Documentaries
Unrolled oat perfection at the World Porridge Making Championship
The Golden Spurtle — Each October, hundreds of people descend upon Carrbridge, a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands, to find out who can make the best bowl of porridge. Constantine Costi’s new documentary captures its idiosyncratic community energy.
Written by: Kez Cochrane
Classic ’80s NYC hip-hop film Wild Style is being remastered
Bronx breaks — Created by Charlie Ahearn, the part-documentary, part-fiction movie captured the genre’s early style and music, as well as its intertwined relationship with breakdance and graffiti culture.
Written by: Isaac Muk
New documentary revisits the radical history of UK free rave culture
Free Party: A Folk History — Directed by Aaron Trinder, it features first-hand stories from key crews including DiY, Spiral Tribe, Bedlam and Circus Warp, with public streaming available from May 30.
Written by: Isaac Muk
A new documentary spotlights Ecuador’s women surfers fighting climate change
Ceibo — Co-directed by Maddie Meddings and Lucy Small, the film focuses on the work and story of Pacha Light, a wave rider who lived off-grid before reconnecting with her country’s activist heritage.
Written by: Hannah Bentley
Our picks from Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2021
Ones to watch — After a 16-month hiatus, the festival returned with a series of gloriously human stories. Here are our favourites.
Written by: Vuyokazi Mtukela
‘Most worshipped filmmakers are men – this is blinkered’
A chat with Mark Cousins — The director and critic has spent five years crafting an epic, 14-hour documentary, shining a light on cinema’s forgotten women from across the world. Here, he tells us why.
Written by: Katie Goh
The best documentaries you can watch now (for free)
You’ve got the time — The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam has opened its archives, with over 300 films available to stream for free. We picked out some of the best.
Written by: Kambole Campbell
‘I wasn't doing so great. I saw friends dying and falling apart’
An interview with Alex Winter — Best known for his turn as Bill Preston Esq in the Bill & Ted films, Winter is now a respected filmmaker – tackling technology, politics, culture and society.
Written by: Daniel Dylan Wray
Is the age of monogamy finally over?
Talking about adultery — In her new documentary, filmmaker Bara Jichova Tyson probes the ever-changing relationship between infidelity, sex and marriage.
Written by: Hannah Clugston
Enemy of the state: the inside story of Chelsea Manning
‘We need people like her now’ — A new documentary offers an intimate portrait of the whistleblower, following her release from a maximum security prison in 2017 to her recent re-incarceration.
Written by: Thomas Curry
What Netflix did next: fuzzy love & half-baked conspiracies
Are you still watching? — Writer Megan Nolan bravely ventures into the latest Netflix Original releases, in an attempt to figure out if anything is worth our time anymore. This week, it’s whip-smart New Zealand comedy The Breaker Upperers, and tone-deaf music doc The Two Killings of Sam Cooke.
Written by: Megan Nolan
Politics, Palestine & PJ Harvey: the best docs to see in 2019
Catch them when you can — Luke Moody, Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Director Of Film Programming, pulls together a list of sharp, smart and touching docs to look out for in the coming months.
Written by: Thomas Curry
