Marc-André Leclerc climbs alone, far from the limelight. On remote alpine faces, the free-spirited 23-year-old Canadian makes some of the boldest solo ascents in history. Yet, he draws scant attention. Leclerc’s approach is the essence of solo adventure with no cameras, rope, and margin for error. Nomadic and publicity-shy, he doesn’t own a phone or car and is reluctant to let a film crew in on his pure vision of climbing.
In steps, filmmaker Peter Mortimer sets out to make The Alpinist about Leclerc but struggles to keep up with his elusive subject. Then, Leclerc embarks on a historical adventure in Patagonia that will redefine what is possible in solo climbing.
Written and directed by Morgan Neville, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is a documentary about Chef, writer, adventurer and provocateur.
Anthony Bourdain stars in Morgan Neville’s documentary, ROADRUNNER, a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Dmitri Kasterine / Focus Features
He lived his life unabashedly in an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon. Neville gives us an unflinching look at Bourdain’s resounding presence, in his own voice, and in the way he indelibly affected the world around him.
Drawing on previously unseen footage from Bourdain’s television shows, all-new interviews with his friends and family, and Bourdain’s own wry and instantly recognizable voiceovers, Neville creates a record of an extraordinary man’s unexpected rise to stardom as a celebrity chef, book author, journalist and travel documentarian.
Anthony Bourdain (left) and Ottavia Busia-Bourdain (right) star in Morgan Neville’s documentary, ROADRUNNER, a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Discovery Access / Focus Features
The story, the filmmaker realized early in the filmmaking process, is one of constant transformation. “In the beginning, I wasn’t sure what the film was going to be about,” he says. “I only knew I wanted to celebrate the joy and excitement and humor of the man. But I soon found the story I wanted to tell was how a hard-living, irreverent chef at a mediocre New York restaurant suddenly shot to fame at the age of 44 and what happened after that. Not many people in their mid-40s suddenly go from utter obscurity to absolute fame.”
Directed by Michael Gracey, P!nk: All I Know So Far, join award-winning musician P!NK as she embarks on her record-breaking 2019 “Beautiful Trauma” world tour. See her welcome audiences to join her chosen family while trying to balance being a mom, a wife, a boss and a performer.
Gracey’s mixing of footage from the road, behind-the-scenes interviews, and personal material gives power to this spectacle. Gracey is best known for The Greatest Showman, which had solid musical numbers.
The audiences get a glimpse behind the curtain of the circus that P!NK calls life.
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Summer of Soul presents a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion.
Over six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park — now Marcus Garvey Park.
The 5th Dimension performing at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, featured in the documentary SUMMER OF SOUL.
Never seen footage and largely forgotten — until now. The movie shines a light on the history of our spiritual well-being. It stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present.
The feature includes never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more.
Directed by the late Luke Holland, Final Account is his interviews of nearly 300 elderly perpetrators and witnesses of the Holocaust from the Nazi side.
Such an important documentary that shows how the Nazis viewed their rise over Europe and the atrocities they allowed to happen. Doing nothing is still a transgression, and this movie received praises from prominent newspapers worldwide.
FINAL ACCOUNT by director Luke Holland, released by Focus Features. Courtesy of Focus Features
Final Account premiered posthumously three months after the death of Holland in June 2020.
After recovering from a near-fatal shooting, former drug dealer and award-winning journalist Samson Styles searches to find the meaning of his life and reconciliation with his shooter, in this meaningful journey that takes the form of a life-lesson explained to a young boy.
Synopsis: “Killing Beef” is a street term and is a double entendre. The beef is a conflict often between young men and/or their crews. “Killing” beef can mean a pattern of deadly violence – or it can mean a peaceful resolution of a conflict.
Black-on-black crime rooted in conflict continues to take the lives of too many young black men across the country. Too many, this cycle of violence is senseless.
Though I agree with Styles approach to do something about it. However, let us look at solutions that are working today. For example, The Way to Happiness Foundation has statistics that show its effectiveness. Its program is available to any educational institution.
Directed by filmmaker Dawn Porter, John Lewis: Good Trouble chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist and Democratic Representative from Georgia.
Using interviews and rare archival footage, Porter chronicles John Robert Lewis’s 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, healthcare reform, and immigration.
On the far right, John Lewis is with fellow protesters at Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Using present-day interviews with Lewis, now 80 years old, Porter explores his childhood experiences, inspiring family and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s film includes interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and others who figure prominently in his life.
Directed by Justin Folk, No Safe Spaces appears to be a documentary that reveals how identity politics and the suppression of free speech are spreading into every part of society and threatening to divide America.
No Safe Spaces, starring Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager, is a film with a mission: to expose the growing threat to free speech on American university campuses and throughout the culture at large. Carolla and Prager take the audience on a compelling and entertaining journey across the county to discover why Americans should unite to protect the First Amendment.
In its first month of limited release, No Safe Spaces has shattered expectations in select theaters. It opened at a single screening in Scottsdale, Arizona, with the second-largest box office opening at a single screen after Michael Moore’s Sicko. Since then, it has maintained strong momentum throughout its limited release in spite of several significant movies released at the same time.
Co-written and directed by Victor Kossakovsky, Aquarela is a documentary about water being the main protagonist. Society sees it as a great and terrible beauty. For example, the Mountains of ice move and break apart as if they are a life form with their own will to survive.
Kossakovsky’s documentary travels the world showing different forms of water. The movie travels from the dangerous frozen waters of Russia’s Lake Baikal and Miami in the throes of Hurricane Irma to Venezuela’s majestic Angel Falls to paint a portrait of this fluid life force in all its glorious forms.
The documentary shares the undeniable truth of how fragile humans experience life and death, joy and despair, in the face of its power.
Koosakovsky has endless credits as a documentarian. A couple the stand out are Russian From My Window and Graine de Champion. Aimara Reques co-wrote the documentary with Koosakovsky. Reques is also an actress and producer.
