hot docs 2019
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26 titles
- DirectorRachel LearsStarsAlexandria Ocasio-CortezCori BushJoe CrowleyA look at the people involved with various political campaigns during the 2018 U.S. congressional election.sundance - US audience
- DirectorNanfu WangJialing ZhangStarsNanfu WangZaodi WangZhimei WangAfter becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China's one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.sundance - US grand jury
- DirectorSteven BognarJulia ReichertStarsJunming 'Jimmy' WangRobert AllenSherrod BrownIn post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.sundance - US directing
- DirectorTamara KotevskaLjubomir StefanovStarsHatidze MuratovaNazife MuratovaHussein SamThe last female bee-hunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.sundance - world grand jury
- 1985– 1h 54mNot Rated7.4 (3.3K)TV Episode76MetascoreDirectorStanley NelsonStarsCarl LumblyMiles DavisReginald PettyMusicians, scholars, family and friends reflect on the life of jazzer Miles Davis to reveal the man behind the legend. Full access to Davis' estate provides rare footage and photos, outtakes from recording sessions and new interviews.
- StarsCappadonnaGhostface KillahThe GZALimited docuseries looks back on the group's career. It was music and shared lyrical genius that allowed them to form the most recognized musical movement in the world, all while walking the tightrope that links business with brotherhood.showtime
- DirectorRichard LadkaniSean BogleMatthew PodolskyStarsRomel Eduardo Ledezma AbaroaRafael Pacchiano AlamánHector CapetilloThe vaquita, the world's smallest whale, is near extinction as its habitat is destroyed by Mexican cartels and Chinese mafia, who harvest the swim bladder of the totoaba fish, the "cocaine of the sea." Environmental activists, Mexican navy and undercover investigators are fighting back against this illegal multi-million-dollar business.sundance - world audience
- DirectorLuke LorentzenStarsJuan OchoaFer OchoaJosue OchoaIn Mexico City's wealthiest neighborhoods, the Ochoa family runs a private ambulance, competing with other for-profit EMTs for patients in need of urgent help.sundance - US cinematography
- DirectorAi WeiweiThe Rest (2018) is a documentary by Ai Weiwei about refugees, who have arrived in Europe, the world's bastion of human rights, but now live in limbo within a disintegrating humanitarian aid system.ai weiwei
- StarsJesse BarronEmily BazelonSam BoardmanTeen Michelle Carter's actions shocked a nation - but what really happened behind closed doors? This HBO special showcases the prosecution's point of view and alternately the defense's. Which side do you fall on?HBO
- DirectorFred PeabodyStarsJohn Ralston SaulChris HedgesEnrico CarusoTHE CORPORATE COUP D'ÉTAT takes a complex political/historical theme and brings it to life. In the style of '13th', 'Manufacturing Consent', 'The Corporation', and 'All Governments Lie' it creates a powerful cinematic experience that explains how President Trump is the result of failed neoliberal globalist policies, and a 'corporate coup d'état' in which corporations and billionaires were able to gradually take control of the political process in the U.S. and elsewhere. In the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Chris Hedges: 'Donald Trump is not an anomaly. He is the grotesque visage of a collapsed democracy. The creeping corporate coup d'état that began 45 years ago is complete. It has destroyed the lives of tens of millions of Americans no longer able to find work that provides a living wage, cursed to live in chronic poverty.' Threaded through the film are the stories of the ultimate victims - working class and poor people in 'sacrifice zones' like Camden, New Jersey and Youngstown, Ohio. Many working-class whites voted twice for Barack Obama, in '08 and '12, but in 2016 they felt abandoned by the elites of both parties, and voted for Donald Trump who promised he would be different. Featuring Chris Hedges, the main 'voice' of the film as he visits Americans fighting for change and Canadian author John Ralston Saul, who warned prophetically in 1995: 'We are now in the midst of a coup d'état in slow motion. Democracy is weakening... corporatism is strengthening.'
- DirectorTim Travers HawkinsStarsChelsea ManningNancy HollanderVincent J. WardA look at the life and career of Chelsea Manning, a trans woman soldier in the United States Army, who was sentenced to serve 35 years at an all-male military prison for leaking information about the country's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- DirectorFredrik GerttenStarsLeilani FarhaSaskia SassenStig WesterdahlA documentary shedding light on the global phenomenon of the commodification of housing and consequent lack of affordability, especially through the eyes of Leilani Farha, a United Nations special rapporteur on housing who lives in Canada.
- DirectorLarry WeinsteinStarsRachael Leigh CookMarilyn MonroeFreddie Prinze Jr.Academics, public relations experts, and satirists of various kinds describe the history and nature of propaganda.
- DirectorAdam BoltStarsJennifer DoudnaGeorge ChurchAlta CharoA breakthrough called CRISPR opens the door to curing diseases, reshaping the biosphere, and designing our own children. A provocative exploration of its far-reaching implications, through the eyes of the scientists who discovered it.
- DirectorJohn WalkerStarsJohn CleeseSuji GelermanRobert I. SuttonInspired by the NYT bestselling book, this lively philosophical investigation into the rise of asshole behaviour across the world asks: What does it mean to be an asshole, and more importantly, how do we stop their proliferation?
- DirectorJennifer DeschampsStarsMatthew LeeAnton ValukasOliver BuddeInside Lehman Brothers is the autopsy of a crime by those who tried to prevent it from within. Mortgage brokers from California and a handful of New York executives called out these fraudulent transactions. But nobody listened.
- DirectorElizabeth CarrollStarsJosé AndrésGabriela CamaraDiana KennedyCookbook author and environmental activist Diana Kennedy reflects on an unconventional life spent mastering Mexican cuisine.
- DirectorJohnny SweetStarsKobe BryantCaponeHavocIn the world of professional sports, no American athlete ever came back from a mental health disorder - until Ron Artest, now known to the world as Metta World Peace.
- DirectorRyan WhiteStarsRuth WestheimerPierre LehuCliff RubinCharting the incredible life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who became America's most famous sex therapist.
- DirectorMads BrüggerStarsMads BrüggerClarinah MfenguSaphir Wenzi MabanzaDanish director Mads Brügger and Swedish private investigator Göran Björkdahl are trying to solve the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld. As their investigation closes in, they discover a crime far worse than killing the Secretary-General of the United Nations.sundance - world directing
- DirectorHassan FaziliStarsHassan FaziliNargis FaziliZahra FaziliWhen the Taliban puts a bounty on Hassan Fazili's head, he is forced to flee with his wife and two daughters. Capturing the journey, Fazili shows the dangers facing refugees seeking asylum and the love shared between a family on the run.sundance - special jury
- DirectorMark FranchettiAndrew MeierStarsCristina BuscettaRoberto BuscettaLisa BuscettaOUR GODFATHER is a feature-length documentary about Tommaso Buscetta, the first high-ranking Italian mafia boss ever to turn against Cosa Nostra. Buscetta helped convict more than 400 Mafiosi. He became the Mob's most wanted man in the world - and 11 members of his family were killed. "He was the most important, protected and endangered witness in US criminal history" The film tells - for the first time- the Buscetta story with exclusive access to his family, which is breaking its silence after 30 years in hiding.
- DirectorIsabella WillingerStarsDavid ChalmersChuckMark CoeckelberghHow will we live together with artificial intelligence? What will we win, what will we lose? The documentary shows us tomorrow's world today.
- DirectorJake LeffermanEmily TaguchiStarsRebecca BoldrickAnthony GonzalezVictoria GonzalezAn intimate chronicle of families as they navigate their way through the unthinkable, reckoning with unexpected loss, journeying through grief, and searching for new meaning.
- DirectorPablo Ben YakovStarsMax 'Adlersson' HerzbergMaximiliane HäckeMax "Adlersson" Herzberg, 20 years of age, from Dresden decided not to spend his life working. Ever since, he reviews knives and other products, unboxes limited fan editions of mainly gangsta rap albums, gives talks about himself, drinks, swears and bawls in town, humiliates others, cracks borderline jokes and crosses every boundary he sees - Max is a YouTube creator and makes a decent living off of it. Most of Max's friends have their own channels on YouTube, some even quite successfully. Max and his gang are dubious role models but without a doubt, they are celebrities of their generation having more than 300.000 active fans. Is Max a violence-glorifying influencer with far-right tendencies or a usual adolescent, just trying to find himself and happens to be born into a time where the lines between private life and public self-display are blurring? He might be both, possibly without being overly aware of it. LORD OF THE TOYS follows him and his gang over the course of one summer and leaves a dystopic impression of the first generation of young adults, who never knew the world without the web, YouTube and Instagram. The film portraits them and studies the milieu in which their life style is thriving: The west in general, and eastern Germany particularly.