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Posted Documentaries

Period. End of Sentence.

“Women are the base of any society. And women are more powerful. But they don’t recognize themselves. They don’t know how much power they have and what they can do.”

Menstruation. It’s not a subject people like to talk about but it’s one that shouldn’t be ignored. Director Rayka Zehtabchi new documentary Period. End of Sentence., follows a group of women from a small town outside of Dehli, India. We learn that menstruation in this patriarchal culture comes with a deeply rooted stigma. It’s embarrassing to talk about and the women use dirty cloths or whatever they can get their hands on during their time of the month. They’re not allowed to pray when menstruating and are essentially isolated from their community until their cycle is over. Many young women even leave school shortly after they get their first period.

Alarmed by these findings, a group of students from Oakwood High School in Los Angeles, California, with the help of The Feminist Majority Foundation’s Girls Learn International program, banded together to start The Pad Project. They raised funds for the equipment that would help these women create their own sanitary pads. The inventor of the machine, Arunachalam Muruganatham, trained the women in the art of making sanitary pads. With this knowledge, these women were empowered to not only overcome their shame but to start a new phase in their lives as enterprising career women making and selling sanitary pads in their community. For some of them, this was their first job and a chance to learn a trade and become successful at it and to earn money for their household and for themselves.

Out of all the Academy Award nominated documentaries (short subject) this is by far my favorite. Period. End of Sentence. is a feminist manifesto that demonstrates how empowering women can make a huge difference. It’s moving, endearing and full of hope. This film touched my heart and I hope it’ll do the same for you.

“The strongest creature on Earth is not the elephant, not the tiger, but the girl.”

Arunachalam Muruganatham

Period. End of Sentence. is nominated for a 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). The film premieres on Netflix February 12th.

Posted 3 Comments on A Night at the Garden Documentaries

A Night at the Garden

On February 20th, 1939, over 20,000 Americans gathered at Madison Square Garden in New York City for a Nazi rally. The organizers invited the press to cover the event and as a result we have footage of this little known event in US history. Director Marshall Curry in his 7 minute short documentary A Night at the Garden, offers a glimpse into this historic event. The film captures A Pledge of Allegiance, a speech as well as a protester who storms the stage only to be apprehended quickly by police detail.

Curry’s film offers a glimpse into an event that happened 80 years ago but is still eerily relevant today. This documentary is as timely as ever with the recent resurgence of white supremacy in the US. The pro-American, Anti-Semitic and anti-press rhetoric from 1939 is no different from rhetoric spoken in 2019. A Night at the Garden is just as much a window into the past and as it is a mirror reflecting the present.

A Night at the Garden is nominated for a 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Visit the official website for more information.

Posted 1 Comment on End Game Documentaries

End Game

“There’s nothing inherently medical in dying. It’s much larger than medicine. It’s purely human.”

Death is not something we want to talk about but it’s something we have to talk about. Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s documentary End Game explores this final phase of life through the stories of 5 terminally ill patients living through it: Mitra, Pat, Kym, Thekla and Bruce. Filmed at the Zen Hospice Guest House in San Francisco, End Game primarily focuses on Mitra an Iranian woman dying of a terminal illness. We see her family, notably her husband and mother, struggle with the decision to fight to keep her or to let her go. As Mitra condition worsens, the window of time they have to make that decision gets shorter and their options are fewer. Through the other stories we see how different individuals make those final choices of how they will live until they die.

In 2015, my father passed away in hospice after a long decline. His death was brought on by a sudden condition that left him in much pain. I know what it’s like to have those long difficult conversations about how your loved one should die, how you should honor their wishes and how to give them the most comfort in their final days.

End Game is painful to watch and maybe you’ll think you can’t get through all 40 minutes of it. But you can and you will and you’ll be better for it. It tackles a difficult subject in a sympathetic and respectful way. 

End Game is nominated for a 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). It’s available to watch on Netflix.

Posted 1 Comment on Lifeboat Documentaries

Lifeboat

“Rationality is wildly over played… The heart is where your real thinking comes.”

Jon Castle

The second documentary in Skye Fitzgerald’s Refugee Trilogy, Lifeboat tells the story of the search-and-rescue missions conducted by Captain Jon Castle, a Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior, and his team to save Libyan refugees crossing the Mediterranean. Filmed aboard the Sea-Watch vessel, viewers get an inside look at what goes into a mission and the conditions in which the volunteers find the refugees. They work tirelessly to rescue everyone they can. These refugees are suffering from hunger, dehydration, heat stroke and exhaustion. A medical team on board helps treat the ill and to gather the dead. 

The documentary also shines a spotlight on the refugees themselves. As Jon Castle wisely notes in the film, the closer you get to the problem the more you can sympathize. You stop seeing these refugees as an anonymous group of people and you start seeing them as individuals. In Lifeboat, we get to hear from refugees themselves, who were kidnapped from either Cameroon or Cote D’Ivoire, sold and enslaved in Libya.

Lifeboat is a harrowing documentary but necessary viewing. It’s these stories that help us understand in a way that watching or reading the news cannot. These refugees come from dire situations and are willing to endure a dangerous journey for the chance at a better life. The film also serves as a tribute to Jon Castle himself who passed away the year the film was released.

Lifeboat is nominated for a 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). 

Posted Documentaries

Black Sheep

“The only way I’m going to survive is if I become like them. If I fit in.”

Cornelius Walker

On November 27th, 2000, 10 year old Damilola Taylor, a Nigerian British boy was murdered. Cornelius Walker was the same age and same skin color as Damilola. Walker’s mom feared for her son’s safety and the family moved away from London and into Essex. Unfortunately for Cornelius, he faced relentless racism by white supremacist kids in his new neighborhood and school. When things escalated to violence, Cornelius decided enough was enough. He needed to fit in. Then began his transformation. He changed his clothes, learned how to speak like the locals, straightened his hair, bleached his skin and wore blue contact lenses. The white kids accepted him as one of their own but it came at a great cost. 

Black Sheep is directed by Ed Perkins and distributed by The Guardian. The documentary begs the question: what lengths would you go to fit in? For Cornelius the joy in acceptance came with the shame of how it was achieved. His story is told through an extended interview with Cornelius Walker and reenactments of the scenes performed by Kai Francis Lewis. This is a compelling documentary about a difficult subject. It strips Cornelius’ story down to its basics. This is not about Damilola Taylor or about white supremacy in England. This is simply the story of a young black man struggling with identity due to this tremendous hatred he faced simply because of the color of his skin.

Black Sheep is nominated for a 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).

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