This Week In Documentary
Theatrical & Streaming Releases - New & Recommended - April 24-30, 2026
We’re entering the final week of April, which means we’re already about a third of the way through the year. It’s clearly time for a look at the best documentaries of 2026 (so far), and I plan to send that to our paid subscribers in a few days. Of course, you can get a tease of the ranking and continue to follow the list through the year via the Nonfics Letterboxd. I can assure you that nothing officially coming out this week will be on the initial top 10 list. It’s a weak week for documentaries. That’s why the Pick of the Week is an old film, as are some of the highlights. Next week’s edition is where it’s at, so don’t dare unsubscribe now just because of a disappointing release calendar.
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 return of Stanley Tucci returning to Italy!). 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 in need of coverage or a mention, you can reach me at christopherbartoncampbell (at) gmail.
Nonfics Pick Of The Week: Jesus Camp (2006)
This week marks the 20th anniversary of Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Jesus Camp. The documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 2006, and received a Special Jury Prize. That fall, Magnolia Pictures gave it a decent limited release, grossing close to a million dollars domestically (with international grosses added, the film topped a million). Come January, Jesus Camp earned an Oscar nomination, going up against two Iraq War documentaries and another religion-targeting film, but despite its popularity, it was no match for An Inconvenient Truth.
Watching Jesus Camp today, the subject matter is less shocking. I might even go so far as to say that the evangelical indoctrination of children portrayed here is tame and maybe even normal. Perhaps it just seems that way to me now that I live in Georgia instead of New York City, and I encounter kids filled with faith regularly. Still, while the country isn’t more evangelical today (it’s actually less), that segment of the population has become more prevalent and vocal. They succeeded in overturning Roe v. Wade and found a new president to canonize (Jesus Camp reminds us that George W. Bush was considered a holy savior by evangelicals long before Donald Trump). But they couldn’t cancel Harry Potter, whose upcoming TV show will further push alleged anti-Christian themes to America’s youth.
The legacy of Jesus Camp provides additional context for the film when watching it 20 years later. Outraged viewers managed to get the camp closed down through violent means. Some of the now-adult subjects left the evangelical side of Christianity. The kid preacher became a grown-up preacher. Two months after the release of the documentary, in which Ted Haggard spouts anti-gay rhetoric, the self-righteous evangelical leader was revealed to have homosexual relations and a drug problem. The present state of the U.S. Supreme Court is also relevant. Maybe audiences back then should have been more concerned than astonished. Perhaps the depiction of indoctrination in Jesus Camp should have felt similar to that of this year’s Oscar-winner, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and been viewed less as a disturbing oddity, more as a frightening forecast of what’s to come.
Jesus Camp is currently available to stream for free on Kanopy and Hoopla through your library or with ads on Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Fandango at Home.
Other Documentary Highlights
Eraserheads: Combo On The Run (2025) & Pretty Ugly: The Story Of The Lunachicks (2026)
The two new releases I watched this week have a few similarities. Both documentaries are about bands that formed in the late ‘80s, gained popularity in the ‘90s, broke up soon after, and have been pushed to reunite a few times since. Both bands are also portrayed as “punk rock” in some way, whether through political context or sound and aesthetic. Eraserheads: Combo on the Run follows the titular Filipino band, while Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks chronicles the story of the titular feminist group from New York City. Where they were from is also significant in their respective stories.
The two documentaries are pretty basic, and I wouldn’t recommend either for their filmmaking. But if you’re a fan, you might appreciate the interviews with the band members, who mostly tell their tales event-by-event without much deeper reflection. Being more familiar with the American group of the two and the times and places of their underground success, I at least had nostalgic interest in sticking with Pretty Ugly. But it’s worth noting that the “new” footage in that film was not captured very recently. Eraserheads, I couldn’t get into at all, mainly due to its slow pace rather than because I didn’t know or care about its subject.
Eraserheads: Combo on the Run and Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks both open in theaters on Friday, April 24, 2026, with the latter film also being released on VOD on the same day.
Frederick Wiseman’s U.S. Documentaries (Continued)
The Jacob Burns Film Center’s ongoing retrospective “Frederick Wiseman’s America” continues this week, showcasing more of Frederick Wiseman’s U.S.-set documentaries. Here are the films to watch, whether it’s there on the big screen, at home via Kanopy, or on physical media from Zipporah Films: Belfast, Maine (April 24), Public Housing (April 25), Domestic Violence (April 26), In Jackson Heights (April 29), and Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (April 30). We’ll highlight the rest of the program as it continues into early May.
Leaving Neverland (2019)
As a Doc Option™ for this week’s biopic release, Michael, there are plenty of documentaries on the same era depicted in the film. You’ve got Michael Jackson: The Journey Continues, Thriller 40, Spike Lee’s two features, Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (currently available only in Germany) and Bad 25, and to some extent, Quincy. Considering the backlash to the new movie, though, I figured it more fitting to suggest Leaving Neverland, the most famous of the films examining Michael Jackson’s sexual abuse allegations. The pop icon’s estate has tried to erase it from exisence but you can easily find it online.
You can more easily find the sequel, Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson, and the counterpoint documentary, Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary, as they’re both publicly and legally on YouTube. I’m not saying if he was guilty or not, but it’s worth looking at one or both sides to know why so many critics are disappointed in Michael ending its story before the first accusations were made.
Power To The People (2026)
I haven’t seen Power to the People, but this new multiscreen documentary presents footage shot during John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s two-night One to One benefit in 1972. The reason I’m highlighting it sight unseen is that it functions as a supplement to one of the best documentaries of 2025, One to One: John & Yoko, which chronicles the lead-up to the event. This should be especially of interest to those who were disappointed that One to One wasn’t more of a concert film.
Power to the People: John & Yoko Live in NYC will screen in theaters on April 29, 2026, and May 3, 2026.
The Up Documentaries (1964, 1970, 1977, 1984, 1991, 1998, 2005, 2012, 2019, 2026)
The next installment of the Up series of documentaries is due to premiere in the UK later this year, and last week, we learned this would be the last. While we wait for 70 Up, helmed by replacement director Asif Kapadia, I recommend binging the first nine films, Seven Up!, 7 Plus Seven, 21 Up, 28 Up, 35 Up, 42 Up, 49 Up, 56 Up, and 63 Up, which follow a scattered group of people in England through their lives, revisiting them every seven years from the time they were seven years old. You can see why we named one of them among the most memorable documentary characters of all time. You should also read our interview with Paul Almond about starting the project and our interview with Michael Apted about continuing the series.
The Up documentaries are available together in a box set from First Run Features.
Awards Highlights
Peabody Winners
The winners of the 2026 Peabody Awards were revealed last week, with several documentaries among the honorees. Last year’s and this year’s Oscar winners, No Other Land (currently available to rent digially) and Mr. Nobody Against Putin (streaming on Kino Film Collection), plus Oscar nominees The Alabama Solution (HBO Max) and Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple TV) joined Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Max), Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk (Kanopy), Thoughts & Prayers (HBO Max), and Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott (Disney+) were all named in the Documentary category.
Sly Lives! (a.k.a. The Burden of Black Genius) (Hulu) was one of the two winners in the Arts category, while the hybrid series The Rehearsal (HBO Max) was one of the winners in teh Entertainment category. News winners include the Fault Lines episodes “Kids Under Fire” and “The Disappearance of Dr. Abu Safiya,” and the Interactive winners include the documentary Investigating War Crimes in Gaza. All three of those can be viewed via Al Jazeera English. Winners will be celebrated in a ceremony held in Beverly Hills on May 31, 2026.
Documentary Release Calendar 4/24/26 - 4/30/26
Friday, April 24, 2026
Bernstein’s Wall (2021) - A documentary about Leonard Bernstein. (In Theaters)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) - A re-release, newly restored in 6K, of a 3D documentary directed by Werner Herzog about the primitive paintings found in France’s Chauvet Cave. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)
Eraserheads: Combo on the Run (2025) - A documentary about the titular Filipino rock band. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)
Great Performances: Now Hear This Season 7, Episode 3: “The Call of Istanbul” - The latest installment of a docuseries starring conductor and violinist Scott Yoo about the secret histories of great musical works. This installment focuses on Turkish pianist Fazil Say, conductor Çem Mansur, and Anatolian folk and Turkish jazz musicians. (PBS, the PBS App, and the PBS Website)
Just Sing (2025) - A documentary feature that follows the SoCal VoCals as they compete in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. (In Theaters)
Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks (2026) - A documentary about the titular band. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters and VOD)
The Proof is Out There Season 6, Episode 7: “Chattanooga UFO, Ark of the Covenant, and Vanishing Time Mystery” - The latest installment of a docuseries investigating UFOs, conspiracies, and mythical creatures. (History)
Saturday, April 25, 2026
The Blue Angels 3D (2024) - A documentary feature about the titular flight squadron. Presented as part of AMC’s IMAX Documentary Showcase. (AMC’s IMAX Theaters)
Building Back America’s Trades Episode 3: “Building the Future” - The latest installment of a docuseries about the trades industry. (Magnolia)
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024) - A feature documentary about the filmmaking collaborations of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Read our review of Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger. *NONFICS PICK*(TCM)
Philly Homicide Season 2, Episode 3: “Nightmare in North Wales” - The latest installment of a docuseries following Philadelphia detectives. This episode involves the killing of a Korean-American business owner. (Oxygen)
Roger Corman: The Pope of Pop Cinema (2021) - A medium-length documentary about film producer Roger Corman. (TCM)
Sunday, April 26, 2026
Betrayal: Secrets & Lies Episode 5: “The Kentucky Conman” - The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries involving stories of infidelity. (ABC, Disney+, and Hulu)
Conbody vs. Everybody (2024) - A five-part docuseries directed by Debra Granik (Stray Dog) about a formerly incarcerated man who starts a gym that employs others released from prison. *NONFICS PICK* (NYC Theatrical Event)
Cruise of the Zaca (1952) - A short documentary following Errol Flynn on his schooner with a group of oceanic scientists. (TCM)
Eva Longoria: Searching for France Episodes 5 & 6: “Burgundy” & “Alsace” - The latest installments of an eight-part docuseries in the Searching For… travelogue franchise following Eva Longoria on a culinary tour of France. (CNN)
The Food That Built America Season 7, Episode 2: “Cereal Killers” - The latest installment of a docuseries about popular American foods. This episode involves the cereal brands that battled to top the market. (History)
Hazardous History with Henry Winkler Season 2, Episode 2: “Looks That Kill” - The latest installment of a docuseries about dangerous toys and household items that used to be common. This episode involves deadly dentures, hair implants, and shirt collars. (History)
A Plan to Kill Season 2, Episode 8: “Silenced to Death” - The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries on the meticulous planning conducted by serial killers. (Oxygen)
Monday, April 27, 2026
Hollywood Demons Season 2, Episode 2: “Child Stars Gone Wrong” - The latest installment of a docuseries about the dark realities of various celebrities and TV shows. This episode involves child actors. (Investigation Discovery)
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse (2024) - A biographical documentary about the titular cartoonist. (Blu-ray)
Come What May (2026) - A documentary feature about comedian Ralphie May. (Theatrical Roadshow)
Conbody vs. Everybody (2024) - A five-part docuseries directed by Debra Granik (Stray Dog) about a formerly incarcerated man who starts a gym that employs others released from prison. *NONFICS PICK* (NYC Theatrical Event)
The Dark Wizard Episode 3: “This is Art, This is Spirituality” - The third installment of a four-part docuseries about climber, base jumper, and highline walker Dean Potter. (HBO and HBO Max)
Eight Postcards from Utopia (2024) - An archival documentary directed by Radu Jude and Christian Ferencz-Flatz consisting of vintage Romanian TV ads. (Blu-ray)
The Exit of the Trains (2021) - An archival essay film directed by Radu Jude and Adrian Cioflâncã about the first big massacre of the Jews in Romania, in 1941. (Blu-ray)
George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey (1984) - A documentary by George Stevens Jr. about the life and work of his father, the titular Hollywood director. (4K Blu-ray)
High Strangeness in the Bennington Triangle (2026) - A documentary feature about an area of Vermont known for UFO and Bigfoot sightings. (VOD)
Long Live Chainsaw (2021) - A documentary feature about downhill mountain bike legend Stevie Smith. (4K UHD)
My Killer Father: The Green Hollow Murders (2026) - A three-part docuseries about the serial killer known as the Monster of Green Hollow. (Paramount+)
Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny Season 2, Episode 7: “Secret Unit” - The latest installment of a docuseries about declassified government activities. (History)
Shared Planet (2025) - A docuseries about the relationship between people and wildlife. (PBS)
Should I Marry a Murderer? (2026) - A three-part true-crime docuseries about a woman gathering evidence on her fiancé, who is accused of murder. (Netflix)
Vinyl (2000) - A documentary directed by Alan Zweig (When Jews Were Funny) about record collecting. (Blu-ray)
Wildwood, NJ (1994) - A medium-length documentary about women and girls living in Wildwood, New Jersey. (Blu-ray)
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
The Bad Foot Clinic Season 1, Episode 7: “It’s In My Sole” - The latest installment of a docuseries following a podiatrist couple in their work. (TLC)
Conbody vs. Everybody (2024) - A five-part docuseries directed by Debra Granik (Stray Dog) about a formerly incarcerated man who starts a gym that employs others released from prison. *NONFICS PICK* (NYC Theatrical Event)
Conspiracies & Coverups Episode 5: “105” - The latest installment of a docuseries starring ex-CIA officer Andrew Bustamente about the biggest conspiracies in pop culture today. (Discovery)
Nova Season 53, Episode 8: “Athens: Birth of Democracy” - The latest installment of an educational anthology docuseries. This episode is involves an archaelogical investigation into the orgins of democracy in Greece. (PBS)
On the Case with Paula Zahn Season 29, Episode 3: “Caught in a Trap” - The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries starring journalist Paula Zahn. This episode involves the death of a female naval veteran. (Investigation Discovery)
A Poem for Little People (2023) - A documentary feature about a volunteer evacuation team in Ukraine. (OVID)
Power To The People: John & Yoko Live in NYC (2026) - A multiscreen concert film presenting John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s two Madison Square Garden shows on August 30, 1972. (Theatrical Event)
Rule of Two Walls (2023) - A feature documentary about the war in Ukraine through the lens of its artists. Read our review of Rule of Two Walls. (OVID)
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Destination World Cup 2026 - A docuseries that follows players in the lead-up to the World Cup. (Tubi)
Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo Season 2, Episode 19: “Strange Finds” - The latest installment of a docuseries exploring hidden worlds. (History)
ONE OK ROCK Detox Japan Tour 2025 at Nissan Stadium in Cinemas (2026) - A concert film starring One OK Rock. (In Theaters)
Predator Hunters Episode 9: “Huge Red Flag” - The latest installment of a docuseries produced by Louis Theroux following the work of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. (A&E)
The Story of Everything (2026) - A documentary about the origins of humanity and the cosmos. (In Theaters)
This Is Not a Drill (2025) - A documentary about three grassroots leaders going up against Big Oil. (YouTube)
Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon
5/5 - The Ozu Diaries - A documentary about the Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu. (TCM)
5/6 - Worst Ex Ever Season 2 - The return of a docuseries about terrible past relationships. (Netflix)
5/8 - The Python Hunt - A documentary feature about an annual public python hunt in the Everglades. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)
5/11 - 96 Pounds of Dynamite - A documentary about a genetically diminutive billiards celebrity. (VOD)
5/12 - Tucci in Italy Season 2 - The return of a docuseries starring actor Stanley Tucci as he explores Italy through its cuisine. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (National Geographic)
5/13 - The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas (2025) - A documentary on Asian-American identity. (HBO)
5/15 - Been Here Stay Here - A documentary about a Christian community on Tangier Island, which is threatened by rising sea levels. (In Theaters)
5/22 - Ask E. Jean - A documentary feature about the advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. (In Theaters)
5/25 - The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle - A two-part true-crime documentary about a man claiming to suffer from a rare form of amnesia who may have a shady past. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Investigation Discovery)
6/16 - Eno - A feature documentary directed by Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) about the music artist Brian Eno. (The Criterion Channel)
6/17 - Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul - A documentary about the titular musician, singer, and songwriter. (In Theaters)
6/30 - Michalopoulos: The Art of Celebration - A documentary about New Orleans artist James Michalopoulos. Watch the trailer for the film below. (PBS)