Documentary

Girl Model

A jaw-lockingly sinister look at the side of modelling never really explored by Tyra Banks Co, Girl Model is a sparse but affecting documentary about the under-age beauty business, its victims and its beneficiaries. Director David Redmon does well to keep quiet, leaving it to his subjects to sketch out an deeply worrying world of exploitation and sexualisation.

The British Guide to Showing Off

The British Guide to Showing Off offers a behind-the-scenes look at Miss Alternative World, a pageant that began 40 years ago as a drag contest and has since morphed into an extravaganza of living art. The film follows the show’s creator Andrew Logan as he creates his 2009 show. With guest spots from Ruby Wax, Zandra Rhodes and about three hundred men in drag, be warned: this is the documentary that will make you want to run away with the circus all over again.

Errol Morris to give BAFTA Lecture

He’s a deeply scary-looking dude, but we’re really looking forward to Sunday 6 November, when the legendary documentarian will give his talk.

We Were Here

We Were Here takes a reflective look at the AIDS virus during the eighties and nineties in the San Francisco gay community. Gracefully melding the devastation of the epidemic with the inspiring reaction from the community that struggled to accept its enormity, We Were Here is deeply moving, utterly inspiring and completely unmissable.

The Way of the Morris

The Way of The Morris tells the story of Tim Plester, a country-turned-city mouse rediscovering his heritage via the power of Morris dancing. Expect bells, war stories and the occasional hilarious hat.

Into The Abyss

Since 1982 the state of Texas has executed 473 people, and is currently holding 334 people on death row. While California has the highest death row population in the US, it’s Texas that has the highest rate of execution – and it’s here that legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog travelled to make his mesmerising documentary, Into The Abyss.

When China Met Africa

When China Met Africa is a indepth documentary about China’s economic foray into Africa in 2006. Described as a “rare, grass-roots view into one of the most important economic challenges of our age” by The Times, it’s just as exciting as it sounds.

On Any Sunday

Upon its release in 1972, On Any Sunday, a low-budget documentary about the lives of motorcycle racers, immediately generated interest (perhaps largely due to the participation of Steve McQueen) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Now due to be re-released on DVD on the 12th of September, it’s our job to see how the documentary stands up against the test of time. And also Steve McQueen is in it. Did we mention Steve McQueen is in it?

The Interrupters

The Interrupters is one gang violence film that manages to avoid showing much in the way of gang violence. Set in areas of Chicago run by prominent local gangs renowned for fatal conflicts, the film captures a year in the lives of three “violence interrupters”, Ameena, Cobe and Eddie. They work for CeaseFire, an organisation which claims to treat violence as infectious diseases are treated: that is, to interrupt it at the source. Relevant much?

Project Nim

After the astonishing success of 2008′s Man On Wire James Marsh turns his documentary lens to the remarkable story of Nim, a chimp who became the centre of an experiment into whether language can indeed be acquired by animals. Without probing too much into the moral issues of such an experiment, Marsh presents this story with an extremely even hand, allowing us to be the judges of the characters, human and animal.