Documentary of the Week

In “A Ballerina’s Tale,” filmmaker Nelson George follows Misty Copeland as she copes with an injury that threatens her career and rallies to break boundaries in the world of ballet. Copeland shows herself to be an attentive student of ballet’s history, and a powerful agent for its future. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web page.

The documentary (T)ERROR, winner of the Sundance Special Jury Prize, follows an undercover informant during an actual FBI operation against a Muslim man in Pittsburgh. Filmmakers Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe play each side against the others without telling any of them what they're doing. The film shows us something we aren’t meant to see — and tells us something we aren’t meant to know — in the domestic war on terror. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen // (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // Posted byon Tuesday, August 4, 2015 For more information,to visit the official film page. ]]>

Many stories get told about Mount Everest, but the film SHERPA stands apart for focusing on the local guides from Nepal who take the biggest risks. Director Jennifer Peedom bears witness to the tragic 2014 avalanche that killed 16 Sherpas and changed the dynamics on the mountain. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

For over 30 years, art forger Mark Landis has been fooling museums by faking works in the names of masters. In Art and Craft, filmmakers Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker gain Landis’ trust, and get access to the process of forgery and conning museum curators. They follow his nemesis Matthew Leininger, a museum registrar on a multi-year mission to expose Landis, and raise questions about the meaning of art versus its value. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web page.

In 1975, Sheriff Dub Lawrence founded his county’s first SWAT team. Thirty-three years later, he stood by as that very same SWAT team killed his son-in-law, propelling him on a crusade to hold police accountable for appropriate use of force. Directors Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber take a close look at police militarization in their documentary, "Peace Officer." — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film website.

Janis Joplin, Yo-Yo Ma and Sharon Jones are just some of the musicians who are the subjects of documentaries at this month's Toronto International Film Festival. The festival also features the world premier of a new film featuring Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. It opens on Netflix next Friday, Sept. 18. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen. This week's report discusses Keith Richards: Under the Influence, Miss Sharon Jones and Janis: Little Girl Blue.

In “Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” director Stanley Nelson explores the complex history of the radical organization that spread rapidly across the country and drew a harsh backlash from the FBI and local police forces. The film's clear-eyed approach to the past deepens our understanding of present struggles. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film website.

In 2011, music legend Glen Campbell released a new record and was also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He went public with the diagnosis and spent the next year and a half on a “goodbye tour” of 151 shows, supported by adoring audiences and a loving family — including three of his kids who played in the band. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film wep page.

In the early '80s, long before reality TV, directors Joel DeMott and Jeff Kreines captured this raw and intimate documentary portrait of teens in Muncie, Indiana. The depiction of interracial romance and rebellion proved too hot to handle for PBS; they refused to broadcast it. Now new audiences can discover it on DVD and download. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the film web page.

“Meru,” directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, chronicles three American mountain climbers attempting to summit the Himalayan peak known as the “Shark’s Fin” on Mount Meru. With stunning cinematography, their epic journey takes us to perilous heights while also probing the psyche of these risk-takers. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

In the new documentary Homme Less, 52-year-old fashion photographer Mark Reay has style and swagger. He's also been living undetected on a Manhattan rooftop for several years. — Thom Powers and Raphael Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

In 1968, in a desperate bid for ratings, ABC News enlisted right wing magazine editor William F. Buckley to debate left wing novelist Gore Vidal over ten nights during the Republican and Democratic conventions. Television viewers had never seen anything like it. Filmmakers Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon draw upon a treasure trove of archival footage to revisit this pivotal chapter in cultural history. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

From her home in Montreal, Sandra Bagaria fell in cyber-love with a blogger named Amina who called herself “Gay Girl in Damascus.” They carried on a torrid correspondence for months, until the relationship took a strange turn that made headlines as the Syrian civil war escalated in 2011. Director Sophia Deraspe follows Sandra on an international quest to solve the mystery of Amina. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

Set in contemporary Indonesia, The Look of Silence explores the legacy of violence from the country’s genocide in the 1960s. Academy Award-nominated director Joshua Oppenheimer follows a village optometrist who sets out to confront the men who killed his brother. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

Director David Thorpe embarks on a hilarious and touching journey of self-discovery, confronting his anxiety about “sounding gay.” What starts out as a personal journey becomes a chance to unpack layers of cultural baggage concerning sexuality, identity and self-esteem. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

Winner of the Sundance Directing Prize, this documentary about vigilantes fighting drug cartels on both sides of the US/Mexico border plays out like a real-life thriller. Director Matthew Heineman captures vivid characters and harrowing confrontations.—Thom Powers and Raphaela NeihausenFor more information, click here to visit the official film website.

Singer Nina Simone applied her unforgettable voice to both love songs and activism. Now, using rare footage and candid interviews, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus creates a nuanced portrait of a legend. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen Click here for more information.

Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus injects hope and humor into a presidential campaign in Colombia that wins a groundswell of support. Danish director Andreas Dalsgaard presents his documentary La Vida Es Sagrada (Life is Sacred) at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival this week. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the festival web site. Life Is Sacred - Trailer from Elk Film on Vimeo.

For five years, the filmmaker gained access to the insular world of the Angulo family, whose patriarch kept his daughter and six sons locked inside an apartment in Manhattan's public housing. As the boys reach their late teens, they yearn to escape. -- Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official film website.

Red Army chronicles the lives of the Soviet hockey players who dominated the sport during the 1980s. When the Cold War ended, they had to reinvent their careers in North America’s National Hockey League . Whether or not you like hockey, the film is a lively account of the cultural divide between East and West. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the official web site.

Thanks to the Internet, thousands of young American women are entering the "professional-amateur" porn world, fulfilling a growing demand for girl-next-door starlets. Hot Girls Wanted follows one such girl from Texas, eager to leave small-town life in search of freedom and fame. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the film web site.

Sunshine Superman is a heart-racing documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular — and dangerous — feats of foot-launched human flight. Told through a stunning mix of Carl's 16mm archive footage, well-crafted re-enactments and state-of-the-art aerial photography, Sunshine Superman will leave you breathless and inspired. — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen For more information, click here to visit the film's web site.

The documentary 9-MAN uncovers a gritty, chaotic urban tournament played by Chinese-Americans in the heart of Chinatowns across the USA and Canada. Largely undiscovered by the mainstream, the game is a community treasure traditionally played in parking lots and back alleys by men looking for an escape from social segregation and discrimination. For more information, click here to visit the film website.

For 45 years, Caroll Spinney has been beloved by generations of children as the man behind Sesame Street's Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch — and at 80 years old, he has no intention of stopping. I Am Big Bird features extraordinary footage of Spinney's earliest collaborations with Jim Henson as it traces his journey from bullied child to childhood icon. For more information, click here to visit the film's web site.

Iris pairs legendary 87-year-old documentarian Albert Maysles with 93-year-old Iris Apfel, the flamboyant, quick-witted style maven who has had an outsized presence on the New York fashion scene for decades. The film portrays a singular woman whose enthusiasm for fashion, art and people reminds us that dressing, and indeed life, is nothing but an experiment. For more information, click here to visit the film's web site.