Documentaries to feed the mind
A curated list of some of my favourite documentaries
I orginally wrote this article in December 2024. Reposting it again here on my new Substack account.
There are many wonderful documentaries that aren’t about true crime or celebrities, but they can be hard to find because they don’t get the same exposure. As the holiday season is upon us I thought I would share with you some of the documentaries I have admired and would recommend.
This is the story of the Battle of Orgreave when, in 1984, British miners found themselves facing off with an incredible number of police. They literally brought in the cavalry. Even if you are old enough to remember the miners’ strike you will be stunned by some of the previously unseen footage. Futhermore, the filmmakers uncover the extent to which this brutal suppression of the miners was planned. In the closing statements I felt a visceral bolt of outrage when I read that a public enquiry into this has been ruled out. This film is interesting to watch in the context of where we find ourselves today. 1984 may seem a long while ago now, but much of the misery many are facing today is the outcome of the neo-liberal economics and politics that Thatcher and Reagan set in motion in that era.
On Thin Ice: Putin v Greenpeace
Much of the last two years of my filmmaking life has been dedicated to documenting activists who take the brave step to take part in direct action. They are a special breed of human, and I find them fascinating. It is perhaps no surprise then that I was drawn to On Thin Ice: Putin v Greenpeace. Attempting to board a Russian oil rig in the arctic is beyond brave, and clearly it wasn’t going to end well, but it is important to watch this in the context of when it took place, in 2013. At that point climate activists weren’t routinely being jailed for actions, and Putin still had reasonably good international relations with Europe, so Russia’s response to their actions will have been more of shock back then than they would be today. As a general rule, I am not a big fan of reconstructions in documentary, but in this series, it works very well. As I listened to the testimonies of the activists and watched the live action footage of their action, I found myself wondering how I would have coped in that situation.
I was fortunate enough to watch this in the cinema at Sheffield Doc Fest and I was blown away. Why it didn’t win the award in its nominated category at Sheffield or Tribeca baffles me, but props to Sao Paolo Film Festival for awarding it Best Documentary in their new directors competition. Just the access itself makes it worth watching because you get an insight into what it is like to be among the Taliban in Afghanistan. Layer into that the fact that Jordan Bryon, the protaganist, is in the process of transitioning to a man, and that adds a whole other layer of tension. What if the Taliban men he is sitting with discover he is biologically a woman? He is still going through hormone treatment at the time. Suddenly, even going to toilet becomes a dangerous event, let alone working as a journalist in a war torn country that suppresses women. I love the complex layers of this feature documentary and how this unique set up marries together two unlikely hot topics of our day: religious extremism and transgenderism.
I was very lucky to watch this documentary on a beautiful cinema screen because the cinematography is stunning. This is one of those films that falls into the category of “films I wish I had made.” Observational documentary is one of the hardest forms of filmmaking to pull off so it is even more impressive when you discover that this is the director’s first feature documentary. It is no surprise to me that this film was nominated for an Academy Award. The film explores the “Chinese Dream”, and while rooted in China many of the takeaways from it are universal. It taps into the nihilistic side of our globalised world, driven by consumerism, to great effect.
Long Distance Swimmer was one of those rare examples of a human rights documentary that did cut through and get good exposure on its release, but I am including it in this list because of what is happening in Syria today. The AFD in Germany are calling for the immediate return of refugees from Syria since the fall of Assad, even though the situation remains very uncertain. Sara is a Syrian refugee in Germany and what this film does so successfully, through Sara, is humanise refugees. The increasing anti-migrant rhetoric is disturbing and it is more important than ever that we remember that refugees are humans just like you and I. In the new year, I begin editing a film I started shooting back in 2022 which tackles this same issue. Watch this space!
Another film I saw on the festival network, Delikado is the story of environmental defenders in The Philippines who are fighting back against the loggers and the politicians at great risk to themselves. This is another inspiring story of ordinary individuals standing up to powerful people and institutions with vested interests, in an attempt to save their land from ecological destruction.
I’ll be releasing two new feature documentaries of my own in 2025, The Conspiracists and The Line We Crossed. If you want to be informed about their release dates and screenings please do sign up to the Page75 newsletter. If you’re dying to watch them sooner than that, then I’d encourage you to become a Page75 supporter, as all our supporters get early access to the films before they are released.
Wishing everyone happy holidays and I hope you get a moment to put your feet up and watch some of these brilliant documentaries.