My favorite streaming service, even though I don’t use it the most, or even enough, is Kanopy. Every year, I travel to another county to pay for a non-resident public library card just so I have access to the service, which is otherwise supposed to be free. Most of their catalog is made up of titles available on major streaming services, but they’re also a backup, offering tons of documentaries that you can’t find anywhere else. Among those are Frederick Wiseman’s extensive catalog of documentaries. Anyway, I saw that ITVS has made a presale deal with Kanopy, which will benefit both. ITVS used to get its funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. A lot of the films would wind up licensed to Kanopy anyway, so this just makes sense.

Without further ado, below are this week’s documentary highlights, followed by daily listings for all known releases and broadcasts, along with a brief look at what’s coming soon for doc fans (including a new film directed by Sean Ono Lennon). Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive more in-depth highlights and reviews in the future, plus full access to special posts like our best-of lists, and to give me more time to watch more (if not everything) available. If you have a doc needing coverage or a mention, you can reach us at nonficseditor (at) gmail and let us know about its release plans.

Nonfics Pick Of The Week: My Undesirable Friends Part II: Exile (2026)

This is a big week for big films, or should I say very long films. Down below you’ll find another highlight of a nearly four-hour documentary about Elon Musk. And here, our Pick of the Week, is a nearly six-hour documentary sequel to the slightly shorter (at only 324 minutes) feature My Undesirable Friends Part I: Last Air in Moscow. I was shocked to see that My Undesirable Friends Part II: Exile is longer since I couldn’t imagine what the follow-up would really entail (even with director Julia Loktev teasing the second film’s contents in our interview). But it does have to manage the two films’ several characters, as they are now scattered — physically and professionally — after fleeing Russia at the end of the first installment. The sequel also follows some new characters, which adds time. They include Natalka, the Ukrainian journalist wife of TV Rain host Peter Ruzavin.

My Undesirable Friends Part II: Exile does take a bit to get going, not unlike its predecessor, as Loktev makes us experience the initial tedium and limbo of not knowing what’s next for its women journalist characters. Where the first film’s narrative had an expected destination, this one offers unpredictable threads while on a chronological course that begins just after Russia invades Ukraine and concludes in the first half of this year. There’s a key comment (quoting an unseen friend) delivering a primary theme of this documentary: “It’s like 1941, and you’re simultaneously the German and the Jew.” I wasn’t expecting the characters to feel so much guilt, experience so much discrimination, or have so much love for their country that some of them dare return even while facing jail time. This isn’t your usual refugee tale. It’s a complex political portrait of a crossroads that has come after a missed turn.

My Undesirable Friends Part II: Exile will be released in theaters on Friday, October 9, 2026, via Mubi, ahead of its online premiere on that company’s streaming service.

Other Documentary Highlights

Clown Panic (2026) & The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story (2026)

You know it’s Spooky Season when even documentary programming is getting into the Halloween spirit. I never would have thought that documentaries and Halloween go together so well, but given the popularity of true crime, it makes perfect sense. Hulu, which transforms into “Huluween” every October, presents the latest feature from Ed Perkins, director of such fascinating documentaries as Garnet’s Gold, Tell Me Who I Am, and the Oscar-nominated short Black Sheep. Clown Panic doesn’t look like the most interesting film. It’s about the hysteria that spread in 2016 after some alleged sightings of evil clowns. But whether it’s worth watching or a deserved paycheck for Perkins, I’m all for its existence.

The other notable documentary out this week that is clearly themed for the month celebrating horror and whatnot is The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story. It looks like your typical true crime series except that there’s also a paranormal side to the case, as a witness claimed to have been haunted by the ghost of the murder victim. Also, the victim owned a supposedly haunted pet cemetery, which already lends a creepiness to the story. The fact that two of the executive producers are James Marsh and Simon Chinn, who haven’t done a lot together since Marsh’s documentaries Man on Wire and Project Nim, makes me more interested. And as it turns out, Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn are executive producers on both this and Clown Panic. I guess they’re a pair we can thank for docs getting more into the spirit of this season.

Clown Panic premieres and begins streaming exclusively on Hulu on Monday, October 12, 2026. The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story premieres on HBO and begins streaming exclusively on HBO Max on Sunday, October 11, 2026.

Free Leonard Peltier (2026)

I’m sorry to say that I still haven’t seen Free Leonard Peltier, especially since it was one of our most anticipated documentaries of 2025. I’m also surprised it took almost two years since its Sundance premiere for the film to be released (apparently it hit theaters quietly on October 2, but none of the press releases I received mentioned it, so it wasn’t in our listings then). One of its directors is David France, who earned an Oscar nomination for How to Survive a Plague (almost 15 years ago; I can’t believe it’s been that long). This time, his collaborator is Jesse Short Bull, one of the directors of the underrated 2023 documentary Lakota Nation vs. United States.

Their subject is the titular Native American activist who spent 50 years for allegedly killing two FBI agents during the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation shootout in 1975. Leonard Peltier was also previously the focus of Michael Apted’s 1992 documentary Incident at Oglala, which was then fictionalized for Apted’s Thunderheart, released the same year. One huge thing that may have undone much of the interest in Free Leonard Peltier was that he was freed by President Biden just a week before the film’s debut in January 2025. His prison sentence was commuted, and he was put under indefinite house arrest. That shouldn’t undo the story told, though, if it was done well enough.

Free Leonard Peltier will begin streaming on Netflix on Monday, October 12, 2026, through a licensing deal (it’s not distributed by Netflix, despite what IMDb says).

Harlan County, USA (1976)

How many times can I highlight Harlan County, USA this year? Barbara Kopple’s Oscar-winning feature is one of the best documentaries ever made (as I wrote: “a film that is totally invested, immersed, embedded into the story”), so I’d be happy to recommend it every week. This time, though, it’s for a very good reason: a major anniversary. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival 50 years ago this week, on October 15, 1976. This remains a great year to celebrate Kopple’s original labor-focused documentary. Not only was her second Oscar-winning documentary about a strike, American Dream, finally given a proper home video and streaming release recently, but her third labor documentary, Union Town, just premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is expected to be released before the end of 2026.

Harlan County, USA is available to stream on HBO Max and was recently released on Blu-ray and 4K UHD via Criterion.

Musk (2026)

In my NAZA review, I reference Alex Gibney’s Zero Days as the last time I was so terrified about technology being used in warfare. Now Gibney’s latest, Musk, goes further in making me even more hopeless about the advanced technological tools governments now use to combat not just the rest of the world but their own citizens. Yes, Gibney got me with the doom and gloom with a nearly four-hour feature (including intermission) that overwhelms. It’s like watching a Bond villain origin story and biography where James Bond never exists to thwart the guy’s nefarious plot. Or maybe he exists, but it doesn’t matter because corruption is so commonplace right now that nobody knows of any way to save the day anyway.

It’s a tough watch. I almost didn’t finish it. And I had already had enough before the intermission, when the first half of the documentary follows just Elon Musk’s rise as a tech icon, albeit one who is extremely sketchy. The second half is where it gets even darker, covering his probable election interference, his DOGE role that was probably just for his self-benefit, and his satellites that are involved in probable global political interference. Sure, you might know or assume all of the things Musk presents, but included altogether, it makes it even scarier. My main issues with the film are Gibney’s usual overuse of narration and his latest gimmick to make up for lack of an easy interview. For the latter, he employs a cartoonish AI version of Elon Musk, and it’s annoying, distracting, unnecessary, and maybe even counterproductive.

Musk will be released in New York City and Los Angeles on Friday, October 9, 2026, and will expand nationwide on Friday, October 16, 2026.

Tyson (2026)

How many documentaries do we need about Mike Tyson? Sure, it’s been almost 20 years since James Toback’s film, but how much has happened in his life in the last few decades to warrant this new four-part docuseries, also simply titled Tyson? Looking at Wikipedia, I’m reminded that his daughter’s death, latest marriage, multiple arrests, more acting roles, exhibition bouts, and another attempted comeback have all happened since then, but there have also been other documentaries as well. The director on this is Floyd Russ, who has more experience with sports subjects, including an episode of Netflix’s Untold, a Netflix series on O.J. Simpson, albeit one focused on his murder case, not his football career, and a Netflix series involving the Boston Marathon, albeit one focused on the terrorist bombing. I recommend his 2018 short Zion (also available on Netflix), about a wrestler who was born without legs.

Tyson will premiere in full and begin streaming exclusively on Netflix on Tuesday, October 13, 2026.

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Documentary Release Calendar 10/9/26 – 10/15/26

Friday, October 9, 2026

All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea (2026) – A documentary feature that follows a fisherman in England. (In Theaters)

Brother Joseph Again (2026) – A documentary feature that tries to answer what Mormonism founder Joseph Smith looked like. (In Theaters)

Great Musicians of Our Time Episode 1: “Itzhak Perlman: Virtuoso Violinist” – The first episode of a docuseries about the most influential classical music artists. (PBS)

Musk (2026) – A nearly four-hour documentary feature by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney about Elon Musk. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile (2026) – A documentary sequel directed by Julia Loktev that follows the characters from My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow after they leave Russia. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

Portrait of an Artist: Stephen Curry (2026) – A documentary about NBA star Stephen Curry and his 4,000th career three-pointer. (In theaters)

The Response (2026) – A documentary feature about Americans who advocated for the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip. (In Theaters)

The Rock (1967) – A short documentary about the making of the film Point Blank. (TCM)

Rocky Mountain Wreckers Season 1, Episode 1: “Dangerous Spot to Be” – The first installment of a nonfiction series that follows heavy towing crews in intense weather in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. (Discovery Channel)

The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World (2026) – A documentary feature about the popularity of Star Trek. (In Theaters)

The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd Season 4, Episode 2: “Peculiar Places” – The latest installment of a docuseries about mysterious and bizarre people and things. (History)

Unmasking the Tylenol Killer (2026) – A documentary feature spun off from the series Unsolved Mysteries about a 44-year-old cold case from 1982 that might be tied to a serial killer, but not in the way you’d expect. (The Roku Channel)

World Without Cows (2025) – A documentary feature about the complex role cows play in the food system and the environment. (In Theaters)

Saturday, October 10, 2026

48 Hours Season 40, Episode 1 – The latest installment of an investigative documentary series. (CBS)

Austin City Limits Season 52, Episode 6: “Olivia Rodrigo” – The latest installment of a long-running music series. (PBS)

Earth Odyssey with Dylan Dreyer Season 9, Episode 2: “Room to Move” – The latest installment of an adventure series that takes viewers to exotic locations. This episode is set in Romania. (NBC)

Microscopic Mysteries (1932) – A short documentary about insect life. (TCM)

Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild Season 4, Episode 2: “Guardians of Tapir Valley” – The latest installment of a nature series focused on wildlife conservation. This episode involves tapirs in Costa Rica. (NBC)

Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency (2025) – A documentary feature by Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens about their evacuation from their home during a wildfire. (NYC Theatrical Event)

Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler Season 3, Episode 2: “Deadly Deception” – The latest episode of a true-crime docuseries involving murder trials in Texas. (Oxygen)

Super Animals Season 4, Episode 8 – The latest episode of a nature docuseries for kids about animals with special traits. (National Geographic)

Sunday, October 11, 2026

Grandmasters (2026) A three-part docuseries directed by Liza Mandelup (Caterpillar) about a new chess league involving Magnus Carlsen. (AMC Theaterical Event)

Late Night Law Season 2, Episode 3 & 4: “Double Trouble” & “Asleep at the Wheel” – The latest installments of a docuseries that follows law enforcement during the night shift. (A&E)

Okay for Sound (1946) – A short documentary celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Vitagraph sound-on-film process. (TCM)

The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story (2026) – A three-part true-crime docuseries centered around the death of a pet cemetery owner. See our highlights section for more info. (HBO and HBO Max)

Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency (2025) – A documentary feature by Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens about their evacuation from their home during a wildfire. (NYC Theatrical Event)

Romantic Nevada (1943) – A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise. This one primarily focuses on Reno’s association with weddings and divorces. (TCM)

Monday, October 12, 2026

Always Lalisa (2026) – A documentary feature by Sue Kim (The Last of the Sea Women) that follows Blackpink rapper/singer Lalisa Manoban, a.k.a. Lisa, as she embarks on a solo career. (In IMAX Theaters)

Clown Panic (2026) – A documentary feature by Oscar-nominated director Ed Perkins (Black Sheep) about the 2016 hysteria over clown sightings. See our highlights section for more info. (Hulu)

Contraband: Seized at the Border Season 9, Episode 1: “Tramadol to Hell” – The latest installment of a nonfiction series focused on smuggling cases handled by Customs and Border Protection officers. (Discovery Channel)

Free Leonard Peltier (2026) – A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker David France (How to Survive a Plague) and Jesse Short Bull (Lakota Nation vs. United States) about the titular member of the American Indian Movement as he hopes to be released from prison after 50 years and experience freedom again before he dies. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

Harlan Coben’s Final Twist Season 2, Episode 2: “A Mother’s Crusade” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries exposing shocking murders and scandals. This episode involves a young woman whose death was initially ruled a hiking accident. (CBS and Paramount+)

Harnessed Rhythm (1936) – A short documentary by Jacques Tourneur following the life of a racehorse. (TCM)

Three on a Rope (1938) – A short documentary about rock climbing. (TCM)

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Abu Haraz (2013) – A documentary feature about a village in Sudan that is set to be flooded by a new dam project. (OVID)

Animal Instinct Season 2 – The second season of an Australian nature series. (DVD)

Castro’s Gold (1998) – A medium-length documentary about a search for sunken treasure off the coast of Cuba that involved a deal with Fidel Castro. (DVD)

Drag Heals Season 2 – The second season of a docuseries about drag performers. (DVD)

Famous Movie Dogs (1940) – A short documentary starring canine performers in Hollywood. (TCM)

Following Harry (2024) – A documentary feature that follows Harry Belafonte during his final 12 years of life. (VOD)

Frontline Season 45, Episode 5: “American Voices 2026” – The latest installment of a PBS documentary anthology series. This episode looks at how Americans’ views and experiences have changed since the 2020 election. (PBS)

Get Wild at the San Diego Zoo (2016) – A nature docuseries about wild animals and their habitats. (DVD)

Hitler’s Gold (2020) – A docuseries about the people who financed Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. (DVD)

I Lived with a Killer Season 2 – The second season of a true-crime docuseries about serial killers’ family members. (DVD)

Kim Novak’s Vertigo (2025) – A documentary feature by Alexandre O. Philippe (78/52) about the titular actress and her work in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. (DVD)

Korea: The Unfinished War (2003) – A documentary about the history of the Korean War. (DVD)

Maleika (2017) – A nature film about a cheetah and her six cubs. (DVD)

MGM Parade Show #13 (1955) – This installment of the Hollywood-focused docuseries showcases the MGM films The Great Waltz and I’ll Cry Tomorrow. (TCM)

Nova: Decoding the Universe (2024) – Two installments of the PBS science docuseries Nova presented in the Decoding the Universe sub-series, “Cosmos” and “Quantum.” (DVD)

Nova: Universe Revealed (2021) – Five installments of the PBS science docuseries Nova presented as the sub-series Decoding the Universe, including the episodes “Age of Stars,” “Milky Way,” “Alien Worlds,” “Black Holes,” and “Big Bang.” (DVD)

Robin Hood: The First Outlaw Hero (2004) – A medium-length documentary about the titular legendary figure. (DVD)

Sacred Planet with Gulnaz Khan (2025) – A PBS docuseries about climate change starring the titular environmental journalist. (DVD)

Secrets of the Saucer People (2026) – A medium-length documentary inspired by the Saucer People trading cards about UFO and alien encounters. (DVD)

Trains of Fame – Steaming Up the New River Gorge (2026) – A documentary feature that takes viewers on a virtual ride through the Appalachian Mountains on a 2765 steam locomotive. (DVD)

Tyson (2026) – A four-part docuseries about Mike Tyson. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

The Uncommon History of Very Common Things (2021) – A docuseries about the often shocking origins of everyday objects. (DVD)

Voice of Hope (2002) – A medium-length documentary by Maciej Drygas (Trains) about the importance of Radio Free Europe to Polish listeners during the communist regime. (OVID)

Walking Wild at the San Diego Zoo (2016) – A nature docuseries about wild animals and their habitats. (DVD)

Yves Saint Laurent – Firestarter (2017) – A medium-length documentary about the titular fashion designer. (DVD)

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Daylight (2026) – A short documentary about a man serving a life sentence for murder who gets through his situation thanks to Taylor Swift’s music. (The New Yorker)

Ghost Adventures Season 31, Episode 3: “Mansion of Unholiness” – The latest installment of a docuseries following paranormal investigators. (Discovery Channel)

Grandmasters (2026) A three-part docuseries directed by Liza Mandelup (Caterpillar) about a new chess league involving Magnus Carlsen. (AMC Theaterical Event)

Nature Season 45, Episode 1: “Sesame Street and the Great Elephant Adventure” – The latest installment of a nature series. This episode crosses over with Sesame Street. (PBS)

Nova Season 53, Episode 13: “Evolution: Brain Power – The first installment of a five-part series within Nova about evolution on Earth over billions of years. This episode focuses on the evolution of the brain. (PBS) (PBS)

The Serial Killer Connection Season 1, Episode 2 – The second installment of a three-part true-crime docuseries that teams up a serial killer’s ex-wife and a survivor as they investigate murders. (Investigation Discovery)

Untold Stories of the ER Season 14, Episode 7: “Fire in the Hole” – The latest installment of a docuseries about difficult emergency room cases. (TLC)

Thursday, October 15, 2026

Archive X: Unexplained Phenomena Season 1, Episode 3: “Dark Visions” – A docuseries that explores prophetic dreams, ESP, near-death experiences, alien encounters, and messages from beyond. (Sundance Channel)

The Cowboy (2025) – A documentary feature that follows a young cowboy in Colorado. (In Theaters)

Fools’ Paradise (lost?) (2024) – A documentary feature about the healing power of the natural world. (OVID)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

10/16 – A Place of Absence – A documentary about Central American women traveling with the Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants. (In Theaters)

10/17 – Super Scam Me – A medium-length documentary starring Mariana van Zeller in which she goes undercover as a romance scam target. (National Geographic)

10/20 – Capturing Bigfoot – A documentary feature about the famous footage allegedly of Bigfoot. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Prime Video)

10/21 – One in a Million – A Sundance-winning documentary feature that captures 10 years in the life of a Syrian refugee and her family. Read our review of One in a Million. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

10/22 – Swipe Right on the Devil – A true-crime docuseries about a woman who went missing while on a Tinder date, a case that involved witchcraft and mind control. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (Hulu)

10/28 – Closure – A documentary feature by Michal Marczak (All These Sleepless Nights) that follows a man as he searches for his missing son. (In Theaters)

10/28 – Manhood – A documentary feature about an entrepreneur who attempted to popularize a penis enlargement procedure. Watch the first trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

10/30 – Who Killed Alex Odeh? – A documentary feature about the 1985 assassination of the titular Palestinian-American civil rights activist. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

11/6 – Soul Patrol – A documentary feature about the men who were in the first Black special ops team in the Vietnam War. Read our review of Soul Patrol. Watch the new teaser trailer for the film below. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

11/7 – Stray Kids World Tour <RUN IT> LIVE VIEWING – A concert film starring the titular K-pop boy band. (In Theaters)

11/13 – threeASFOUR: FOUR CIRCLE – A documentary feature by Sean Ono Lennon about the avant-garde NYC designers Gabi Asfour, Angela Donhauser, and Adi Gil. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

11/20 – Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall – A concert film by Paul Thomas Anderson starring the titular musician. (In Theaters)

12/11 – George Michael: The Faith Tour – A concert film compiled from footage of George Michael’s 1988 Faith Tour. (In Theaters)

“It’s not our land that’s broken. It’s our relationship to land that’s broken,” says botanist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer in Understory. The documentary directed by Su Rynard, which was just announced for a world premiere at DOC NYC, shares the wealth of knowledge that we can learn about the world—and ourselves—from plants. POV has the first look at the trailer for Understory ahead of its debut at the festival.

This Canadian-Spanish co-production focuses on three key voices who study and explore the worlds of plants: forester Suzanne Simard, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, and philosopher Paco Calvo. The three green thinkers individually and collectively illuminate the complex life force rooted in the plants that drive the cycles of clean air and energy across the planet. Understory uses these perspectives to invite a paradigm shift as human practices run contrary to the lessons offered by the Earth’s plants.

“My hope is that viewers will leave the cinema with the ability to encounter the plants around them as if for the first time, ultimately learning to see ourselves as a part of nature: equal, connected and interdependent,” Rynard said in a statement. Rynard previously directed the hit bird doc The Messenger and dove into the world of plants in the short doc The Everlasting Pea.

Understory is produced by Rynard, Nadine Pequeneza, Marieke van den Bersselaar and Carles Brugueras. The film premieres at DOC NYC on November 13 and 14 with additional festival/release details to follow.

Watch the trailer for Understory below:

Synopsis: Three visionaries — forester Suzanne Simard, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, and philosopher Paco Calvo — have spent their careers listening and learning from plants. Each paid the price for being an outsider. Together, their work converges on a single, quietly radical idea: that the natural world is not a warehouse of resources for human consumption, but a community of intelligent, feeling, interconnected beings. Could this shift in perception be the key to leading us out of the ecological crisis we face?

The post Watch the Trailer for Understory Ahead of Its DOC NYC Debut appeared first on POV Magazine.

Ceremony leads the winners from this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival. The film directed by Banchi Hanuse won the Tides Award for Best Canadian Documentary. The award carries at $15,000 purse, courtesy of Rogers.

The film explores efforts by members of the Nuxalk Nation to restore the beloved ooligan fish population that sustained generations of families in the Bella Coola region. Hanuse parallels the restoration efforts with the Nuxalk’s own resilience in the face of colonialism. The film draws intimate connections between the participants and the land that carries their history. Ceremony previous won the Special Jury Prize-Canadian for Feature Documentary at Hot Docs.

“The mystery of the disappearance of the ooligan fish from Bella Coola is slowly revealed in this timely, passionate story of the Nuxalk Nations efforts to protect and preserve its lands and waters,” remarked the jury in a statement. “Through beautiful cinematography and inventive storytelling, the film documents the strengths of community members consistently challenging the boundaries of imposed systems while drawing upon the resiliency and generosity of their ancestors. The film encourages us to reflect on how cultural resurgence can contribute to the collective good.” The jurors for VIFF’s Canadian doc prize were Selwyn Jacob, Lyana Patrick, and Jeff Lee Petry. Carol Nguyen’s Still Night, Burning House received an honourable mention.

Other VIFF winners included Canada’s Oscar bid Nina Roza, which scored the Summit Award for Outstanding Canadian Narrative Feature. The drama directed by Genevieve Dulude-De Celles is a migration saga about a Bulgarian curator entering the arts scene in Canada. The win carries a cash prize of $15,000 courtesy of the Directors Guild of Canada and marks a good start for the drama as it begins its Canadian run outside of Quebec. An honourable mention went to Ian Bawa’s drama Strong Son.

Meanwhile, Nyla Innuksuk’s In the Heart of the South won the Horizons Award for Outstanding First or Second Canadian Narrative Feature. The arts scene satire picked up a $3,000 prize from the festival for its horror movie twist on the expectations that Indigenous, Inuit, and Métis creatives face from the cultural establishment. Nathan Donovan’s Clubfoot received a special mention.

On the home front, the Arbutus Award for Outstanding BC Film went to Marie Clements’ magical-realist drama How We Stand about two strong-willed sisters who stand up to Canada’s colonial system. The award brings a $10,000 purse from Creative BC and $15,000 in post-production services from Company 3. Send the Rain by Hayley Gray and Kaayla Whachell received an honourable mention.

International winners among VIFF’s juried prizes included Hear the Yellow, directed by Banu Sıvacı, which took home Outstanding International First or Second Narrative Feature, while the Short Form Award went to re-Parenting by Yu Yu. VIFF runs through weekend with the audience awards being announced after the festival.

The post Ceremony Wins Best Canadian Documentary at VIFF appeared first on POV Magazine.

Documentary fans in Toronto looking to keep their festival experiences going throughout the season are ready for another serving of Doc Soup. The popular subscription series returns to Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema this week for another season. The series kicks off with Hanging By a Wire, director Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s docu-thriller about the 2023 mission to rescue a group of travellers, including six students, who were trapped in a broken cable car left dangling 900 feet in the air in Battagram, Pakistan. The film was submitted last week by Pakistan in the Oscar race for Best International Feature.

Doc Soup programmer Gabor Pertic says that audiences who may have heard of the story when it made headlines are in for a treat. “I thought there was such interesting content about it, but it was only through little news clips and bits of interviews that you would see this story,” Pertic tells POV. “But this film really showcases just exactly what happened. The drone footage is fascinating.”

Hanging By a Wire features gripping material shot from high in the air as drones provide reconnaissance efforts to learn about the conditions of the cable car while capturing images of the students balancing their weight to avoid tipping the gondola. Views from the ground show families in suspense, while the eyes in the sky, along with some re-enactments, provide glimpses of rescue efforts by military and civilian crews alike.

“It’s genuinely an absolute thriller of a film,” adds Pertic. “And if you’ve heard of the story, you’ll still learn so much. If you haven’t, you are in for a ride.”

Hanging By a Wire also reminds Doc Soup audiences of the power of seeing a film on the big screen. Its vertigo-inspiring adventure is tailor made for Hot Docs’ 17-foot screen, which sits at an elevation from the main floor to afford views from the balcony.

“In the way that our cinema is lined up, so many people will be looking up on that big screen and seeing that dangling cable car,” says Pertic. “They’ll be sucked into it and have that surround sound. There’s something really compelling about it seeing it on the big screen.”

Pertic, who spent several years programming the long-running series prior to being named the lead programmer for Hot Docs’ festival last year, says Doc Soup offers a chance for audiences to experience hits from the circuit like Hanging By a Wire in an environment similar to a festival, but perhaps without the same pace where they’re taking in multiple docs per day. “It’s a massive sense of community,” he observes. “It’s a lot of people that I have known over a decade that I still see coming in and that is their regular motivation because it’s a communal effect. It brings the city together. Even when I’m finishing up a Q&A, there are people in the lobby who are talking to the filmmakers and I get to talk to the audience members and one-on-one. Those things really count.”

This week’s screening features a virtual Q&A with Naqvi, while Doc Soup attendees are free to keep the conversation running afterwards.

The series’ emphasis on one film per month also lets directors of the selected documentaries enjoy a little more attention than they might receive during the busy festival where screenings have to turn around quickly. “At Doc Soup, you get the focal point,” says Pertic, looking at the series from a filmmakers’ perspective. “You are the one film, as opposed to when we’re playing 20-25 films, your film might get lost. There’s going to be a packed audience guaranteed in our cinema and it gets to showcase them and nobody else.”

The series regularly includes film subjects at the events to echo the festival experience. Pertic cites the example of Doc Soup’s 2014 hit The Last Man on the Moon, which brought astronaut Gene Cernan to the cinema to share his experience about taking that final step in space. “We had an emotional Q&A with this legend who got to tell his story,” says Pertic. “I was just in awe of it and it was such an emotional experience for everyone sitting there who remembered those moon launches.” He remembers there was even a full moon for audiences as they left the theatre to cap it all off.

The regular audience also provides a feedback loop that helps guide the programming choices. Pertic notes previous season opener The Librarians—about book banning and the fight for free speech—as a subscriber favourite. “That was something that I knew was going to deliver for so many reasons. It made for such a perfect Doc Soup film because, over the years that I have programmed it, this is the kind of crowd that would react to it,” says Pertic. “It made for such an engaging film to the point where we showed it again in the cinema.”

Pertic notes that the feedback from Doc Soup audiences often leads to encore screenings at the cinema during its regular programming. For example, March’s Doc Soup selection The Theft, directed by Hot Docs’ Canadian programmer Aisha Jamal, screens again at the theatre on October 18.

After Hanging By a Wire, Doc Soup continues with Nuisance Bear from directors Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman. The film won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at Sundance earlier this year. The screening marks a homecoming for the directors as Nuisance Bear begins its Canadian run after touring the international circuit.

“It’s a film that we have been wanting to showcase to our audiences in one way or another,” says Pertic. “The film’s gone through a lot of paths and we were really, really hoping that we could bring it to our Doc Soup audiences. It’s a lovely and incredibly deep film. It’s shot beautifully, and I guarantee there’s going to be so many debates on one side or the other about it.”

Doc Soup begins on Oct. 7 and 8 with Hanging By a Wire.

Additional screenings for Doc Soup will be announced in the coming months.

The post Hot Docs Returns with Another Helping of Doc Soup appeared first on POV Magazine.

In 1971, the art historian Linda Nochlin wrote an essay called “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” She — like me — is doing a bit of a bait and switch with the title. A little light trolling, perhaps.

She says that despite the sincere wishes of her feminist colleagues to say it ain’t so, it is obvious there are no women equivalents for “Michelangelo or Rembrandt, Delacroix or Cezanne, Picasso or Matisse.”

Then, she answers why.

Spoiler: she doesn’t think women of the past lacked innate creative talent or ability.

Her answers are instead — to use the parlance of today — entirely systemic. She takes great pains to illustrate the myriad ways we have sorted men and women into categories (such as Great Artist and Talented Amateur, for example), and enforced the boundaries between them. How all of this became so normal we don’t even notice anymore… how it all just ends up seeming natural.

She takes on the myth of the Great (Male) Artist, too:

unique, godlike — bearing within his person since birth a mysterious essence, rather like the golden nugget in Mrs. Grass’s chicken soup, called Genius or Talent, which, like murder, must always out, no matter how unlikely or unpromising the circumstances.

I’d forgotten Nochlin’s essay is pretty fun to read. I chuckled at “like murder” — but I did not get the golden nugget reference, so I looked it up. Turns out the “golden nugget” — which resembles nothing so much as a perfect golden egg — delivered Mrs. Grass’s special bouillon.

I find this apt, because I have often pictured the Great Artist treating his every creative idea as his most special golden egg, to be carried around and fawned over and worshipped and taken very, very seriously. My pwecious.

But good news! Mrs. Grass’s discontinued the golden egg in 2016.
Does that mean the era of the Great (Male) Artist is over, too??!?

Nah!

There’s a lot of Great (Male) Artist discourse going around in film and especially in documentary these days. And I’ve noticed I have some feelings about it. Admiration and inspiration, yes. But also jealousy, irritation, and a lot of confusion and uncomfortable questions.

To be clear: I am a documentary filmmaker in the 21st century, and Linda Nochlin’s argument was written 50 years ago, and concerned thousands of years of art history, not the current historical landscape. However, recent discourse about a boy genius director who is proud that he doesn’t make shot lists made me think about the myth of the Great (Male) Artist, and how it does not seem to be dying anytime soon.

It’s got me asking myself questions I don’t want to answer. Questions like:

How did I learn to recognize greatness?
How do I decide what is worth striving for creatively?
And how much of what I aim for with my art is not — as I want to believe — a product of my unique snowflake little soul, but is more a predictable result of the things I was taught about how to be a woman artist?

Read more

In 1971, the art historian Linda Nochlin wrote an essay called “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” She — like me — is doing a bit of a bait and switch with the title. A little light trolling, perhaps.

She says that despite the sincere wishes of her feminist colleagues to say it ain’t so, it is obvious there are no women equivalents for “Michelangelo or Rembrandt, Delacroix or Cezanne, Picasso or Matisse.”

Then, she answers why.

Spoiler: she doesn’t think women of the past lacked innate creative talent or ability.

Her answers are instead — to use the parlance of today — entirely systemic. She takes great pains to illustrate the myriad ways we have sorted men and women into categories (such as Great Artist and Talented Amateur, for example), and enforced the boundaries between them. How all of this became so normal we don’t even notice anymore… how it all just ends up seeming natural.

She takes on the myth of the Great (Male) Artist, too:

unique, godlike — bearing within his person since birth a mysterious essence, rather like the golden nugget in Mrs. Grass’s chicken soup, called Genius or Talent, which, like murder, must always out, no matter how unlikely or unpromising the circumstances.

I’d forgotten Nochlin’s essay is pretty fun to read. I chuckled at “like murder” — but I did not get the golden nugget reference, so I looked it up. Turns out the “golden nugget” — which resembles nothing so much as a perfect golden egg — delivered Mrs. Grass’s special bouillon.

I find this apt, because I have often pictured the Great Artist treating his every creative idea as his most special golden egg, to be carried around and fawned over and worshipped and taken very, very seriously. My pwecious.

But good news! Mrs. Grass’s discontinued the golden egg in 2016.
Does that mean the era of the Great (Male) Artist is over, too??!?

Nah!

There’s a lot of Great (Male) Artist discourse going around in film and especially in documentary these days. And I’ve noticed I have some feelings about it. Admiration and inspiration, yes. But also jealousy, irritation, and a lot of confusion and uncomfortable questions.

To be clear: I am a documentary filmmaker in the 21st century, and Linda Nochlin’s argument was written 50 years ago, and concerned thousands of years of art history, not the current historical landscape. However, recent discourse about a boy genius director who is proud that he doesn’t make shot lists made me think about the myth of the Great (Male) Artist, and how it does not seem to be dying anytime soon.

It’s got me asking myself questions I don’t want to answer. Questions like:

How did I learn to recognize greatness?
How do I decide what is worth striving for creatively?
And how much of what I aim for with my art is not — as I want to believe — a product of my unique snowflake little soul, but is more a predictable result of the things I was taught about how to be a woman artist?

Read more

Soft White Underbelly interview and portrait of Doug Stanhope, a comedian based in Arizona known for his alcohol use. #swu#softwhiteunderbelly#documentary

The post DOUG STANHOPE INTERVIEWED 2026 appeared first on Channel Nonfiction.

Soft White Underbelly interview and portrait of Doug Stanhope, a comedian based in Arizona known for his alcohol use. #swu#softwhiteunderbelly#documentary

The post DOUG STANHOPE INTERVIEWED 2026 appeared first on Channel Nonfiction.

For Mike Faist, acting is about finding freedom in the unknown and staying curious. In this interview, we explore the preparation and process behind his performance as Charles Trask in the new limited television series, East of Eden.

Faist explains how he used everything from painful boots to solitary weekends on the show’s New Zealand set to inhabit John Steinbeck’s world. He reflects on what he learned from his scene partners Christopher Abbott and Florence Pugh, the acting exercises devised by director Garth Davis, the creative community that shaped him in New York, inspiring moments with colleagues like Michael Shannon and Steven Spielberg, and the spark that keeps him going.

For Mike Faist, acting is about finding freedom in the unknown and staying curious. In this interview, we explore the preparation and process behind his performance as Charles Trask in the new limited television series, East of Eden.

Faist explains how he used everything from painful boots to solitary weekends on the show’s New Zealand set to inhabit John Steinbeck’s world. He reflects on what he learned from his scene partners Christopher Abbott and Florence Pugh, the acting exercises devised by director Garth Davis, the creative community that shaped him in New York, inspiring moments with colleagues like Michael Shannon and Steven Spielberg, and the spark that keeps him going.