ta’ang, Beyond Utopia, One in a Million, and many others, the subjects of My Sweet Land are followed not just as they flee but also as they return to their partially destroyed village to live amidst its ruins and leftover mines and carry on. (One in a Million follows its main character returning, but just as a visitor.)

The film concentrates on the perspective of a preteen ethnic-Armenian boy before, during, and after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Since then, his family has been forced out again, but the film portrays a community where the only thing that seems constant and certain is more wars to come. Children are assumed to be young soldiers in waiting. This is a tense way to exist, somewhat similar to the locals of Pompei: Beyond the Clouds who always feel on the verge of disaster, and it’s interesting, if often heartbreaking, to see this through Vrej’s eyes.

My Sweet Land makes its broadcast debut on PBS on Saturday, April 4, 2026.

The Tallest Dwarf (2025)

This week’s installment of Independent Lens is directed by Julie Wyman, and its title, The Tallest Dwarf, refers to her. She believes she is biologically part of the little people community despite her height of five feet, which is above the range for dwarfism. The exploration of this claim is intriguing, and Wyman ultimately reaches a satisfying scientific conclusion. Unfortunately, that takes a backseat to the film’s focus on the rest of the community during her attendance at the Little People of America National Conference. As a documentary on dwarf identity, medical concerns, and other topics devoted to this group, there’s enough appeal, but it’s not as compelling as the documentary the title promises.

The Tallest Dwarf makes its broadcast debut as an episode of Independent Lens on Monday, April 6, 2026, and will be available to stream on the PBS website, app, and YouTube channel afterward.

Trust Me: The False Prophet (2026)

Technically, I’m embargoed against writing much at all about Trust Me: The False Prophet ahead of its release, let alone my opinion. So, I’ll stick with a light synopsis, which should be enough to pique your interest in viewing the four-part true-crime docuseries. Directed by Rachel Dretzin (who previously helmed the related Netflix series Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, about Warren Jeffs), this new documentary follows a well-intended outsider couple embedded in the fundamentalist Mormon community of Short Creek as they unexpectedly find themselves investigating Samuel Bateman, the self-proclaimed new leader/prophet of FLDS, and his child sexual abuse ring.

Trust Me: The False Prophet premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.

The Truth And Tragedy Of Moriah Wilson (2026)

Another true-crime documentary coming to Netflix this week, The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson is one that I am at liberty to discuss. However, I don’t have a lot to share about the feature, which tells the story of the titular cyclist’s murder in Austin in 2022. For better or worse, the film is not sensational in the least. This means it’s pretty straightforward and respectful toward its victim, but it doesn’t have much bite.

I don’t consider that a criticism, as I do appreciate simply learning about Moriah Wilson and what the world is missing without her. And I do think the film does a great job of adapting part of the court case against her killer, showing how well law enforcement can track and trace a murderer’s steps. However, I can’t help but also wish I understood the killer’s psychology more. Maybe true-crime has ruined us?

The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Untold: Chess Mates (2026)

And we’re back to Netflix content that I can’t (yet) share my opinion on. Let me give a tease, if I may be so bold (forgive me, publicists). Last week, I admitted that, going into the latest season of the sports documentary series, I hadn’t ever seen an episode of Untold that I liked. Now I can say that I also didn’t care for the Season 6 premiere, Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom, either. So, why am I highlighting the next installment, Untold: Chess Mates? Hmm, I don’t know (no, I do know!). You’ll have to wait until its release date to find out. The answer may surprise you.

Untold: Chess Mates premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

Subscribe now

Documentary Release Calendar 4/3/26 – 4/9/26

Friday, April 3, 2026

Ancient Egypt (1939) – A short documentary from James A. FitzPatrick’s Traveltalk franchise focused on historical landmarks in Egypt. (TCM)

The Hidden Master (1940) – A short film about the importance of luck. (TCM)

Jimmy & The Demons (2025) – A documentary feature directed by Cindy Meehl (Buck) about James Grashow’s sculpture The Cathedral. (In Theaters)

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow (2024) – A documentary about a political threat against independent journalists in Russia. Read our review of My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow. *NONFICS PICK* (Mubi)

The Proof is Out There Season 6, Episode 4: “The Battle of Los Angeles, Chinese Dragon Discovery, and Celebrity UFO” – The latest installment of a docuseries investigating UFOs, conspiracies, and mythical creatures. (History)

Roger Corman: The Pope of Pop Cinema (2021) – A medium-length documentary about film producer Roger Corman. (TCM)

The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson (2026) – A true-crime documentary about the murder of pro cyclist Moriah Wilson. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (Netflix)

Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other (2024) – A documentary feature about married artists. (In Theaters)

Saturday, April 4, 2026

The Beginning or the End (1947) – A docudrama about the development and deployment of the atomic bomb. (TCM)

Buried in the Backyard Season 6, Episode 16 – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about the odd locations where murder victims were found. (Oxygen)

Made for March (2026) – A four-part docuseries following the Kansas Jayhawks and Michigan Wolverines in the current college basketball season. (Paramount+)

My Sweet Land (2024) – A feature documentary following a young boy in war-torn Artsakh. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (PBS)

Pandas 3D (2019) – A short 3D documentary narrated by Kristen Bell about pandas. Presented as part of AMC’s IMAX Documentary Showcase. (IMAX Theatrical Event)

Vet Detective Season 1, Episode 6: “The Bulldog’s Battle to Breathe” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the work of veterinarian Dr. Lauren Adelman. (National Geographic)

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Betrayal: Secrets & Lies Season 1, Episode 2: “Abuse & Alimony” – A true-crime docuseries involving stories of infidelity and deceit. (ABC, Disney+, and Hulu)

Gadgets Galore (1955) – An Oscar-nominated short documentary about the impact of the invention of the automobile. (TCM)

History’s Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe Season 1, Episode 7: “Backyard Treasures” – The latest installment of a docuseries about legendary treasures, relics, and artifacts from history. (History)

A Plan to Kill Season 2, Episode 5: “Killer Principal” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries on the meticulous planning conducted by serial killers. (Oxygen)

Monday, April 6, 2026

Fatal Attraction: I’d Kill to Be You Season 1, Episode 11: “A Sister’s Secret” – The latest installment of a true-crime series about cases involving jealousy. (TV One)

Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN (2026) – A documentary about the creation of ESPN in 1978. (ESPN)

The Tallest Dwarf (2025) – A documentary by Julie Wyman about her place in the Little People community. Presented as an episode of Independent Lens. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (PBS)

Where It Lies Episode 1: “Van Cortlandt Park” – The first installment of a four-part docuseries about public golf. (ESPN App)

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Action on the Beach (1964) – A short documentary about the making of the D-Day sequence in the film The Americanization of Emily. (TCM)

After the Millennium (2019) – A documentary feature about the TV series Millennium. (Blu-ray)

The Box (2022) – A three-part true-crime documentary about America’s worst serial killers. (Blu-ray)

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. Season 12, Episode 9: “Song of the South” – The latest installment of a docuseries presenting celebrities with their ancestral history. Actress Danielle Deadwyler and musician Rhiannon Giddens are the participants in this episode. (PBS)

Jeff Dunham’s The Cars That Drove Us Episodes 3 & 4: “Trans Am” & “Corvette” – The latest installments of an eight-part docuseries starring comedian Jeff Dunham about some of the most iconic vehicles in history. (Discovery)

Knock Out Blonde: The Kellie Maloney Story (2024) – A documentary about the titular transgender boxing manager. (DVD)

Lucy Worsley Investigates: The American Revolution Episode 1 – The first installment of a two-part documentary on the American Revolution. (PBS)

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025) – An Oscar-winning documentary feature about a Russian teacher who secretly exposes the militarization of youth in his country following the invasion of Ukraine. Read our review of Mr. Nobody Against Putin. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD)

Original Gangsters with Sean Bean (2025) – A four-part docuseries about notorious criminals, including Al Capone. (Sundance Now)

Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny Season 2, Episode 4: “Black Ops” – The latest installment of a docuseries about declassified government activities. (History)

Untold: Chess Mates (2026) – A documentary feature about the chess rivalry between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann. This is the second installment of the sixth season of Untold. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

We Are Not Machines (2025) – A documentary feature about Hispanic workers. (DVD)

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

The Bad Foot Clinic Season 1, Episode 4: “There’s Trouble Afoot” – The latest installment of a docuseries following a podiatrist couple in their work. (TLC)

Becoming Elephant: The Orphans of Reteti (2026) – A two-part documentary about the first community-owned elephant sanctuary in Africa. Presented as an episode of Nature. (PBS)

The Capital City: Washington, D.C. (1940) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Washington, D.C.’s famous buildings and monuments. (TCM)

Conspiracies & Coverups Episode 2: “Jersey Drone Panic” – The latest installment of a docuseries starring ex-CIA officer Andrew Bustamente about the biggest conspiracies in pop culture today. (Discovery)

Feds Season 2, Episode 6: “Hired to Kill” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the FBI on various cases. This episode involves a serial killer in Philadelphia. (Investigation Discovery)

Hunt for the Missing: Chicago Episode 6: “The Last Message” – The final installment of a six-part series following a retired police detective as she re-investigates cold cases. (Investigation Discovery)

Jamaica & Tamarindo: Afro Tradition in the Heart of Mexico (2019) – A short documentary about the Jamaica flower and tamarind. (OVID)

Relentless Memory (2024) – A documentary feature about an Indigenous Mapuche activist and researcher as she explores the atrocities against her ancestors. (OVID)

To Catch a Smuggler Season 10, Episode 7: “The Dope Boat” – The latest installment of a docuseries following U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. This episode involves cocaine and a rookie K9. (National Geographic)

Trust Me: The False Prophet (2026) – A four-part docuseries following an undercover investigation into FLDS leader Samuel Bateman. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

Where It Lies Episode 1: “Van Cortlandt Park” – The first installment of a four-part docuseries about public golf. (ESPN2)

Your Last Act (1941) – A short film on various odd bequests people made in their wills. (TCM)

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Donald Judd’s Marfa, Texas (1998) – A short documentary about the titular artist and critic. (OVID)

Extreme Weather Early Warning Systems (2026) – A short documentary about experts trying to improve weather warnings. Presented as an episode of the PBS Terra series Weathered. (PBS App and YouTube)

Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo Season 2, Episode 16: “Powerful Discoveries” – The latest installment of a docuseries exploring hidden worlds. (History)

Predator Hunters Episode 6: “High Risk Takedown” – The latest installment of a docuseries produced by Louis Theroux following the work of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. (A&E)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

4/10 – Fiume o Morte! – A comedic docudrama about a Croatian city occupied by an Italian poet in 1919. (In Theaters)

4/10 – Steal This Story, Please! – A documentary about Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

4/13 – The Last Twins – A documentary feature about Erno “Zvi” Spiegel, who saved several sets of twins from experimentation during the Holocaust. (PBS)

4/14 – The Dark Wizard – A four-part docuseries directed by The Alpinist filmmakers Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen about climber, base jumper, and highline walker Dean Potter. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (HBO and HBO Max)

4/17 – Everyone Is Lying to You for Money – A documentary feature directed by and starring actor Ben McKenzie about cryptocurrency. (In Theaters)

4/20 – Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie – A documentary about the legacy of the titular comedy duo. (Paramount+)

4/22 – Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool – A documentary feature about the titular country music superstar. (Netflix)

4/22 – Orangutan – A documentary feature from Disneynature narrated by Josh Gad about an adolescent orangutan. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Disney+)

4/23 – The Chaplain & The Doctor – A documentary feature about a chaplain and a doctor working together. (In Theaters)

4/24 – Bernstein’s Wall – A documentary about Leonard Bernstein. (In Theaters)

4/24 – Eraserheads: Combo on the Run – A documentary feature about the titular Filipino rock band. (In Theaters)

5/1 – Our Land – A documentary feature directed by Lucretia Martel about the case of the 2009 killing of an Indigenous leader in Argentina. Watch the trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

The more successful Nonfics gets (in its Substack era), the more we get requests for reviews, especially of documentaries not yet available to the public. Many of these are film festival premieres. Would our readers be interested in that kind of coverage? I’m not convinced. In my 26 years as a critic, I’ve rarely found much personal benefit in reviewing films that nobody can see, or that nobody is already anticipating seeing. I’ll cover Sundance premieres when I can, but only because there’s a good chance those documentaries will not only be released within the year but also be award contenders.

Being the transparent guy that I am, I will also admit that I was spoiled by film festivals themselves inviting me to attend, cover, and participate, either on their dime or at the expense of the local tourism board. That happened a lot in the early years of Nonfics (in its website-only era). I was always officially there in employment as an expert to serve as a moderator, panelist, or member of a jury, and if I had the time to review the films or the festival as a whole, that was a bonus for them. Such coverage rarely got much traffic, though, and so had little financial benefit to the site.

Things have gotten even worse in the last decade for that kind of coverage online, but with newsletter-driven outlets like the current iteration of Nonfics, SEO and whatever else matters for website income aren’t as important. Hopefully, you’re subscribing to learn about documentaries to seek out in the future, not just those I recommend (or not) that are coming to theaters and streaming over the next seven days. If true, I hope to eventually have the capacity (and paid subscription income) to review the festival premieres and other documentaries in need and share them directly with you.

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 (this week, we have trailers for the latest Disneynature documentary and the latest Lucretia Martel film!). 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 in need of coverage or a mention, you can reach me at christopherbartoncampbell (at) gmail.

Nonfics Pick Of The Week: My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air In Moscow (2024)

Surprisingly, My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow has never been a Nonfics Pick of the Week until now. The must-see five-hour-plus documentary has been a recommended highlight multiple times, whether timed to its theatrical releases and in recognition of its awards successes. The film even ranked in the top 10 on our list of the best documentaries of 2025. While I don’t have anything new to say (stay tuned for our interview with director Julia Loktev, as it’s her turn to speak here), it’s time to let it fully shine in celebration of its long-awaited streaming debut.

Here is yet another excerpt from our review of My Undesirable Friend: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, with the hope that you will check it out, despite the runtime:

“The distinction of My Undesirable Friends is that it’s an immersive, character-driven film more than just a record of recent events. We spend so much time with these women that it becomes personal rather than merely historical. Still, as a record of recent events, it’s the sort of documentary that shows history as it’s occurring. Despite the captions that foretell what will happen to these characters well in advance of showing these outcomes playing out on screen, the story unfolds in a linear chronology that gives us the sense that we’re experiencing it in real time. That’s not to say it’s slow, let alone that it feels longer than its 324 minutes. Quite the opposite, the film flies by the deeper you get.”

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow makes its streaming debut exclusively on Mubi on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Other Documentary Highlights

Frederick Wiseman’s U.S. Documentaries

We could never highlight Frederick Wiseman’s documentaries enough, not when he was alive nor now that he has passed away. In tribute to the iconic filmmaker (who was also a fan of My Undesirable Friends), the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York, has programmed a retrospective titled “Frederick Wiseman’s America.” It’s another excuse for us to recommend his work, specifically those documentaries set in the United States. If you can see any of these films on the big screen, do so. If you can only follow along with this series at home, they are available via Kanopy.

This week, specifically on Wednesday, April 8, and Thursday, April 9, you should watch Welfare (one of our picks for the best documentaries of all time and the best documentaries about New York City), High School (one of the best documentaries about student life and the education system), and the Emmy-winning Law and Order. We’ll highlight the rest of the program as it continues throughout this month.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025)

Another one of our favorite films of 2025, Mr. Nobody Against Putin recently won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Like My Undesirable Friends, it also concerns exiled chroniclers of Russia’s propaganda machine (and other corruptions). You can currently stream the documentary via Kino Film Collection or rent or buy it digitally. But you’re going to want to grab a physical copy because it’s that good, deserving of permanence in your collection. Plus, the DVD includes an introduction by co-director and cinematographer Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, who is also the film’s main character.

Here is a bit about Talankin from our review of Mr. Nobody Against Putin:

“At the film’s center is its co-director, Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, a primary school teacher from Karabash, Russia. He finally has enough of the regime when it impacts his job and the students he cares about, and Mr. Nobody Against Putin is the result of his virtuous resistance….The film should also give viewers some hope by showing that there are Russians like Talankin who aren’t the enemy. It is sad that he had to escape a country that he loved, even in its darkest times, and it is sad that Karabash has perhaps lost its most influential subversive (maybe one of his former students will take his place?), but he’s created and done something extraordinarily important.”

Mr. Nobody Against Putin will be released on DVD on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

My Sweet Land (2024)

We see a lot of documentaries about families having to leave their homes, whether because their country is at war or being led by a madman (or both). Unlike the exiles and refugees seen in My Undesirable Friends, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Midnight Traveler, In Exile, Flee, Ta’ang, Beyond Utopia, One in a Million, and many others, the subjects of My Sweet Land are followed not just as they flee but also as they return to their partially destroyed village to live amidst its ruins and leftover mines and carry on. (One in a Million follows its main character returning, but just as a visitor.)

The film concentrates on the perspective of a preteen ethnic-Armenian boy before, during, and after the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. Since then, his family has been forced out again, but the film portrays a community where the only thing that seems constant and certain is more wars to come. Children are assumed to be young soldiers in waiting. This is a tense way to exist, somewhat similar to the locals of Pompei: Beyond the Clouds who always feel on the verge of disaster, and it’s interesting, if often heartbreaking, to see this through Vrej’s eyes.

My Sweet Land makes its broadcast debut on PBS on Saturday, April 4, 2026.

The Tallest Dwarf (2025)

This week’s installment of Independent Lens is directed by Julie Wyman, and its title, The Tallest Dwarf, refers to her. She believes she is biologically part of the little people community despite her height of five feet, which is above the range for dwarfism. The exploration of this claim is intriguing, and Wyman ultimately reaches a satisfying scientific conclusion. Unfortunately, that takes a backseat to the film’s focus on the rest of the community during her attendance at the Little People of America National Conference. As a documentary on dwarf identity, medical concerns, and other topics devoted to this group, there’s enough appeal, but it’s not as compelling as the documentary the title promises.

The Tallest Dwarf makes its broadcast debut as an episode of Independent Lens on Monday, April 6, 2026, and will be available to stream on the PBS website, app, and YouTube channel afterward.

Trust Me: The False Prophet (2026)

Technically, I’m embargoed against writing much at all about Trust Me: The False Prophet ahead of its release, let alone my opinion. So, I’ll stick with a light synopsis, which should be enough to pique your interest in viewing the four-part true-crime docuseries. Directed by Rachel Dretzin (who previously helmed the related Netflix series Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, about Warren Jeffs), this new documentary follows a well-intended outsider couple embedded in the fundamentalist Mormon community of Short Creek as they unexpectedly find themselves investigating Samuel Bateman, the self-proclaimed new leader/prophet of FLDS, and his child sexual abuse ring.

Trust Me: The False Prophet premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.

The Truth And Tragedy Of Moriah Wilson (2026)

Another true-crime documentary coming to Netflix this week, The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson is one that I am at liberty to discuss. However, I don’t have a lot to share about the feature, which tells the story of the titular cyclist’s murder in Austin in 2022. For better or worse, the film is not sensational in the least. This means it’s pretty straightforward and respectful toward its victim, but it doesn’t have much bite.

I don’t consider that a criticism, as I do appreciate simply learning about Moriah Wilson and what the world is missing without her. And I do think the film does a great job of adapting part of the court case against her killer, showing how well law enforcement can track and trace a murderer’s steps. However, I can’t help but also wish I understood the killer’s psychology more. Maybe true-crime has ruined us?

The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Friday, April 3, 2026.

Untold: Chess Mates (2026)

And we’re back to Netflix content that I can’t (yet) share my opinion on. Let me give a tease, if I may be so bold (forgive me, publicists). Last week, I admitted that, going into the latest season of the sports documentary series, I hadn’t ever seen an episode of Untold that I liked. Now I can say that I also didn’t care for the Season 6 premiere, Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom, either. So, why am I highlighting the next installment, Untold: Chess Mates? Hmm, I don’t know (no, I do know!). You’ll have to wait until its release date to find out. The answer may surprise you.

Untold: Chess Mates premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

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Documentary Release Calendar 4/3/26 – 4/9/26

Friday, April 3, 2026

Ancient Egypt (1939) – A short documentary from James A. FitzPatrick’s Traveltalk franchise focused on historical landmarks in Egypt. (TCM)

The Hidden Master (1940) – A short film about the importance of luck. (TCM)

Jimmy & The Demons (2025) – A documentary feature directed by Cindy Meehl (Buck) about James Grashow’s sculpture The Cathedral. (In Theaters)

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow (2024) – A documentary about a political threat against independent journalists in Russia. Read our review of My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow. *NONFICS PICK* (Mubi)

The Proof is Out There Season 6, Episode 4: “The Battle of Los Angeles, Chinese Dragon Discovery, and Celebrity UFO” – The latest installment of a docuseries investigating UFOs, conspiracies, and mythical creatures. (History)

Roger Corman: The Pope of Pop Cinema (2021) – A medium-length documentary about film producer Roger Corman. (TCM)

The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson (2026) – A true-crime documentary about the murder of pro cyclist Moriah Wilson. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (Netflix)

Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other (2024) – A documentary feature about married artists. (In Theaters)

Saturday, April 4, 2026

The Beginning or the End (1947) – A docudrama about the development and deployment of the atomic bomb. (TCM)

Buried in the Backyard Season 6, Episode 16 – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about the odd locations where murder victims were found. (Oxygen)

Made for March (2026) – A four-part docuseries following the Kansas Jayhawks and Michigan Wolverines in the current college basketball season. (Paramount+)

My Sweet Land (2024) – A feature documentary following a young boy in war-torn Artsakh. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (PBS)

Pandas 3D (2019) – A short 3D documentary narrated by Kristen Bell about pandas. Presented as part of AMC’s IMAX Documentary Showcase. (IMAX Theatrical Event)

Vet Detective Season 1, Episode 6: “The Bulldog’s Battle to Breathe” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the work of veterinarian Dr. Lauren Adelman. (National Geographic)

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Betrayal: Secrets & Lies Season 1, Episode 2: “Abuse & Alimony” – A true-crime docuseries involving stories of infidelity and deceit. (ABC, Disney+, and Hulu)

Gadgets Galore (1955) – An Oscar-nominated short documentary about the impact of the invention of the automobile. (TCM)

History’s Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe Season 1, Episode 7: “Backyard Treasures” – The latest installment of a docuseries about legendary treasures, relics, and artifacts from history. (History)

A Plan to Kill Season 2, Episode 5: “Killer Principal” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries on the meticulous planning conducted by serial killers. (Oxygen)

Monday, April 6, 2026

Fatal Attraction: I’d Kill to Be You Season 1, Episode 11: “A Sister’s Secret” – The latest installment of a true-crime series about cases involving jealousy. (TV One)

Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN (2026) – A documentary about the creation of ESPN in 1978. (ESPN)

The Tallest Dwarf (2025) – A documentary by Julie Wyman about her place in the Little People community. Presented as an episode of Independent Lens. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (PBS)

Where It Lies Episode 1: “Van Cortlandt Park” – The first installment of a four-part docuseries about public golf. (ESPN App)

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Action on the Beach (1964) – A short documentary about the making of the D-Day sequence in the film The Americanization of Emily. (TCM)

After the Millennium (2019) – A documentary feature about the TV series Millennium. (Blu-ray)

The Box (2022) – A three-part true-crime documentary about America’s worst serial killers. (Blu-ray)

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. Season 12, Episode 9: “Song of the South” – The latest installment of a docuseries presenting celebrities with their ancestral history. Actress Danielle Deadwyler and musician Rhiannon Giddens are the participants in this episode. (PBS)

Jeff Dunham’s The Cars That Drove Us Episodes 3 & 4: “Trans Am” & “Corvette” – The latest installments of an eight-part docuseries starring comedian Jeff Dunham about some of the most iconic vehicles in history. (Discovery)

Knock Out Blonde: The Kellie Maloney Story (2024) – A documentary about the titular transgender boxing manager. (DVD)

Lucy Worsley Investigates: The American Revolution Episode 1 – The first installment of a two-part documentary on the American Revolution. (PBS)

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025) – An Oscar-winning documentary feature about a Russian teacher who secretly exposes the militarization of youth in his country following the invasion of Ukraine. Read our review of Mr. Nobody Against Putin. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD)

Original Gangsters with Sean Bean (2025) – A four-part docuseries about notorious criminals, including Al Capone. (Sundance Now)

Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny Season 2, Episode 4: “Black Ops” – The latest installment of a docuseries about declassified government activities. (History)

Untold: Chess Mates (2026) – A documentary feature about the chess rivalry between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann. This is the second installment of the sixth season of Untold. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

We Are Not Machines (2025) – A documentary feature about Hispanic workers. (DVD)

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

The Bad Foot Clinic Season 1, Episode 4: “There’s Trouble Afoot” – The latest installment of a docuseries following a podiatrist couple in their work. (TLC)

Becoming Elephant: The Orphans of Reteti (2026) – A two-part documentary about the first community-owned elephant sanctuary in Africa. Presented as an episode of Nature. (PBS)

The Capital City: Washington, D.C. (1940) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Washington, D.C.’s famous buildings and monuments. (TCM)

Conspiracies & Coverups Episode 2: “Jersey Drone Panic” – The latest installment of a docuseries starring ex-CIA officer Andrew Bustamente about the biggest conspiracies in pop culture today. (Discovery)

Feds Season 2, Episode 6: “Hired to Kill” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the FBI on various cases. This episode involves a serial killer in Philadelphia. (Investigation Discovery)

Hunt for the Missing: Chicago Episode 6: “The Last Message” – The final installment of a six-part series following a retired police detective as she re-investigates cold cases. (Investigation Discovery)

Jamaica & Tamarindo: Afro Tradition in the Heart of Mexico (2019) – A short documentary about the Jamaica flower and tamarind. (OVID)

Relentless Memory (2024) – A documentary feature about an Indigenous Mapuche activist and researcher as she explores the atrocities against her ancestors. (OVID)

To Catch a Smuggler Season 10, Episode 7: “The Dope Boat” – The latest installment of a docuseries following U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. This episode involves cocaine and a rookie K9. (National Geographic)

Trust Me: The False Prophet (2026) – A four-part docuseries following an undercover investigation into FLDS leader Samuel Bateman. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

Where It Lies Episode 1: “Van Cortlandt Park” – The first installment of a four-part docuseries about public golf. (ESPN2)

Your Last Act (1941) – A short film on various odd bequests people made in their wills. (TCM)

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Donald Judd’s Marfa, Texas (1998) – A short documentary about the titular artist and critic. (OVID)

Extreme Weather Early Warning Systems (2026) – A short documentary about experts trying to improve weather warnings. Presented as an episode of the PBS Terra series Weathered. (PBS App and YouTube)

Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo Season 2, Episode 16: “Powerful Discoveries” – The latest installment of a docuseries exploring hidden worlds. (History)

Predator Hunters Episode 6: “High Risk Takedown” – The latest installment of a docuseries produced by Louis Theroux following the work of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. (A&E)

Share Nonfics

Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

4/10 – Fiume o Morte! – A comedic docudrama about a Croatian city occupied by an Italian poet in 1919. (In Theaters)

4/10 – Steal This Story, Please! – A documentary about Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

4/13 – The Last Twins – A documentary feature about Erno “Zvi” Spiegel, who saved several sets of twins from experimentation during the Holocaust. (PBS)

4/14 – The Dark Wizard – A four-part docuseries directed by The Alpinist filmmakers Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen about climber, base jumper, and highline walker Dean Potter. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (HBO and HBO Max)

4/17 – Everyone Is Lying to You for Money – A documentary feature directed by and starring actor Ben McKenzie about cryptocurrency. (In Theaters)

4/20 – Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie – A documentary about the legacy of the titular comedy duo. (Paramount+)

4/22 – Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool – A documentary feature about the titular country music superstar. (Netflix)

4/22 – Orangutan – A documentary feature from Disneynature narrated by Josh Gad about an adolescent orangutan. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Disney+)

4/23 – The Chaplain & The Doctor – A documentary feature about a chaplain and a doctor working together. (In Theaters)

4/24 – Bernstein’s Wall – A documentary about Leonard Bernstein. (In Theaters)

4/24 – Eraserheads: Combo on the Run – A documentary feature about the titular Filipino rock band. (In Theaters)

5/1 – Our Land – A documentary feature directed by Lucretia Martel about the case of the 2009 killing of an Indigenous leader in Argentina. Watch the trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

Drop All Charges Against Rojhilat Aksoy!
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Thu, 04/02/2026 – 11:09