Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist
M
UK, 2018
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Lorna Tucker
Starring: Vivienne Westwood
What's it about?
Since igniting the punk movement with ex-partner and Sex Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren, Dame Vivienne Westwood redefined British fashion for over 40 years, and is responsible for creating many of the most distinctive looks of our time. The film blends archive, beautifully crafted reconstruction and insightful interviews with Westwood’s fascinating network of collaborators, guiding us on her journey from a childhood in post-war Derbyshire to the runways of Paris and Milan. Pop on your pirate boots and watch this intimate and poignant homage to one of the true cultural icons of our time, as she fights to maintain her brand’s integrity, her principles and her legacy in a business driven by consumerism, profit and global expansion.
Navalny
M
USA, 2022
Genre: Documentary, Thriller
Language: English, Russian
Director: Daniel Roher
Starring: Alexey Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, Dasha Navalnaya, Zakhar Navalny, Maria Pevchikh
What's it about?
In August 2020, Navalny fell seriously ill on a flight to Moscow. Following an emergency landing in Siberia, he was taken to a local hospital before eventually being evacuated to Berlin where doctors confirmed he’d been poisoned with Novichok – a toxin implicated in attacks on other opponents of the Russian government. As he recuperates in Germany with his family, Navalny seeks to uncover the truth behind the plot to silence him, with the help of Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev. Documentarian Daniel Roher films the charismatic and handsome Russian, by turns charming and forceful, as he uncovers shocking facts and exposes them to the world. Don’t miss this unique and highly pertinent documentary.
Don't miss it, Navalny will be leaving SBS On Demand 11 February.
Fellinopolis
PG
Italy, 2021
Genre: Documentary
Language: English, Italian
Director: Silvia Giulietti
Starring: Lina Wertmuller, Dante Ferretti, Maurizio Millenotti, Norma Giacchero, Ferruccio Castronuovo
What's it about?
Ferruccio Castronuovo was the only authorised eye, between 1976 and 1986, to film the brilliant Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini (1920–1993) in his personal and creative intimacy, to capture the gears of his great circus, his fantastic lies and his crazy inventions. This one is for the cinema lovers, with previously unpublished images and interviews with his closest collaborators, this doco gives you the chance to learn more about one of the masters of Italian cinema.
Human Flow
MA15+
Germany, Italy, 2017
Genre: Documentary
Language: English, Arabic, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Kurdish, Spanish, Turkish
Director: Ai Weiwei
Starring: Ai Weiwei, Peter Bouckaert, Orlando Avis, Israa Abboud, Hiba Abed, Maya Ameratunga, Tanya Chapuisat, Sukriye Cetin
What's it about?
Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico and Turkey.
Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico and Turkey.
The Queen
M
USA, 1968
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Frank Simon
Starring: Dorian Corey, Crystal LaBeija, Jack Doroshow, Bernard Giquel
What's it about?
More than 40 years before RuPaul’s Drag Race, this ground-breaking documentary about the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant introduced audiences to the world of competitive drag. The film takes us backstage with the contestants as they rehearse and transform into their drag personas in the lead-up to the big event. Organised by LGBT icon and activist Flawless Sabrina, the competition boasted a star-studded panel of judges including Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers and Terry Southern. But perhaps most memorable is an epic diatribe calling out the pageant’s bias delivered by Crystal LaBeija, who would go on to form the influential House of LaBeija, heavily featured in Paris Is Burning. A vibrant piece of queer history, The Queen can now be seen in full resplendence thanks to a new restoration from the original camera negative.
Kamikaze Hearts
MA15+
USA, 1986
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Juliet Bashore
Starring: Tigr, Sharon Mitchell, Jon Martin
What's it about?
Alternately distressing, instructive, contestable and fascinating, Juliet Bashore’s quasi-documentary plunge into the 1980s porn industry takes an unsparing look at issues of misogyny, drug abuse and exploitation via the story of two women – the naïve newcomer Tigr and her partner, the magnetic, imperious porn veteran Sharon Mitchell – caught in a toxic romance. By turns mesmerising and unsettling, Kamikaze Hearts is both a fascinating record of pre-gentrification San Francisco’s X-rated underground and an intense, searing love story. The film offers a disturbing glimpse of the modification of bodies, feelings and lives.
Alternately distressing, instructive, contestable and fascinating, Juliet Bashore’s quasi-documentary plunge into the 1980s porn industry takes an unsparing look at issues of misogyny, drug abuse and exploitation via the story of two women – the naïve newcomer Tigr and her partner, the magnetic, imperious porn veteran Sharon Mitchell – caught in a toxic romance. By turns mesmerising and unsettling, Kamikaze Hearts is both a fascinating record of pre-gentrification San Francisco’s X-rated underground and an intense, searing love story. The film offers a disturbing glimpse of the modification of bodies, feelings and lives.
Sherpa: Trouble on Everest
M
Nepal, Australia, 2015
Genre: Documentary, Adventure
Language: Nepali, English
Director: Jennifer Peedom
Starring: Russell Brice, Pasang Tenzing Sherpa, Tim Medvetz
What's it about?
In 2013, the world’s media reported on a shocking mountain-high brawl as European climbers fled a mob of angry Sherpas. Director Jennifer Peedom and her team set out to uncover the cause of this altercation, intending to film the 2014 climbing season from the Sherpas’ point of view. Instead, they captured Everest’s greatest tragedy, when a huge block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route. This stunning documentary, shot by high-altitude cinematographer Renan Ozturk, explores the unequal relationship between cashed-up foreign expeditions and their guides.
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Source: SBS Movies
The Mole Agent
G
Chile, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, USA, 2020
Genre: Documentary
Language: Spanish
Director: Maite Alberdi
Starring: Sergio Chamy, Rómulo Aitken, Marta Olivares, Berta Ureta, Zoila González, Petronila Abarca, Rubira Olivares
What's it about?
When a daughter becomes concerned about her mother’s wellbeing in a retirement home, private investigator Rómulo hires Sergio, an 83-year-old man who becomes a new resident, and a mole inside the home, who struggles to balance his assignment with becoming increasingly involved in the lives of several residents. A stylish combination of an observational documentary and a spy movie, with sleek camerawork and wonderfully watchable characters, The Mole Agent is a unique meditation on compassion and loneliness that will infiltrate your heart and never let go.
Pick of the Litter
PG
USA, 2018
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Don Hardy, Dana Nachman
Starring: Diane Meer, Terry Blosser, Janet Gearheart
What's it about?
Did someone say puppies?! Pick of the Litter follows a litter of puppies from the moment they’re born and begin their quest to become Guide Dogs for the Blind, the ultimate canine career. Cameras follow these pups through a two-year odyssey as they train to become dogs whose ultimate responsibility is to protect their blind partners from harm. Along the way, the dogs meet a community of dedicated individuals who train them to do amazing, life-changing things in the service of their human. The stakes are high and not every dog can make the cut. Only the best of the best. The pick of the litter.
The Gospel According to André
PG
USA, 2018
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Kate Novack
Starring: André Leon Talley, Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Whoopi Goldberg, Manolo Blahnik
What's it about?
We started with fashion and we’ll round out this list with more. The legendary and beloved André Leon Talley was a fixture in the world of fashion for so long that it’s difficult to imagine a time when he wasn’t defining the boundaries of style. This wonderful documentary takes viewers on an emotional journey from his roots growing up in the segregated Jim Crow South to becoming one of the most influential tastemakers and finding barrier-breaking success at Women’s Wear Daily, W and Vogue magazines.
