Employing key but subtle twists on the convention talking head documentary, Ava DuVernay’s 13th explains how slavery in the U.S. was never really abolished without ever resorting to preaching.
Creative Non-Fiction
Creative Non-Fiction is often a more appropriate word for describing innovative forms in documentary filmmaking, which go beyond mere information dump. Here you'll find reviews of films that are pushing the form and interviews with non-fiction filmmakers about making non-fiction works of art.
Yanillys Perez’ TIFF16 Dropbox Award Winner Jeffrey
Yanillys Perez’ feature debut, which won the TIFF 16 Dropbox Award for the Discovery Section, is a work of creative nonfiction. Perez mixes magic realist voiceover with a social realist approach to its optimistic, clear-eyed, and poetic subject: Jeffrey, a charming and driven 12-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a famous reggaeton & dembow singer.
In Women He’s Undressed, Designer Orry-Kelly finally gets his moment in the sun, and boy is he fabulous!
Gillian Armstrong’s new documentary, Women He’s Undressed, resurrects the witty and cheeky Orry-Kelly to tell his life story and illuminate the art behind his historic costume designs.
Writer-Director Jenni Olson on her film essay, The Royal Road
Jenni Olson on her 16mm film essay, The Royal Road, a story of unrequited love told through the linear progression of California’s El Camino road.
Chantal Akerman’s final film No Home Movie is a heartbreaking personal essay
Chantal Akerman’s moving cinematic essay is a tribute to her mother, a holocaust survivor, and a subtle exploration of Jewish “suitcase-ready” culture.
Arabian Nights is an intoxicating, maddening mosaic of recession-era Portugal
Arabian Nights is the blind men’s elephant: miniseries and short story cycle, documentary and fantasy, proletarian and prohibitive. It’s an enormous six-hour movie split into three volumes, made up mostly of separate smaller stories.