While much of the world is getting lost in the liminal spaces of Backrooms (a horror film I found disappointingly dull), I am thrilled to share a documentary interested in the seemingly limitless spaces underneath the ground’s surface and the definitely unlimited spaces of time, both backward and forward. Underland presents an intertwined triptych showcasing three subterranean explorers. One of them ventures into cenotes in Mexico to map out and reveal evidence of ancestral Mayan uses of these caves. Another is an urban explorer taking viewers through the sewers beneath Las Vegas. The third is a theoretical physicist conducting experiments more than a mile underground in pursuit of proof of the existence of dark matter.

The last of these participants, Mariangela Lisanti, might seem more stationary in her journey than the other two, but that’s where Underland distinguishes itself from being just about material space. Lisanti’s work at SNOLAB relates to the mysteries of the universe, including its origins billions of years ago. Fátima Tec Pool’s archaeological findings in the cenotes also involve contemplation of a more recent yet still ancient past. Bradley Garrett shows us near-contemporary remnants of modern history and wonders how they might become the findings of some future scientists many centuries or millennia from now. Lisanti, too, considers later generations as she gives in to the idea that what she’s seeking might not be found in her lifetime or the next.

In addition to all that Underland makes viewers think about with its themes involving space, time, myth, mystery, memory, physical relics, and theoretical “ghosts,” the film offers a magnificent visual and aural experience. Director Rob Petit, collaborating with producer Darren Aronofsky, cinematographer Ruben Woodin Dechamps, editor David G. Hill, narrator Sandra Hüller (hopefully bringing in the Project Hail Mary fans) and composer Hannah Peel, has delivered an adaptation of Robert Macfarlane’s book of the same name that left me curious about that text but certain that no words could match the sensational cinematic treatment of its subject matter in front of me. I recommend seeing the film in a very dark theater with a great sound system and constant air conditioning pumping through the auditorium. Or, at least, as I did, on a large screen in a cold, dark room with noise-canceling headphones.

While I really hate being disappointed by a documentary, whether it’s the film’s fault or mine, there’s nothing better than being surprised by one I didn’t see coming. Established filmmakers can’t make masterpieces every time, and their choices of subjects are not always going to resonate. They’re also not going to be up for awards with every new release. Also, sometimes filmmakers continue making documentaries that are very good but not groundbreaking, like the work that initially stood out. Even some of the best documentarians in history eventually produced films that felt routine.

My excitement as a documentary critic and awards show producer comes with any extraordinary film or series that comes along, whether it’s by a well-known director or not. But surprises can have more weight when it comes to remembering them down the line. In the past few years, original documentaries like Nocturnes, Caterpillar, Art for Everybody, Hummingbirds, and Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. have been overlooked and less remembered in the overall scheme of my industry, yet they all come to mind when I think about the films I put on with no expectations, and could stop thinking about afterward. Some are more creative, some just feel more pure in their simplicity.

This week’s highlights include a film by an Oscar-winning director who has been having a great run, yet I wasn’t that impressed by his latest. They also include a film with a lot of awards buzz that seems to be misguided (the film and the buzz). Then there’s a film that nearly passed my desk without garnering my attention at all. It wasn’t pitched heavily to me, and it wasn’t something I’d even heard about. I put it on at the end of last week, desperate for something else to showcase that actually excited and inspired me. The gamble of delivering this newsletter later than I wanted to paid off because it’s a film that indeed wound up being my Pick of the Week. See below.

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 Penny Lane!). 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: Underland (2025)

While much of the world is getting lost in the liminal spaces of Backrooms (a horror film I found disappointingly dull), I am thrilled to share a documentary interested in the seemingly limitless spaces underneath the ground’s surface and the definitely unlimited spaces of time, both backward and forward. Underland presents an intertwined triptych showcasing three subterranean explorers. One of them ventures into cenotes in Mexico to map out and reveal evidence of ancestral Mayan uses of these caves. Another is an urban explorer taking viewers through the sewers beneath Las Vegas. The third is a theoretical physicist conducting experiments more than a mile underground in pursuit of proof of the existence of dark matter.

The last of these participants, Mariangela Lisanti, might seem more stationary in her journey than the other two, but that’s where Underland distinguishes itself from being just about material space. Lisanti’s work at SNOLAB relates to the mysteries of the universe, including its origins billions of years ago. Fátima Tec Pool’s archaeological findings in the cenotes also involve contemplation of a more recent yet still ancient past. Bradley Garrett shows us near-contemporary remnants of modern history and wonders how they might become the findings of some future scientists many centuries or millennia from now. Lisanti, too, considers later generations as she gives in to the idea that what she’s seeking might not be found in her lifetime or the next.

Continue reading our review of Underland.

Underland will be released in theaters in New York City on Friday, June 5, 2026, via Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Other Documentary Highlights

Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial Vs. That’s The Weight Of The World) (2026)

Questlove is back with another music documentary that shows his love for both Black artists of the ‘60s and ‘70s and long titles incorporating extensive parentheticals. It’s not surprising that the Grammy- and Oscar-winning musician-turned-filmmaker would be interested particularly in Maurice White, a fellow bandleader who played the drums. Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World) is almost as much (more) about White over the rest of his group as Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is more about Sly Stone than Sly and the Family Stone. The problem is that White’s life story isn’t ever as compelling as those Questlove has poignantly told in his previous documentaries, including the best documentary of 2021, Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).

Worth telling, sure, as he’s a music icon, obligatorily deserving of a documentary. And fans of Earth, Wind & Fire also deserve a music doc that validates their appreciation with typical music doc hyperboles. Compared to Questlove’s first three films as a director, including his Saturday Night Live anniversary special, this one is pretty standard in its form and what it has to say. There’s not as much contextual historical insight, just a straightforward chronicle of life and career events. The documentary does have one memorable sequence on the production, popularity, and legacy of “Shining Star,” and Marilyn White might be one of my favorite talking heads of the year so far, but overall, there’s not much here to make it stand out. Not all of Questlove’s films will be among the best of their year, and they don’t need to be.

Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World) will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, June 7, 2026.

EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert (2025)

I’m typically disappointed with the promotional department at Paramount+ concerning their streaming announcements, but I think the reveal of this film’s debut was a short-notice surprise for everyone. Normally, I don’t like to highlight a documentary after its streaming release has already begun, but I’ll make an exception for Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, which hit the service last week. After all, it does hold the top spot on our list of the best documentaries of 2026 (so far) — never mind that its place will drop when I post the mid-year update in a few weeks. While you would have had a better experience watching it in the theater, it’s still worth watching any which way you can. Here’s an excerpt from our review:

“Nearly 50 years after Presley’s death, it’s surprising that one could make a film like this and have it still feel new, but that goes along with the running theme of his performance principle. I don’t know just how much of the footage featured in the documentary has been seen or heard before (apparently, it consists of a lot of thought-lost material), but I doubt it’s ever popped with such splendor. I’ve never enjoyed Presley so much as a performer as I did while watching EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, feeling the bliss he felt come through the screen so profoundly.”

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is now available to stream on Paramount+ and can be rented or purchased digitally via Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and YouTube.

Groundswell (2026)

I used to post an annual list that made fun of the Golden Globes by imagining their nominees for Best Documentary (a short-lived category they retired in 1976) as being as celebrity-driven as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s reputation warranted. Now that the non-HFPA-era Golden Globes are associated with a new honor for documentaries, I couldn’t help but laugh when the latest prize went to a film that features and is narrated by and executive-produced by movie stars Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson. Still, I wanted to give the selection the benefit of the doubt, given that the previous (inaugural) Golden Globes Documentary Prize at the Cannes Film Festival went to Eugene Jarecki for his body of work (although many apparently confused reports singled out his latest film, The Six Billion Dollar Man, as the specific winner of the award). And at the Venice Film Festival last year, the also-new Golden Globes Impact Prize for Documentary went to Ross McElwee’s Remake.

This year’s Cannes prize winner, Groundswell, is not on the level of Jarecki and McElwee’s work (admittedly, I haven’t yet seen either The Six Billion Dollar Man or Remake). The documentary marks the third installment of a trilogy that includes Kiss the Ground and Common Ground, and continues filmmakers Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell’s attention to regenerative agriculture. It’s commendable for showcasing not just proposed solutions but effective efforts to reverse the threat rather than focusing on the negative aspects of climate change. However, it’s the kind of documentary that packs in so much information that it’s still as overwhelming as any doom-and-gloom issue film. It’s cut so quickly that we’re never allowed to sit with any characters or their achievements. This kind of documentary also has the likely unwanted result of leaving audiences thinking, “Oh, cool, those people got this.”

Groundswell will be released exclusively on Prime Video on Friday, June 5, 2026.

Louis Malle, Le Révolté (2025) & Louis Malle’s Documentary Portraits Of America

Given the news last week that Wim Wenders is pulling one of his old films from circulation due to its taboo content, I wish we could hear from Louis Malle on the matter. His films have been at the center of a significant legal case concerning obscenity and/or have been condemned and censored for their controversial material. Malle died 31 years ago, and while he commented on some of those issues in his lifetime, he probably would be tasked with addressing more of his choices were he still around in today’s cultural landscape. Some of his words that do exist about his films make up the text of the documentary Louis Malle, le Révolté, a career-spanning retrospective that avoids additional perspectives, whether hyperbolic, critical, or otherwise. He defends the plot elements of Pretty Baby, but doesn’t discuss its images (it’s still more than he’s quoted with in the documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields).

At only 65 minutes, there’s not enough time for a lot of discussion of any of Malle’s films in the documentary. It’s not necessarily an introduction to his work either. Louis Malle, le Révolté is for viewers already at least fairly familiar with his filmography, offering morsels if not mouthfuls of director’s commentary. And it sufficiently serves its purpose as a centerpiece within a showcase of his movies, as its U.S. premiere entails as part of the Metrograph’s theatrical program “Louis Malle: Portraits of America.” Ironically, this specific curation consists of movies hardly acknowledged in the documentary, such as Atlantic City, My Dinner with Andre, and his final production, Vanya on 42nd Street. But it’s worth mentioning because it does include two of Malle’s lesser-known documentaries, God’s Country and …And the Pursuit of Happiness (both also available to stream on The Criterion Channel), which are worth checking out.

Louis Malle, le Révolté will be released in New York City for one night on Friday, June 5, 2026, via Metrograph. God’s Country and …And the Pursuit of Happiness will both screen in New York City on Sunday, June 7, 2026.

Stanley Nelson Documentaries

In honor of his 75th birthday this week, we recommend watching all of Stanley Nelson’s documentaries. The filmmaker has become synonymous with Civil Rights documentaries and other works that celebrate Black history and the Black experience in America. His most noteworthy feature is probably Attica (available to stream on Paramount+ Premium), as it earned him an Oscar nomination alongside Traci Curry. I still often think about the film that first brought his name to my attention: Freedom Riders (currently unavailable, officially anyway, for whatever dumb reason). After that, I’ve made a point to watch all of his films, including Freedom Summer (available on Kanopy), and in 2018, I had the honor of having a part in choosing Nelson for the Critics Choice Impact Award at the 3rd Critics Choice Documentary Awards. He was still only just getting started with his impact at that time, of course.

Among those we’ve written about and celebrated here, please check out The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (Kanopy and the PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel), Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (the PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel), Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (PVOD), and We Want the Funk! (Kanopy and the PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel). We also recommend the rest that are currently available: Boss: The Black Experience in Business (Kanopy and the PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel), Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom (Kanopy and the PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel), Sound of the Police (Hulu), The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (Kanopy), and, of courese, The Murder of Emmett Till (the PBS Documentaries Amazon Channel). His breakout feature, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, is also worth seeing whenever it becomes available.

Awards Highlights

Critics Choice Real TV Awards Winners

Last week, the Critics Choice Association announced this year’s winners of its Real TV Awards. I have to acknowledge that I do work for CCA and lead part of the nominating process for these particular awards, which honor nonfiction series, some of which could be classified as documentaries. Of those, Mr. Scorsese (now available to stream on Apple TV) received another Critics Choice Award (following its two wins last fall at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards), this time for Best Limited Series. Other documentary winners include Secrets of the Bees (Disney+ and Hulu) for Best Animal/Nature Show, Tucci in Italy (Disney+ and Hulu) for Best Travel/Adventure Show, Trust Me: The False Prophet (Netflix) for Best Crime/Justice Show, 30 for 30 (ESPN) for Best Sports Show, and Love on the Spectrum (Netflix) for Best Relationship Show and Best Unstructured Series.

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Documentary Release Calendar 6/5/26 - 6/11/26

Friday, June 5, 2026

Deadliest Catch Season 22, Episode 5: “Saltwater Runs Deep” - The latest installment of a series that follows Alaskan crab fishermen. (Discovery Channel)

Groundswell - A Cannes-winning documentary sequel narrated by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson about humanity’s relationship to land. The film is the third part of a trilogy that also includes Kiss the Ground and Common Ground. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (Prime Video)

Iowa Vet: Dogs, Cats, Corn, & Murder (2026) - A documentary feature about a veterinarian in Iowa. (In Theaters)

Louis Malle: Le Révolté (2025) - A medium-length documentary about the titular filmmaker. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (In Theaters)

Night Life in Chicago (1948) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Chicago. (TCM)

Underland (2025) - A documentary feature produced by Darren Aronofsky and narrated by Sandra Hüller about spaces under the ground. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

Saturday, June 6, 2026

The Beach of Nazaré (1957) - A short documentary installment of the Screenliner series that explores the titular Portuguese fishing village. (TCM)

Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose Episode 2: “Capitalism” - The second installment of a five-part docuseries on what it means to be American. (CNN)

Land of the Ugly Duckling (1953) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores Denmark and the life of Hans Christian Andersen. (TCM)

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Best of the World with Antoni Porowski Episodes 1 & 2: “Mexico City” & “Paris” - The first two installments of a travel docuseries starring Antoni Porowski. (National Geographic)

Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World) (2026) - A documentary directed by Questlove about the titular band. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (HBO and HBO Max)

The Food That Built America Season 7, Episode 7: “Cheesecake Chronicles” - The latest installment of a docuseries about popular American foods. This episode involves the history of cheesecake. (History)

Hazardous History with Henry Winkler Season 2, Episode 7: “Hobbies Gone Haywire” - The latest installment of a docuseries about dangerous toys and household items that used to be common. This episode involves model glue, homemade rocket fuel, and more dangerous hobby elements. (History)

The Killer Among Us Episode 4: “Murder in the Gallery” - The latest installment of a docuseries hosted by Alan Cumming about murders in close-knit communities. This episode involves the killing of a Sarasota gallery owner. (Oxygen True Crime)

This Land Episodes 1 & 2: “The Purchase and the Price” & “The Golden Trail” - The first two installments of a six-part docuseries that explores the history of America through six defining frontiers. (CNN)

MGM Parade Show #7 (1955) - The sixth installment of a documentary series devoted to promoting MGM’s films. This short spotlights The Great Ziegfeld and The Tender Trap. (TCM)

Monday, June 8, 2026

Gamechangers: The Ashlyn Harris Story (2026) - A documentary about the titular soccer star. (The Roku Channel)

History’s Greatest Machines with Dolph Lundgren Episode 2: “Mission Critical” - The latest installment of a docuseries about the machines that shaped our world. (History)

In the Eye of the Storm: Chasers Episode 4: “Tornado Alley Weed Farm” - The fourth installment of a six-part spinoff of the docuseries In the Eye of the Storm that follows weather spotters and storm chasers as they record tornadoes. (Discovery Channel)

Lethally Blonde Season 2, Episode 2: “Death of a Raiderette” - The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries involving people pursuing beauty and fame. This episode involves a former Los Angeles Raiders cheerleader. (Investigation Discovery)

Paris on Parade (1938) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that showcases the Paris International Exposition of 1937. (TCM)

Sans Soleil (1983) - An essay film by Chris Marker focused on memories of Japan. *NONFICS PICK* (TCM)

Visiting Vera Cruz (1946) - A short documentary installment of James A. FitzPatrick’s TravelTalks travelogue franchise that explores the titular Mexican port city. (TCM)

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Audelco Awards and Me (2026) - A documentary about the history of the titular awards, which honor African-American theatre in New York City. (DVD)

Boy George & Culture Club (2025) - A feature documentary about the titular music group. (In Theaters and VOD)

Changing Lanes (2025) - A documentary about changes being made to a dangerous street in Brooklyn. (VOD, Kanopy, and OVID)

Choices (2025) - A documentary about women who have had to make tough decisions about their pregnancies. (DVD)

Diana (2021) - A documentary about Princess Diana. (Blu-ray)

Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer (2026) - A documentary about the heavy metal singer Paul Di’Anno. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Go Heal Yourself (2021) - A documentary by Yasmin C. Rams about her effort to keep her epilepsy under control. (DVD)

Gus Arnheim and His Ambassadors (1928) - A music film starring pianist Gus Arnheim and his orchestra as they perform a few songs. (TCM)

I Am What I Play (2015) - A documentary feature that profiles four rock radio DJs of the 1960s through the 1980s. (DVD)

Killing Michael Jackson (2019) - A medium-length documentary about the investigation into Michael Jackson’s death. (Blu-ray)

Looking UP (2025) - A documentary about a young man going blind who decides to climb El Capitan. (DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD)

Lorne (2026) - A documentary feature directed by Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) about Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. Read our review of Lorne. (DVD and Blu-ray)

Norway: The Dark Horse (2026) - A two-part documentary about Norway’s effort to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. (Netflix)

The Proof Is Out There: Unexplained Edition Season 2, Episode 2: “Monsters of the Deep” - The return of a docuseries about strange phenomena captured on camera. (History)

The Psychic Phenomenon (2025) - A documentary about psychics. (DVD)

Rooted in the West Bank (2024) - A documentary about a family of farmers in the Baqa'a Valley of the West Bank whose land has been taken piece by piece by Israeli settlers. (DVD)

Sacred Heart: His Reign Has No End (2025) - A docudrama about the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus as a symbol in the Catholic Church. (In Theaters)

Sculpting This Earth (2026) - A documentary feature about the land artist Strijdom Van Der Merwe. (DVD)

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 7, Episode 4: “Smoking Guns” - The latest installment of a docuseries about UFO phenomena at the Skinwalker Ranch. (History)

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise (2026) - A three-part docuseries about the Pearadise community. (HBO and HBO Max)

Dating: Do’s and Don’ts (1949) - A short film that offers advice on what to do and not to do on a date. (TCM)

E.1027 - Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea (2024) - A documentary about an architectural project by interior designer Eileen Gray. Read our review of E.1027 - Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea. (OVID)

The Face Doctors Season 2, Episode 5: “Hole in the Face” - The latest installment of a nonfiction series about facial reconstruction specialists and their patients. (TLC)

In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey (2026) - A documentary narrated by Jeff Bridges about wolves and other animals throughout American history. (In Theaters)

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Daddy and the Muscle Academy (1991) - A medium-length documentary about gay icon Tom of Finland. (Kino Film Collection)

The Making of a Japanese (2023) - A documentary feature by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki (Instruments of a Beating Heart) that follows students and teachers through one year at a Tokyo public school. (OVID)

On the Roam Season 2, Episode 5 - The latest installment of a nonfiction series that follows actor Jason Momoa as he meets extraordinary people around the country. (HBO Max)

Surviving Earth Episode 1: “When the Earth Burned” - The first installment of an eight-part docuseries about extinct creatures. This episode involves sabretooth predators and the rise of reptiles. (NBC)

Welcome to Wrexham Season 5, Episode 6: “Hell Week” - The latest installment of a docuseries about a Welsh soccer team co-owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. (FXX)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

6/12 - The Gas Station Attendant - A documentary feature by Karla Murthy about her father’s life, from fleeing his Indian village as a child to later emigrating to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream. (In Theaters)

6/13 - Welcome Space Brothers - A documentary feature by Jodi Wille (The Source Family) about the extraterrestrial-channeling spiritual movement that became the Unarius Academy of Science. (In Theaters)

6/23 - We Are Pat - A documentary feature about the controversial Saturday Night Live “It’s Pat” sketches from a trans visibility perspective. (In Theaters)

7/3 - Sherman’s March - A 4K re-release of a classic first-person documentary by Ross McElwee about his romantic pursuits amidst his Civil War history project. *NONFICS PICK* (In Theaters)

7/10 - Mockbuster - A documentary feature by Anthony Frith about his experience making a B-movie for The Asylum. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters and VOD)

7/10 - Remake - A documentary by Ross McElwee about the attempt to remake his classic film Sherman’s March as a narrative feature. (In Theaters)

7/14 - Once Upon a Time in Space - A four-part docuseries about human missions to outer space. (PBS)

7/17 - American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez - A documentary feature about the titular activist and filmmaker. (In Theaters)

7/31 - Wild Inside - A documentary feature by Penny Lane (Nuts!) about Central Park’s Flaco the Owl. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

8/7 - Cookie Queens - A documentary feature about Girl Scouts selling cookies. Read our review of Cookie Queens. (In Theaters)

9/4 - Barbara Forever - A documentary feature executive-produced by Kristen Stewart about the pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer. (In Theaters)

9/18 - You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way) - A documentary feature about a 1972 production of Godspell that included many future famous comedy icons among its cast. (In Theaters)

I don’t know if I had unrealistic expectations for Sara Dosa’s Time and Water (it was number two on the list of my most-anticipated documentaries of 2026). I don’t love it as much as I do the filmmaker’s previous feature, Fire of Love. One thing I wasn’t expecting was for Time and Water to feel so much more of a personal film, not for Dosa but for its primary participant, Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason. I also wasn’t expecting it to feel so much like a climate-change issue film.

Magnason heavily narrates the documentary, which is inspired by his book On Time and Water and serves as an elegy for his grandparents and the Icelandic glaciers. There is a connection. His grandparents were co-founders of the Icelandic Glacial Research Society. He was commissioned to write an obituary for the OK Glacier after it was declared dead. I say the film serves as an elegy rather than a eulogy because it does feel more somber than celebratory of either his grandparents or the ice. He honors and memorializes them plenty, but the documentary is also slow and bleak.

Known for writing poetry and science fiction, Magnason makes Time and Water a poetic sci-fi documentary, sometimes speaking directly to the people of the future, who may be watching the film after all the glaciers have gone. This isn’t as effective here as Michael Madsen’s films Into Eternity and The Visit, maybe because it doesn’t seem terribly invested in the idea of being set in the future. It’s just invested in lamenting. At one point in the film, Magnason shows how he went overlong on a written obituary about his grandfather. The documentary has a similar problem.

Despite my clear dissatisfaction with Time and Water, I can’t say it’s a bad film. It’s a quality production, perfectly edited, and I absolutely love Dan Deacon’s score. I just don’t find Magnason, his family, or his concerns all that interesting, and I didn’t enjoy listening to him talk about any of it. Does that make the film a failure? I don’t think so. Dosa, her team, and, as far as I can tell, many viewers appreciate his words, and this documentary serves them well. If at another time I find him and his climate change woes more compelling, I am certain I’ll like Time and Water more.

I’ve been on holiday for the last few days, celebrating my 15th wedding anniversary. In fact, I’ll still be off when this newsletter goes out. The magic of scheduling tools! I mention this because I wasn’t able to watch all of this week’s new releases in time. Also, in case I’ve missed anything that popped up on the documentary release schedule late, you know the reason why.

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 Questlove!). 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: Time And Water (2026)

With its title and elegiac tone, Sara Dosa’s latest, Time and Water, sounds like a great follow-up to her Oscar-nominated 2022 feature, Fire of Love (one of my favorites of that year). The new documentary might have even more in common with her 2019 film, The Seer and the Unseen. It’s a return to Iceland that again deals with environmental threats and even revisits the country’s myths of elves. Time and Water is a surprisingly personal film, however, not for Dosa but for her subject, the writer Andri Snær Magnason.

He narrates the documentary, in which he laments the loss of his grandparents and Iceland’s glaciers, the latter to global warming. As I wrote in my review of Time and Water, I unfortunately “don’t find Magnason, his family, or his concerns all that interesting, and I didn’t enjoy listening to him talk about any of it.” Yet, it’s not a bad film at all. I conclude that “if at another time I find him and his climate change woes more compelling, I am certain I’ll like Time and Water more.” Also, I love the film’s score by Dan Deacon.

Time and Water will be released in theaters on Friday, May 29, 2026.

Other Documentary Highlights

Bring Me The Beauties: A Model Cult (2026)

Chris Smith continues to prove himself as one of the busiest documentary filmmakers working today. His latest is a three-part docuseries about a cult-like spiritual group from the 1980s that primarily recruited good-looking people. I’ve only watched one episode of Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult, but so far, I don’t see how this group was any different than the general superficial culture of the U.S. in the 1980s, and the series hasn’t really set up what was so bad about it yet. I confess, it hasn’t drawn me in.

Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Monday, June 1, 2026.

Gary Hustwit Documentaries

This week’s filmmaker in focus comes courtesy of a new Criterion Channel curation. The streamer is adding four Gary Hustwit documentaries to its library ahead of its mid-month premiere of the director’s latest, Eno. We’ll get to that one in a couple of weeks. For now, you can join Hustwit in his appreciation for design by watching Helvetica, Objectified, Urbanized, and Rams. The first three make up The Design Trilogy, focusing on typography, products, and urban spaces, respectively.

The fourth film is about industrial designer Dieter Rams, and since it’s probably the least seen, here’s an excerpt from our review:

“Elegantly made, and lovingly shot, this is the first documentary to focus on Rams, who has made a point of shunning his own celebrity. We trail Rams as he migrates from his Japanese-inspired garden to lectures, to exhibition openings, with interjections from the likes of designer Naoto Fukasawa and Rams’ collaborator Dietrich Lubs. Beautifully scored by Brian Eno, the film is primarily concerned with Rams’ iconic work at Braun and Vitsœ, where he revolutionized consumer product design by implementing an approach that placed functionality on a pedestal over the cheap and the chic. It’s gesamtkunstwerk for the modular minimalist’s soul; an attitude to art that is philosophy and vice versa.”

Helvetica, Objectified, Urbanized, and Rams all begin streaming on The Criterion Channel on Monday, June 1, 2026.

LGBTQ+ Documentaries

This week ushers in June, which is Pride Month. We always take this time (non-exclusively) to recommend the best documentaries about LGBTQ+ history and the best documentary portraits of LGBTQ+ culture. Certain streamers may also use the opportunity to highlight their LGBTQ+ offerings.

The Criterion Channel is one of them, as they’re reminding us that they carry such classic features as Portrait of Jason, Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives, The Times of Harvey Milk, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, and Paris is Burning. But they’re also adding two essentials from Daniel Peddle focused on trans men of color: The Aggressives and its sequel, Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later.

They also want subscribers to know that they have many LGBTQ+ shorts available to watch, including a handful of documentaries. These include Rob Epstein’s Greetings from Washington, D.C., Mirha-Soleil Ross’s Gender Troublemakers, Cheryl Dunye’s Greetings from Africa, Twiggy Pucci Garçon’s MnM, and Matt Wolf’s Bayard & Me, I Remember: A Film About Joe Brainard, and Another Hayride.

Rafa (2026)

It’s been 13 years since Zach Heinzerling released his Oscar-nominated debut, Cutie and the Boxer, and he hasn’t made anything so memorable since. Instead, he continues to helm projects with big topics and even bigger subjects, and he does so with such polish that there’s no denying he deserved the Academy’s recognition out of the gate. Rafa is his latest, a four-part series about tennis icon Rafael Nadal. It’s so conventional that I felt like I’d seen it before, as it follows Nadal’s career with intimate new footage concentrated on his return to the sport in 2024 after his hip injury, plus additional focus on his decision to retire. It’s another athlete profile that’s strictly for the fans, yet it’s also another that exhibits adept verite filmmaking.

Rafa premieres on Netflix on Friday, May 29, 2026.

Storm Front In Mayo: The Story Of The D-Day Forecast (2019)

This week’s Doc Option is inspired by the war movie Pressure, which opens on May 29, 2026. Based on a stage play, the drama depicts the planning of the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II. I could recommend plenty of D-Day documentaries, from Stuart Legg’s Zero Hour and the Oscar-winning feature The True Glory to the more recent miniseries D-Day: The Unheard Tapes. But Pressure is specifically about the weather concerns for the operation, and so is the medium-length film Storm Front in Mayo: The Story of the D-Day Forecast.

As far as I can tell, this is the only historical documentary of its kind to feature archival footage of meteorologist James Stagg (portrayed by Andrew Scott in Pressure) and focus on how weather science played a part in the Normandy invasion. Storm Front in Mayo also devotes a lot of its runtime to the distinction of Dwight Eisenhower (portrayed by Brendan Fraser in Pressure). What the drama doesn’t seem to have that the documentary does is recognition of Maureen Sweeney, an Irish postmistress who made the first weather observation warning related to the D-Day plans. She also appears in the film at age 96 to share her side of the story. Give it a watch for her.

Storm Front in Mayo: The Story of the D-Day Forecast is available to stream for free on JustWatch via Plex.

Awards Highlights

News & Documentary Emmy Winners

Winners of this year’s News & Documentary Emmys were announced last week, with Prime Minister taking the awards for Best Documentary and Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. Other big winners, some of them among our favorites of 2025, include Mstyslav Chernov’s 2000 Meters to Andriivka (available to stream via PBS), which was honored for Outstanding Direction, Cover-Up (available on Netflix), honored for Outstanding Editing, and National Geographic’s Underdogs (Disney+ and Hulu), honored for both Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Sound.

Another double winner was Secrets of the Penguins, which took the awards for Outstanding Nature Documentary and Outstanding Cinematography, the latter for its first episode, “Hearts of the Emperors.” National Geographic had a big presence at this year’s awards and also won with Lost in the Jungle, for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary. Meanwhile, Netflix’s Turning Point: The Vietnam War won for Outstanding Research, HBO’s Critical Incident: A Death at the Border won for Outstanding Investigative Documentary, and the independent Can’t Look Away: The Case Against Social Media won for Outstanding Business and Economy Documentary.

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Documentary Release Calendar 5/29/26 - 6/4/26

Friday, May 29, 2026

Brazil ’70: The Third Star (2026) - A five-part docudrama series about the 1970 Brazilian football team and their performance in the World Cup. (Netflix)

Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy (2026) - An installment of Great Performances narrated by Joel Grey about Jewish composers and lyricists. (PBS)

Deadliest Catch Season 22, Episode 4: “Hunger Game” - The latest installment of a series that follows Alaskan crab fishermen. (Discovery Channel)

Rafa (2026) - A four-part docuseries about tennis star Rafael Nadal. See our highlights section for more info. (Netflix)

Time and Water - A documentary feature directed by Sara Dosa (Fire of Love) about Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason and his mission to preserve the memory of his nation’s glaciers. See our Pick of the Week section for more info and a link to our review. (In Theaters)

With Hasan in Gaza (2025) - A documentary feature directed by Kamal Aljafari that revisits footage he shot in 2001 about his search for a man he met in prison years earlier. (In Theaters)

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose Episode 1 - The first installment of a five-part docuseries on what it means to be American. (CNN)

MGM Parade Show #6 (1955) - The sixth installment of a documentary series devoted to promoting MGM’s films. This short spotlights the movies Anna Christie and Quentin Durward. (TCM)

Tucci in Italy Season 2, Episode 6: “Veneto” - The latest episode of a docuseries starring Stanley Tucci as he explores Italy through its cuisine. (National Geographic)

Sunday, May 31, 2026

The Food That Built America Season 7, Episode 6: “Clash of the Cookie Giants” - The latest installment of a docuseries about popular American foods. (History)

Hazardous History with Henry Winkler Season 2, Episode 7: “Thrills & Spills” - The latest installment of a docuseries about dangerous toys and household items that used to be common. This episode involves dangerous parts of homes. (History)

Jimi Hendrix (1973) - A documentary about the titular rock icon. (TCM)

The Killer Among Us Episode 3: “Death in the Dorms” - The latest installment of a docuseries hosted by Alan Cumming about murders in close-knit communities. This episode involves the murder of a student at a school for the deaf. (Oxygen True Crime)

Monterey Pop (1968) - A concert film by D.A. Pennebaker starring Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, The Who, Mamas and the Papas, Jefferson Airplane, and more as they perform at the titular music festival. *NONFICS PICK* (TCM)

Monday, June 1, 2026

The Aggressives (2005) - A documentary feature about trans men of color in New York City. (The Criterion Channel)

Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later (2023) - Sequel to the 2005 documentary The Aggressives about trans men. (The Criterion Channel)

Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult (2026) - A three-part docuseries directed by Chris Smith (Tiger King) about the spiritual group Eternal Values. See our highlights section for more info and a brief review. (HBO and HBO Max)

Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders Season 2, Episode 1: “Waiting for the Darkness” - The return of a true-crime docuseries involving social media and influencers. (Investigation Discovery)

Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light (2024) - A documentary directed by Oscar winner Paul Wagner (The Stone Carvers) and narrated by Hugh Dancy about the titular painter. The film also stars Claire Danes as the voice of O’Keeffe. (VOD)

Helvetica (2007) - A documentary feature by Gary Hustwit about the titular typeface. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Channel)

History’s Greatest Machines with Dolph Lundgren Episode 1 - The first part of a docuseries about the machines that shaped our world. (History)

If I Could Stay (2024) - A documentary about two mothers trying ot keep their families together and avoid deportation. (PBS)

In the Eye of the Storm: Chasers Episode 3 - The third installment of a six-part spinoff of the docuseries In the Eye of the Storm that follows weather spotters and storm chasers as they record tornadoes. (Discovery Channel)

Kedi (2016) - A documentary feature that follows stray cats around Istanbul. Read our review of Kedi. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Channel)

Lethally Blonde Season 2, Episode 1 - The return of a true-crime docuseries involving people pursuing beauty and fame. (Investigation Discovery)

Objectified (2009) - A documentary feature by Gary Hustwit about product design. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Channel)

Rams (2015) - A documentary feature by Gary Hustwit about industrial designer Dieter Rams. Read our review of Rams. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Channel)

Urbanized (2009) - A documentary feature by Gary Hustwit about urban design. *NONFICS PICK* (The Criterion Channel)

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

The Proof Is Out There: Unexplained Edition Season 2, Episode 1: “Demons & Angels” - The return of a docuseries about strange phenomena captured on camera. (History)

Running for the Mountains (2024) - A documentary feature about politics in West Virginia. (OVID)

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 7, Episode 3: “Setting Boundaries” - The latest installment of a docuseries about UFO phenomena at the Skinwalker Ranch. (History)

Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror (2025) - A documentary feature about The Rocky Horror Picture Show. (VOD)

Super High Me (2007) - A documentary feature by comedian Doug Benson that follows his experiment to see how smoking marijuana impacts his life. (VOD)

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

The Face Doctors Season 2, Episode 4: “I Just Want a New Nose” - The latest installment of a nonfiction series about facial reconstruction specialists and their patients. (TLC)

Michael Jackson: The Verdict (2026) - A three-part docuseries about the criminal trial of Michael Jackson. (Netflix)

Grey Gardens (1975) - A documentary feature by the Maysles brothers (and Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer) on a mother and daughter (Big Edie and Little Edie Beales) living in a decrepit Hamptons mansion. *NONFICS PICK* (TCM)

On the Case with Paula Zahn Season 29, Episode 7: “Two Fires, One Match” - The latest installment of a true-crime documentary series starring journalist Paula Zahn. (Investigation Discovery)

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Aida’s Secrets (2016) - A Holocaust documentary about reunited brothers who had been separated as babies during World War II. (OVID)

On the Roam Season 2, Episode 4 - The latest installment of a nonfiction series that follows actor Jason Momoa as he meets extraordinary people around the country. (HBO Max)

Welcome to Wrexham Season 5, Episode 5: “Holiday Spirit” - The latest installment of a docuseries about a Welsh soccer team co-owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. (FXX)

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Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon

6/5 - Groundswell - A Cannes-winning documentary sequel narrated by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson about humanity’s relationship to land. The film is the third part of a trilogy that also includes Kiss the Ground and Common Ground. (Prime Video)

6/5 - Louis Malle: Le Révolté (2025) - A medium-length documentary about the titular filmmaker. (In Theaters)

6/7 - Best of the World with Antoni Porowski - A travel docuseries starring Antoni Porowski. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (National Geographic)

6/7 - This Land - A six-part docuseries that explores the history of America through six defining frontiers. (CNN)

6/7 - Earth, Wind & Fire: To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World - A documentary directed by Questlove about the titular band. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (HBO and HBO Max)

6/11 - Surviving Earth - An eight-part docuseries about extinct creatures. (NBC)

6/16 - Becoming Katharine Graham - A documentary feature about the titular Washington Post publisher. (PBS)

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 singer-songwriter and musician. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters)

6/27 - Possibilities - A documentary about the legacy of Helen Keller. (VOD)

7/3 - Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World - A documentary feature about the titular poet and queer icon. (In Theaters)

8/21 - The Dynasty: UConn Huskies - A three-part docuseries directed by Matthew Hamachek (The Dynasty: New England Patriots) about the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team. (Apple TV)

You can’t judge a documentary by its synopsis. Everybody to Kenmure Street sounds like a simple, conventional political film when all you have to go on is what it’s about (a day-long spontaneous protest in the titular location in Glasgow in 2021 after two locals are detained in an immigration raid). For this exceptional documentary, you need to know how…

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The Making Of Star Wars (1977)

In the beginning, we got more of a special than a traditional documentary, as C-3PO and R2-D2 host a bunch of behind-the-scenes clips from a spaceship set that looks stolen from Doctor Who. It’s cute, but there’s too much of that structuring device and too much preview material and interviews with the actors. Eventually, there are some worthy looks at the animation done for the holographic chess set and the lightsabers, the miniature effects for the space battles, and how matte paintings work. Narrated by William Conrad and directed by future International Documentary Association co-founder Robert Guenette, The Making of Star Wars is a primer that just barely gets under the surface of how the movie came together.

I give it just two pretend Death Stars out of five: 🌑🌑

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This Memorial Day weekend, let us remember the war documentaries I share every year, including With the Marines at Tarawa, The Battle of Midway, The Mills of the Gods, Hearts and Minds, and Restrepo. Also, in case I haven’t been spotlighting the late Frederick Wiseman enough lately, I urge you to take advantage of the latest sale at the Zipporah Films s…

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Everybody to Kenmure Street is the documentary we all need right now, for its inspirational showcase of solidarity and effective peaceful protest, as well as for its refreshingly creative choices that blend crowdsourced footage, aesthetically conscious interviews, historical context, and staged elements featuring familiar actors. The award-winning film is primarily about an impromptu demonstration of community action responding to a deportation raid in Glasgow in May 2021. Thousands of locals surrounded a van holding two of their neighbors, blocking its departure. One man even stationed himself underneath the van to keep it from moving at all. Spoiler alert: the protest was successful, resulting in the release of the two men.

The film is concentrated on that singular event in that singular location, but it’s also about anywhere in the world that could use some hope and harmony. It’s a reminder that protests work and, more importantly, communities can make an impact when they come together, not allowing those in power to divide them. It’s a reminder of the allies who are there with you in the present and throughout the past as you challenge morally corrupt authorities. Everybody to Kenmure Street is a call for everyone to watch and experience the Kenmure Street protest as if seeing it or being part of it as it unfolds. I recommend doing so in the theater for an optimally intimate and collective appreciation of the story and the artistry involved in its telling.

Felipe Bustos Sierra is the central artist behind Everybody to Kenmure Street. The filmmaker is himself an immigrant residing in Scotland, having been born and raised in Belgium, and is the son of an exiled Chilean immigrant. His first feature, Nae Pasaran, was about Scottish factory workers who went on strike in solidarity with Chileans during the Pinochet dictatorship. Everybody to Kenmure Street is his second feature and continues some of the same themes. This week, I spoke to Bustos Sierra about the new documentary, the impact it’s had on him and its various audiences, and some of the fresh ideas behind its production. Below is our conversation, mostly in full, edited for clarity.

I read that before the day that you document in the film, you had given up on protests. Did you immediately change your mind after the event, or while making the film, or since making the film?

I’d lost faith in mass protest. Bodies on the street. It didn’t feel like it was having the impact it used to have anymore. Part of it was the research for my previous film, Nae Pasaran, and talking to civil servants in the UK government's Home Office and Foreign Office. One of the comments that stayed with me was at the Foreign Office. In London, a million people walked past their window during the protest of the War in Iraq, back in the day. Their reaction was that somebody just basically shut the only window that was open to cover the noise they were making. It didn’t seem to have any sort of register in their consciousness. There’s that quote from Kwame Ture that peaceful protest only works if your position registers some kind of consciousness.

There is something different about Kenmure Street. They’re not just protesting in the street. They’re physically blocking the streets, so they became a force to be reckoned with. But [my loss of faith had] stopped me from going. I just assumed if there was any sort of resistance, it’d be cleared very quickly and very violently. That’d been the case for this sort of peaceful, silent vigil in the run-up to Kenmure Street. Or, that by the time enough people turned up to make a difference, the van would have gone. I guess that was the information I had first thing in the morning. Then, watching it unfold on social media, I realized something different was happening.

At first, my thinking was not to make a documentary about this. My first instinct was how did I miss out on this physically. I didn’t express my solidarity. I didn’t get to feel what people felt that day as a massive expression of collective joy. They all got to feel something they created themselves. I will never feel that. That’s something I’ve never gotten to feel in my life. Few people get to feel that in their lives. Part of making the film was working out: what did I miss that I hadn’t seen before? And do we need to change our perspective on how we look at protests? But also, is there maybe a way to emotionally connect to what happened that day through making a film about it? That first week of doing research and talking to people who lived in my neighborhood, I was very charged up, and by the end, I was like, there was a different way to talk about protests in our day and age.

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In most editions of this newsletter, the Nonfics Pick of the Week goes to the best film coming out over the next seven days. This week, it goes to the most important or most timely documentary release. This may happen more frequently as the need for such content increases (next week’s choice is the best and also the most important in a timely sense). Th…

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The Oscars took 14 ceremonies to introduce an award devoted exclusively to documentaries. The addition was only a matter of time after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had nominated a documentary at their first event, awarded a documentary at their third, and saw seven short documentaries win over the next decade, all in various other existing categories. Finally, in 1942, the first Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) was given to Churchill’s Island, selected from a pool of 11 nominees.

While the Oscars would have likely created a documentary category eventually, we can probably thank World War II for the timing of its debut. Nonfiction shorts and newsreels were showing audiences the scope of the conflict, with some propaganda films specifically aimed at garnering Americans’ support for the Allied powers. One year earlier, the Academy even nominated the British documentary London Can Take It!, about the English capital’s resilience during the Blitz, in the Best Short Subject (One-Reel) category. (It didn’t win.)

By the time of the next Academy Awards, the U.S. had entered World War II, plenty of Hollywood actors and filmmakers had enlisted (some, including James Stewart and John Ford, had already done so even earlier), and the industry as a whole was more focused on what it could do for the war effort. The Oscars were nearly cancelled following the attack on Pearl Harbor, but the Academy went ahead with a less glitzy ceremony. Some attendees chose to wear their military uniforms to the event instead of the usual formal attire.

The war wasn’t the only thing on the minds of the guests at the 14th Academy Awards, however. That year is remembered today more for the Best Actress rivalry between sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, the disappointing “near-washout” (as Variety called it) of Orson Welles and Citizen Kane, and the celebration of Walt Disney and Fantasia with special honors. Still, there was a rousing, pro-aggression speech given by former Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie and an appearance by the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Huh Shih.

The prewar U.S. military was on display in several of the year’s nominees, including Best Special Effects winner I Wanted Wings and Best Cinematography contender Dive Bomber. These movies were made with the support of the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Navy, respectively, and the latter actually captured real military activity during filming. Still, the majority of nominees depicting World War II specifically could be found in the new documentary-only category.

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Nearly a decade after making his feature debut as a co-director of Albert Maysles’s final documentary, In Transit, David Usui finally went solo for this hidden gem of a film. Been Here Stay Here is a mostly observational portrait of a conservative, religious island community enduring under threat of climate change that they believe is God and nature’s w…

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This weekend is Mother’s Day, a time to celebrate the woman who raised us. It’s also an occasion to meet the mothers who were special or crazy enough to have a documentary made about them. Two years ago, I listed a bunch of documentaries worth watching on Mother’s Day, and they’re all still recommended.

Here’s an update with must-see films released since…

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Bait-and-switch is a mostly negative term used for retail fraud, but I sometimes use it to describe documentaries that lure in audiences expecting one thing but deliver something better. Previously, I’ve used the term in my appreciations for The Queen of Versailles, No No: A Dockumentary, American Nightmare, and The Perfect Neighbor, all of which could …

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Most years, the first draft of our best documentaries list is a struggle. We’ve usually seen some of what will be our favorites of the year, via Sundance, but these and other strong contenders won’t be officially released until later. (We anticipate Nuisance Bear, Soul Patrol, and One in a Million, all of which we saw in January, will rank well when that happens). This year, we waited a bit to share the first pass. It’s now been a third of the way through 2026, and we're struggling to keep the list to only a top 10.

We also decided to allow titles released through May 1, given how it fell on the calendar (ultimately, four of the titles to make the list were released in February, three in March, two in April, and two on the first of May). To see where other films rank, visit us on Letterboxd and follow us for updates to our list throughout the year. At the rate we’re going, we expect many more to be added to the upper rankings. Who knows how many of the titles below will still land in our top 26 at the end of 2026?

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A new month begins this week, and that means we have a very full listings section, mostly thanks to The Criterion Channel, as usual. The week’s listings section also might be populated with more *Nonfics Picks* than ever. I count 16, almost half of which are new releases (or at least re-releases or recent releases hitting a new format or platform for th…

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Debra Granik is best known for directing Jennifer Lawrence to her first Oscar nomination in Winter’s Bone, a drama that also earned the filmmaker recognition as a screenwriter. In addition to writing and directing two other acclaimed fiction features, Down to the Bone and Leave No Trace, she helmed one of the best documentaries of 2015, Stray Dog. Now she’s back to nonfiction with Conbody vs. Everybody, a five-part film she worked on for about a decade. The documentary follows a formerly incarcerated man who starts a fitness gym based on the exercise regimen he developed behind bars. This business also only employs other former inmates.

Almost 12 years since Granik gave then-fledgling Nonfics a shoutout in the New York Times, I finally made her acquaintance. We got on a Zoom call to talk about Conbody vs. Everybody ahead of its streaming debut on The Criterion Channel on May 1, 2026. We discussed the fiction script that led to the documentary, her initial expectations for the project, and why she finally had to stop filming her subjects. She also broadened my perspective on what the true crime genre should focus on, while confirming what we all know are the mainstream media’s definitions and interests. Below is our conversation, edited for clarity.

When Nonfics last interviewed you in 2015, you mentioned that you were working on a documentary about reentry after incarceration. But I understand the initial idea was different from what the project became. How and when did you meet Coss Marte and then decide to make the film about him and his entrepreneurial efforts?

We were thinking about a project that was a fiction narrative, about the revolving door of the carceral system of the U.S. In 2014, the concept of mass incarceration was finally getting a lot of attention. For me, the suspense and intensity of stories about returning from prison was to be found in the firsthand experiences rather than fiction. The story was going to be a person actually coming home, performing this intense process that we call reentry, which is reintegration into civilian society from your pariah status as a person behind bars.

So we needed to find someone who was interested in trying to explore that—to show how he’s going to live it. And Coss went beyond that. He wanted to involve other justice-involved folks and also non-justice-involved people, realizing that we won’t make much headway if people who haven’t been in the criminal justice system don’t care at all. Coss was looking for ways for non-justice-impacted people to want to understand this other part of American life. I’m fresh out of prison, and I have to get to my new job, but I don’t have money in my pocket. Am I going to jump this turnstile? Am I going to risk getting re-ensnared in the criminal justice system in order to get to work on time?

This is how he pitched it back to me. There was a really positive meeting of the minds between Coss and our filmmaking team.

And then Coss built the Conbody crew pretty quickly. He wasn’t doing this alone. This is where nonfiction gets so scintillating. He’s creating this scrappy urban novel in front of my eyes. He’s saying, “I’m not going to go through reentry by myself. I’m going to build a family around me. This is how we survived on the streets, and inside, and this is how we’re going to do this part of our life.” He proceeds to do that. The odds are against him.

For this project, we got presented with New York in its cinematic bounty — life on the streets, its architecture, its infrastructure, its vicissitudes. It was like the scene cards were being dealt to me really quickly. Here’s a set of compelling individuals, New Yorkers who are going to do their damnedest to survive. Here’s a neighborhood that’s textured as heck to photograph. And here is an American set of themes that you can’t walk away from. What are you going to do? Film for a lot of years, I guess.

From what I read of the fiction project, the film’s ending would have been tragic, with the main character back in prison. I’m glad that with the documentary, we instead get a positive story of people succeeding after reentry, defying not just the odds but the stereotypes. Was this something you were consciously rooting for?

Absolutely. I’m drawn like a magnet to people who defy stereotypes and expectations. We, as a society, Americans, prefer a categorical “or.” This is just a hallmark of our culture. We prefer clarity or black-and-whiteness. Or binariness instead of “and.” The exact definition of defying the stereotype is “and.” Someone is very intrepid, and they care a whole heck of a lot about this aspect of their neighborhood, this aspect of their family, this aspect of sharing profound emotions with other men, whether they’re inside the prison system or outside.

These individuals are problematic because they are complex and therefore difficult to portray. It’s easier to portray black and white, “or.” “Stray Dog” did the same thing to me. I had a very parallel and intense response to encountering someone like Ron Hall. There was north/south. There was red/blue. There were several encampments that he and I stood in that were not opposing but quite separate. For two people to walk from their camps and commonality is messy, but it’s worth it.

The same goes for social class. The number of times you step out of your social class is limited. Your class background, your class socialization, what people normally do within the confines of your class, the education you’ve received, the types of work you try to do in your life, when you meet people who have come up differently or been dealt a very different hand, there are a lot of reasons to have a very intense conversation over many years.

I think documentary filmmakers are often built with a tic in their brain, and the tic is often a set of questions about experiences outside their own. How have you navigated? What do you need the most in this life? How are you going to get it?

We’re born into a very limited path, and there are times you wake up and recognize: You are empirically my neighbor. I live 11 blocks from you. The only way I’m ever going to get to know you is if we have this conversation. Otherwise, we will remain in separate spheres. Even though it is less than one mile as the crow flies from where you dwell and where I dwell.

That reminds me of the scene late in the film when Coss’s brother talks about bringing the neighborhoods together as one community.

Christopher is magnificent at trying to bring that idea up to a whole variety of people across a lot of lines. Not just linguistic and ethnic, but a lot of lines. I appreciate that you saw that in the film.

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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…

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I expected to like Lorne. The director is Morgan Neville. The subject’s usual elusivity would seem to make him intriguing. And all of last year’s plethora of Saturday Night Live documentaries and specials were better than they needed to be. But Lorne is probably my least favorite Neville documentary besides the second half of Steve! (Martin): A Document…

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If this newsletter is late this week, we can thank Focus Features for releasing another documentary in theaters and not allowing critics to see it via screener link. On the one hand, I’m happy that some companies still see box office viability of nonfiction films, even after their previous wide-release documentary wasn’t a big hit. On the other hand, I …

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My first takeaway after watching this 41-year-old documentary is that Robert Wilson is a terribly bland screen personality. That may be a surprise to anyone familiar with his wildly out-there work as an avant-garde theatre artist. For anyone not familiar with his work, Howard Brookner’s Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars spends half its runtime tracking W…

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