Don Siegel, the Hollywood journeyman director best known for helming Dirty Harry and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, never won an Oscar. He technically was never even nominated. Yet he began his directorial career with two short films that won Academy Awards in 1946. Warner Bros. staff producer Gordon Hollingshead received credit for the honors, which went to Siegel’s directorial debut, the drama Star in the Night, for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel), and to Hitler Lives, for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Hollingshead was also nominated that year for Best Short Subject (One-Reel) for the documentary Story of a Dog, which did not win.

Hitler Lives was certainly the easier production of the two for Siegel and Hollingshead, as it’s a slight reworking of a short documentary that already existed called Your Job in Germany. Written by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel and directed by Frank Capra, the original version was made for the United States War Department, for military eyes only. Warner Bros. acquired the rights to release the film to the public but had to give it a new name and change the narration and music (RKO did the same thing with Geisel and Capra’s Our Job in Japan for the Oscar-winning feature Design for Death, which I’ll write about in a future column). The studio also added a few new sequences.

The initial film’s purpose was to train soldiers heading to Allied-occupied Germany. Reminding viewers that the country’s leaders had already attempted grand imperial conquests in Europe three times over the last century, the documentary warned that a Fourth Reich could be around the corner. Americans sent to Germany were urged not to trust, let alone befriend, its citizens because they’re all a “potential source of trouble.” Youth were especially suspect due to the assumption that they were all brainwashed their whole lives by Nazi propaganda. But in general, it was thought safer for the U.S. to be cautious of all, disbelieving that a nation’s worth of people could suddenly change their allegiance after defeat, especially given Germany’s history.

While the whole film feels uncomfortably xenophobic and presumptuously fear-mongering, at that time it was probably effective in defending the occupation, particularly if it were meant to sell the idea of a longer stay than the one after World War I. Geisel and Capra argue that we were duped into thinking, “Why, these people are okay! It was just that Kaiser we had to get rid of.” Hollingshead and Siegel, with writer Saul Elkins, kept that line along with admitted recognition of Germany’s cultural supremacy, and then this segment: “We bit. We poured in our sympathy. We pulled out our armies. And they flung Chapter 3 in our faces.” The publicly sanctioned version removes a subsequent expletive but retains the sentiment of deja vu and a tease of a Chapter 4. “It can happen again,” the films suggest. Hitler Lives adds, “The voices of millions of dead cry out, ‘This time we must not have died in vain. This time Germany must not rise again.’”

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We begin this week with the 25th anniversary of 9/11, so I have to recommend the best documentaries on the attacks and their aftermath. Gédéon and Jules Naudet’s very quickly produced film 9/11 (co-directed with former FDNY firefighter James Hanlon) remains the most immersive look at the day’s events as they happened. Jim Whitaker’s Rebirth (available on Kanopy, Tubi, Fawesome, and Pluto TV) and Danielle Gardner’s Out of the Clear Blue Sky (available to rent on Apple TV) are the most memorable documentaries I’ve seen on what happened later. Rebirth deals with recovery from the trauma. The latter documentary tells the more interesting story of a CEO who lost nearly all his employees working in his firm’s headquarters in the North Tower of the World Trade Center and the difficult decisions that came next.

I will confess that I’ve only seen those documentaries once and have no desire to watch them again. The idea of a great film you only want to see once is the subject of a Stat Significant piece this week titled “What Makes People Never Want to Rewatch a Great Film?” that acknowledges several Letterboxd lists. They’re focused on works of fiction or dramatized true stories, but these films align with documentaries about 9/11 in that they’re mostly bleak, intense, and elicit a feeling of powerlessness. My own list of “10 Great Documentaries You Only Want to Watch Once” recognizes films that are difficult to watch but must be watched, as in witnessed. That’s how we feel about the Twin Towers footage from 9/11, though we have to rewatch it so we never forget. Anyway, the only 9/11-related film on my list is Fahrenheit 9/11 (Kanopy, Tubi, Pluto TV), and that’s for a different reason: “the first time [watched] it felt like something made for a specific window, aimed to be seen right before the 2004 presidential election.”

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 new works by Alex Gibney, Amir Bar-Lev, Irene Taylor, and Lance Oppenheim). 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: Shoah (1985)

One of the all-time greatest documentaries that must be seen at least once and may never be rewatched is Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah. The problem is that it hasn’t been that accessible despite its stature as one of the best documentaries ever made. The film is 566 minutes long, sometimes divided into two parts, and consists of interviews about the Holocaust. Many of these testimonials from survivors, witnesses, and even perpetrators are tough to watch. But they are essential. Given that (presumably) everyone in the film has since passed away, it was necessary to record these anecdotal stories and memories and how and by whom they were told.

Shoah is being re-released on Blu-ray this week by The Criterion Collection after being out of print for a couple of years. The film is rarely available to stream or view on broadcast, even on The Criterion Channel, so this new four-disc set is your best option to see the epic-sized masterpiece, even if only once. It’s nearly the same release as Criterion has previously put out, but now includes an additional bonus making-of documentary by Guillaume Ribot titled All I Had Was Nothingness. Apparently, this feature-length extra has more never-before-seen footage shot for Shoah, which is remarkable considering all the other documentaries Lanzmann made from material he captured while making his magnum opus that didn’t make it into that film.

Shoah will be re-released on Blu-ray via The Criterion Collection on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.

Other Documentary Highlights

Black Zombie (2026)

This scholarly look at the concept of the zombie in history and pop culture is best when it covers its origins in African and Haitian folklore and its significance to the continued discourse on slavery, colonialism, and Black representation. Unfortunately, the structure of Black Zombie is all over the place, as director Maya Annik Bedward keeps coming back to zombie movie and television clips with extraneous sequences. This seems like a desire to keep the audience interested in the subject matter, which is a shame because we all know about zombie media. That should just be looked at briefly as the starting point before getting into the truth about Vodou, Haiti, and the racism that is still relevant to the terror-driven portrayal of the undead on screen.

Black Zombie will be released in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles on Friday, September 11, 2026, via Kino Lorber.

Don’t Look Back In Anger (2026)

I was never an Oasis fan. I was on team Blur. That has made me less appreciative of the story and passionate fandom presented in Don’t Look Back in Anger. It’s got a well-focused and locked-in narrative, as it follows the reunion of Oasis after their 15-year breakup and estrangement of brothers and bandmates Liam and Noel Gallagher. I would have preferred a much shorter film, as its theme is terribly overstated (and hyperbolic, as it implies that the world has gone to shit since Oasis disbanded), but certainly that wouldn’t be enough for the folks who do like the group’s music, which is spotlighted in plenty of concert-film sequences. I also would have preferred subtitles, as I couldn’t understand a lot of what the Gallaghers say in their interview with their thick Manchester accents. I may revisit this one when it hits Disney+ and Hulu.

Don’t Look Back in Anger is now playing in theaters and on IMAX screens nationwide via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

First They Came For My College (2026)

Another documentary worth watching for some but not all of its content, this film is also a reminder of why cultural studies works like Black Zombie are important. First They Came for My College reports on the story of a public liberal arts school in Florida that has been transformed by the governor in his ongoing war against academic freedom and awakening. It’s a vital political documentary that occasionally gets lost in its pacing and focus and in its following of various uninteresting characters. Similar to last year’s The Librarians, this film doesn’t play out with the sense of urgency it should while still capturing the moment of our steady fascist descent as a nation.

First They Came for My College will be released in theaters in Gainesville, Florida, on Thursday, September 17, before expanding to other cities later this month.

Ghost In The Machine (2026)

One of many scary films about AI this year, Ghost in the Machine has been the most eye-opening for me, as it concentrates on the links between artificial intelligence and eugenics and misogynistic elitism. Perhaps the rise of the machines will not lead to our deaths so much as the demise of civil liberties. Forget the human fascists, who’ve got nothing on the robot oppressors. We need to feed AI content like Black Zombie and First They Came for My College to allow it to have a proper academic awakening itself. Anyway, I reviewed this documentary during Sundance. Here’s an excerpt:

“Structurally, Ghost in the Machine is an effective, chaptered essay, even if its points may be narrow in their concerns. Aesthetically, there is more to be desired, only because the many talking heads providing their expertise on the matter appear via Zoom calls as if the documentary were made during the pandemic. I would think it better to present the human side of the film more directly, practically, and materially. Another visual issue comes with an otherwise sensible idea. Veatch adds a caption to every image, labeling it as either AI or not AI, but some of them seem incorrect. I think this is a substantial work, and I only wish that it had the appearance of one in order that it may be taken seriously.”

Ghost in the Machine will be broadcast on PBS on Monday, September 14, as an episode of Independent Lens.

Knife: The Attempted Murder Of Salman Rushdie (2026)

Adaptations of books can be tricky for documentaries, which are more often inspired by published works than truly based on them. Narration lifted from the source material typically sounds like excerpts from an audiobook. The tone of the narration in Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie doesn’t fit that of the rest of the film, and I felt like I should just be reading the original memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, myself instead (if I cared enough to). But there is a lot presented in Alex Gibney’s film on Salman Rushdie that isn’t and couldn’t be presented in a book, specifically footage of his near-death attack and scenes of the author in his hotel room during his recovery, complete with images of his cut-up body and eye. Again, it’s material that is tough to watch but necessary to see, in part because it’s difficult.

Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie will be released in theaters on Thursday, September 17, 2026, via Abramorama.

Lance Oppenheim Documentaries

With all the hype this week about Lance Oppenheim’s two new films — his dramatic narrative debut, Primetime, and his Nathan Fielder collaboration, You Can See Everything (previewed below) — he’s a good candidate for our latest director spotlight. I’ve been a fan of Oppenheim’s work since I saw his first feature, Some Kind of Heaven (now available on Kanopy and the DOX channel on Prime Video), which made my list of the best documentaries of 2021. Later, his series Ren Faire (HBO Max) ranked even higher on my list of the best documentaries of 2024, and I really liked his sophomore feature, Spermworld (Hulu), which was a Pick of the Week highlight when it was released the same year.

Oppenheim also produced The Python Hunt (now on VOD), which shares a lot aesthetically with his own directorial efforts and is one of my favorite documentaries of 2026 so far. You can watch his early short documentaries on his Vimeo page, including The Dogmatic, Quicksand, The Off-Season, Long Term Parking, No Jail Time: The Movie, and The Happiest Guy in the World, plus his later New York Times Op-Doc film, The Paradise Next Door, which is a spin-off supplement of Some Kind of Heaven. You can catch his latest documentary feature, You Can See Everything, in theaters beginning on October 16, 2026, via A24.

This Is Buzz (2026)

I can’t stand talking-head interviewees spouting about the importance of some other person, usually their friend or colleague, but even worse is the interviewee touting their own importance. Even if I agree that your work was culturally or historically significant, I can’t stand such a lack of modesty. This Is Buzz is a documentary by former music video auteur and U2 3D helmer Mark Pellington about what a pioneering program his and Jon Klein’s short-lived 1990 MTV show Buzz was. Back then, MTV was for montage what Sesame Street was for animation in terms of their influence on my generation’s experimental film interests and practices.

The funny thing is that nobody I went to school with who made videos and films that look like Buzz has ever heard of it (the show didn’t air in the U.S.). That makes the documentary more essential to fill in that history, though I don’t completely believe it was the bridge of influence they think it was. This Is Buzz is itself a work of collage that layers audio and visuals and presents a cut-up composition in ways that pay homage to the ADHD-suited series. I can appreciate that while also not enjoying the aesthetic. Still, none of that rubs as badly as Klein’s arrogance in particular.

This Is Buzz will screen in theaters through touring roadshow distribution beginning in San Diego on Saturday, September 12, 2026, via Antenna Releasing.

Awards Highlights

Cinema Eye Honors 20 Films / 20 Artisans

As a Cinema Eye Honors voter, I was invited to participate in a survey for the awards organization’s upcoming 20th edition. The results recognize what we believe to be the 20 most essential documentaries and the 20 most significant makers of nonfiction films (including directors, producers, composers, and editors) of the last 10 years.

The 20 honored titles that were chosen are: 20 Days in Mariupol (Kanopy), All That Breathes (HBO Max and Kanopy), All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (HBO Max and Kanopy), American Factory (Netflix), Cameraperson (HBO Max and The Criterion Collection), Collective (Tubi and Kanopy), Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple TV), Fire of Love (Hulu), Flee (Tubi), Free Solo (Hulu), Hale County This Morning, This Evening (Mubi and Kanopy), Honeyland (Tubi and Kanopy), I Am Not Your Negro (Kanopy), Minding the Gap (Hulu), Navalny (HBO Max), No Other Land (VOD), O.J. Made in America (VOD), The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix), Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Kino Film Collection and Kanopy), and Strong Island (Netflix).

The 22 artisans who won in the poll (including two pairings, hence more than 20) are: directors Maite Alberdi, Mstyslav Chernov, Geeta Gandbhir, Steve James, Kirsten Johnson, Steven Maing, Raoul Peck, Laura Poitras, Sam Pollard, Nanfu Wang, Ryan White, and Jimmy Chin & Chai Vasarhelyi; producers Joslyn Barnes, Shane Boris, Nathan Fielder, Kellen Quinn, Jessica Hargrave, and Julie Goldman & Christopher Clements; composer Dan Deacon; and editor Nels Bangerter. The organization also gave an honorary salutation for Frederick Wiseman.

Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Winners

Last weekend, the Television Academy held the 78th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, with many documentaries and other nonfiction programs among the winners. My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay (HBO Max) won for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, beating out its mostly fellow celeb doc competition, and Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program, while Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV) won for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. Other recognized documentaries in various categories, a few of them multiple winners, include Love on the Spectrum (Netflix), Tucci in Italy (Hulu), The Librarians (PBS and Kanopy), Inside the Pitt (HBO Max), Ocean with David Attenborough (Hulu), John Candy: I Like Me (Prime Video), Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix), Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max), and Welcome to Wrexham (Hulu).

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Documentary Release Calendar 9/11/26 - 9/17/26

Friday, September 11, 2026

102 Minutes: Inside the Towers (2026) - A documentary about survivors of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. (History)

Austin City Limits Season 52, Episode 2: “ACL 12th Annual Hall of Fame Honors Brandi Carlile” - The latest installment of a long-running music series. This episode stars Brandi Carlile. (PBS)

Black Zombie (2026) - A documentary about the history of zombie lore and its origins in Haitian spiritual traditions. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Conan O’Brien Must Go Season 3, Episode 4: “The Philippines” - The latest installment of a travel series starring Conan O’Brien. (HBO and HBO Max)

Daughters of 9/11 (2026) - A documentary about two women whose fathers died during the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and their pursuit of justice in collaboration with an FBI agent. (CBS and Paramount+)

Deadliest Catch Season 22, Episode 17: “Raw Nerves” - The latest installment of a series that follows Alaskan crab fishermen. (Discovery Channel)

Don’t Look Back in Anger (2026) - A documentary feature about the band Oasis as they reunite for their 2025 tour. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Ennio (2021) - Giuseppe Tornatore’s biographical documentary about film score composer Ennio Morricone. Read our review. *NONFICS PICK* (TCM)

A Marble in the Jar (2025) - A documentary feature about surfer Tatiana Weston-Webb and her coach, Greg Browning. (In Theaters)

Mighty Manhattan, New York’s Wonder City (1949) - A short documentary narrated by James A. FitzPatrick that explores various neighborhoods in the titular New York City borough. (TCM)

Mighty Mary (2026) - A documentary feature narrated by Elizabeth Banks and Hugh Jackman about the first-ever all-women’s sailing crew to compete for the America’s Cup. (In Theaters)

Saturday, September 12, 2026

Bouchra - A hybrid film with some documentary elements about a queer Moroccan jackal living in New York City and his relationship with his mother in Casablanca. (Mubi)

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

There’s Magick in Them Mountains (2026) - A documentary aimed at preserving the stories of Appalachian grannies while they’re still alive. (In Theaters)

This Is Buzz (2026) - A documentary feature directed by Mark Pellington (U2 3D) about the 1990s MTV series Buzz. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Sunday, September 13, 2026

24 Hour Alert (1955) - An Oscar-nominated short docudrama about the importance of air defense. (TCM)

Grandpa Called It Art (1944) - A short documentary that looks at differences in tastes in art over generations. (TCM)

Spade Cooley: King of Western Swing (1945) - A short film showcasing the titular musician. (TCM)

Monday, September 14, 2026

Ghost in the Machine (2026) - A documentary feature by Valerie Veatch (Me at the Zoo) about AI’s background in eugenics and misogyny. Presented as an episode of Independent Lens. See our highlights section for more info and a link to our review. *NONFICS PICK* (PBS)

MGM Parade Show #11 (1955) - This installment of the Hollywood-focused docuseries showcases actress Susan Hayward and the MGM films Strange Testament and Let’s Talk Turkey. (TCM)

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

All I Had Was Nothingness (2025) - A documentary feature about the making of Shoah, including footage not used for the earlier film. Released as a supplement to Shoah. (The Criterion Collection Blu-ray)

All My Loving (1968) - A medium-length concert film by Tony Palmer presented as an episode of Omnibus featuring performances by Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Donovan, Frank Zappa, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and The Who. (DVD)

All This and World War II (1976) - A documentary feature by Tony Palmer and Susan Winslow mixing World War II newsreel footage with covers of Beatles music. Re-released as The Beatles and World War II. Read our review. (DVD)

America’s Billion-Dollar War (2025) - A documentary feature about the legalization of cannabis and the industry that followed. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Chasing the Moon (2019) - A three-part PBS docuseries presented via American Experience about NASA’s goal to land a man on the Moon. (DVD)

Dolly Parton: Here I Am (2019) - A PBS documentary about Dolly Parton. (DVD)

The Donner Party (1992) - A PBS documentary directed by Ric Burns, presented as an episode of American Experience, about the titular group of American pioneers notorious for turning to cannibalism. (DVD)

Egypt’s Tombs of Amun (2025) - A medium-length PBS documentary presented as an episode of Nova about a long-lost ancient cemetery. (DVD)

Enongo (2025) - A partly animated documentary about rapper/producer/academic Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo, a.k.a. Sammus. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Holst: In the Bleak Midwinter (2011) - A documentary by Tony Palmer about composer Gustav Holst. (DVD)

The Human Blueprint (2026) - A documentary about the Raelian Movement and their belief that aliens created humans. (DVD and Blu-ray)

In From the Cold? A Portrait of Richard Burton (1988) - A documentary by Tony Palmer about the titular actor. (DVD)

The Karski Report (2010) - A medium-length documentary by Claude Lanzmann about Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski using outtakes from Shoah. Released as a supplement to Shoah. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Collection Blu-ray)

Living Astrology (2026) - A documentary about astrology. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Lost Tombs of Notre Dame (2024) - A medium-length documentary presented as an episode of Nova about tombs discovered under the titular cathedral after the 2019 fire. (DVD)

Negro Limbo (2024) - A documentary feature (also known as Black Limbo) about the Franco regime in the former Spanish Guinea. (OVID)

Shoah (1995) - A documentary by Claude Lanzmann about the Holocaust. Many critics consider the film to be one of the greatest documentaries of all time. See our highlights section for more info. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Collection Blu-ray)

Sobibór, October 14, 1943, 4 p.m. (2001) - A documentary feature by Claude Lanzmann about a prison uprising at the titular Nazi extermination camp in 1943. Released as a supplement to Shoah. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Collection Blu-ray)

Taking Back Detroit (1980) - A medium-length documentary about the election of two socialists to citywide office in Detroit. (OVID)

A Visitor from the Living (1999) - A documentary by Claude Lanzmann about a World War II Red Cross official who praised the conditions of a Jewish death camp. Released as a supplement to Shoah. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Collection Blu-ray)

Voice of Freedom (2021) - A PBS documentary feature presented as an episode of American Experience about opera singer Marian Anderson. (DVD)

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Ages of Ice (2026) - A three-part docuseries that follows scientists studying ice. (PBS)

ER: Caught on Camera Season 1, Episode 11 - The latest installment of a docuseries in which medical patients recall experiences in hospital emergency rooms. (TLC)

Expedition X Season 12, Episode 5: “Spirits of 1776” - The latest installment of a paranormal investigation series. This episode deals with Revolutionary War ghosts. (Discovery)

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Baby Doe (2025) - A true-crime documentary about a woman accused of murdering her newborn baby. (VOD)

First They Came for My College (2026) - A documentary feature about a right-wing political coup at a public college in Florida. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

A Killer Story Episode 2: “Person of Interest” - The second episode of a three-part true-crime docuseries about a double murder, the ex-wife who allegedly committed the crime, and the citizen sleuths who believe she’s innocent. (HBO & HBO Max)

Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie (2026) - A documentary feature by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney about the titular author’s recovery from a knife attack. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Neirud (2023) - A documentary feature about a former circus wrestler known as "the Gorilla Woman." (OVID)

Portrait of a Genius (1943) - A short documentary about Leonardo Da Vinci’s genius as an inventor. (TCM)

The Righteous Roadtrip (2026) - A short documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth (Freeheld) that follows a humanitarian as he delivers Christmas trees to non-Jewish heroes of the Holocaust. (In Theaters)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

9/18 - The History of Concrete - A documentary feature by John Wilson about concrete. (In Theaters)

9/22 - Siren: The Voices of Shelley Beattie - A documentary feature by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Irene Taylor about the titular deaf professional bodybuilder and actress. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (HBO Max)

9/25 - Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? - A documentary feature directed by Garth Jennings and narrated by Jarvis Cocker about the titular British band. (Mubi)

9/25 - Chilean Mine Rescue: Race Against Time - A three-part docuseries about the effort to rescue 33 miners trapped for 69 days. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (National Geographic)

9/30 - The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - A true-crime documentary feature by Chris Smith (The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann) about a man wed six times and widowed suspiciously in six of those marriages. (Netflix)

10/2 - Africa: Earth’s Wild Home - A seven-part nature series narrated by Wunmi Mosaku that showcases new and rare species of animals in Africa. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (National Geographic)

10/2 - Everybody to Kenmure Street (2026) - A Sundance-winning documentary feature about residents of Glasgow coming together against deportation threats. Read our review. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters: Los Angeles Release)

10/2 - The Last First: Winter K2 - A documentary feature by Amir Bar-Lev (The Tillman Story) about the first successful winter summit climb of K2 (at least for the two-thirds of the people who attempted it), five years ago. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Apple TV)

10/9 - My Undesirable Friends: Part II - Exile - 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. (In Theaters)

10/16 - Musk - A nearly four-hour documentary feature by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney about Elon Musk. Watch the new teaser for the film below. (In Theaters)

10/16 - Marília Mendonça: Sentimento Louco - A documentary feature about the titular Brazilian singer, who died in a plane crash in 2021. (Prime Video)

10/16 - You Can See Everything - A three-hour documentary feature by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim that follows Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in the days before she went to prison. Watch the new teaser for the film below. (In Theaters)

Coming up with original or unused titles must be one of the hardest parts of making a true-crime documentary. A Killer Story sounds a lot more generic than this three-part series really is, but it’s difficult to sum up the documentary in just a handful of words. The gist is that it centers around a double-homicide case in which a woman is accused of murdering her ex-husband and his girlfriend. On top of that, it follows a couple with no direct connection to the case who are obsessed with proving the woman’s innocence. It’s driven by an investigative reporter from The New York Times who also became hooked by the mystery and bewildered by the twists uncovered throughout the six-year filming of the documentary.

The first of the three episodes introduces all the characters. The reporter, Joe Sexton, is our narrating guide, and he curses like he can’t control it. He’s a great f’in stand-in for the viewer’s own curiosity and inquiry. The couple, Eileen and Keen, seem to be a folksy pair who love true crime, making them initially quite relatable to the audience. Then there’s the alleged killer, Dana Chandler, who is never a direct participant in the series and therefore not easily judged through the documentary itself. A Killer Story begins with an apparent desire to be some profoundly immersive work of creative nonfiction à la In Cold Blood, with the Kansas setting to boot. The middle episode, however, goes through the typical motions of a documented trial, and the finale loses some of its steam, though that feeling befits the way the story runs its course.

A Killer Story is admittedly one of the more addictive true-crime miniseries I’ve seen in a while. It’s structured perfectly to engage and captivate, and its first two parts end on cliffhangers that are satisfyingly dealt with quickly in the following installment. The series maintains and leaves us with several pressing questions about the case while also implicitly examining issues with the justice system (this story involves multiple, disparate trials, which is fascinating) and the motivations of true-crime enthusiasts and citizen sleuths who influence proceedings. The star of the documentary isn’t the case, though. It’s Sexton, who also gets the last word on everything we’ve been shown inside and outside the trial. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got his own show after this.

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It’s fall film festival season! This is a time I currently hate because I keep hearing about documentaries I have no way of seeing, and more importantly, neither do you. I also miss the days when I had the time and clout to attend several film festivals around the world, mostly on their dime (I could never really afford most of them). Now, due to family and financial reasons (mine and film festivals’ or their local tourism boards’), I attend no festivals throughout the year, let alone the big fall events.

At least I’ve been there, done that with Toronto and New York, but Venice and Telluride are on my bucket list if anyone wants to sponsor my coverage in the future. Otherwise, I’ll get to the highly anticipated latest from Barbara Kopple, Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin, Nanette Burstein, Robert Greene, Frank Marshall, Ava DuVernay, Ron Howard, Laura Poitras, Alex Gibney, Julia Loktev, Liz Garbus, Joshua Oppenheimer, Ben Proudfoot, Bill Morrison, Viktor Kossakovsky, Sophie Fiennes, and Rebecca Huntt when they’re on their way to you.

In addition to looking forward to what’s to come, this week I’m thinking a lot about what’s come before and left behind. As if our latest Pick of the Week weren’t melancholy enough, there have been a lot of celebrity deaths lately that have me thinking about the ways these people will be frozen in time, to quote from that top highlight below. I wish to direct you to a post at That Documentary Girl showcasing documentaries about or featuring Hayden Panettiere, Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and others. Of course, Gloria Steinem could have a list all her own for the number of documentaries she’s participated in or appeared in via archival footage.

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 the latest from William Greaves, Chris Smith, and Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin). 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: The Oldest Person In The World (2026)

Many documentarians, especially those prone to first-person narration, reach a point where they make a film about mortality. Maybe it’s because they get to a certain age, or they receive an unfortunate diagnosis, or a parent or other loved one dies. Or they have children — which I know from experience can really alter your sense of time — and film them through the years. The pandemic also put death at the forefront of all our minds, but especially the minds of those recording reality daily.

Sam Green checks all these boxes with his documentary The Oldest Person in the World, which he began a decade ago just after his father died and right as he was becoming a father himself for the first time. Then he found out he had a rare blood cancer. He had also just turned 50, which is technically past midlife based on the average lifespan, yet below middle age for those who make it past 100. Perhaps that’s one reason he made this film, which spotlights several women who live to 116, 117, or even 119.

[continue reading this review of The Oldest Person in the World]

The Oldest Person in the World (version 1.0) will be released in theaters on Thursday, September 10, 2026, via

Other Documentary Highlights

Barbara Forever (2026)

Lesbian cinema pioneer Barbara Hammer died in 2019, but that hasn’t kept her from narrating her own documentary. Barbara Forever employs the avant-garde filmmaker’s audio diaries to tell her life story rather than recruiting fans or academics to convince us of her importance. We can also see that significance for ourselves with the many clips of her films that make up the documentary, supplemented by her voiceover commentary providing biographical and professional context. Brydie O’Connor, making her feature directorial debut by building upon her 2022 short, Love, Barbara, does a commendable job with a tribute artistically suited to Hammer’s legacy.

Barbara Forever will be released in theaters on Friday, September 4, 2026.

Brailled It (2026)

There is much to be admired about Brailled It, a competition documentary showcasing the annual Braille Challenge. One is that the film includes audio descriptions throughout, making it automatically accessible for blind and low-vision audiences. Another is that it’s shot by its three main characters, each of whom wears a camera that records their experience at the Braille literacy competition. The three kids also received directing credit.

The cameras aren’t at eye level, so most of the footage is captured from a low angle, creating some visual disorientation for those of us with sight. Story-wise, it’s a pretty simple example of the genre, climaxing with an awards ceremony. But it’s difficult to connect with the characters since we’re mostly encountering them off-camera through the first-person video perspective. Mainly, it’s interesting as an introduction to the event and the tools it tests the kids on.

Brailled It will be released in theaters on Friday, September 4, 2026.

Folktales (2025) & Teenage Wasteland (2025)

Two notable teen-focused documentaries that premiered back at Sundance 2025 are making big streaming platform debuts this week. Folktales is the latest feature by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady and follows three young characters as they attend a unique school in the Arctic. The positive and heartwarming coming-of-age documentary lacks dramatic narrative tension but is visually appealing and worth watching at least twice. As I wrote in my review of Folktales, “By the end of the film, when each character’s next steps are shared, and the whole picture is in the rearview, the beauty and sensitivity of the documentary are finally considered in their impressionistic totality, and you’ll want to go back and watch it again with that perspective.”

While Folktales has already been available to stream on Kanopy and to rent or own digitally, Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s Teenage Wasteland has really needed a platform. The film, which premiered as Middletown, ranks high on our list of the best documentaries of 2025 and is probably one of the least-seen titles there. From my capsule review from last fall: “Teenage Wasteland chronicles, through present-day talking head interviews and a lot of archival footage, an investigation by high school students in the 1990s into an environmental conspiracy….I have to recommend this documentary because its storytelling is near-perfect, thrillingly guiding viewers through the narrative as if it were unfolding right in front of them.”

Folktales and Teenage Wasteland begin streaming on Netflix on Friday, September 4, with the latter film available exclusively on the platform.

Remake (2025)

Ross McElwee’s Remake focuses on the director’s son, Adrian, who died of an accidental drug overdose a decade ago. It is a film in conversation with his previous feature, Photographic Memory, and also heavily references his breakthrough 1985 documentary, Sherman’s March, which was optioned for a fictional adaptation. McElwee was planning on documenting the production of that remake, and Adrian was hoping to work on the Hollywood project in some capacity. Remake is the resulting document of neither of those things panning out, one of them expiring, and Adrian tragically passing away. It’s a film full of mournful reflection and regret, yet it doesn’t play too sorrowfully. Read our interview with McElwee about it here.

Remake will air on PBS as an episode of POV on Monday, September 7, 2026, and will then be available to stream through PBS’s online channels. This film and Sherman’s March will also be released on VOD on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

Top Of The World (2026)

Another documentary commemorating the upcoming 25th anniversary of 9/11 comes out this week, and it’s a bit different in terms of its size, shape, and sentiment. Top of the World is a short film directed by the Oscar-nominated duo of Julie Cohen and Betsy West (RBG) in remembrance of the lives lost in a restaurant located on one of the uppermost floors of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. The film looks back at the eatery’s history while also recognizing the diversity of its staff, many of whom were immigrants. These two sides of the film coalesce well enough for what it wishes to report on, though the latter is more effective. There’s not a lot to care about concerning the Windows on the World restaurant as an entity outside of the tragedy.

Top of the World premieres on CNN on Monday, September 7, 2026.

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Documentary Release Calendar 9/4/26 - 9/10/26

Friday, September 4, 2026

Austin City Limits Season 52, Episode 1: “Carlos Vives y La Provincia” - The return of a long-running music series. This installment stars Colombian singer Carlos Vives. (PBS)

Barbara Forever (2026) - A documentary feature executive-produced by Kristen Stewart about the pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Brailled It (2026) - A documentary feature about a competition for blind and low-vision children completely filmed by three of its entrants. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause (2025) - A documentary feature about the titular actor and talk show host. (TCM)

Conan O’Brien Must Go Season 3, Episode 3: “Morocco” - The latest installment of a travel series starring Conan O’Brien. (HBO and HBO Max)

Deadliest Catch Season 22, Episode 16: “Contagion” - The latest installment of a series that follows Alaskan crab fishermen. (Discovery Channel)

Film Geek (2023) - A personal documentary in which director Richard Shepard compiles film clips and his own archives for a look back at his love of cinema and his relationship with his father. (TCM)

Folktales (2025) - A documentary by Oscar-nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp) about a folk high school in Arctic Norway. See our highlights section for more info and a link to our review. (Netflix)

Give it a Shot (2026) - A documentary feature about the launch of a male contraceptive. (In Theaters)

The Grand Tour Season 7 - The return of a docuseries that follows three men as they drive various automobiles around the world. All six new episodes will be released together. (Prime Video)

Instadocs: The Decoy Plane (2026) - A documentary about President Trump’s recent secret flight switch from Air Force One in Turkey. (Netflix)

The Miracle of Sound (1940) - A short documentary showing how sound movies are made. (TCM)

The Program: Texas Tech (2026) - A four-part docuseries narrated by Dennis Quaid about the Texas Tech University Red Raiders College Football Program. (Paramount+)

Teenage Wasteland (2025) - A documentary feature by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine about high school students uncovering a conspiracy in their town. See our highlights section for more info and a link to our review. *NONFICS PICK* (Netflix)

The Work in Progress (2026) - A documentary that follows Americans as they discuss cultural, political, economic, and generational divisions. (In Theaters)

Saturday, September 5, 2026

The Cincinnati Kid Plays According to Hoyle (1965) - A short film about magician and gambler Jay Ose, who served as a technical advisor for the film The Cincinnati Kid. (TCM)

Crashing the Movies (1950) - A short film presenting clips of people performing strange stunts. (TCM)

Handlebars (1933) - A short film presenting the history of the bicycle. (TCM)

Super Animals Season 4, Episode 3 - The latest episode of a nature docuseries for kids about animals with special traits. (National Geographic)

Yanuni (2025) - An Oscar-shortlisted documentary feature directed by Richard Ladkani (Sea of Shadows) and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio about an indigenous chief trying to protect her ancestral lands. (Leonardo DiCaprio’s YouTube Channel)

Sunday, September 6, 2026

Hazardous History with Henry Winkler Season 2, Episode 20: “Surviving the ‘70s” - The latest installment of a docuseries about dangerous toys and household items that were common in the past. This episode looks back at how unsafe the 1970s were. (History)

The Mega-Brands That Built America Season 4, Episode 6: “Rise of the Personal Computer” - The latest installment of a docuseries about iconic brands. This installment covers early personal computer companies like Microsoft and Apple. (History)

Monday, September 7, 2026

The Hoaxters (1952) - A short documentary about totalitarian dictators, including Adolf Hitler and the leaders of the Soviet Union, being con men. *NONFICS PICK* (TCM)

The Hooters Murders: Deadly Shift (2026) - A true-crime documentary about three Hooters employees killed between 2001 and 2010. (Oxygen)

Mirrors (1934) - A short film starring Freddie Rich and His Orchestra as they perform popular songs. (TCM)

Personalities (1942) - A short film about Hollywood performers at the start of their careers. (TCM)

OJ Unseen: Exploitation of Evil (2026) - A four-part docuseries about O.J. Simpson’s attempt at a comeback with a prank show. (Investigation Discovery)

Remake (2025) - A first-person documentary feature by Ross McElwee about the death of his son and an attempt to remake his classic film Sherman’s March as a narrative feature. Presented as an episode of POV. See our highlights section for more info and a link to our review. *NONFICS PICK* (PBS)

Rural Mexico (1935) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores small towns in Mexico, including Mazatlán, Toluca, and Taxco. (TCM)

The Singing Nun (1966) - A short film on the making of the movie of the same name. (TCM)

Somebody Knows Something Season 1, Episode 6: “Lost at the Science Fair” - The latest installment of a true-crime series about unsolved murder and missing persons cases. This episode involves a missing second grader in Portland. (Freeform)

Spanish Fiesta (1942) - A short film starring the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as they perform a ballet to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol.” (TCM)

Top of the World (2026) - A short documentary by Oscar-nominated directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West (RBG) about Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (CNN)

Whispers (1941) - A short film about the power of gossip. (TCM)

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

20 Days in Mariupol (2023) - An Oscar-winning documentary by Mstyslav Chernov about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD)

2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025) - A documentary by Oscar-winning director Mstyslav Chernov (20 Days in Mariupol) about a Ukrainian platoon’s effort to liberate a village from Russian occupation. Read our review of 2000 Meters to Andriivka. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD)

Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser (2026) - A documentary about Alice in Wonderland. (DVD)

An American Family (1973) - A classic docuseries about a typical suburban family, the Louds. *NONFICS PICK* (DVD)

American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos (2024) - A PBS docuseries under the VOCES banner starring John Leguizamo about Latino history. (DVD)

Bastard. The Legacy of Pinochet’s Genocide (2023) - A documentary by Pepe Rovano about his discovery that his father was the head of Chilean police intelligence under Pinochet. (OVID)

Bears (2019) - A documentary about all kinds of bears around the world presented as an episode of American Experience. (DVD)

Becoming Elephant: The Orphans of Reteti - Baby Steps (2026) - A documentary about a disabled orphan elephant presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Big Cats, Small World (2024) - A docuseries about three species of African big cats, presented as an installment of Nature. (DVD)

The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song (2021) - A docuseries about the history of Black churches and African-American faith. (DVD)

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015) - A documentary feature by Stanley Nelson about the Black Panther Party. Read our review of The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. (DVD)

Border 197 (2025) - A docuseries by Drew Blinsky about his effort to visit every country on Earth. (DVD)

Bring Her Home (2022) - A medium-length documentary about indigenous women seeking justice for relatives lost to violence against Native women. (DVD)

The Bug Show (1988) - An incomplete documentary special about insects. Released as part of the Dinosaurs Forever! box set. (Blu-ray)

Critical Condition: Health in Black America (2025) - A documentary feature about systemic racism in the U.S. medical system presented as an episode of Nova. (DVD)

Dino Birds (2025) - A documentary about how birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, presented as an episode of Nova. (DVD)

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs (1985) - A short documentary about dinosaurs. Released as part of the Dinosaurs Forever! box set. (Blu-ray)

Dracula’s Hidden Kingdom (2024) - A documentary about the wildlife of Transylvania presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Drag Heals Season 1 - The first season of a docuseries about drag performers. (DVD)

Dreams (1940) - A short film in MGM’s Passing Parade series that examines the meaning of various dreams. (TCM)

The Egg: Life’s Perfect Invention (2019) - A documentary hosted by Sir David Attenborough about the egg, presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Equus: Story of the Horse (2018) - A documentary feature about the history of horsepower and humans’ love of horses. (DVD)

Finding Happy (2025) - A documentary feature about a woman who saved an injured sparrow. (DVD)

Forgotten Hero: Walter White and The NAACP (2025) - A documentary about the titular civil rights activist, presented as an episode of American Experience. (DVD)

The Gilded Age (2018) - A documentary about wealth disparities in the U.S., presented as an episode of American Experience. (DVD)

Grizzly 399: Queen of the Tetons (2024) - A documentary about a famous bear and her four cubs presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Highway 66 Revisited (1992) - A documentary about a road trip along Route 66. Released as part of the Route 66: The Ultimate DVD Collection. (DVD)

The Hummingbird Effect (2023) - A documentary about hummingbirds in Costa Rica presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Hummingbirds of Hollywood (2025) - A PBS documentary about a woman who cares for wounded hummingbirds, presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

I Lived with a Killer Season 1 - A true-crime docuseries about serial killers’ family members. (DVD)

Ishiro Honda: Memoirs of a Film Director (2025) - A documentary about the titular Japanese filmmaker best known for helming the original Godzilla. (Blu-ray)

The Jewish Journey: America (2015) - A medium-length documentary about Jewish immigration to America through the centuries. (DVD)

A Journey Down Route 66 (1994) - A documentary about the titular highway. Released as part of the Route 66: The Ultimate DVD Collection. (DVD)

Karlton: The Dunkin’ Hines Story (2026) - A documentary feature about basketball player Karlton Hines. (DVD)

Katavi - Africa’s Fallen Paradise (2024) - A PBS docuseries about animal survival during an extreme weather event in the titular national park in Tanzania, presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Kissinger (2025) - A documentary about former National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger presented as an episode of American Experience. (DVD)

Last Stand at Little Bighorn (1992) - A documentary about the titular 1876 battle presented as an episode of American Experience. (DVD)

Life Behind the Stars (2016) - A medium-length documentary about the link between life on Earth and the history of the rest of the universe. (DVD)

Luminaries: Pope Francis (2025) - A short documentary about Pope Francis. (DVD)

More Dinosaurs (1985) - A short documentary about dinosaurs. Released as part of the Dinosaurs Forever! box set. (Blu-ray)

Museum Alive with David Attenborough (2025) - A documentary tour of the Natural History Museum in London hosted by Sir David Attenborough, presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Nature: Parenthood (2026) - A docuseries in the Nature franchise narrated by Sir David Attenborough that showcases animal parents around the world. (DVD)

Nazi Town, USA (2024) - A documentary about a pro-Nazi group in the U.S. in the 1930s presented as an episode of American Experience. (DVD)

Our Old Car (1946) - A short film in which writer, producer, and narrator John Nesbitt traces his life story based on the cars his father owned. (TCM)

Patrick and the Whale (2022) - A documentary about sperm whales presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Phantom Parrot (2023) - A documentary feature about a top-secret British surveillance program. (Blu-ray)

Philly on Fire (2021) - A documentary about the 1985 bombing of an activist group’s home by the Philadelphia Police Department. (DVD)

The Pilgrims (2015) - A documentary about the founding of Plymouth County and the first Thanksgiving presented as an episode of American Experience. (DVD)

Plants Behaving Badly (2017) - A two-part PBS documentary about carnivorous plants and orchids. (DVD)

Pompeii: The New Dig (2024) - A docuseries about an extensive archaeological dig of Pompeii. (DVD)

Prehistoric World (1993) - A short documentary about dinosaurs. Released as part of the Dinosaurs Forever! box set. (Blu-ray)

President in Waiting (2020) - A documentary feature about the office of the Vice President of the United States. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Remake (2025) - A first-person documentary feature by Ross McElwee about the death of his son and an attempt to remake his classic film Sherman’s March as a narrative feature. See our highlights section for more info. *NONFICS PICK* (VOD)

The Return of Dinosaurs (1993) - A short documentary about dinosaurs. Released as part of the Dinosaurs Forever! box set. (Blu-ray)

Revolutionary War Weapons (2025) - A documentary about the muskets, submarines, and other weapons that helped the Americans win the Revolutionary War, presented as an episode of Nova. (DVD)

Route 66 Turns 75: A Special Anniversary Celebration (1994) - A documentary about a road trip along the titular highway in celebration of its 75th birthday. Released as part of the Route 66: The Ultimate DVD Collection. (DVD)

Saving the Animals of Ukraine (2024) - A PBS documentary about Ukrainian citizens saving animals left behind during the Russian invasion and war, presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Secrets of Great British Castles Season 1 - A docuseries presenting the histories of six castles: Warwick, Dover, Caernarfon, the Tower of London, Carrickfergus, and Stirling. (DVD)

Sherman’s March (1985) - A 4K re-release of a classic first-person documentary feature by Ross McElwee about his romantic pursuits amidst his Civil War history project. *NONFICS PICK* (VOD)

Son of Dinosaurs (1988) - A short documentary about dinosaurs. Released as part of the Dinosaurs Forever! box set. (Blu-ray)
Stallone: Frank, That Is (2021) - A documentary feature about actor Frank Stallone. (DVD)

Tell Them You Love Me (2023) - A documentary about a scandalous relationship between a professor and a nonverbal person with cerebral palsy. (Kino Film Collection)

Tom Lehrer: Live in Copenhagen (1967) - A concert film starring Tom Lehrer as he performs “Studenterforeningen.” (DVD)

Under the Lights: Lionel Messi (2025) - A medium-length documentary about the titular soccer player. (DVD)

Under the Lights: Maradona (2022) - A medium-length documentary about soccer player Diego Armando Maradona. (DVD)

Untold Mr. T: I Pity the Fool - A documentary feature in the Untold series about Mr. T. (Netflix)

The Volcano Show (1988) - An incomplete documentary special about volcanoes. Released as part of the Dinosaurs Forever! box set. (Blu-ray)

We Want the Funk! (2025) - A documentary by Stanley Nelson and Nicole London chronicling the history of funk music. Read our review of We Want the Funk! (DVD)

The Whale Detective (2020) - A documentary that investigates whether whales have purposefully harmed humans, presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

What Are UFOs? (2025) - A documentary about the possible existence of UFOs, presented as an episode of Nova. (DVD)

The Wondrous World of Weird Animals (1993) - A short documentary about strange but real creatures. Released as part of the Dinosaurs Forever! box set. (Blu-ray)

Woodpeckers: The Hole Story (2022) - A documentary about woodpeckers presented as an episode of Nature. (DVD)

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Don’t Look Back in Anger (2026) - A documentary about the band Oasis as they reunite for their 2025 tour. (In IMAX Theaters)

ER: Caught on Camera Season 1, Episode 10 - The latest installment of a docuseries in which medical patients recall experiences in hospital emergency rooms. (TLC)

Expedition X Season 12, Episode 4: “Ghosts of Guam” - The latest installment of a paranormal investigation series. (Discovery)

Freeports - The Beauty of Tax Free Storage (2021) - A medium-length documentary about tax havens. (OVID)

Untold Stories of the ER Season 14, Episode 4 - The latest installment of a docuseries about difficult emergency room cases. (TLC)

Who Moves America (2026) - A documentary feature following UPS-employed members of the Teamsters union as they prepare to strike nationwide. (In Theaters)

Thursday, September 10, 2026

A Killer Story Episode 1: “Welcome to Topeka” - The first episode of a three-part true-crime docuseries about a double murder, the ex-wife who allegedly committed the crime, and the citizen sleuths who believe she’s innocent. (HBO & HBO Max)

The Oldest Person in the World (2026) - A documentary feature directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green (The Weather Underground) about people who have held the titular record over the last decade. See our highlights section for more info and a link to our review. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

Six Days in June (2007) - A documentary about the Six-Day War in the Middle East in 1967. (OVID)

Spiezio (2026) - A medium-length documentary about Major League Baseball player Scott Spiezio. (In Theaters)

We Never Left (2024) - A documentary feature about three Lebanese immigrants in New York City during the country’s recent revolution. (OVID)

WrestleHer (2026) - An 11-part docuseries about the rise of girls’ high school wrestling. (Allez! Sports and Documentary+)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

9/11 - A Marble in the Jar - A documentary feature about surfer Tatiana Weston-Webb and her coach, Greg Browning. (In Theaters)

9/11 - Mighty Mary - A documentary feature narrated by Elizabeth Banks and Hugh Jackman about the first-ever all-women’s sailing crew to compete for the America’s Cup. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

9/14 - Ghost in the Machine - A documentary feature by Valerie Veatch (Me at the Zoo) about AI’s background in eugenics and misogyny. (PBS)

9/17 - First They Came for My College - A documentary feature about a right-wing political coup at a public college in Florida. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

9/20 - How to Live on Earth - A documentary feature presented by Benedict Cumberbatch about our connection to nature. (YouTube)

9/30 - The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - A true-crime documentary feature by Chris Smith (The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann) about a man wed six times and widowed suspiciously in six of those marriages. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Netflix)

10/12 - Always Lalisa - A documentary feature by Sue Kim (The Last of the Sea Women) that follows a year in the life of Blackpink rapper/singer Lalisa Manoban, aka Lisa, as she embarks on a solo career. (In IMAX Theaters)

10/16 - Once Upon a Time in Harlem - A documentary feature co-directed by the late William Greaves (Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One), resurrecting footage he shot in 1972 of a get-together of Harlem Renaissance legends. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

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* Watch the new trailer for the film here. (In Theaters)

10/30 - Everest: The Other Side - A documentary feature by Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo) that follows mountaineering couple Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson as they climb and ski the North Face of Mount Everest. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In IMAX Theaters)

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

12/11 - George Michael: The Faith Tour - A concert film starring George Michael that was originally shot in 1988. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

Many documentarians, especially those prone to first-person narration, reach a point where they make a film about mortality. Maybe it’s because they get to a certain age, or they receive an unfortunate diagnosis, or a parent or other loved one dies. Or they have children — which I know from experience can really alter your sense of time — and film them through the years. The pandemic also put death at the forefront of all our minds, but especially the minds of those recording reality daily.

Sam Green checks all these boxes with his documentary The Oldest Person in the World, which he began a decade ago just after his father died and right as he was becoming a father himself for the first time. Then he found out he had a rare blood cancer. He had also just turned 50, which is technically past midlife based on the average lifespan, yet below middle age for those who make it past 100. Perhaps that’s one reason he made this film, which spotlights several women who live to 116, 117, or even 119.

Ever since my dad died four years ago, at 80, I’ve felt like that will also be the age of my endpoint, and I’m constantly thinking about how long I have until then. Never mind that his own father only reached the age of 69, and I’ve got a good chance of living longer because of my lifestyle and choices. I’ve also had a grandfather and great-grandmother on either side of my family tree live to be 97 and 99, respectively.

Watching The Oldest Person in the World can give one hope of being like the Guinness World Record honorees who appear in the film. Especially female members of the audience, since all of the documentary’s titular participants are women. But the film can also be sad because it keeps introducing us to people who die shortly afterward. At one point, though, I laughed thinking about how they all die soon after being filmed by Green, making him seem like the cause, a curse, a grim reaper wielding a camera instead of a scythe.

Morbid humor arrives directly in The Oldest Person in the World as Green quotes a friend who said it’s “a film where the main character dies over and over and over again.” That bit of needed levity comes during one of the moments where the filmmaker discusses the suicide of his younger brother. During these sequences of mournful reflection, the documentary aligns tonally and structurally with Ross McElwee’s latest, Remake — he unfortunately only has one piece of footage of his brother, however; still, seeing Green’s son grow up over the decade of production on The Oldest Person in the World adds to the textual and aesthetic comparison.

Very rarely do I consider another first-person-narrating documentarian in a class with McElwee, but Green gets very close this time, particularly with comments about people becoming “frozen in time” after death. He says of his brother, in voiceover while showing a specific still photograph, “The world keeps changing, but he stays the same, always talking on a landline.”

I do take issue with the idea that the film’s “main character” dies over and over and over again, even if it’s a joke, unless the statement means multiple main characters replacing the previous one. Otherwise, the implication is that the women Green visits are all the same. In some respects, they are very similar, even though they are of various races and widely spread across the world. They’re mostly immobile, have poor memories and eyesight, and their attitudes about their age are fairly alike. What brought them such longevity is unverifiable, though they all seem to have been rather carefree and stress-free.

What brings them joy down to the end is where they can be easily distinguished. One loves Coca-Cola. Another is a nun who loves her faith, even if she doesn’t understand why God lets her live so long while allowing children to die. Another stays away from men (that’s also her secret to a long life, which goes with the stress-free idea). Still, the film does treat them homogeneously as subjects or props.

Anyway, the real main character is Green, and as with McElwee, he’s proving himself to be a through-line in his later work (I wonder if, like McElwee, he disagrees that he’s the protagonist of his films). He appears in them. He narrates them, often in person, as with his “live documentaries.” He connects some of them, as with how The Oldest Person in the World is kind of a spinoff of his Guinness World Records-focused 2014 project, The Measure of All Things.

He also continues to be a substantial, innovative brand of filmmaker who has been expanding the scope of what documentaries can be, first with his live films and now with the notion, if not promise, that this one will be a living film. That is a perpetually unfinished one. This isn’t a novel concept, whether we compare his idea of revisiting The Oldest Person in the World every 10 years with the latest record-holders to the Up series structure, or his plan to rework and add to the film being akin to constantly revised, ever-evolving works like Loose Change.

It’s an ambitious plan, maybe to be passed on to his son, and could be quite poignant if it goes another 109 years so that eventually it encounters a person who was born when the project began. The idea could also get old long before it reaches that point.

More documentaries need soundtrack album releases. I’m mostly talking about their original music scores. You can tell a studio knows it's got a great documentary score because it releases the album commercially. Looking at the winners of the Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Score since its inception, all but (ironically) Jon Batiste’s American …

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I needed a positive documentary after a week of watching 9/11 commemorations, depressing political films on the current state of the world, and a handful of disappointments, and The Cycle of Love arrived just in time. It still brought me to tears, but out of joy. Directed by Orlando von Einsiedel (Oscar winner for The White Helmets and nominee for Virun…

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Once the Oscars began awarding two documentary-specific categories, the honored features and shorts could represent contrasting approaches to nonfiction cinema. There’s a big difference between telling a true story in a film lasting more than an hour versus doing so in less than 40 minutes (sometimes, as in the case of the 1944 winner December 7th, the disparity between a feature and short version of the same film is night and day). With a few years in the history of documentaries at the Oscars, the feature and short winners corresponded fairly well: in 1946, the two films dealt with the World War II victory over the Nazis; in 1983, both involved ballet schools; the two 1995 films focused on the Holocaust. In 1945, however, the duo of documentary Oscar winners, the feature-length The Fighting Lady and the short With the Marines at Tarawa, were a particularly perfect pair for their similarities and differences.

The two films depict parts of the Pacific Theater of World War II in full color, with the feature covering multiple battles over a year in the life of an aircraft carrier. The short offers a look at one battle not shown in The Fighting Lady — even though that film’s carrier, the USS Yorktown (CV-10), was involved — which took place within that time frame. If you wanted to watch the pair together and preferred to do so chronologically, you’d have to pause The Fighting Lady around the 26-minute mark, put on With the Marines at Tarawa for its entire 18-minute runtime, and then continue the remaining 36 minutes of the feature. I wouldn’t recommend that. The films go together much better sequentially. I prefer the way I watched them: The Fighting Lady before With the Marines at Tarawa, even though the latter was released 10 months earlier and could be considered on par with receiving bad news first.

The short film was famously graphic in its portrayal of the Battle of Tarawa, which the U.S. won but at a tremendous cost in terms of American lives lost. Later victories in the Pacific saw more casualties, but this one was more surprising in its toll and, in some respects, was deemed a failure the Allies had to quickly learn from if they were going to succeed in the long run. The documentary doesn’t shy away from the facts, from its opening statement that some of the men we see on screen “will be dead tomorrow” to its climactic montage of floating bodies, additional fallen men dotting the island, and confirmation that “these are Marines dead.” Earlier, the film’s narration (voiced by actor William Lundigan) acknowledges that the casualties at Tarawa are high, which notably contrasts with a line from The Fighting Lady (narrated by actor Robert Taylor) proudly asserting after one battle, “Our losses are astonishingly light.”

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If you have a documentary coming out, I’m happy to include a mention in this weekly column’s daily listings. If you would like it reviewed or considered for review, email me a screener link. Maybe I’ll have the time and space and desire. If you have a documentary not coming out but want me to give it a look and tell you what I think, unfortunately that’…

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Matthew Hamachek returns with a follow-up to his riveting 2024 docuseries The Dynasty: New England Patriots, this time continuing the fledgling franchise (with Erica Sashin now joining him at the helm) with a much shorter but still highly engaging look at the record-holding reign of a women’s college basketball team. The Dynasty: UConn Huskies is a thre…

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Researching old documentaries can be a confusing but enlightening endeavor. Take the Best Documentary Feature category, for instance. Many sources point to the 15th Academy Awards as the first year of that category and four films as its inaugural winners. Yet two of those films were shorts because that year the Oscars recognized documentaries of any length in a single category called Best Documentary, with each winner named as receiving a “special award.” The following year, Best Documentary (Feature) made its actual debut, with Desert Victory taking home the Academy Award. That same ceremony saw a film that’s now available as a feature win the Oscar for Best Documentary (Short Subject): Gregg Toland and John Ford’s December 7th.

If you want to watch this “short subject” film and you look up its availability on, say, JustWatch, the first two streaming platform options presented (JustWatchTV and HBO Max) and the digital rental/purchase TVOD version (via Prime Video) show a runtime of around 80 minutes. This is how I learned that December 7th was originally a feature-length documentary. However, the version shown to a limited audience with certain security clearance and then screened for Motion Picture Academy members was condensed to 32 minutes. The original cut was preserved and eventually made available to the public in 1991. A VHS release offered only the “banned for 50 years” full-length version, while a decade later, DVD copies included both cuts. Now, depending on where you look, either the feature or the short (the latter being the option available on Tubi, Artiflix, and the Internet Archive) pops up without the other.

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In 1982, Robb Moss released Riverdogs, a short documentary about his friends whom he lived and worked with as part of a naturalist community of Grand Canyon adventurers and guides. Twenty years later, he revisited the subjects of Riverdogs for the feature-length film The Same River Twice. Now he’s back with them for The Bend in the River, as he and his …

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The opening scene of American Doctor involves a debate between the filmmaker (Poh Si Teng) and one of the documentary’s participants (Dr. Mark Perlmutter) over whether or not to show uncensored images of dead children. It’s the most interesting part of the film and reminded me of so many documentaries in the past that have featured children’s bodies bei…

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What does it say that two of our highlights this week are sequels, and another can be found in our coming attractions section? Probably nothing, except that just as documentaries are the best place to find investigative journalism these days, it’s also where we need follow-ups on those stories. Also, audiences can’t get enough of interesting and enterta…

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The titular coroner, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, is currently 99 years old. I don’t know how old he was when he was interviewed for Coroner to the Stars, but he was old enough to be thankful he was still alive and able to tell his own story. I prefer having biographical documentary subjects tell their own stories, or at least as much as firsthand familiarity be…

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This week, the pioneering documentary feature The Battle of the Somme turned 110 years old. The 74-minute film, depicting genuine combat during the First World War, was a huge hit in the UK in 1916. But it’s not as well known as other early features considered significant to the history of documentary cinema (I’m looking at you, Nanook of the North). The anniversary makes this a good time to get to the 1944 Academy Awards in our ongoing series spotlighting every documentary to win an Oscar. Like The Battle of the Somme nearly 30 years earlier, Desert Victory captured actual war footage up close and crafted it into a compelling, triumphant narrative, going above and beyond mere reportage or historical record. It was also very popular at the time but doesn’t receive much recognition today.

Part of Desert Victory’s modern critical obscurity is, of course, due to its age. That’s one of the motivations for this column: to look at the older documentary Oscar winners and determine whether they’re dated and rightfully ignored, or if they’re still worthy of being seen and appreciated (and whether they’re even available to admire at all). Another reason for the film’s lack of notoriety might be that it’s not properly acknowledged as the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In much of the general Oscar historicism out there, the four winners in the one-and-done Best Documentary category are inaccurately credited as being the inaugural recipients of the documentary feature award.

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Four new releases are highlighted in the newsletter this week, and three of them could be classified in or near the true-crime genre. Two of those are international works that show crimes committed in other countries with much different legal procedures and cultural expectations. The average true-crime junkie isn’t going to be drawn to these films, but …

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Maite Alberdi, who has already had two documentary features nominated for Academy Awards this decade, is back with another unique nonfiction film. A Child of My Own tells the story of a hospital worker who faked her pregnancy and stole a newborn from the maternity ward to pass off as her own. This woman, Eleonor “Ale” Alejandra Marín Mendoza, gives her …

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One year after the Oscars introduced its first official “documentary” category, Best Documentary (Short Subject), that award disappeared. In its place, a more broadly encompassing category, Best Documentary, appeared and also lasted only one year. Today, that category is considered the first instance of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, but that shouldn’t be the case. Of the whopping 25 nominees1 for Best Documentary at the 15th Academy Awards held in 1943, only two would qualify as “features” by the organization’s rules despite both still being under an hour. The other 23 are all shorter than 30 minutes. Of those, 17 are shorter than 20 minutes, and four have a runtime of less than 10 minutes.

With so many nominees, it’s no wonder that four of the films tied for the Oscar for Best Documentary: The Battle of Midway, Kokoda Front Line!, Moscow Strikes Back, and Why We Fight: Prelude to War. It’s also for the benefit of Academy Awards history that half of these winners were the two medium-length documentaries that would qualify as features by the official Oscar rules. Moscow Strikes Back was originally a true feature, running anywhere from 66 to 110 minutes in its various forms released in the Soviet Union. When it was reworked for American audiences, with English-language narration by actor Edward G. Robinson, the documentary was only 55 minutes long. That would be the version that the Academy recognized.

All four winners are also World War II propaganda films. Nearly all of the 25 nominees were either directly about the war or had some relevance. The two about agriculture, one about income tax (starring Donald Duck), and another about people with loose lips sinking ships tied back to the war effort in some way. Only one of the nominees, a nature film about bird migrations titled High Over the Borders, had nothing to do with World War II. Among the winners, I’ve previously declared The Battle of Midway is the best American propaganda film of all time. I wrote that the John Ford-helmed Technicolor short “makes the viewer feel the fight, to see what it’s like to be a soldier who may not even himself know or comprehend the specifics of each mission, and the sensation can be much more inspiring than something more informative.”

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Another month ends, as we enter the fourth quarter of the second third of the year (fractions are our friends). Kids down here in the south are heading back to school (we have a list of films to get them ready for that), which means I’ll be driving them around to camps and activities less and can hopefully write about documentaries more. This week’s sel…

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