Some centuries-old Beninese treasures are returned by France, sparking debate over its neocolonial political posturing sublimating as cultural diplomacy as Diop’s quaint Berlinale Golden Bear-winning documentary highlights the dissonances inherent in this ‘homecoming’.
Ichikawa’s marvellous coverage of the 1964 Olympic Games is one of the all-time finest sports documentaries, at times poetic and abstract, and always interested in the bodies, faces and movements of athletes and spectators rather than who wins or loses.
Nondescript and mundane at times, this Oscar-nominated documentary about the black community in Alabama transforms somewhat into a more interesting, free-association piece though it isn’t quite the resoundingly meaningful work of observational, diaristic cinema it thinks it is.
One of the most iconic queer-themed documentaries of all time sees several trans women, drag queens and voguers reveal their passion and desire to be recognised like any other normal human being as they search for a queer utopia in New York’s Harlem.
As highly personal a documentary as it gets about seeking for truth and justice, featuring the derring-do of the journalist-director who was sexually assaulted by a powerful man many years ago as she painstakingly attempts to put the demon to the sword.
Minervini’s work about the real America i.e. the disturbia of the working-class provokes with its sheer no-bullshit honesty, with an invisible camera that gives zero distinction between drama and documentary.
A meaningful social initiative to connect young daughters with their incarcerated fathers is the subject of this rewarding Sundance award-winning documentary that might be one of the most moving films of the year.
An unclassifiable but whimsically rewarding anti-neocolonialist travelogue that sees the director turn the camera onto himself as he leaves his poor village and discovers how ridiculously modern the Western world is.
Panahi is literally in the driver seat, as he charts a new course for Iranian cinema (of the oppressed) in this powerful docu-drama that is as defiant as any in his oeuvre.
A political statement of intent by Panahi – one that is imbued with a sense of loss and frustration, yet shines brightly as a courageous beacon of hope for change.
Eternality Tan 