DOC NYC — A–Z of films

Across this film, two dominant themes emerge - the overwhelming nature of the situation and the importance of small acts of kindness.

Breezy and informative

Ciorniciuc maintains an admirable ambivalence about the situation, showing both the good and bad aspects of the family's rural existence as well as the positives and negatives of city life.

Philp directs with a light touch, letting her young subjects lead the way.

All in all, a worthy film, an interesting film, from director Yael Bridge, who has a long track record of making films about the left and has garnered two award nominations along the way for same. Also, though, pretty toothless.

Where other films might emphasise skill and natural ability, it's patience and persistence that are shown to pay off here.

Perhaps Boys State's greatest achievement is that it finds a way to make all these boys relatable.

Most interestingly, the documentary takes us back in time to when Ruth Finley was hired as a girl Friday by the number-one fashion publicist, Eleonor Lambert, who was pivotal in getting American designers the recognition they deserved in the 1940s.

Although he is dealing specifically with one instance in Romania, it's easy to see evidence of greater global malaise reflected here.

Buirski has assembled an impressive set of historical sources but allows the story to unfold so naturally that it feels as if it were being told for the first time.

Strikes a good balance between informing, educating and entertaining.

This is how the film plays out: loose and jumbled but still somehow telling a story. It's a style that suits its subject perfectly.

Somehow managing to tell its whole story in a way that families can watch together without anyone becoming disillusioned, Dear Santa is skilfully constructed, pacy and entertaining throughout.

The emotional honesty of this film is by turns elating and heartbreaking, with Kirsten not scared to let her feelings show on camera alongside those of her dad.

The Icarus Oscar-winner's analysis is robust and well-illustrated and he moves at a pace, even if the scoring from Adam Peters is over-insistent in places.

Almost everybody here is hiding something - sometimes from themselves.

An eye-opener of a documentary.

The language captured here speaks volumes. The animals’ faces, their reactions and movements, remind doubters of their sentient nature in every shot.

The fight against climate change and the ossified political system are connected with her personal struggle with Asperger's syndrome and the search for one's place and acceptance in the world.

Earnshaw doesn't shy away from the fundamentals of Jacinta's situation and her relationship with addiction.

Caicedo and Navarrete (likely to be permanently exiled from his Venezuelan homeland as a result of this) show admirable courage under fire to shoot footage of demonstrations against the regime.

The documentarians put the locale to poetic use, employing photography of the natural surroundings to accompany a lot of the comments from the family rather than simply moving from talking head to talking head.

Has a visual energy that is spurred on by Marian Mentrup's percussively dynamic score, which arrives at key moments.

Epperlein and Tucker’s kaleidoscopic investigation into the past and our future takes us on the road of history to the state of the world at this moment in time.

To their credit, there’s no direct interrogation or intervention from Molomot and Bemiss at any point.

Pollard casts fresh light on the Bureau’s attempts to discredit King as a threat to the American social order as well as the organisation’s inner workings.

Considerable courage has gone into acquiring this footage.

Although it may be a remote arm of the Venezuelan body politic, it mirrors a political and environmental malaise that is coursing through the veins of the country.

This is a film that is all about connection, not just between parent and child but aiming to bridge the gap between the way those with nonspeaking autism perceive the world and the way that they, in turn, are perceived by the neurotypical.

This performance element - full of smoke and sweat as well as all the notes - gives the film life and rhythm that takes it beyond the realm of simple Wikipedia history.

The Social Dilemma has so little to offer that's new that one wonders why anyone bothered to make it.

Hougen-Moraga and Wagner spent more than three years building relationships with the people here and it shows in the intimacy they achieve in their interviews.

Although her focus is on the strays that roam the streets of Istanbul.. the wider human world is reflected through the prism of the dog's domain.

This is a beautiful story that takes you beneath the skin of a culture and a place very different from what us Brits are used to.

The film's broad scope also serves to further underline its title - the cuts it references aren't just being made in one place, but all over the body politic.

The kind of documentary that expresses its politics through the simple act of observation, Limbal's film is a plea for justice.

Bradley’s direction emphasises the beauty of the Rich family’s resilience and humanity, with shots that carry the panoramic vistas of French New Wave and the hypnotic tones of underground cinema.

This is a sensuous plunge into a world that's built on simple pleasures.

Shot in black and white, the removal of colours gives the film a concentrated quality that adds to the intimate vibe.

Their stories complement each other, driving home the message that social justice is not a performative media statement, but a matter of courage in the face of existential threat.

The relationship between what is viewed and the viewer really come to the fore along with some troubling considerations of the way that fiction film and reality television may have an impact on the way people filter factual footage.

The film is at its best as a character study.

By pushing us into the day-to-day stress of the organisation, France gives a palpable sense of the desperation many of those fleeing feel.