Culture Representation: This male-centric documentary explores the history of graffiti and other street art in the United States and Europe, with a particular focus on British artist Banksy, who has kept his real identity anonymous to the public while experiencing worldwide fame.
Culture Clash: The artists often break the law, and there are constant conflicts over how much commercialism and mainstream acceptance that artists can and should achieve.
Culture Audience: “Banksy and the Rise of Underground Art” will appeal mostly to people interested in street art and the artists who’ve made their mark on pop culture.
Banksy art in “Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art” (Photo courtesy of Vision Films)
The intriguing documentary “Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art” (written and directed by Elio España) begins with what is perhaps the most famous stunt ever pulled by the mysterious artist who calls himself Banksy: At a Sotheby’s auction in 2018, after Banksy’s painting “Girl With a Balloon” sold for more than £1 million, the picture in the frame descended from the frame and began to be shredded, as if the frame had been activated to become a shredder. As the stunned audience looked on, it became apparent that the sale of the painting was yet another one of Banksy’s notorious pranks, and it became a viral moment on the Internet. Instead of the shredded picture being devalued, the price of “Girl With a Balloon” more than doubled after the shredding.
This stunt is a microcosm of the uneasy relationship that street artists have with mainstream acceptance and commercialism. Many artists want to have an aura of being underground and “edgy,” but at the same time they want recognition, and being too underground doesn’t get the type of recognition that many artists want. And then there’s the matter of being able to make a living from art. How popular does an artist have to get before the artist is considered “uncool” or a “sellout”?
It’s a tricky dilemma that Banksy has faced since he emerged in the art scene in Bristol, England, in the early 2000s. He’s famous for his mystique—he refuses to reveal his true identity, although there are plenty of theories about who he really is—but at the same time, he courts worldwide attention with his publicity stunts. Banksy started out as a graffiti artist, and then helped make stenciling art “cool” again to buy for mainstream audiences, before expanding to bigger art platforms and elaborate performance-art installations.
Although Banksy is the main focus of this documentary (which is narrated by British actor Mark Holgate), the movie also takes a look at the origins of modern street art that began in the late 1960s with the graffiti movements in Philadelphia and New York City. By the late 1970s, graffiti was the leading form of street art in big cities, particularly in the United States and Europe, where the artists (who were almost always young people) had easy access to numerous cans of spray paint. According to the unwritten code of graffiti artists, the cans of paint that they used had to be stolen—the more stolen paint cans, the better. And in order to avoid detection, graffiti artists almost never used their real names, since most of their work was considered illegal vandalism.
The rise of hip-hop was tied in to graffiti art, which peaked in the 1980s. Tony Silver’s 1983 documentary “Style Wars” and Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper’s 1984 book “Subway Art” were also hugely influential for countless graffiti artists and other street artists. Banksy came of age when graffiti art was at its peak. The most basic form of this art is a “tag” (a name scrawled on something), while a “piece” is a more elaborate form of graffiti art, such as a mural.
In New York City, street artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring became known to the mainstream and took graffiti art to a whole different level in pop culture. Unlike many artists who used aliases to remain anonymous, Basquiat and Haring used their real names and became famous beyond the art world, as they appeared in TV shows and had a lot of other media coverage. (And as is the case with most famous artists, their work increased in value after their untimely deaths.) It was that level of mainstream fame that many graffiti artists went to great lengths to avoid, but Banksy is the rare artist who’s been able to straddle both contradictory worlds of anonymity and fame.
A considerable chunk of the documentary covers the history of graffiti in England, particularly in Banksy’s work-class hometown of Bristol. (Banksy’s “The Mild Mild West” piece is considered an unofficial “welcome sign” in Bristol.) Whereas hip-hop was the home-grown soundtrack of American graffiti artists and became a worldwide phenomenon in the 1980s, the British music scene that heavily influenced graffiti artists included the Wild Bunch collective of DJs and rappers, which included Massive Attack and Nellee Hooper. (Massive Attack member 3D is widely considered one the U.K.’s first well-known graffiti artist.) Later, in the 1990s, house music and rave culture became closely associated with street artists, particularly those in Great Britain.
The Barton Hill area of Bristol was one of the few places in England where graffiti was legal, so it became a haven for graffiti artists such as Banksy, Inky, Felix and Chaos. One of the key figures in the Bristol graffiti scene was artist John Nation, who was one of the leaders of the Barton Hill Youth Centre during this era. In the documentary, Nation says that when he first got involved in the Barton Hill Youth Centre, it was mostly a place for the “white working-class” who were “hostile to outsiders, into football hooliganism and the right-wing National Front.” After graffiti culture became more influential in the neighborhood, the youth center began to see a different kind of rebellious youth—ones that were more artistic and open-minded.
But what some people consider to be graffiti art, many others see as vandalism. Police and other government officials began cracking down on graffiti in the late 1980s. In 1989, the British Transport Police launched Operation Anderson, the biggest anti-graffiti operation in U.K. history. Several graffiti artists in the Bristol area were arrested, but Barton Hill Youth Centre’s Nation refused to snitch and reveal the identities of more graffiti artists for police to arrest. Because he refused to cooperate with police by naming names, Nation was jailed for conspiracy. The documentary singles him out as an unsung hero who helped change the course of graffiti art in England because he prevented a lot of artists from being arrested.
In 1994, John Major, who was the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister at the time, launched the Criminal Justice and Order Act, which cracked down on raves but also racially targeted gypsies and other members of traveling communities. The Criminal Justice and Order Act further clamped down on graffiti art, which had been on a decline. That led in part to Banksy and other street artists to transition more into doing stenciled art and more art installations. (French graffiti artist Blek le Rat is cited as Banksy’s biggest influence in stencil art.)
The 1990s were also the decade of the rise of the Young British Artists, most of whom were centered in London and unabashedly embraced commercialism. In the art world, this was exemplified by Damien Hirst, who went from being an underground artist to being firmly entrenched in the upper echelons of high-priced fine art. The documentary points out that Hirst is the kind of artist who’s the antithesis of what street artists want to become. Street artists who want to maintain their artistic credibility among their peers go to great lengths to make their art affordable and accessible.
Not surprisingly, Banksy is not interviewed for this documentary. However, the movie does have a rare clip from the 1995 BBC documentary “Shadow People” that interviewed Banksy in 1993, very early in his career. (In the interview, he covered his lower face with a scarf in the interview, but his eyes, hair and voice are not hidden.) “Banksy and the Rise of Underground Art” also has an actor narrate excerpts of some print-media interviews that Banksy has done over the years.
“Banksy and the Rise of Underground Art” doesn’t have any new interviews with Banksy, but the film does interview several people who know him very well. They include art promoter/photographer/curator Steve Lazarides (who’s worked with Banksy since 1997) and artist Ben Eine, who’s collaborated with Banksy on many projects, including the annual Santa’s Ghetto Party (launched in 2002) and one of Banky’s most famous projects: painting murals on the West Bank wall in Palestine in 2005.
In the documentary, Eine remembers that the biggest challenge for the West Bank murals wasn’t avoiding arrest by the soldiers who were guarding the wall but it was getting all the equipment there (ladders, paint, etc.) in the first place. When they were stopped by customs agents or other security people, the artists were able to get past them by saying that they were there for educational purposes. (And the artists did do some mentoring to local youth.) Eine says that the soldiers at the wall weren’t as difficult as people might think because if any soldiers stopped what the artists were doing and told them to leave, the artists would just move to another section of the wall, out of sight from the soldiers, and repeat the pattern until they were caught again.
The documentary interviews other artists, such as Scape Martinez, Risk and Felix “Flx” Braun. And there’s mention of how Banksy’s unorthodox path to art stardom paved the way for other underground street artists who became mainstream too, such as Shepard Fairey, OSGEMEOS, Swoon, RETNA and Invader. In London, the Shoreditch area became a hot spot for street art, and the Dragon Bar emerged as a popular hangout for artists.
As Banksy gained more notoriety, so too did the size of his art installations and pranks. His breakthrough art installation was 2003’s “Turf War,” which included live cows that were painted with animal-safe paint. In the mid-2000s, he began secretly (and illegally) putting up his own art at famous art museums around the world, including the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The documentary includes video footage of Banksy committing this act with his face blurred out—a clear indication that Banksy had at least one accomplice with a video camera ready to record him in the act and release the footage.
He also didn’t forget his Bristol roots. In 2009, his art legitimately took over the Bristol museum in the “Banksy vs. Bristol Museum” exhibit,” which had several Banksy pieces displayed side-by-side with the Bristol Museum’s resident art. Many of the themes in Banksy’s art is about the entities representing the powerless and oppressed (whether they’re children, mice, monkeys or other animals) rising up, taking over and/or outsmarting those in power.
And Banksy went further than showing his art in museums and galleries. His Dismaland art installation (at the seaside resort town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England) was a social commentary on what Disneyland would look like if it were taken over by cynical people with a dark outlook on life. In 2017, he created the Walled Off Hotel, built alongside the Israeli West Bank barrier in Bethelem, which displays a great deal of his work.
Banksy promoter Lazarides openly admits that he prices much of Banksy’s art based on how desperately people seem to want it. Lazarides says that people offer to buy the art for much larger sums than the price quote that the seller was going to give, which is why he often lets the buyers be the first one to name the price. (It’s an open secret that art dealers always use this “smoke and mirrors” technique.) And the more that art is perceived as being desired by society’s rich and famous, the more money can be charged to buy it.
When celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jude Law and Christina Aguilera began attending Banksy exhibits and buying his art, naturally the prices for Banksy’s art increased dramatically. However, the documentary mentions that during one high-profile exhibit that Banksy did in Los Angeles, he sold much of his original art at a nearby anonymous street stand at cheap prices. And the art at the street stand didn’t sell very well. If the same art from the street stand had been put on display in the high-profile Banksy exhibit nearby, it would have sold for thousands more. It’s an example of how presentation, marketing and perception are the driving forces in how art is priced and sold.
“Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art” does a very good and comprehensive job of immersing viewers into the culture of street art and how the artists can have a love/hate relationship with the mainstream. The documentary is essential viewing not just for people who like street art but also for anyone who’s fascinated to see how this part of culture is dealing with the age-old debates of art versus commerce.
Vision Films released “Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art” on digital and VOD on February 18, 2020.
Jimmy Carter and Willie Nelson in “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President” (Photo courtesy of Jimmy Carter Library)
The following is a press release from the Tribeca Film Festival:
The Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, will open its 19th edition on April 15 with the world premiere of “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President.” It will set the stage for a festival featuring works that celebrate the power of change through art, politics and community. The 2020 Tribeca Film Festival will run April 15-26.
From award-winning director Mary Wharton, producer Chris Farrell and writer Bill Flanagan, the documentary catalogues the role of popular music in helping to propel a peanut farmer from Georgia all the way to the White House.
The world premiere of “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President” will be followed by live performances from music legend Willie Nelson, Musical Director Paul Shaffer, and others. The event will take place at the Beacon Theatre as part of the City National Bank Screening Series during the Festival.
This rockumentary-style presidential portrait shows how Jimmy Carter’s lifelong passion for music gave him an unexpected edge as a presidential candidate. Through folk, soul, gospel, jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll, Carter tapped into a force that transcended racial and generational divides, and often party lines. Carter’s appreciation for all genres of music and friendships with the likes of Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers, and Willie Nelson helped to define his campaign. “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President”combines intimate interviews with Carter along with rare archival era-defining live performances from: Willie Nelson, Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Buffett, and Paul Simon among others. Director Mary Wharton traces how Carter’s genuine approachability and the unifying power of music became key to his political appeal, and allowed him to connect with voters who may only have known him as a small town peanut farmer.
Director Mary Wharton won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Music Film for her documentary feature “Sam Cooke: Legend.” Other notable feature film credits include “Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound,” the platinum-selling concert film “Phish: IT,” and “Farrah Fawcett Forever.”
“The film accurately captures my love for all music and the importance music has played in my personal and professional life. I remain hopeful and believe that music can serve to bring us together as a nation. Rosalynn and I are pleased with the fine film Mary and Chris have made and thank all those involved for telling this story. We are thrilled that it will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival,” said President Jimmy Carter.
“We witness the power of art inspiring change and the positive impact of citizens raising their voices against injustice everyday,” said Jane Rosenthal, Co-Founder and CEO of the Tribeca Film Festival.
“As filmmakers, we were inspired to create the Tribeca Film Festival after 9/11 because we believe in the power of art to restore community and inspire change. Mary and Chris’ film, likewise, is a testament to that power.”
To further fortify that movement, Tribeca is partnering with Democracy Works and Civic Alliance, America’s premier nonpartisan coalition of businesses working together to build a future where everyone can vote, volunteer, and take action to shape the country. Tribeca Film Festival audiences will be given access to online tools that make voting easy; sending them text updates and educating them about ways to get involved in their local elections. Tribeca also provides staff with paid time off to vote, working to strengthen employee engagement.
Tribeca expands across the Hudson River to Hoboken
Last year, Tribeca’s opening night brought The Apollo uptown to its namesake theater in Harlem, and this year, the Festival will continue to use cinematic storytelling and experiences to connect communities across the Hudson river to the city of Hoboken, NJ. The city’s rich cinematic history includes scenes filmed from Oscar winner “On the Waterfront,” “Julie & Julia,” “Funny Girl,” “The Station Agent,” among others.
“It’s wonderful to embrace new audiences with our neighbor across the river,” said Rosenthal.
“We are incredibly thrilled to bring the renowned Tribeca Film Festival to Hoboken,” said Ravi Bhalla, Hoboken Mayor. “There’s no better location to host the Festival than our Mile Square, offering a wealth of culture with our local artists, galleries, and The Mile Square Theatre Company, and further cements our City as one of the major cultural destinations in the tri-state area.”
About“Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President”
“Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President” was also produced by Dave Kirkpatrick and Executive Producers include Dan Braun, Peter Conlon, and David Crawford. Submarine will handle sales for the film.
Tickets:
All passes and ticket packages are on sale now. Single tickets to attend the Festival go on sale on March 17, 2020.
About the Tribeca Film Festival:
The Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, brings artists and diverse audiences together to celebrate storytelling in all its forms, including film, TV, VR, gaming, music, and online work. With strong roots in independent film, Tribeca is a platform for creative expression and immersive entertainment. The Festival champions emerging and established voices; discovers award-winning filmmakers and creators; curates innovative experiences; and introduces new technology and ideas through premieres, exhibitions, talks, and live performances.
The Festival was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2001 to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan following the attacks on the World Trade Center. Now in its 19th year, the Festival has evolved into a destination for creativity that reimagines the cinematic experience and explores how art can unite communities. The 19th annual edition will take place April 15-26, 2020. www.tribecafilm.com/festival @Tribeca
About Presenting Sponsor AT&T:
As Presenting Sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival, AT&T is committed to supporting the Festival and the art of filmmaking through access and innovation, while expanding opportunities to diverse creators around the globe. AT&T helps millions connect to their passions – no matter where they are. This year, AT&T and Tribeca will once again collaborate to give the world access to stories from underrepresented filmmakers that deserve to be seen. AT&T Presents: Untold Stories -an Inclusive Film Program in Collaboration with Tribeca, is a multi-year, multi-tier alliance between AT&T and Tribeca along with the year-round nonprofit Tribeca Film Institute.
About the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival Partners:
The Tribeca Film Festival is pleased to announce its 2020 Partners: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), BVLGARI, CHANEL, City National Bank, CNN Films, Diageo, ESPN, Montefiore, National CineMedia (NCM), New York Magazine, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, P&G, PwC, Spring Studios New York, and Squarespace.
Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in New York City, the documentary “The Times of Bill Cunningham” chronicles the life of celebrity/fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, who came from a middle-class background but rubbed shoulders with society’s elite for most of his career while still maintaining a connection to street life.
Culture Clash: Cunningham kept his integrity in an increasingly tabloid-oriented media landscape, and in his early career as a milliner, he experienced sexism in this female-dominated part of the fashion industry.
Culture Audience: This movie will appeal mostly to people interested in a fascinating story about how a hat-designer-turned-photographer became one of the most respected figures of fashion and celebrity media.
Bill Cunningham at a fashion show in Paris in 1971. (Photo by Harold Chapman/Topfoto/The Image Works)
If you’re aware of the most prominent American photojournalists of the 20th century, then you already know who Bill Cunningham was or where you were the day that you heard he died. Cunningham, who spent most of his career as a New York Times photographer, passed away from a stroke in New York City on June 25, 2016, at the age of 87. He never retired from working. And he was a rare fashion photojournalist who didn’t limit his work to one segment of society. He captured a wide variety of cultures, from haute couture lifestyles to street life of everyday people.
The insightful and somewhat worshipful documentary “The Times of Bill Cunningham,” which revolves around a rare 1994 video interview that director Mark Bozek did with Cunningham, takes a chronological look back at Cunningham’s life story. Sarah Jessica Parker provides voiceover narration. Because Cunningham was the type of photojournalist who didn’t seek attention and glory for himself, he rarely gave interviews. “The Times of Bill Cunningham” and the 2011 documentary “Bill Cunningham New York” are probably the closest things to Bill Cunningham memoirs.
“The Times of Bill Cunningham” consists almost entirely of archival footage, including some never-before-seen photos taken by Cunningham. In Cunningham’s own words, we hear about his childhood, growing up in Boston in a strict Catholic family. From an early age, he had a fascination with women’s hats. As a teenager, he worked as a sales clerk at the Boston location of luxury department-store chain Bonwit Teller. At age 19, he dropped out of Harvard University to move to New York City and pursue a full-time career in fashion.
When he moved to New York City to live with an aunt and to pursue his fashion dreams, it’s no surprise that, after a brief stint as an ad associate for Bonwit Teller, he became a milliner, first for Bonwit Teller and then striking out on his own. Women in New York’s high society, as well as Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Joan Crawford, became his clients. His fashion career was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War, when he spent some time in France, and then he left the Army to return to New York in 1953.
However, even though his talent was recognized, Cunningham said he faced a lot of sexism because being a milliner was traditionally a woman’s job. And he was initially afraid to tell his family back home in Boston that he was in the fashion industry, so he began his career using an alias: William J.
Cunningham eventually was fired from Bonwit Teller, and he says in retrospect, his dismissal from Bonwit Teller was the best thing to happen to him, because it led him to start his own milliner business. He charmed his way into renting a studio space for a big discount, even though he hadn’t proven himself yet as a successful entrepreneur. Through his hat business, he met Bernadine Morris, who was The New York Times’ fashion critic at the time. She introduced him to a whole new set of clientele and eventually played a role in Cunningham switching careers from milliner to journalist.
But during his hat-designing days, Cunningham had some memorable moments, including times when actor Marlon Brando would hide out in the studio when he was being chased by female fans. Bill also remembers that writer Norman Mailer and his third wife, Lady Jeanne Campbell, shared the studio with him. And his most famous neighbor was photographer Editta Sherman, who later did some modeling for Campbell in his early years as a fashion photographer. Cunningham also remembers meeting former King Edward VIII of Great Britain and his wife, Wallis Simpson. Cunningham describes him as charming, down-to-earth, and willing to put people at ease instead of using his royal lineage to intimidate people.
Cunningham closed his hat shop in 1962, and he began working at the New York City boutique Chez Ninon, which catered to the wealthy. As for which type of fashionistas impressed him the most, Cunningham says it wasn’t the Hollywood celebrities (he thought most of these stars didn’t have style in real life), but the New York high society women who were the ones with the most elegant style and best fashion taste. Jackie Kennedy was one of his favorite clients. Cunningham says that the pink Chanel outfit that Kennedy wore on the tragic day in 1963 that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated was actually not a Chanel original but a knockoff from a Balenciaga outfit.
Just like at Bonwit Teller, Cunningham was eventually ousted at Chez Ninon, and he says it was because the women who worked at Chez Ninon weren’t entirely comfortable with him as a milliner because he was a man. It was around this time that Cunningham got his first professional photographer’s camera, in 1967. He worked for a time as a fashion critic for Women’s Wear Daily and the Chicago Tribune, but photography turned out to be his true love.
He began taking photos of New York street life, but the photos of celebrities are the ones that got him the most attention. (Cunningham never considered himself to be part of the paparazzi, because he didn’t stalk people.) In 1978, he took a famous photo of Greta Garbo, who was a recluse at the time, while she was walking on a New York City street. The New York Times published the photo. And from that year onward, he worked for The New York Times until his death in 2016. It was during his long stint working for The New York Times that Cunningham began to wear his signature item of clothing: a blue jacket.
In the documentary’s video interview with Cunningham, he shares a lot of his thoughts on fashion, by saying that fashion can be described in three categories: what is shown, what is written about, and what is worn. “I don’t think of myself as a photographer. I think of myself as a fashion historian,” he says. He also says that he doesn’t have a favorite era in fashion because “fashion makes people feel good. As long as there are human beings in the world, there will be fashion.”
The first time that Cunningham covered the Met Gala (the annual fashion fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute), it was during the era when Diana Vreeland was editor-in-chief of Vogue. He chronicled the Met Gala, for 11 years when it was under Vreeland’s supervision, not only through photos but also through audio recordings and notes. The documentary includes a rare audio recording of Vreeland and Andre Leon Talley talking during preparations for a Met Gala. The one Met Gala preparation he didn’t cover extensively was the one in 1976, which had the theme “The Glory of the Russian Costume,” because Vreeland and the Russians clashed too much over the exhibit.
Speaking of conflicts, Cunningham also remembers how his presence wasn’t always welcome when he would take pictures. He tells a story about how the head of a perfume company (he didn’t say her name) called the police on him because she was sure that Cunningham was a pickpocket posing as a photographer. Although he was able to avoid being arrested, the incident was so unnerving that he remembered it in full detail all those years later.
One of the highlights of his career, he says, was being at the Battle of Versailles Fashion Show in 1973, when French designers and American designers who represented fashion’s A-list competed against each other in a fashion show to raise money for the Palace of Versailles in France. The French designers were Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, Emanuel Ungaro, Hubert de Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent. The American designers were Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows, Oscar de la Renta, Halston and Anne Klein. (The Americans won.) Cunningham said that Burrows was his favorite designer at the event because his designs were truly unique from everyone else’s.
Cunningham undoubtedly got to experience many glamorous events and take photos of many celebrities, but he felt it was equally important to document the street life of everyday people, including the homeless. He also covered news events happening on the streets, such as protests and parades, including the first Pride parade in New York in 1970. He breaks down and cries a few times during the interview: When he talks about things he saw on the street that he didn’t have the heart to photograph (he didn’t go into details in the interview) and when he talks about the devastation of the AIDS crisis.
Throughout the interview, Cunningham also shows his boyish wit and humility. He constantly downplays the importance of his work, and says at one point, “I’m not talented.” He also says that he’s basically shy, so he never got over being nervous about working on the street or meeting new people.
Cunningham was also very eccentric and very frugal, since he we would always stay at cheap hotels when he traveled for business, while many of his colleagues and peers would travel first-class. His only spending indulgence was for his art collection. Cunningham, who was famous for getting around by bicycle, also reveals his philosophy on how he chose which bikes to get: “The cheaper, the better.”
And he also explains what he loves most about his work: “The freedom.” He adds that “New York is an extraordinary city,” and The New York Times was like a “blank canvas” where he could display his work. And the hardest part of the job for Cunningham? Spelling people’s names correctly.
Although Cunningham doesn’t talk about it in the documentary, Parker’s voiceover narration mentions that during his lifetime, Cunningham was extremely generous with his money, by donating millions to AIDS charities and the Catholic Church. When Cunningham’s close artist friend Antonio Lopez was dying of AIDS and didn’t have health insurance, Cunningham bought a painting from Lopez for $130,000, and then gave the painting back to Lopez.
The one thing about Cunningham that the documentary doesn’t discuss is his love life. He never married, didn’t have kids, and he never publicly disclosed what his sexuality was. Whatever his sexual orientation was, it’s obvious from the documentary that Cunningham was married to his job. If he ever did have any serious love relationships in his lifetime, they definitely would’ve been less of a priority for him than his work. The documentary shows that he spent so much of his waking hours devoted to his work, that it’s no wonder he didn’t seem to have any time to settle down with someone special.
Although the documentary certainly reveals a lot about Cunningham (except his love life), it comes across as a little too fawning. He was certainly a beloved media figure, but the documentary could have been more well-rounded by interviewing people who were his rivals to get their perspectives. And because the basis of the documentary is a video interview that he did in 1994, the interview looks extremely dated. Had the interview taken place in a later decade, Cunningham would have been able to offer his thoughts on how digital technology and the Internet have transformed the photography profession. However, the documentary does have a treasure trove of archival footage, which is one of the main reasons to see this movie.
Cunningham’s legacy is a reminder that it’s possible to be a street photographer and be a well-respected gentleman, which is a rare quality when photographers who do their work on the streets are rewarded for being pushy and aggressively obnoxious. And in this day and age of smartphones and social media where people can curate and Photoshop their own images any way that they please, Cunningham represents a bygone era where photographers had more gatekeeper influence in the fashion industry. As more journalists than ever before have a tabloid “look at me” mentality, Cunningham always maintained the ethics of a true journalist, by observing and reporting truths, instead of trying to put the spotlight on himself.
Greenwich Entertainment released “The Times of Bill Cunningham” in New York City on February 14, 2020. The movie’s U.S. theatrical release will expand to other cities in subsequent weeks.
Culture Representation: This documentary examines the past and present political culture of Chile, with the Andes mountain range as a backdrop.
Culture Clash: Survivors of Chile’s turbulent history tell their stories of what it was like to live during the political battles of democracy versus dictatorship from the 1970s to the present.
Culture Audience: “The Cordillera of Dreams” will appeal primarily to people who have an interest in South American history and nature.
“The Cordillera of Dreams” (Photo courtesy if Icarus Films)
“The Cordillera of Dreams” is part travel documentary, part Chilean history lesson and part autobiography. (The word “cordillera” means mountain range.) The movie, which is narrated in voiceover only by director Patricio Guzmán, takes viewers on a journey through Santiago and other parts of Chile, to get first-person accounts of the often painful experiences of living through turbulent times, The regime of dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, is put under a particular spotlight in the film.
“The Cordillera of Dreams” is the third film in Guzmán’s trilogy of documentaries about how Chile’s natural land ties into Chile’s sociological history. The trilogy began with 2011’s “Nostalgia for the Light” and continued with 2015’s “The Pearl Button.” But before “The Cordillera of Dreams” gets to the history of Chilean politics during the Pinochet regime, the documentary begins by immersing viewers into the idea that while different types of government might come and go and Chile, the Andes Mountains have remained the one true constant for changing eras and social customs in Chile.
The cinematography (by Samuel Lahu) is absolutely stunning, especially when taking in the majestic views of the Andes Mountains. (The cinematography is probably one of the main reasons why “The Cordillera of Dreams” won the prize for Best Documentary at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.) The documentary interviews a few people who live in the Andes, including sculptor Francisco Gazitúa, who says: “When you live in the Andes for many years, it feels like you’re inside a large, rocky container … It’s a labyrinth.”
Another sculptor named Vicente Gajadro, who likes to extract rocks from the Andes to see what’s inside, had this to say about living in these natural surroundings: “The Cordillera is a great mystery. I believe it’s a cultural landmark.” He also says of the enormous mountains: “They protect me, but they also isolate me.”
Alvaro Amigo, a volcanologist, comments on the awe-inspiring landscape: “When I look at the Cordillera, I see millions of years of evolution exposed.” And writer Jorge Baradit says that the Cordillera is “like a sea that makes us an island.”
Guzmán says that crossing the Cordillera is like arriving in a place that’s in the faraway past. “Everything seems unreal. I feel somewhat like an alien.” He says his earliest childhood memory of the Cordillera was seeing it on matchboxes. The director then shows viewers the house he used to live in when he was young. In stark contrast to the natural and clean-looking beauty of the Andes, the abandoned house is now in an area that looks like a junkyard. Guzmán, who no longer lives in Chile, says that going to his childhood home is a sad reminder of a more peaceful time in Chile, before the political “earthquake” of September 11, 1973.
On that day, when Guzmán was 32 years old, his life and the lives of millions of other Chileans changed forever, as a military coup d’état overthrew Socialist President Salvador Allende and elevated to power Pinochet as a dictatorial and brutal leader who ordered the persecution of left-wing political activists and other left-leaning Allende supporters. Many innocent people were also caught up in the turmoil, as the police and other military raided cities. There were widespread kidnappings, tortures and murders of thousands of people.
It’s here, near the middle of the film, that the story shifts to the urban bustle of Santiago, Chile’s capital city. Guzmán revisits the Stadium in Santiago, where thousands of male civilians, ages 15 to 65, were taken from their homes by police, arrested, and then rounded up and held as prisoners at the stadium, where they often tortured. Guzmán was one of those prisoners, and he remembers how just a few years before the coup d’état, he had been a happy World Cup spectator at the stadium when Italy played against Chile.
Guzmán was a political prisoner for two weeks, and even though the military put him under duress to tell them where he had put his documentary film footage of the military committing crimes, he refused to tell them. The experience of being imprisoned was so traumatic for Guzmán that he left Chile and hasn’t lived there since. Meanwhile, sculptor Francisco Gazitúa said he was under house arrest for four years.
Another person who shares their memories of the beginning of the Pinochet regime is singer Javiera Parra, remembers as a child seeing the police raiding people’s homes and feeling fear and uncertainty as military tanks would pass by when she was in a schoolyard. The feelings and insecurity and devastation still remain with the survivors, and will probably stay with them for the rest of their lives when they think about this disturbing time in Chile’s history.”
Perhaps the most fascinating person in the documentary is photo/video journalist Pablo Salas, who has been documenting Santiago street life since the 1970s and has almost miraculously never been arrested, even though he’s been in the middle of countless protests and violence in the streets. The documentary includes some archival footage that Salas was generous enough to share, giving insight into how chaotic and brutal life was on the streets of Santiago during the Pinochet regime. (The documentary also shows Salas’ home office, which is stacked to the brim with tapes he’s saved over the years.)
The archival footage shows scenes of people literally being dragged away by police for no apparent reason, as family members and friends try in vain to stop this horror from happening. People are seen getting beaten or blasted with water by police. And then there are the full-on riots that are shown. Although life in Chile is not as violently out-of-control as it was back then, there is still a lot of political unrest.
Salas, who obviously has a passion for it job, keeps documenting it all. He says the biggest difference now, compared to when he first started, is that more citizens can videorecord what’s happening, thanks to smartphones. He says he finds this change refreshing but also sometimes annoying when he wants to get footage but other non-journalist people are in the way trying to get their best shots too.
The documentary takes a brief, somewhat distracting detour into examining the trains that carry copper, Chile’s biggest natural resource. Even more interesting is the haunting footage inside Pinochet’s former offices, which are now abandoned but symbolize a period of Chilean history that the people cannot and should forget.
Guzmán has an almost poetic way of demonstrating the rot and neglect among the beauty of the Andes, as the documentary shows a junkyard of abandoned cars. It’s an obvious metaphor for Chile’s abandoned dreams for having a completely peaceful democracy. But Guzmán and many others haven’t given up hope in Chile. Just like items in a junkyard, perhaps what was abandoned can be salvaged and restored.
Icarus Films released “The Cordillera of Dreams” in New York City February 12, 2020, and will release the film in Los Angeles on February 21, 2020, followed by released in several other cities in the U.S. and Canada in the subsequent weeks. The movie was originally released in Chile and other countries in 2019.
The winners of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival were announced in its annual award ceremony, held this year on February 1 in Park City, Utah. The annual festival, which is presented by the Sundance Institute in Park City, runs from January 23 to February 2 this year.
In addition, the Sundance Film Festival announced at the award ceremony that Tabitha Jackson is replacing John Cooper as Sundance Film Festival Director. Jackson was Director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program since 2014. Cooper, who was in the position since 2008, is stepping down to pursue other opportunities. He will continue to be a part of the Sundance Institute as director of special projects.
Here is the complete list of winners:
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Steven Yeun (pictured at right) in “Minari” (Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute)
Grand Jury Prize: “Minari”
Audience Award: “Minari”
Directing: Radha Blank, “The 40-Year-Old Version”
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Edson Oda, “Nine Days”
Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast: “Charm City Kings”
Special Jury Auteur Award: Josephine Decker, “Shirley”
Special Jury Award for Neorealism: Eliza Hittman, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Steven Garza in “Boys State” (Photo by Thorsten Thielow).
Grand Jury Prize: “Boys State”
Audience Award: “Crip Camp”
Directing: Garrett Bradley, “Time”
Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker: Arthur Jones, “Feels Good Man”
Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking: Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Eli Despres, “The Fight”
Special Jury Award for Editing: Tyler H. Walk, “Welcome to Chechnya”
Special Jury Award for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling: Kirsten Johnson, “Dick Johnson Is Dead”
WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Sadaf Asgari in “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness” (Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute.)
Grand Jury Prize: “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness”
Audience Award: “Identifying Features”
Directing Award: Maïmouna Doucouré, “Cuties”
Special Jury Award for Acting: Ben Whishaw, “Surge”
Special Jury Award for Visionary Filmmaking: Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, “This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection”
Special Jury Award for Best Screenplay: Fernanda Valadez & Astrid Rondero. “Identifying Features”
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
“Epicentro” (Photo by Hubert Sauper)
Grand Jury Prize: “Epicentro”
Audience Award: “The Reason I Jump”
Directing Award: Iryna Tsilyk, “The Earth is Blue as an Orange”
Special Jury Award for Editing: Mila Aung Thwin, Sam Soko, Ryan Mullins, “Softie”
Special Jury Award for Cinematography: Micrea Topoleanu, Radu Ciorniciuc, “Acasa, My Home”
Special Jury Award for Creative Storytelling: Benjamin Ree, “The Painter and the Thief”
OTHER AWARDS
Christian Vásquez and Armando Espitia in “I Carry You With Me” (Photo by Alejandro López)
NEXT Audience Award: “I Carry You With Me”
NEXT Innovator Award: “I Carry You With Me”
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize: “Tesla”
Sundance Institute NHK Award: Kirsten Tan, “Higher”
Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Producers Award for Narrative Features: Huriyyah Muhammad, “Farewell Amor”
Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Producers Award for Documentary Features: Diane Becker & Melanie Miller of Fishbowl Films, “Whirlybird”
Sundance Institute/Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Documentary: Carla Gutierrez
Sundance Institute/Adobe Mentorship Award for Editing Narrative: Affonso Gonçalves
Culture Representation: This very filtered documentary about singer Taylor Swift takes an inside look at her life as a multimillionaire celebrity whose inner circle and career team are almost exclusively white, with a few African Americans who have brief appearances as employees or video collaborators.
Culture Clash: The movie gives Swift’s perspective on conflicts she’s had with her critics over her image, her feud with Kanye West, her love life, her 2017 sexual assault trial and her outspoken liberal views on politics.
Culture Audience: “Miss Americana” will obviously appeal mostly to fans of Swift, but the movie should also interest people who like behind-the-scene stories of entertainment celebrity culture.
Taylor Swift in “Miss Americana” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)
“Miss Americana,” a completely sympathetic documentary about Grammy-winning superstar Taylor Swift, could have been subtitled “The Emancipation of Taylor Swift.” The main narrative of the film is that she’s all grown up now, and she’s no longer afraid to speak her mind and go public about her liberal political views. While she undoubtedly gets candid in the film about many issues she’s faced in her life, and it’s ultimately a feel-good portrayal of Swift, the documentary (directed by Lana Wilson) has a lot of glaring omissions. The biggest one is that it completely ignores the massive public feud that Swift has with music moguls Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun—a feud in which she’s publicly accused them of using their “toxic male privilege” (Swift’s words) to try to take away power from her and other artists.
What viewers of “Miss Americana” will get are several visual montages (on stage and off stage) of Swift’s career over the years, starting when she was an unknown 12-year-old singer/songwriter from Pennsylvania trying to break into country music, to being a Nashville-based, polished 15-year-old aspiring country star, to becoming one of the best-selling female music artists of all time. There’s the expected footage of her on stage, backstage, on the sets of her music videos, and in the recording studio, including showing some of the songwriting process for her 2019 album “Lover,” with cameos from songwriter/producer Jack Antonoff and Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie.
Swift has transitioned from being a country singer to a pop star. It’s a transformation that could have happened because her musical tastes have evolved, but she also admits in the documentary that any changes she makes to her image are mostly because female artists feel more pressure than male artists to constantly reinvent themselves to remain relevant.
The beginning of the film shows Swift (who’s famously a cat fanatic) playing the piano while one of her Scottish Fold cats walks all over the piano. Swift then shares some of her childhood diaries, and comments: “My moral code, then and now, is to be good. The main thing I tried to be is a good girl. I was so fulfilled by approval, that was it. I became the person everyone wanted me to be.”
It’s a story that people have heard many times from people who were child stars: They’ve been so programmed to get approval from the public that they can lose their true identities and self-esteem in the celebrity machine. There are too many tragic stories of former child stars who’ve been unable to cope with growing up and becoming less popular as they get older. It’s an underlying fear that Swift admits that she has, because she’s constantly seeking approval from fans and she feels pressure to maintain a certain level of popularity. She’s also well-aware that there’s an age double-standard for female entertainers, who are more likely than male entertainers to be cast aside by the industry once they’re over the age of 35.
The documentary clearly shows that Swift (who turned 30 in December 2019) is very good at marketing herself, and it’s a skill that she learned early in her career. There’s a clip of her on stage in 2003, shortly after her country breakthrough single “Tim McGraw” was released, where she mentions the local country radio station and charmingly asks the audience to contact the station to play the song. The movie also makes a point of showing how Swift avoided going public for years about her political views after she became old enough to vote. Her standard response back then was that she was just a singer and people wanted to hear her sing and not tell them how they should feel about politics.
Swift’s songs are very autobiographical; she’s famous for writing songs about her love affairs and breakups. And because she’s dated a lot of famous men (mostly musicians and actors), her love life has already been thoroughly dissected by fans and the media. The documentary includes a montage of media coverage about her love life and how people’s perceptions of her have been affected by the media coverage.
British actor Joe Alwyn, whom she’s been dating since 2016, is briefly shown in the documentary, as he hugs Swift backstage after one of her concerts. Alywn is not shown speaking on camera, but there are some clips of candid off-stage cell-phone footage of Swift where it’s obvious that Alwyn is the one filming it, such as a clip where Swift is singing and then mouths the words “I love you” to the person filming. All that Swift will say about her romance with Alwyn is that she’s in love, and they both decided that they wanted to keep their relationship private. She doesn’t even say his name in the documentary.
What she does reveal in the documentary that hasn’t been made public before is that she’s had an eating disorder for years and is in recovery, but it’s still a struggle for her. She first mentions her eating disorder in the film when she says she no longer looks at photos of herself every day because it can “trigger” the feelings of insecurity that she has about her body. She then goes on to describe that for years, she thought it was normal to starve herself and feel the physical effects of extreme hunger. She now says that she has healthy eating habits and is comfortable if she’s “a size 6 instead of size 00,” but she says the relentless public scrutiny about her physical appearance can still deeply affect her.
Over the years, Swift has openly talked about how the person she is closest to is her mother, Andrea Swift, who is shown several times in the documentary as a constant companion to her daughter. That strong family support is clearly one of the main reasons why Swift has not become a casualty of fame. Andrea Swift’s cancer diagnosis (which Swift has talked about in other interviews, as well as in this documentary) is something that Swift says has had a profound effect on everyone in the family, and it’s why Swift places family and friends as the highest priorities in her life.
Much has already been said and written about the feud between Swift and Kanye West. In the documentary, Swift says that the notorious incident that started it all did long-lasting damage to her self-esteem. That incident was when West got up on stage and interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech after she won the prize for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, and he shouted that Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” video (which was nominated in the same category) “was one of the best videos of all time.”
Although West was universally slammed for that stunt, and he later made several public apologies, Swift says that at the time she was on stage during the incident, she thought the audience booing was meant for her, not West. She says in the documentary that it was the first time she felt so much negativity from an audience while she was on stage, and it was a “formative experience” that took her down a “psychological path, not all of it beneficial.”
Swift is a celebrity who became famous right when social media became part of the culture, so she’s experienced the highs and lows of social media on a learning curve. On the one hand, Swift is one of the most popular celebrities on social media, with followers that total in the hundreds of millions. On the other hand, when she does something that’s considered controversial, that huge level of attention can turn quickly against her.
The documentary mentions the enormous backlash that she received when West’s wife Kim Kardashian released a secretly recorded video of Swift talking to West over the phone and giving West the go-ahead to mention her in his 2016 song “Famous,” which had not been released yet at the time the conversation happened. The song lyric that mentioned Swift turned out be very derogatory and called her a misogynistic name. After the song was released, Swift claimed that she didn’t know her name would be used in that way, while West and his camp said she did know in advance. That’s when Kardashian released the video.
The documentary makes a point of showing how Swift was virtually bullied by West’s fans, including viral footage of an audience at one of his concerts chanting a derogatory statement about Swift. But the documentary does not mention how some of Swift’s fans on the Internet can be just as vicious in showing hate for people who dare to criticize Swift. Several celebrities who have clashed with Swift have talked about how her most fanatical fans can be bullies. Her public feuds with other celebrities (such as Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber and ex-boyfriends Calvin Harris, John Mayer and Joe Jonas) are not mentioned in the documentary, probably because Swift is no longer feuding with them.
Whichever side you believe in the controversy over “Famous,” Swift reveals in the documentary that all the hate she received from “cancel culture” was the main reason why she took a year-long hiatus and came back to the spotlight with her 2017 album “Reputation.” There’s some footage of Swift writing songs that ended up on the album, as well as a scene that shows her disappointment when she gets a call from a handler informing her that the album didn’t get any Grammy nominations in the major categories. (Don’t feel too sorry for Swift. She’s already got several Grammys, including two Grammys for Album of the Year.)
The movie also covers the lawsuit that made Swift go public about being sexually groped by a radio DJ, who later sued her because he was fired over that incident. Swift countersued for $1, to prove that he did grope her without her consent, and she wasn’t going to let him get away with blaming her for the crime he committed. Her $1 counterclaim was her way of telling the world that this issue wasn’t about the money for her. Swift famously won the lawsuit and became an advocate of the #MeToo movement.
In the documentary, Swift makes it clear that her #MeToo experience was the biggest catalyst to her political awakening and her decision to no longer remain silent over the progressive political issues that she wants to publicly support. One of the best parts of the documentary is showing what happened behind the scenes when she made the major decision to give her first political endorsement.
Swift says she was constantly told for her entire career “not to be like the Dixie Chicks,” the female country trio that lost a lot of fans in the early 2000s, after the group spoke out against Republican politics and the war in Iraq. But Swift’s #MeToo experience and the subsequent lawsuits opened her eyes to social justice issues, and she decided for herself: “The next time there’s any opportunity to change anything, you’d better know what you stand for and what you want to say.”
Her decision to go public with her political views didn’t sit well with several members of her team, who told her that she would be making a big mistake. In the movie, the objectors are shown to be all middle-aged men (including her father), who tried to scare her by saying that they were concerned that she would get more death threats and would lose half of her audience if she came out as a political liberal. But Swift firmly did not back down, even though there was some expected fear of the unknown.
The movie shows her apprehension and excitement that she and publicist Tree Paine had together in the moments before she posted her endorsement of Phil Bredesen (a Democrat) over Marsha Blackburn (a Republican) in the 2018 race for Tennessee U.S. Senator. Not only did Swift endorse Bredesen, but she also publicly slammed Blackburn for voting against laws that support rights for the LGBTQ community and female victims of violence. Ultimately, Blackburn won the election, but Swift says she’s hopeful that in future elections, the younger generation will vote to sway politics in a more progressive and inclusive direction.
As Swift says in the movie: “I feel really good about not feeling muzzled anymore. And it was my own doing. I needed to learn a lot before I spoke to 200 million people. But I’ve educated myself now, and it’s time to take the masking tape off of my mouth forever.”
While Swift is obviously a positive inspiration in many ways, as this documentary makes very clear, there are still aspects of “Miss Americana” that aren’t entirely candid. One of the biggest criticisms of Swift is that she has a tendency to portray herself as a victim when things don’t go her way. No one is expecting her to be perfect, but there’s a limit to Swift being honest about her life for this documentary.
Although she admitted to having issues about eating and her body image, not once does she admit to doing anything mean-spirited or cutthroat in her life. There’s no mention of any friends or lovers she might have tossed aside, no remorse or regret about not treating a loved one better, no acknowledgement of less-than-wonderful things she’s done to rivals or former business associates. In reality, no one gets to her level of success by being nice to everyone. In the documentary, the only mistake she admits to making is not being politically outspoken in 2016 for the U.S. presidential election.
For a “behind the scenes” documentary about an artist who’s risen to the top of the music industry, it’s very unrealistic for Swift to not acknowledge any experiences that she might have had with illegal drugs, alcohol, diet pills, prescription medication or even nicotine. If you were to believe everything that’s presented this movie, those things just don’t exist in Swift’s world. The worst “vice” that Swift shows on camera is uttering a few curse words. The documentary might look “revealing” to many people who don’t know what really goes on behind the scenes in the entertainment industry, but for those who do know what really goes on, it’s very obvious that “Miss Americana” is very white-washed indeed.
The narrative here is that bad things keep happening to Swift (stalkers, intrusive paparazzi, tabloid media, haters on the Internet), and she always finds a way to triumph and overcome it all. That is, except for the battle that she lost against Borchetta and Braun, which is not mentioned at all in this documentary. It’s obvious that Swift and/or the documentary’s filmmakers didn’t want to put anything in the movie that would weaken Swift’s “female empowerment” image that she wants to have.
In July 2019, Swift went on the Internet to post a lengthy rant accusing Borchetta (the founder of Big Machine Records, her former record company) of unscrupulously taking her pre-2019 song catalogue and selling it to music manager Braun, whom Swift considers an enemy because Braun was West’s manager during the worst of Swift’s feud with West. Swift claims that she and her management/publishing team (which includes her father, Scott Swift) weren’t given a fair opportunity to buy these master recordings of her songs. Borchetta vehemently denies the accusation, and says that Swift had a chance to buy the songs but she didn’t agree to the deal that was presented. The “he said/she said” fight blew up to such an extent that many celebrities jumped into the fray by either taking Swift’s side or the Borchetta/Braun side.
For all of Swift’s preaching about female empowerment in this documentary, it’s odd that she and this movie’s director have cut out this chapter of her life that Swift has tried to present as part of her fight against male sexism. She used the feud as a platform to speak out about not only male sexism but also artists’ rights and what kinds of contracts artists sign that could have long-lasting effects on their careers.
Swift has presented herself as an outspoken advocate for artists’ rights before (her push to get Spotify to pay reasonable artist royalties is one example—something that’s also not mentioned in the movie), so it’s a major setback in her life and her career that one of her enemies now owns the vast majority of her songs. The fact that this life-changing experience wasn’t even acknowledged in the documentary indicates how much of a public-relations showcase “Miss Americana” is instead of a complete behind-the-scenes look at her life.
The documentary seems to want people to forget that Swift’s feud with Borchetta/Braun ever happened, even though she was the one who took the feud public in the first place and ended up getting a lot of backlash from people who think she misrepresented herself as a victim in this situation. Rather than being fully honest and sharing what she learned from this undoubtedly painful experience, Swift probably told the filmmakers directly or indirectly not to put it in the movie. Let’s be real: Even though she’s not listed as a producer of “Miss Americana,” she obviously had a lot of creative control over this documentary, based on what they chose to show and what they chose not to show.
Also absent from the documentary is any mention of Swift’s attempts to become a movie actress, which have resulted in her appearing in flops such as 2014’s “The Giver” and 2019’s “Cats.” Anything that makes Swift look like a failure or someone who made a really bad career decision is essentially shut out of the documentary. Instead, “Miss Americana” ends with Swift winning Video of the Year at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards for “You Need to Calm Down,” her platform to show her as an ally to the LGBTQ community. The award show took place on August 26, 2019—several weeks after she started feuding with Borchetta and Braun, so there was plenty of time to include the feud in the movie.
Another thing the documentary makes clear is that even though Swift talks a lot about female empowerment, her team is led by men, while women are mostly relegated to traditionally female roles, such as publicist, backup dancer, makeup artist and hair stylist. There are several scenes in the movie where Swift is the only woman in the recording studio. Why not hire more female musicians, producers and engineers? Swift has the power to do that, so there’s really no excuse.
Beyoncé has an all-female touring band of musicians (and so did Prince), so there are artists who are actually doing something about breaking barriers for women in the music industry. It remains to be seen if Swift will take a lot of her talk about female empowerment in the music industry and actually be an agent for change. If she ever wins Album of the Year at the Grammys again, we’ll see if she’s surrounded by a diverse group of people on stage who would share the award with her, instead of the same men who constantly get preferential treatment in the music industry.
For now, “Miss Americana” shows that Swift wants to spread a progressive political agenda and she wants to be praised as a symbol for female empowerment. But if she really wants to empower more women in the industry, she can start with the people she hires to make music with her and who she puts in charge of her business interests, instead of blaming other people for being the problem.
Netflix premiered “Miss Americana” and released the movie in select U.S. cinemas on January 31, 2020.
Culture Representation: This documentary only interviews U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, who are upper-class religious conservatives.
Culture Clash: In the movie, Clarence Thomas tells his life story, including conflicts he’s had over politics, race and his biggest scandal: allegations from Anita Hill (a law professor and former co-worker) that he repeatedly sexually harassed her.
Culture Audience: “Created Equal” will appeal primarily to conservatives and admirers of Clarence Thomas, but people of any or no political persuasion might be curious to see the movie because it’s a rare video interview of Thomas as a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas and Clarence Thomas at their 1987 wedding. (Photo courtesy of Justice Thomas)
Regardless of what people might think of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, he’s certainly led a life of extremes. Born in 1948 as the middle child of a single mother who was a maid (his father left the family when he was just 2 years old), he’s gone from growing up poor in segregated Pin Point, Georgia, to becoming a wealthy member of society’s elite as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. He’s gone from being a radical left-wing Democrat who shared the same views as Black Panthers to becoming a Libertarian and then a conservative Republican. He’s gone from being the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to being someone whose reputation will be forever tainted by allegations from women (most notably, Anita Hill) that he sexually harassed them. Thomas denies all of these allegations.
What does Thomas think about his life and how he’s dealt with his biggest challenges? He thinks he’s a misunderstood survivor who’s been able to withstand the constant criticism and prejudices he’s faced his entire life. From an early age, his own mother described him as “stubborn.” For better or worse, he says that stubborn personality trait has both hurt and helped him through his toughest obstacles.
This narrowly focused biographical documentary (directed, written and produced by Michael Pack) interviews only two people: Clarence Thomas and his second wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having the couple as the only people interviewed in the film, but if the filmmakers wanted to stay true to the subtitle of the documentary (“Clarence Thomas in His Own Words”), it would have been a better choice to only interview Clarence Thomas and stick to that concept. Ginni Thomas (who is an advocate/fundraiser for politically conservative groups) is clearly an adoring and devoted wife, but her unwavering support of her husband is expected and doesn’t add anything new or particularly insightful to this profile of Justice Thomas.
By having a spouse interviewed for this film, it looks more like a family home movie, and it opens up other questions: If someone other than the documentary subject is going to be interviewed, why not just interview more people who know Clarence Thomas too? Having several interviews with various people would have been a more conventional way to make the documentary, but if the filmmakers wanted to take the more unconventional approach of it being a movie about Clarence Thomas reflecting on his life “in his own words,” it would have been more consistent with this first-person-viewpoint premise to just let only Justice Thomas take the proverbial podium.
Fortunately, the filmmakers took a responsible approach by including the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of Clarence Thomas’ life. Some people might assume before seeing this documentary that it’s a very one-sided film, but the criticism and scandals that Clarence Thomas have faced over the years are not ignored and actually get more screen time than a lot of people might expect. Even if the documentary doesn’t have new interviews with Clarence Thomas supporters (except for his wife) or detractors, other perspectives are shown though archival news footage and other media coverage. Many of the editorials that blast Thomas for being a “race traitor,” “Uncle Tom” and accused “sexual harasser” are included in the film. Footage of protests and speeches against him are also part of the documentary.
The interviews with Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas are done in close-up, in a stark room that could pass for a TV studio. Documentary filmmaker Pack (who doesn’t appear on camera) is sometimes heard asking the questions. Clarence Thomas’ demeanor ranges from calm and almost detached when he describes much of his youth to emotionally agitated when he talks about attacks he says he’s endured from his critics and enemies.
He previously opened up extensively about his life in his 2007 book, “My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir.” Therefore, much of that information is repeated in this documentary. The film also includes excerpts from the audio book. One of the best qualities of “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words” is its skillful editing of archival footage to put into context a lot of what is being said on screen.
The first half of the movie covers Clarence Thomas’ life before he was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court. A crucial turning point in his childhood was when he and his younger brother were sent to his mother’s parents: Myers Anderson (whom Clarence Thomas describes as “stern”) and Christine Anderson (whom he describes as “sweet as can be”).
Myers Anderson would end up being the most influential adult in Clarence Thomas’ life, and it’s clear that it was his approval that Clarence Thomas wanted the most. Myers Anderson was a farmer who dropped out of elementary school and could barely read and write, but he instilled in Clarence the importance of education, hard work and discipline. Clarence Thomas was educated at Catholic schools, which led to his enrollment as the only black student at Conception Seminary College in Conception, Missouri. In 1968, he left Conception Seminary College after becoming disillusioned with the Catholic Church for refusing to be pro-actively involved in the civil-rights movement and after hearing a racist remark from a seminary priest who allegedly said that Martin Luther King Jr. deserved to be assassinated.
Clarence Thomas’ grandfather Myers was so upset that Clarence quit college that he kicked Clarence out of the house, and they were estranged for many years, even after he enrolled as a student at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Clarence Thomas then became a left-wing Democrat in his late teens and early 20s. Although he’s a Catholic, Thomas says in the documentary that race issues became his primary religion at that time in his life. He met his first wife, Kathy Ambush (a fellow student), while at Holy Cross, and they married the day after his graduation in 1971.
While enrolled in Yale Law School, he became a “lazy Libertarian,” as he says in the documentary. And after the birth of his first and only child, Jamal, his political views began to sway more to the right when he saw the effects of forced integration through busing of black students to predominately white schools, and white students being bused to predominantly black schools.
Clarence Thomas says the violence and other disastrous effects of the forced school busing convinced him that it was an ineffectual way to achieve racial equality. As he says in the documentary: “Nobody was going to have some social experiment and throw my son in there.” Even though Clarence Thomas would eventually mend his relationship with his grandfather Myers, he says in the documentary that it still hurts him deeply that his grandfather and other family members did not attend his graduation from Yale.
If Myers Anderson was the most influential person in Clarence Thomas’ life, then John “Jack” Danforth (a former U.S. senator and attorney general for Missouri) was the most influential person in Clarence Thomas’ career. Thomas says that after he graduated from Yale, it was difficult for him to get a job—and he makes it clear that it was probably because of racism. As Thomas tells it, Danforth was the first and only person at the time who offered him a job: as an assistant district attorney. Thomas was reluctant to take the offer since Danforth was a Republican, and Thomas didn’t like Republicans at that time. But he ended up taking the job, which opened up new opportunities for him, including becoming chairman of the EEOC, a position he held from 1982 to 1990.
In 1981, Clarence Thomas and first wife Kathy separated, and they divorced in 1984. In the documentary, he is abrupt and vague when asked why his first marriage fell apart. He says that “things just didn’t work.” And when the interviewer comments that the divorce must’ve been hard on everyone, Clarence Thomas also comments in a dismissive tone when describing his feelings at the time: “Yeah, well you live with it.”
As reluctant as he is to talk about his first marriage, he practically gushes when talking about his marriage to Republican lobbyist Virginia “Ginni” Lamp, whom he calls “a gift from God.” They met at a political conference and got married in 1987. Ginni’s political influence and connections no doubt affected her husband’s life because by 1989, Clarence Thomas was a federal judge appointed by President George Bush Sr.
Becoming a federal judge was not something that Thomas says he really wanted, but he was convinced to take the position by Bush and other Republican power players. Clarence Thomas’ career trajectory, by his own admission, follows a certain pattern: He showed initial reluctance to take an opportunity given to him by a Republican, starting with his first post-law-school job with Danforth (who became his unofficial mentor) and then continuing to President George Bush Sr. appointing him as a federal judge and then nominating him as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Thomas already talked about it in his memoir, but he reiterates in the documentary that he really had no ambitions to be a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and he was surprised that Bush nominated him.
It’s clear that Thomas’ acceptance by Republicans who had a positive affect on his life and career are eventually what changed his outlook toward the Republican Party. He no longer considered Republicans his enemy; he considered a lot of Republicans to be his allies and friends. It’s quite an about-face from the former hardcore left-wing Democrat. To understand why Thomas is the way he is now, he gives some insight when he says in the documentary that he’d rather deal with people who are open about being bigots, compared to liberals who claim to be open-minded but are really hypocrites who also practice selective discrimination.
The second half of the movie (the part that many people would consider the most newsworthy) covers the controversial 1991 U.S. Senate hearings over Clarence Thomas becoming a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Anita Hill’s allegations and what life has been like for Thomas since then. “The attacks started immediately,” Thomas says in the documentary, as his demeanor and voice change from calm to fired-up.
He also doesn’t mince words over why he thinks so many people opposed his confirmation as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. He claims that the Senate hearings were a witch hunt against him by Democrats who tried to trap him into publicly voicing his opinion on abortion. And he believes that his opponents have this opinion of him: “This is the wrong black guy.”
Throughout much of the film, Clarence Thomas states that because he’s a conservative, he doesn’t fit the mold of what people think black men should be—and that makes people uncomfortable. But, as he points out, the idea that black people and other people of color should automatically be politically liberal is in itself a racist stereotype. He’s also unequivocal in stating that he thinks many liberals (especially those in the media) are hypocritical when it comes to free speech, since conservative viewpoints are frequently excluded and discriminated against.
As for Hill’s allegations, Clarence Thomas still denies them all. He and Ginni show a lot of anger and indignation in describing how the allegations nearly destroyed his life, but they also express gratitude to the people who supported them throughout the controversy. The hearings, presided over by then-Delaware U.S. Senator Joe Biden, included salacious accusations that while Clarence Thomas was Hill’s supervisor at the EEOC in the early ’80s, he persistently asked her out on dates, which she says she refused. Hill also said that Thomas commented to her on the size of women’s breasts, and he described to her in explicit detail the pornography that he liked to watch.
Regardless of which side people were on, the hearings undoubtedly made sexual harassment an issue that got more news coverage than it had ever gotten before, long before the #MeToo movement ever existed. The controversy also sparked debates over how an accuser should be judged for when and how the accuser comes forward with the allegations. Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court was approved by a U.S. Senate vote of 52 to 48.
Clarence Thomas, who says he never watched Hill’s testimony, comments in the documentary that the FBI told him that Hill’s allegations were uncorroborated. However, in all factual fairness, Hill did have several witnesses testify that she told them about the alleged harassment at the time the harassment allegedly happened. Clarence Thomas does not comment on these witnesses’ sworn testimonies in this documentary, and it’s unknown if the filmmakers asked him to comment on those testimonies and reports that there were other female accusers who came forward but were not called to testify. Likewise, Ginni Thomas does not comment in the documentary about the voice mail she left for Anita Hill in 2010, when she called Hill’s office at Brandeis University and asked her when she was going to make an apology for lying about the harassment.
That voice mail message serves as the opening for the 2014 documentary “Anita Hill: Speaking Truth to Power” (directed by Freida Lee Mock), which chronicled the sexual harassment controversy and Hill’s current life as a public speaker and advocate for human rights. That documentary was also very sympathetic to its subject, since almost everyone who was interviewed is a supporter of Hill.
Why is Clarence Thomas doing an authorized documentary about himself now? One can only speculate, but the timing is interesting. History seemed to repeat itself in 2018 with the politically divisive confirmation of Brett Kavanagh (a conservative Republican) as a U.S Supreme Court Justice. Kavanaugh also faced accusations of sexual misconduct that allegedly took place several years before and were made public shortly after he had been nominated for the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh’s nomination was approved by the U.S. Senate in a 50 to 48 vote. And no, Clarence Thomas does not comment on Kavanaugh in this documentary. That’s not a surprise, because it would be rude and unprofessional for Thomas to publicly comment on fellow U.S. Supreme Court Justices when they currently working together.
Thomas’ participation in this documentary will inevitably be compared to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decision to participate in the 2018 hit documentary “RBG” (directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West), which received several awards and an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature. “RBG” had unprecedented access to Ginsburg, including showing her doing her physical workout routines and spending time with her family. “RBG” also devoted a lot of time to Ginsburg’s legacy in the legal profession, by giving history lessons about many landmark court decisions that resulted from her work.
“Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words” doesn’t go into any real depth over about his decisions while serving on the U.S. Supreme Court, but he does address why he’s known for not asking a lot of questions when cases are argued before the Supreme Court. He explains that oral and written arguments should have all the information he needs to make a decision. The documentary also points out that he has written more opinions on cases than any of the current U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
It isn’t until the near the end of “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words” that the documentary breaks from the one-on-one interview format and shows new footage of Thomas outside of the interview room. In one scene, he’s talking with and joking around with some of his clerks, and it shows a more light-hearted, humorous side to him. Ginni comments in an interview that her husband is not an Ivy League snob, since he goes out of his way to hire clerks who aren’t from the Ivy League.
At the end of the film, Clarence Thomas also mentions that he and Ginni love to travel by RV around the United States, to under-the-radar places where they can connect with everyday people. (There are brief photo flashes of the couple on these trips.) That’s the kind of documentary video footage a lot of people might want to see, but Clarence and Ginni Thomas seem to be too private for that kind of filmmaking.
“Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words” probably won’t change a lot of people’s minds about Clarence Thomas if they are vehemently for or against him. But for people who can be more objective and want to look at both sides of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas controversy, this documentary can be viewed in addition to “Anita Hill: Speaking Truth to Power” to get these different perspectives, so people can make up their own minds.
Manifold Productions released “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words” in select U.S. cinemas on January 31, 2020.
Culture Representation: A documentary about the disastrous and tragic Altamont concert headlined by the Rolling Stones in 1969, “Days of Rage” focuses on the era’s youthful counterculture movement and the business of rock music, as represented by white men who are British and American.
Culture Clash: In addition to showing a history of the 1960s counterculture and Generation Gap, the movie also examines how violence affected the factions of pop culture that were involved in the Altamont concert.
Culture Audience: “Days of Rage” will appeal primarily to Rolling Stones fans and people interested in learning more about how the Altamont concert became a notorious example of the dark side of the 1960s counterculture movement.
Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger (pictured at far left) on stage at the 1969 Altamont concert, in a photo still from “Days: of Rage: The Rolling Stones’ Road to Altamont” (Photo courtesy of Vision Films)
The first thing you should know about the absorbing documentary “Days of Rage: The Rolling Stones’ Road to Altamont” is that the Rolling Stones are not interviewed for this film. The second thing you should know is that the movie is not a rehash of “Gimme Shelter,” the 1970 documentary from director brothers Albert and David Maysles that chronicled the Rolling Stones’ ill-fated free Altamont concert in the San Francisco area on December 6, 1969. Even without the Rolling Stones’ participation, “Days of Rage” is a riveting historical account that explores much more than the Rolling Stones’ performance at Altamont concert. The movie takes an overall look at the circumstances and culture that led up to this tragic and violent event, during which an African American man named Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death in the audience by Hell’s Angels gang members while the Rolling Stones were performing “Sympathy for the Devil.” (The band didn’t perform the song for years after the tragedy happened.)
People who are interested in this documentary, which clocks in at a little over 100 minutes, should also know that the descriptions of the Altamont concert don’t come until the last third of the movie. The first two-thirds of the movie are a deep dive into how rock music and youth culture influenced each other in the 1960s, and led to the rise of the era’s counterculture movement. The 1960s counterculture was defined by rebellion against traditional establishment customs, and it included Vietnam War protests, liberal/left-wing politics, sexual liberation and rampant drug use, with marijuana and LSD being popular drugs of choice. Even though Altamont and the Rolling Stones are used as a hook in the title to sell this documentary, the movie is really about issues much larger than a rock band and a concert. The background information on how the 1960s counterculture happened might not be very revealing to aficionados who already know about the counterculture movement, but the documentary is a compelling visual journey into this part of history, regardless of how much knowledge people have about it.
Fortunately, director Tom O’Dell, who also wrote and edited “Days of Rage,” has constructed the story in such a fascinating way that viewers shouldn’t mind how long it takes for the film to get to the details of Altamont, since the preceding content provides much-needed context to explain how the Rolling Stones ended up in the most tragic moment of the band’s history. Unlike many unauthorized films about famous entertainers that are released direct to video, this isn’t a shoddy, “fly by night” money grab that interviews people with questionable credibility who have no connection to the artist. Two of the key people who were in the Rolling Stones’ inner circle in 1969 and who were at Altamont are interviewed for “Days of Rage”: former Rolling Stones tour manager Sam Cutler and Ronnie Schneider, who was a producer of the Rolling Stones’ 1969 tour.
The quality of “Days of Rage” is on par with a news documentary on CNN or BBC. Much of the Rolling Stones archival video footage in the documentary is from ABKCO, the company that owns the rights to most of the band’s 1960s recordings and official video archives. There are also clips from Rolling Stones documentaries, such as “Gimme Shelter,” “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Stones in the Park.” Given that “Days of Rage” is a low-budget independent film, the filmmakers wouldn’t have been able to afford the rights to license original recordings of Rolling Stones songs for use in the documentary, so generic facsimile music is used as the soundtrack instead, except for one snippet of the original recording of the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man.”
The documentary also includes the expected representation of authors and journalists (a mix of Brits and Americans) who provide commentary. They include “The Rolling Stones Discover America” author Michael Lydon, who attended the Altamont concert as a journalist; Rolling Stone magazine contributor Anthony DeCurtis; journalist Nigel Williamson, who’s known for his work for Uncut and Billboard magazines; “Altamont” author Joel Selvin, who was the San Francisco Chronicle’s pop-music critic from 1972 to 2009; Grateful Dead historian Peter Richardson; “Rolling Stones: Off the Record” author Mark Paytress; photographer Gered Mankowitz, who took some of the most iconic photos of the Rolling Stones in the 1960s; “1968 in America” author Joel Kaiser; and Keith Altham, who was a writer/editor at NME from 1964 to 1967, and who later became an entertainment publicist whose clients included the Rolling Stones. All of these talking heads provide articulate and insightful viewpoints. The documentary also benefits from the appealing British narration of Thomas Arnold.
The first third of the movie delves into the 1960s British Invasion (rock/pop acts from Great Britain taking over the American charts), the influential London youth culture, the Generation Gap and the Rolling Stones’ image as the rebellious antithesis to the more family-friendly Beatles. It was an image that was carefully crafted by Andrew Loog Oldham, a former publicist who was the Rolling Stones’ manager/producer from 1964 to 1967, when he was ousted in favor of American manager Allen Klein, whose background was in accounting. It was Klein who was a key player in the Rolling Stones getting lucrative record deals and becoming a top touring act, but he is described in most historical accounts of the Stones as a greedy bully who was involved in legal battles with the Stones for years after they fired him in 1969. (Klein, who died in 2009, founded the aforementioned ABKCO.)
The second third of the movie covers the rise of the counterculture in the mid-to-late 1960s, particularly in San Francisco, the home base of the Grateful Dead, which used Hell’s Angels gang members as peaceful security employees during the band’s concerts. (The Hell’s Angels were far from peaceful at Altamont.) All of these changes in society took place during the rise of LSD gurus Ken Kesey and Timothy Leary; California’s influential 1967 mass gatherings the Human Be-In (in San Francisco) and the Monterey Pop Festival; increasingly violent political protests; and the 1968 assassinations of civil-rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.
During this era, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones (who had almost parallel careers in the 1960s) were part of the soundtracks to millions of people’s lives. The documentary notes the contrast between the two bands in the pivotal year of 1967: While the Beatles triumphed with the universally praised, artful masterpiece album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and with anthems such as “All You Need Is Love,” the Rolling Stones stumbled with the critically panned album “Their Satanic Majesties Request” and the sardonic “We Love You” single, which failed to resonate with audiences on a wide level. The Rolling Stones were further sidelined in 1967 by legal problems for lead singer Mick Jagger, rhythm guitarist Keith Richards (the two chief songwriters of the Rolling Stones) and lead guitarist Brian Jones, who all got busted for drugs, resulting in jail time and scandalous trials.
But with civil unrest happening in many parts of the world, the Stones returned with a vengeance to the top of their game, marking the beginning of what many music historians and Stones fans consider to be the band’s best and most creative period in the late 1960s to early 1970s. The zenith of the Rolling Stones began in 1968 with the release of the single “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and the “Beggars Banquet” album, which included other Stones classics such as “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man.” By 1969, the Stones were ready to tour again, this time with new guitarist Mick Taylor, the replacement for Rolling Stones co-founder Jones, who died by drowning on June 3, 1969, less than a month after he left the band. It was the first major lineup change to the Rolling Stones since the band began making records in 1963. The lineup was rounded out by drummer Charlie Watts and bass player Bill Wyman.
The Rolling Stones’ first concert with Taylor was a massive free show (with an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people in attendance) at London’s Hyde Park on July 5, 1969, with the concert’s focus changing into a tribute to Jones because of his unexpected death. Even though the Hyde Park show was generally considered one of the worst concerts the Rolling Stones ever performed (their playing was out-of-tune and ragged), the show was a peaceful event with security provided by the British Hell’s Angels. The Hyde Park concert planted the seed for the idea of the Rolling Stones headlining a similar gigantic free concert in America, especially after the Woodstock Festival in August of 1969 became a cultural phenomenon. The Rolling Stones did not perform at Woodstock or the Monterey Pop Festival, and the documentary mentions that Jagger was particularly keen on performing at a huge counterculture event in America.
And when the Grateful Dead’s co-manager Rock Scully suggested that the Rolling Stones headline a free, one-day, Woodstock-inspired festival in San Francisco, with security provided by the Hell’s Angels, plans were set in motion for the concert that would become Altamont. In addition to the Rolling Stones, other bands on the bill were the Grateful Dead, Santana, Jefferson Airplane and the quartet Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. All four of these California-based acts except for CSN&Y member Neil Young had performed at Woodstock. The Rolling Stones’ “Let It Bleed” album (which included the classic single “Gimme Shelter”) was scheduled to be released just one day before the Altamont concert, which was essentially supposed to be a high-profile launching pad for the album.
The documentary points out that the British Hell’s Angels who provided security at the Rolling Stones’ Hyde Park concert were pussycats compared to their violent counterparts in America. Selvin further notes that the San Francisco chapter of the Hell’s Angels that the Grateful Dead worked with were much more benevolent than the “thugs” of the San Jose chapter of the Hell’s Angels who ended up committing the majority of the mayhem at the Altamont concert. The festival was so mismanaged that it never would have happened by today’s standards, due to all the present-day safety/insurance requirements and liability prevention policies that most U.S. cities, concert venues and promoters have. Plans to have the concert at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco were scrapped after the city refused a permit because the park wasn’t large enough for the expected audience size. The concert location was then changed to Sears Point Raceway in suburban Sonoma, but two days before the show, that concert site was cancelled after the Sears Point Raceway owners demanded exorbitant fees that the concert promoters weren’t willing to pay.
Out of sheer desperation, the concert was moved to the Altamont Speedway in suburban Livermore. The site, which was in a state of disrepair, was woefully ill-equipped to handle the crowd of an estimated 300,000 people who showed up. There were major problems with inadequate space, sanitation, food and medical facilities. Making matters worse, the stage was dangerously close to the crowd. At the Sears Point Raceway, the stage had been safely located at the top of a steep incline, so it was inaccessible to the audience. At the Altamont Speedway, the opposite was true—the stage had to be built at the bottom of an incline—so it was very easy for audience members to slide down the incline and reach the bottom of the landfill pit where the stage was located. Attempts to put barricades around the incline proved to be ineffective.
Even with these production problems and the large quantities of illegal drugs taken by the audience, people interviewed in the documentary say that the concert would have been relatively peaceful if there hadn’t been a bad group of Hell’s Angels inflicting an excessive and disturbing amount of violence on innocent people. The documentary has a harrowing account of the inescapable sounds of people being beaten with pipes and other weapons by the gang members. And a few band members weren’t spared from the violence either. Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin was beaten when he tried to stop a Hell’s Angels assault. Jagger, upon arriving at the concert site, was punched in the face by a drugged-out audience member. Band members pleaded several times on stage for the violence to stop, but those pleas were essentially ignored, and it wasn’t unusual for a Hell’s Angel member to get up on stage and threaten the performers.
The Grateful Dead got so freaked out by the violence that they refused to perform and immediately left the area. Schneider, a nephew of former Rolling Stones manager Klein, was one of the chief people responsible for promoting the concert, and he partially blames the Grateful Dead for the escalating Altamont violence, because the band abandoned the show. Schneider believes that if the Grateful Dead had played, the band’s laid-back jamming would have mellowed out the audience. Instead, there was nothing to fill the long time gap left by the abrupt departure of the Grateful Dead, and the audience had to wait for hours before the Stones arrived, further ramping up the tensions and violence.
There are graphic descriptions of what happened during and after the murder of audience member Hunter. According to eyewitnesses, his bloodied body was shockingly placed on stage and then backstage during the Rolling Stones’ performance, in order for his body not to be further violated by the angry and out-of-control Hell’s Angels. These descriptions are not in the “Gimme Shelter” documentary, which rightfully edited out the most disturbing footage of the murder. (Hell’s Angel member Alan Passaro, who was arrested for the stabbing, claimed self-defense because Hunter had pulled out a gun. Passaro was later tried and acquitted of the murder in 1971.) Some of the commentators, especially Selvin, want it to be known that the Rolling Stones perpetuated a myth that the band didn’t know about the murder until after their performance. Selvin said that the lights were so bright on stage (since the concert was being filmed) and the audience was so close to the stage that it was impossible for people on stage not to see all the violence being committed just a few feet in front of them.
The documentary also includes a photo of Jagger looking at a group of people standing around what is said to be Hunter’s dead body on stage. According to Selvin, it was Jagger’s decision for the Rolling Stones to continue performing, even after Jagger knew that someone had been murdered during the band’s set. Since Jagger has not publicly discussed the murder in detail, and he’s not interviewed for this documentary, his side of the story isn’t presented. However, the implication from the Rolling Stones insiders (Cutler and Schneider) who were at the Altamont concert and who were interviewed for this film is that Jagger probably thought that the violence would get worse if the Stones didn’t finish their performance.
Richards briefly told his memories of Altamont in his 2010 memoir, “Life,” but he did not go into any of the gruesome details. Wyman (who quit the band in 1993) ended his 1990 memoir, “Stone Alone,” with the death of Jones, who died six months before Altamont happened. Wyman barely mentioned Altamont in his 2019 biographical documentary “The Quiet One.” Taylor (who quit the Rolling Stones in 1974) and Watts have also not opened up publicly about how much of the murder and body disposal they saw.
Even if you’re a die-hard Rolling Stones fan who’s read numerous accounts of the Altamont concert or if you’ve seen “Gimme Shelter,” watching “Days of Rage” will still make an impact in showing how the peace and love dream of the ’60s counterculture turned into a sickening and brutal nightmare that’s also a cautionary and very tragic tale.
Vision Films released “Days of Rage: The Rolling Stones’ Road to Altamont” on VOD and digital on January 7, 2020.
Directed by Rachel Leah Jones and Phillipe Bellaïche
Hebrew with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in Israel, this documentary has mostly Israeli Jews with a significant representation of Palestinian Muslims.
Culture Clash: This entire movie is about how the longtime and ongoing conflicts between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims affect the criminal-justice system in Israel.
Culture Audience: “Advocate” will appeal primarily to those who like arthouse international documentaries that cover civil rights, legal issues and criminal justice from a left-wing/liberal point of view.
Lea Tsemel in “Advocate” (Photo courtesy of Film Movement)
Controversial attorney Lea Tsemel has gotten used to being called a traitor and a “devil’s advocate” in her native Israel, because her specialty is representing Palestinian Muslim minorities in Israel who are usually accused of violent acts of terrorism or hate crimes. Tsemel says her clients are frequently targeted for unfair criminal prosecutions and are given harsher sentences than non-Muslims. A self-described left-wing activist, Tsemel is Jewish (most of her family members on her mother’s side were murdered in the Holocaust), but she’s not overtly religious. Her true religion is taking up causes for people she considers misunderstood underdogs and fighting a criminal-justice system that she says is biased against them.
Tsemel says she is not anti-Israel, but she will usually side with those she sees as being persecuted and deprived of their civil rights. Instead of cowering from the onslaught of hateful criticism that she gets from much of the Israeli public, she uses it has a badge of honor that she’s doing something right in shaking up a system that she wants to hold accountable for civil-rights violations. “Advocate” directors Rachel Leah Jones and Phillipe Bellaïche have made a compelling portrait of Tsemel by alternating between up-close access to her present-day life and archival footage that shows glimpses of her past.
Born in 1945, Tsemel is at an age when most people have settled into retirement. However, she shows no signs of slowing down. Her reputation of being a tough defense lawyer is one she’s had since she began practicing law in the 1970s, but her iconoclastic activism started long before she became an attorney. In the movie, she recalls her days as a volunteer soldier in 1967, and she claims she was one of the first Israeli women to visit the Wailing Wall. She had interactions with Arabs from an early age, since she grew up in an Arab-owned house in her hometown of Haifa, Israel.
As a student at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, she frequently participated in activism rallies and protests organized by the radical Israeli group Marzpen. It was at one of these Marzpen protests that she was first seen by fellow Hebrew University student Michel Warschawski, who would later become her husband and a fellow left-wing activist. Warschawski, who is interviewed in the documentary, says he was intrigued not only by her physical appearance but also her fearless attitude. He vividly describes the first time he saw her at the protest as being a short, attractive, miniskirt-wearing woman who had a big voice and wasn’t shy about using crude language to make her point. When a disapproving man watching the protest told her she should be worried about finding a husband, she shouted him down by essentially telling him that he should be worried about his small penis size.
Even though Tsemel and Warshcawski have kids together, they freely admit that her obsessive devotion to her work has made her family her secondary priority. Their son Nissan (nicknamed “Nini”) and daughter Talila are interviewed in the documentary, and they offer their perspectives of growing up with a mother who is a controversial public figure. Nini remembers a rare occasion from his childhood when he and his mother were spending leisure time together by talking a walk outside. They were stopped by a stranger, who showed them he had a gun and told Tsemel that people were watching her. Nini remembers being very frightened by the incident and asking his mother why she wanted to do this work if it was so dangerous. She replied that she can’t do anything else besides her work. Even though death threats are part of her mother’s work, Talila says that because of her mother’s gritty courage in dealing with her enemies, she and her family feel protected.
From the very first scene of “Advocate,” viewers see Tsemel’s dominant, “take charge” personality when, during a meeting with a client who’s accused of stabbing 11 people on a bus, she tells him about how she wants things to go for an upcoming court appearance: “I’ll do the talking.” The client was charged with 11 counts of attempted murder, but Tsemel got the charges reduced to one count of attempted murder. In Tsemel’s line of work, that reduction of charges is a major victory. Viewers don’t find out the final outcome of the case because the documentary then shifts to the case that is the primary focus of the film, making “Advocate” not just a biography of Tsemel but also a tense legal drama.
Tsemel is the defense attorney for a boy named Ahmad, who is in his mid-teens and charged with two counts of attempted murder. Several facts of the case are disputed by the prosecution and the defense, but both sides agree that Ahmad and his older teenage cousin Hassan were going around Jerusalem’s Pisgat Zeev neighborhood, openly carrying knives (some of this activity was caught on surveillance video), and two Jewish people (a man and a boy) got stabbed. The stabbings were not caught on video. In the resulting melee, Ahmad ran out on a street and was hit by a car, while Hassan was shot and killed by police. Ahmad had head and arm injuries as a result of the car accident, but they weren’t life-threatening injuries, and he was arrested. His defense was that Hassan did the stabbing, and that their intent was to scare people with the knives, not kill them.
There are certain people (such as Ahmad) in the documentary whose identities are protected. The documentary doesn’t reveal their last names, and their faces are superimposed with animation, which is shown in split screen with unaltered images in the same scene. Many of Ahmad’s adult relatives, including his mother and father, are shown on camera. Cameras and other recording equipment are not allowed in the courtroom, although cameras and other recording equipment are allowed in the courthouse hallways, which is where the documentary gets the majority of the courthouse footage.
In this high-profile case against Ahmad, the prosecution portrays Ahmad as a terrorist who committed a hate crime. The defense’s argument is that there is no proof that Ahmad actually did the stabbing, the crime committed was not a terrorist act or hate crime, and the attempted murder charges should be dropped. At the heart of the case is the issue of intent: Was the intent murder or something else? Tsemel and her younger co-counsel Tareq Barghout are faced with the decision to do a plea-bargain deal or take the case to trial. Revealing their decision and the outcome of the case would be spoiler information, but it’s enough to say that Tsemel, by her own admission, is the kind of person who doesn’t just back down from a fight, she runs toward it and sometimes instigates it. The decision on whether or not to take the case to trial is divisive among members of her own legal team, who express their differing opinions on what to do.
Barghout is cocky with a sarcastic edge to his humor, but his bark turns out to be worse than his bite. Although Tsemel is clearly his mentor, Barghout doesn’t have the nerves of steel that she does. In one scene in the documentary, Tsemel and Barghout have to face the media in the courthouse hallway after getting a judge’s decision that’s a setback in Ahmad’s case. Tsemel barrels ahead to face the cameras and answer questions from reporters during the impromptu press conference, while Barghout decides he can’t deal with the media at that moment, so he ducks out and leaves through a back staircase. He eventually returns, somewhat sheepishly, when the press conference is nearly over, but his actions show how conflicted he feels about the public scrutiny of being Tsemel’s right-hand man. A major development involving Barghout has happened since “Advocate” had its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. This development won’t be a spoiler reveal in this movie review, but the documentary mentions this development in an updated postscript before the movie’s end credits.
“Advocate” makes it clear that although Tsemel can be compassionate with her clients, that compassion doesn’t always extend to her employees. In one scene in the film, Barghout and Tsemel joke about an intern in their office who abruptly quit because the intern didn’t like how Tsemel yelled at the intern and told him to “eat shit” (metaphorically) after the intern resisted doing a requested office task. Barghout comments that Tsemel has said things worse things to Barghout and other people who work for her, so they have to find an intern who can handle Tsemel’s cursing and abrasive manner.
One of the biggest legal issues that really gets Tsemel riled up is how authority figures use unethical interrogation techniques, which can lead to false confessions. She thinks that torture and illegal interrogation methods are much more common than what’s reported, and she believes almost all of her clients have been victims of this abuse of power. The documentary includes released footage clips of Ahmad being interrogated by police shortly after being hit by a car. The footage shows Ahmad wailing to an irate, screaming police officer that he doesn’t remember what happened and he wants to be taken to a doctor. It’s footage that may be difficult for some viewers to watch, but it’s essential to understand why people have different opinions on how suspects should be treated during interrogations.
The interrogation issue is also a personal matter for Tsemel, because her husband Warschawski was brutally interrogated after being arrested in 1987 for running the Alternative Information Center, a radical political resource base that served anyone who wanted it, but the center was perceived by the Israeli government as being a haven for anti-Israeli/anti-Semitic Muslims. In an interview for the documentary, Warschawski remembers the abusive interrogations that he endured while in jail. When he contacted Tsemel and begged her to get him out of jail, she refused, and told him that she wasn’t worthy of being her husband if he couldn’t toughen up. (And she reminded her husband that the main interrogator was stuck in the same job for years, which meant that he wasn’t considered good enough to be promoted, so he shouldn’t be feared.)
Tsemel is obviously a charismatic force who’s interesting enough to have an entire documentary made about her. However, viewers should know going into this movie that the filmmakers (who’ve known Tsemel since the 1990s) are clearly fans of her, because they present very little viewpoints from the opposing side, other than clips of media footage showing Tsemel in verbal spats with opponents on talk shows, or courthouse footage of a prosecutor making remarks during a hallway press conference. The movie’s main flaw is it shows no attempt to interview people on the victims’ side. Regardless of what people think should happen to Tsemel’s clients, there are people who’ve gotten killed or hurt as a result of violent actions, and the survivors’ perspectives are shut of out this film.
The talking heads in the movie include Palestinian feminist political activist Hanan Ashrawi, who talks about how normal it is for Palestinian families in Israel to have a family member who’s been a political prisoner. Also interviewed is Avigdor Feldman, an Israeli human/civil rights lawyer, who says that even though Israel passed tougher laws that restrict torture techniques in interrogations, the laws are ignored by Israel’s Secret Service. Although these intellectual viewpoints offer much-needed perspectives from people who aren’t clients, employees or family members of Tsemel, these talking heads obviously have similar left-wing mindsets.
As a biography that portrays Tsemel as a flawed but admirable anti-establishment hero, this documentary succeeds on all counts. As a balanced look at Israeli’s legal system, this documentary fails to tell a well-rounded story that can be considered true investigative journalism. But on a purely human level, “Advocate” is best enjoyed if you like to root for people who go against the system to take on unpopular causes at the risk of their own safety and comfort.
Film Movement released “Advocate” in select U.S. cinemas on January 3, 2020.
All TV shows listed here are U.S.-based TV series. Availability might vary outside of the United States. Show descriptions are from the TV networks. Click on the show’s title to the go to the show’s official website that has air dates and more information.
ABC News’ “20/20” is an award-winning primetime program. A proven leader as a long-form newsmagazine for over 40 years, “20/20” features unforgettable, character-driven true-crime mysteries, exclusive newsmaker interviews, hard-hitting investigative reports and in-depth coverage of high-profile stories.
“48 Hours” is one of the most successful law and justice programs in television history. The enduring appeal of the program is based on original reporting and impact journalism. “48 Hours” has helped exonerate the wrongly convicted, helped solve cold cases, and is committed to investigating the most intriguing and compelling true crime cases. “48 Hours” has been recognized with multiple Peabodys, Emmys, RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Awards and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. Erin Moriarty, Peter Van Sant, Maureen Maher, Richard Schlesinger, Tracy Smith are correspondents. Judy Tygard is executive producer, Nancy Kramer is executive story editor.
This one-of-a-kind documentary series brings viewers behind-the-scenes of the fast-paced, high-stakes world of a dynamic 911 call center outside of Cleveland. This is an up-close and personal look at an amazing team of 911 dispatchers as they take on a never-ending bombardment of panic-stricken callers, and save lives. These dedicated professionals really are the unsung heroes of law enforcement.
Series Premiere: November 6, 2021.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Each hour-long episode retraces the investigation from start to finish, taking viewers through the twists and turns of these shocking cases, from dissecting the red flags to the undeniable evidence, and strange behavior that put the tragedy in question. With the families fighting for justice and the detectives on the case determined to find the truth, motives will be exposed and justice will be served as the families finally find out what caused the death of their loved ones.
Series Premiere: March 23, 2019.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Imagine being accused of a crime, knowing you may spend years in prison. A&E Network’s documentary series “Accused: Guilty or Innocent?” follows the dramatic inside stories—as they unfold—of people facing trial for serious crimes they are alleged to have committed. “Accused: Guilty or Innocent?” offers an intimate account of what happens when someone is formally charged with a crime and sent to trial—all solely from the perspective of the accused, their legal team and family members. Each episode follows the accused person’s journey through the planning of their legal defense, the trial and, ultimately, the verdict. “Accused: Guilty or Innocent?” is produced by Brinkworth Productions. Malcolm Brinkworth and Xander Brinkwork are Executive Producers. Elaine Frontain Bryant, Shelly Tatro and Brad Holcman are Executive Producers for A&E.
Series Premiere: April 21, 2020.
Available on A&E, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
This true-crime series hosted by Lt. Joe Kenda, one of America’s toughest detectives, features incredibly disturbing and mind-blowing cases from across the country. Lt. Kenda expertly guides us through the complex twists and turns of these bizarre crimes.
Series Premiere: January 4, 2021.
Available on Discovery+, Investigation Discovery, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Discover multimillion-dollar scams that build unimaginable wealth. Go to places where devious frauds feed deviant desires. And witness the fatal flaws that bring criminals to justice. “American Greed” takes you deep inside shocking true stories of brazen con artists who thrive on stealing fortunes, ruining and even taking lives. In-depth reporting exposes the devastating effects greed has on victims, bringing you up-close to heartless villains living large on other people’s life savings. How do these crooked masterminds defraud the wealthy, rip off their own families, and scam their friends? On “American Greed” (narrated by award-winning actor Stacy Keach), crime pays well, until the crooks get caught. Some people will do anything for money. With evil like this, no one is safe. “American Greed” is produced for CNBC by the independent documentary production company Kurtis Productions, which was formed in Chicago in 1988 by broadcast journalist Bill Kurtis.
Series Premiere: June 21, 2007.
Available on CNBC, Peacock, SlingTV, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Narrated by actor Dennis Haysbert (“24,” “The Unit,”) the newly reimagined and iconic “American Justice” looks at recent criminal cases in the United States through the prism of the criminal justice system, and from the first-hand perspectives of the prosecutors, defense attorneys, investigators, victims and perpetrators involved. The series dives into significant crimes that were adjudicated within the last few years, from trials that made national headlines to gripping lesser-known cases, ensuring that the issues being explored are relevant. Each story reveals how our justice system works, and, sometimes, how it doesn’t. One of the original true crime documentary series, “American Justice” originally aired for 13 years (1992-2005) on A&E, and was revived in 2021.
Series Premiere: September 15, 1992; August 20, 2021 (reboot)
Available on A&E, A&E Crime Central, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
Monsters can be found lurking behind any innocent smile and on any street corner in America. Never-before-seen-video footage stares straight into the eyes of these killers who hide in plain sight.
Series Premiere: June 1, 2016.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Offering an immersive portrayal of life on the streets, “Body Cam” engages a unique storytelling technique combining the body camera footage with first-hand accounts to virtually place viewers in harrowing moments as the suspense builds and the tension rises. Each episode tells multiple stories of those who vowed to protect and serve in unflinching detail, offering viewers their own personal perspective of officers in life-threatening circumstances. From domestic disputes to ambushes and traffic stops gone dangerously awry, “Body Cam” profiles just how quickly seemingly routine situations can escalate into tragic altercations. Produced by Arrow Media.
Series Premiere: November 27, 2018.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Buried in the Backyard” examines true-crime stories of victims found hidden in quintessential idyllic spaces. Unearthing the human remains is only the beginning, however, as each hour-long episode focuses on a compelling police investigation that unravels the mystery surrounding the victim’s identity and cause of death. “Buried in the Backyard” is produced by Renegade 83, an Entertainment One company, with Jay Renfroe, David Garfinkle, Bob Kusbit and Carolyn B. Day serving as executive producers. There are also the spinoff series “Buried in the Backyard: Buried in the House” and “Buried in the Backyard: Buried in the Sand.”
Series Premiere: June 3, 2018.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
It’s an iconic line in any crime story: when a suspect is arrested, they get one call. In reality, once a person enters the criminal justice system, they have multiple opportunities to make calls as they await trial. The vast majority of those calls are recorded. An admission, a threat, a slip of the tongue, a bribe it’s all on tape and the suspect knows it. But this doesn’t always stop them from talking and talking. Calls From the Inside, uses jailhouse phone calls to frame the narrative of murder investigations steeped in mystery.
Series Premiere: December 29, 2021.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
What happens when the clues to a murder aren’t just physical, but digital? Caught in the Net presents gripping true stories of investigators entering the digital world to solve a brutal murder. In each case, detectives are up against a lack of physical clues. But every time anyone goes online, whether it’s chat rooms, cellphone apps, car GPS or fitness trackers, they leave a digital trail behind them. Now investigators must enter this virtual world and follow the data, as they race against time to secure justice for victims’ families and track down the killer.
Series Premiere: March 14, 2022.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Chaos in Court” examines clips of dramatic, unexpected, and cathartic courtroom moments captured in real time. Each hour brings the backstories of the crimes and legal proceedings to the forefront with actual courtroom footage, so shocking, it has to be seen, to be believed. With insightful analysis from a diverse panel of experts including judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and criminal psychologists, “Chaos in Court” takes you into the proceedings analyzing each case from start to finish. Featured within each of the ten episodes are interviews with defendants, family members, and others who witnessed the action to help bring dramatic courtroom moments to life, and the emotional realities of what happens when the ultimate stakes are on trial.
Series Premiere: September 18, 2020.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“City Confidential” returns to explore crimes that have impacted cities and towns across America. The iconic, noir-style series goes beyond the headlines to showcase the emotional and unexpected stories that catapulted unique communities, both large and small, into the public eye. Narrated by actor Mike Colter, “City Confidential” tells the story of one crime, the ensuing investigation, and the ripple effect it had on a community. Speaking with family, friends, detectives, journalists, and others close to the case, the series weaves together firsthand accounts and archival footage to explore the crime and its outcome.
Series Premiere: November 7, 1998; October 28, 2021 (reboot)
Available on A&E, A&E Crime Central, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
There are over 100,000 cold cases in America, and only about 1% are ever solved. With recent advancements in technology and the methods used to solve these cases, as well as the unwavering dedication of victims’ families, law enforcement and the public, “Cold Case Files” explores the cases the defied the odds. Narrated by the original host and producer of “Cold Case Files,” celebrated veteran journalist and newsman Bill Kurtis, each episode of the Emmy-nominated series examines the twists and turns of one murder case that remained unsolved for years, and the critical element that heated it up, leading to the evidence that finally solved it. Featuring interviews with family members, friends, detectives, and others close to the cases, the refreshed classic series examines all facets of the crime and shines a light on a range of voices and victims.
Series Premiere: January 1, 1999; February 27, 2017 (reboot); August 20, 2021 (reboot)
Available on A&E, A&E Crime Central, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
From executive producer Dick Wolf and Magical Elves, the real-life crime series follows veteran prosecutor Kelly Siegler, who gets help from seasoned detectives—Johnny Bonds, Steve Spingola, Aaron Sam and Tonya Rider—as they dig into small town murder cases that have lingered for years without answers or justice for the victims. Together with local law enforcement from across the country, the “Cold Justice” team has successfully helped bring about 30 arrests and 16 convictions. No case is too cold for Siegler as the new season delves into new unsolved homicides while also bringing updates to previous cases. “Cold Justice” is produced by Wolf Reality & Magical Elves with Dick Wolf and Tom Thayer serving as executive producers for Wolf Reality and Jane Lipsitz, Dan Cutforth, Kelly Siegler, Nan Strait and Scott Patch serving as executive producers for Magical Elves.
Series Premiere: September 3, 2013.
Available on TNT (2013-2015); Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV (2017-present); Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
A&E Network takes viewers inside America’s courtrooms in the new series “Court Cam” executive produced by Law&Crime Productions and Dan Abrams, former host of A&E’s “Live PD” and chief legal analyst for ABC News. This eight-episode 30-minute series gives viewers a front row seat to some of the most wild, unruly and outrageous courtroom moments recently caught on tape.
Series Premiere: December 5, 2019.
Available on A&E, A&E Crime Central, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
“Crimes Gone Viral” explores the riveting stories behind shocking crimes caught on camera that gain viral fame on the internet. From business security cameras to home surveillance systems and cell phone cameras, someone is almost always watching. Gripping clips of kidnappings, break-ins, wild car chases, violent road rage incidents and other crimes rack up millions of views. But “Crimes Gone Viral” goes beyond the jaw-dropping footage to tell the full story. This series features compelling interviews and behind-the-scenes information of some of the internet’s most viral crime clips.
Series Premiere: September 9, 2020.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
In her 12 years as a Crime Scene Investigator for Orange County, Florida, C.S.I Alina Burroughs investigated some of the most startling and devastating cases in the country – from the tragic 2008 death of toddler Caylee Anthony to the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre. Through her work she has learned that people may not always tell the truth, but the forensic evidence never lies. In this gripping ID series, Burroughs revisits controversial and shocking murder cases from across the country, taking a fresh look at the forensic evidence with the hope to bring more clarity to these complex crimes and closure to those the victims left behind.
Series Premiere: March 8, 2022.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Certain cases are seared into the American consciousness. They are a part of how we look at society, good and evil. But what would happen if we could go back in time, or back in crime, and look again? This unique series fully re-immerses the viewer in these cases as we experienced them at the time by pairing the best news archive with audio interviews, reintroducing these cases from a new standpoint. Each episode shows the evolution of how these cases were perceived by the public then and how we view them now, exposing how the times have changed, and revealing the lessons learned from each case.
Series Premiere: November 11, 2020.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Dateline” is NBC’s signature newsmagazine, bringing viewers storytelling at its best. The stories range from compelling mysteries to powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. When major news breaks, they go to the scene, putting the pieces together to bring the viewer the full picture. And in every story they tell, they help the real people who lived the events share their journeys with the viewer. On the air since 1992, “Dateline” is the longest-running prime-time program on NBC. “Dateline’s” work has been honored time and again with broadcast journalism’s highest awards. Lester Holt is the principal anchor, joined by correspondents Andrea Canning, Hoda Kotb, Josh Mankiewicz, Keith Morrison and Dennis Murphy.
Series Premiere: March 31, 1992.
Available on NBC, Peacock, SlingTV, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Dateline: Secrets Uncovered,” hosted by Craig Melvin, explores chilling stories through first-hand accounts, told by those closest to the issue, including investigators entrusted with cracking the case and the families confronting tragedy.
Series Premiere: July 21, 2017.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially when she’s on a mission to murder. There’s no shortage of these tempestuous “Deadly Women,” Investigation Discovery’s signature hit series about women who have been driven to kill. Jealousy, revenge, desperation, and greed all play their devilish hand in driving these daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives to commit the ultimate sin. While male murderers are often motivated by anger, impulse, and destruction, women usually have more complex, long-term motives. Former FBI criminal profiler Candice DeLong helps viewers distinguish between the emotionally charged impulses and sociopathic intentions that lace each story.
Series Premiere: February 8, 2005 (as a limited series); December 24, 2008 (as a regular series).
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Deep in the woods, inside an abandoned house, or along the shores of a sleepy lake, every snap of a twig or unidentified rustle can be a sign of danger. “Dead Silent” shows just how dark and desolate the great outdoors can be when no one can reach you, where myth, urban legend, and horror movie dread collide to showcase twisted tales too frightening to be imaginary. Each hour-long episode features one spine-tingling and terrifying true story, interwoven with expert commentary from local authorities, true-crime experts, and psychologists, as well as first-person accounts from many of the victims who survived these nightmarish events.
Series Premiere: October 25, 2016.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Each one-hour episode of “Devoured” is a deep dive into a single true crime story that centers on one American city or region’s food specialty. Viewers will be taken through a thrill-ride of twists and turns as narrator Jon Cryer uncovers the unbelievable stories of how food fuels criminal enterprises, both large and small. Along the way, the series dishes up the food’s origin story and impact on the culinary landscape—while revealing how our passion for eating well can become a recipe for doing wrong.
What if the person closest to you was a devil in disguise—would you see the signs? Investigation Discovery’s original series “Evil Lives Here” explores the true, heart-stopping stories of people who shared a home and a life with a loved one who would become a killer. “Evil Lives Here” has exclusive interviews and never-before-told accounts of the years and critical moments leading up to these vicious acts, “Evil Lives Here” showcases the devastating and often undiscussed consequences on the people who have nurtured, loved and raised a murderer.
Series Premiere: January 17, 2016.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Family Massacre” is a gripping and powerful exploration of some of the most ruthless murders ever committed. This series follows the true and gruesome tales of the unthinkable: multiple members of the same family slain in cold blood. In each episode, we hear from friends and surviving relatives, those people closest to the family that was massacred, while also detailing the work of the dedicated investigators and prosecutors tasked with finding their killer and bringing them to justice. Through first-hand accounts, archival footage and cinematic recreations, we see the twists and turns of the investigation unfold and delve deep into who could have committed such a shocking crime and just how they were caught and made to answer for it.
Series Premiere: December 3, 2021.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Each pulse-pounding hour-long episode of “Fatal Attraction” centers around an incredible and dangerous romance. Shocking crime, kidnapping or even murder is only half of the story. Driven by powerful, real-life stories, “Fatal Attraction” weaves together intimate, first-person interviews, exclusive interrogation footage and rare archival material. Listen as the key players, family of the survivors and those that investigated the horrific crimes reveal the secrets to each sordid tale.
“The FBI Declassified” features FBI agents and analysts taking viewers behind the scenes of some of the biggest cases they’ve solved during their careers. Through never-before-seen footage and in-depth interviews, each episode will focus on a different investigation and showcase the cooperation between the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Agents and analysts reveal the thinking, teamwork, technology, techniques and pure gut instinct that goes into solving a critical case. The show’s narrator is Alana De La Garza, star of CBS’s “FBI” drama series.
Series Premiere: October 6, 2020.
Available on CBS, Paramount+, YouTube TV and FubuTV.
The biggest enemy for any homicide detective is not the suspect…it’s the clock. In fact, if they don’t find a lead in the first 48 hours, their chances of catching the killer are cut in half. The “First 48” tracks real homicide detectives as they struggle to solve murder cases across the country. Gripping, authentic and dramatic, viewers are brought along for the ride as the detectives hunt for killers to bring to justice.
Series Premiere: June 3, 2004.
Available on A&E, A&E Crime Central, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
Long considered the gold standard of crime docuseries, “Forensic Files” returned after an eight-year production hiatus, now produced by CNN Development for HLN under the guidance of executive producer Nancy Duffy. “Forensic Files II” continues the franchise, featuring the amazing work of scientists and investigators who use cutting edge forensics to crack the most baffling criminal cases. Acclaimed film, stage and television actor Bill Camp (“Dark Waters,” “Joker,” “The Night Of”) is the narrator.
“For My Man” is a true-crime series that features the salacious and shocking stories of women who have been arrested for a crime they did in the name of love. From a killing spree across the mid-west to being an inside informant at the DEA and from murdering an unsupportive mother to robbing fifteen banks in under a year, these women have no limits as to how far they’ll go for their men. And do not be misled; these are not the women you’d expect. They are straight-A students, career police officers and once happily married women. These are the stories of the obsessions and weakness that fueled their fall from grace.
“Homicide City” takes a deep dive into the crimes that shook Philadelphia to its core. The series explores cases from a darker time that had police detectives banding together across the metropolitan landscape in a sequence of manhunts. From the mansions of the wealthy suburbs to the rowhouse-lined streets of the inner city, each episode is told through the eyes of veteran homicide detectives, local beat reporters and the victims’ families who lost so much.
Series Premiere: January 1, 2018:
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
The holiday season is usually the busiest and happiest time of the year and spent with family and friends, but unfortunately can leave a painful surprise when it begins with a shocking murder. Each hour-long episode examines a devastating case as police investigate and go to incredible lengths to unveil secrets about the true motive of the killer, giving families justice about their loved ones’ death. With firsthand accounts from those close to the victim, the limited series delves into the alarming cases that prove the holidays can turn the happiest time of the year upside down in a split second.
Series Premiere: December 3, 2016.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Hosted by lauded actor Hill Harper (“The Good Doctor,” “CSI: NY”), “How It Really Happened With Hill Harper” delves deeply into some of the most notorious crimes, mysteries, trials and celebrity tragedies of our time, with enlightening interviews and access to the vast CNN news library. Nancy Duffy is executive producer of the HLN Original Series “How It Really Happened with Hill Harper.”
Their lives are portrayed in movies, TV shows and books and their shocking acts are woven into the fabric of scary stories about real monsters in the world. But what happens when the monster is someone you live with and love? Every hour-long episode of “I Lived with a Killer” brings a haunting new twist to cases that terrified the public with the powerful stories from the family members of killers. Viewers will also hear from members of the victims’ families, detectives on each case and experts who break down the media frenzy around the crimes. “I Lived with a Killer” is produced by Breakthrough Entertainment.
“I Survived a Serial Killer” documents the harrowing, heroic stories of one or more survivors of the same serial killers. Told from the survivors’ point of view, the series highlights the strength and perseverance of regular people encountering and overcoming pure evil. Interviews with those closest to the cases will round out the stories of these unimaginable crimes.
Series Premiere: December 5, 2019.
Available on A&E, A&E Crime Central, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
Putting the victim at the forefront, Investigation Discovery’s “Impact of Murder” utilizes the emotionally gripping victim’s impact statement delivered in court as the driving storytelling technique. Through a victim’s own words, viewers understand the horror they endured or the significance of the life that was taken, providing an acute understanding of the collateral damage of murder. Impact statements act as a source of strength for those who may feeling helpless after a senseless tragedy, showcasing the empowerment that they feel when they stand up in court to address the perpetrator.
Series Premiere: July 14, 2019.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Grammy and NAACP Image Award winner Ice-T (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”) is host and executive producer, using his distinct voice to guide viewers through shocking true stories involving sex, money, obsession – or a fatal cocktail of all three. With in-depth interviews and archival footage, each hour-long episode spotlights a shocking mystery characterized by expert detective work, unforeseen twists and jaw-dropping discoveries. When some of the most basic human desires—sex and money—cloud our judgment with lust and greed, they run the risk of dangerous consequences. “In Ice Cold Blood” is produced by The Content Group with Steven Michaels, Jonathan Koch, Brian Knappmiller, and Ryann Lauckner serving as executive producers, along with Final Level Entertainment with Ice-T and Jorge Hinojosa serving as executive producers.
Series Premiere: April 1, 2018.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Legal analyst Nancy Grace gets to the bottom of some of the most challenging and multi-layered true crime stories. Each episode of “Injustice With Nancy Grace” will expose an untold and riveting case involving wrongful accusations, botched investigations, suppressed evidence, unclear motives, unjust sentences and the path forward in seeking justice. “Injustice With Nancy Grace” is produced by The Intellectual Property Corporation, an Industrial Media company, in conjunction with KT Studios and TAP INc., with Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, Nancy Grace, John Terenzio, Stephanie Lydecker and showrunner Steve Katz serving as executive producers.
Series Premiere: July 13, 2019.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“In Pursuit With John Walsh” unites the power of Investigation Discovery’s dedicated fanbase with John Walsh’s lifelong mission of putting fugitives behind bars, finding missing children, and empowering the public to assist law enforcement. Showcasing time-sensitive, unsolved cases in desperate need of attention, this new real-time investigation series mobilizes ID’s audience to actively engage in the pursuit of justice. Backed by decades of victim advocacy with a mission stemming from his own personal tragedy, “In Pursuit With John Walsh” utilizes Walsh’s unique and unrivaled experience in this field coupled with a call center able to help law enforcement find leads in real time.
Series Premiere: January 16, 2019.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“I Was a Teenage Felon” tells some of the most brazen stories of youthful ambition gone haywire as “average American kids” become smugglers, dealers, hackers, scammers and thieves.
“Judgment With Ashleigh Banfield” is an original series hosted by original Court TV alum and respected former CNN and MSNBC legal analyst Ashleigh Banfield, who made her Court TV return as a special contributor in 2020. “Judgment With Ashleigh Banfield” is a weekly hour-long series taking viewers on a deep dive into the most provocative and talked about trials and cases of all-time. With brand-new interviews and exclusive first-time ever reveals, each installment looks to further explore everything people only thought they knew about these touchstones in judicial history.
“Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole” tells the individual stories of eight previously convicted child offenders sentenced to mandatory life terms, without parole, who are now seeking resentencing on the heels of a recent United States Supreme Court ruling. While some may be resentenced to life, others could be immediately released or given a new sentence that makes them eligible for parole.
Series Premiere: April 30, 2019.
Available on A&E, A&E Crime Central, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
“Killer Motive,” from the producers of NBC’s “Dateline,” is hosted by two award-winning journalists, NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk and Emmy Award winner Troy Roberts. Each hour-long episode uncovers dark and twisted motives, from vengeance to jealousy to greed that led to gruesome killings. “Killer Motive” is produced by NBC News’ award-winning production arm Peacock Productions with Paul Ryan serving as executive producer and Alexa Danner as co-executive producer.
Series Premiere: July 11, 2019.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins” investigates burgeoning romances from their sweet beginnings, and follows what happened all the way through to their bitter endings. With her background as a criminal prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and with her expertise in matters of the heart, Faith Jenkins gives her professional POV of the nightmarish cases. With first-hand accounts from victims’ family, friends and law enforcement, each hour-long episode reveals the inner workings of intimate attachments that seemed fated to last forever and ended in murder.
Series Premiere: January 16, 2022.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Killer Siblings” tells the twisted stories of some of the most maniacal siblings in history. Each hour-long episode explores the psychology and pasts of cold-blooded siblings who have carried out vicious murders. Through exclusive interviews and firsthand accounts, the series delves into the evil minds of siblings who partnered together to commit some of the most heinous and sophisticated homicides. “Killer Siblings” is produced by Scott Sternberg Productions with Scott Sternberg and Matthew Watts serving as executive producers.
Series Premiere: October 27, 2019.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Hosted by renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Terry Dubrow (“Botched”), “License to Kill” chronicles the harrowing accounts of patients put into jeopardy by medical professionals’ insidious use of their expertise. Told from the perspective of victims, families, colleagues and law enforcement, each episode of “License to Kill” exposes what happens when the hands that should heal are used to cause harm on patients at the most vulnerable times. “License to Kill” is produced by Shed Media with Pam Healey, Dan Peirson, Adam Kassen, Haylee Vance, Dave Kuba and Terry Dubrow serving as executive producers.
Series Premiere: June 23, 2019.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Lies, Crimes & Video” gives viewers an intimate look into terrifying 911 calls, police interrogations, jail house recordings, body camera and surveillance video captured as part of a criminal investigation. This series features riveting stories that incorporate video evidence in criminal cases and shocking courtroom testimony. The lies, deceit and bad behavior are all caught on camera and presented in this candid true crime docuseries. Produced by HLN Investigations, Elizabeth Yuskaitis is the executive producer.
“Locked Up Abroad” is a cult cable favorite known for taking viewers inside accounts of capture, incarceration and terror far away from home with intimate personal interviews and dramatic reenactments. Hear the firsthand accounts not only of those who were locked up but also of those who were directly part of the story, such as the undercover agent compiling the evidence against the suspect or the person making the drug dealing offers.
Series Premiere: July 24, 2007.
Available on National Geographic Channel, Hulu, ABC. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Middle American towns are explored through the murders that tore through them. The townspeople not only become storytellers, they also hold clues to the puzzle that forever changed their lives and how they understand their home.
Series Premiere: November 29, 2017.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Homicide investigations unfold through dramatic real footage in this groundbreaking series. Viewers get an up-close perspective of each case using raw, unfiltered footage from body cams at the crime scene, surveillance cameras and interrogation room video.
Series Premiere: August 28, 2019.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Across the country, high school football unites small-town communities. But when a heinous murder shatters that Friday night dream world, the crime ripples beyond those immediately impacted, and the community will never be the same again.
Series Premiere: January 24, 2022.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Oxygen, the home for high quality true crime programming, is diving deep into some of the most chilling murder cases in New York City’s recent history. New York is a shining beacon of opportunity to people across the world, and the convergence of almost innumerable cultures, customs and languages, makes it a true melting pot. It’s a city with a gritty core, where tensions run high. The series, from Good Caper Content, details the brazen crimes that could only happen in New York and the intense work by law enforcement and civilians who race to take murderers off the streets.
Series Premiere: January 1, 2022.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“On the Case With Paula Zahn” takes viewers on an exciting journey inside the most fascinating crime and mystery investigations. First person accounts, along with insight from experts are featured as each case reaches its dramatic conclusion.
Series Premiere: October 18, 2009.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Real Life Nightmare” presents heart-wrenching, personal mysteries and unexplained deaths that continue to baffle investigators and horrify those left behind. Featured in the series is never-before-seen evidence plus a call-to-action that provides viewers an opportunity to be part of the investigation. This docuseries is produced by HLN Investigations, headed by executive producer Elizabeth Yuskaitis.
“The Real Murders of Atlanta” portrays the unbelievable cases of homicide that highlight the boundaries between gentrified Southern dynasties, hip hop hustlers and the flashy nouveau riche of this metropolitan mecca of music, entertainment and tech. Told by the investigators, witnesses, reporters and loved ones who have direct connections to the cases, each hour-long story brings Atlanta’s hustle and deadly decadence into sharp focus. It’s the dark side of the New South, where deadly battles for status and affluence emerge between those who are willing to kill for the good life and those willing to kill to keep it.
Series Premiere: January 18, 2022.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“The Real Murders of Orange County” delves into the most horrific, sinful and salacious cases that rocked Southern California’s wealthy coastal community. From a murder for hire gone wrong to families turning on their own, viewers will hear the harrowing tales of when privilege leads to problems and greed leads to murder. as one wrong turn led to a brutal murder. “The Real Murders of Orange County” is produced by 44 Blue Productions, a Red Arrow Studios company, with Stephanie Noonan Drachkovitch, Josh Bingham, David Hale and Dan Snook serving as Executive Producers.
Series Premiere: November 8, 2020.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Reasonable Doubt” explores controversial murder convictions through an objective lens. With their parallel expertise of the law, hosts retired homicide detective Chris Anderson and criminal defense attorney Fatima Silva know that the justice system doesn’t always get it right. As cries of innocence reverberate through prison cells across the country, this series sets out to help families who are desperate for someone to listen to their evidence and theories, convinced that their loved ones were wrongfully convicted of murder. Each episode is an intense and thorough re-examination of a murder case, where the two pore over evidence, interview witnesses, and consult experts previously overlooked by police or barred by the courts to hopefully reveal the truth. Each episode culminates with the gut-wrenching reveal to the family that either brings hope for an appeal, or clarity to accept the guilty verdict.
Series Premiere: April 26, 2017.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“See No Evil” reveals how the deadliest crimes are solved by the only witnesses that never lie and never forget: surveillance cameras. With more shocking CCTV footage than ever before, “See No Evil” proves there’s nowhere killers can hide.
Series Premiere: February 17, 2015
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
When you are playing with fire, someone is bound to get burned. In the HLN series “Sex & Murder,” detectives undercover dirty secrets, scandalous sex affairs, online sex addictions, dangerous jealousy, and stunning twisted fantasies which have all led to murder.
Charm. Narcissism. Lack of empathy. Impulsiveness. Manipulation. Deception. These traits and others are the telltale “Signs of a Psychopath.” This harrowing archive series revisits some of the most dangerous killers in modern history, reviewing news footage—and the words of the killers themselves—to see which terrifying traits each killer exhibited.
Series Premiere: August 23, 2020.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Sins of the City” is a close-ended series that exposes the dark underbelly of a city you thought you knew, by highlighting the mysterious crimes that changed the community forever. Combining informative takeaways and chilling first-hand storytelling, “Sins of the City” focuses on one shocking murder and begins with the discovery of a body as investigators are called to the scene in each hour-long episode. Each episode concludes with a verdict and the impact the case had on the victim’s family, law enforcement, the city, and the people living there.
Oxygen’s ultimate guilty pleasure profiles the fascinating cases of every day, seemingly average moms, wives and girlfriends accused of murder. Did they really do it? And if so, why? Was it a cheating spouse, years of constant abuse or that dirty dish in the sink? “Snapped” attracts millions of fans, including a wide range of celebrities from Anderson Cooper to Kelly Ripa. There are also the spinoff series “Snapped: Killer Couples” and “Snapped: Notorious.”
Series Premiere: August 6, 2004.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Just because a case is closed doesn’t mean the truth has been revealed. Suicide or murder? Runaway or kidnapping? Accidental or premeditated? “Still a Mystery” re-examines cases where unanswered questions remain. Through original interviews with law enforcement, family members and private investigators, news footage and social media, “Still a Mystery” dissects the evidence and presents new theories in a quest to uncover the truth.
Series Premiere: May 27, 2019.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Suspicion is contagious. What starts as a tiny spark of doubt focused on one individual can metastasize and cast a shadow on everything you, your community, and ultimately law enforcement thought to be true. “Suspicious Minds” creates a visceral viewing experience where a murder mystery unfolds as a psychological thriller where suspicion and doubt cloud the perceptions of everyone involved.
Series Premiere: October 8, 2020.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Taking the Stand” tells the story of a crime from the unique lens of the accused as they take the witness stand. Hosted by Dan Abrams, each episode will cover everything from first-hand defendant testimony, juxtaposed with the contentious cross examination to the final verdict. There is a reason that taking the witness stand in your own defense is a gamble that very few criminal defendants ever take. In addition to interviews with key members of the investigation, the series features original video from law enforcement, surveillance camera footage, 911 audio recordings, digital forensic evidence and some exclusive interviews and responses from the defendants themselves, to provide an in-depth look at dozens of raw and real cases.
Series Premiere: January 13, 2022.
Available on A&E, A&E Crime Central, Hulu, Tubi, Sling TV and Philo. Individual episodes available for a price on YouTube.
The key to solving the toughest murders lies somewhere in the final 24 hours of a victim’s life. Determined investigators must piece together events to reconstruct the timeline, unlock the motive, and ultimately close in on the killer.
Series Premiere: June 4, 2020.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“Trafficked With Mariana van Zeller” is an original documentary series that explores the complex and dangerous inner-workings of the global underworld, black and informal markets. Each adventure follows Mariana on a mission to follow the chain of custody of trafficked goods, understand how to obtain the contraband, or see the 360-degree view of the trafficking world from the point of view of the smugglers, law enforcement and those caught in the crossfire.
Series Premiere: December 2, 2020.
Available on National Geographic Channel, Hulu, ABC. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
“True Conviction” explores how homicides are solved on the street and won in the courtroom. Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, a decorated Brooklyn homicide prosecutor, travels across the country to reveal how the nation’s top prosecutors tackled their toughest cases.
Series Premiere: January 1, 2018.
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
The most baffling cases. The most bizarre killers. What drives acts of evil? “Twisted Killers” tells the shocking stories of some of America’s darkest, most unusual murderers. Along the way, a trio of criminal experts, including former NYC DA Beth Karas, retired LAPD Homicide Detective Tracey Benjamin and Forensic Psychologist Kate Termini, provide insight and expertise on how these twisted killers were brought to justice.
Series Premiere: January 6, 2022.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
From a quiet town near the Smoky Mountains, to the sunny skies of St. Petersburg, Florida, stories in this season span the nation, and across multiple different family dynamics. It’s not always the sister who is the culprit of the crime, but sometimes the accomplice, victim, whistle-blower or unintended spy. Each episode of the Khloé Kardashian-produced series “Twisted Sisters” is shrouded in mystery, heartbreak and hidden emotions, proving that where there are family ties, there are also family lies.
Series Premiere: September 3, 2018
Available on Investigation Discovery, Discovery+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
Each standalone episode takes viewers on a riveting ride that explores a jaw-dropping murder investigation in which detectives discover the killer is someone completely shocking and unexpected. The series takes a deep dive into homicide investigations through captivating interviews with potential suspects, in-depth examinations of the crime scene and re-enactments. “An Unexpected Killer” is produced by Our House Media with Simon Lloyd, Matt Hanna, Samantha De France, Tom Adams, and Carey Zeiser serving as executive producers.
Series Premiere: December 5, 2019.
Available on Oxygen, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Individual episodes available for a price on Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
HLN’s “Vengeance” franchise is about revenge, betrayal and murder. “Vengeance: Killer Lovers” premiered in March 2019 as the first series under the franchise, followed by “Vengeance: Killer Coworkers” in January 2020. “Vengeance: Killer Families” debuted in September 2021. “Vengeance: Killer Newlyweds” premiered in January 2022.
Hosted by actor and musician Donnie Wahlberg, “Very Scary People” details many of history’s scariest and most notorious characters, through captivating news footage and interviews with people close to the case.
This documentary series delves into the gripping real-life stories of the world’s most terrifying and sinister celebrities of the crime world. “World’s Most Evil Killers” gives viewers first-hand accounts as told by detectives involved with the case, journalists who reported on the stories, relatives and survivors. The series examines the triggers that drove the most evil to kill delving into their insatiable appetites for murder and their now chilling legacies. “World’s Most Evil Killers” is produced by Keshet International.
