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South by Southwest · 2021

South by Southwest 2021

Documentary Spotlight

Programme

10 films · 2 reviews

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Alien On Stage

Review preview for Alien On Stage

Nothing is taken too seriously - there's plenty of teasing within the group itself - but respect is shown for the effort that has gone into all this.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The story of the Dorset Bus Drivers whose amateur dramatics group created a serious stage adaptation of the science fiction horror classic Alien and ended up performing in London's West End.

(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Danielle Kummer; Lucy Harvey.)

Full review

Fruits Of Labor

A Mexican-American teenage farmworker dreams of graduating high school, when ICE raids in her community threaten to separate her family and force her to become her family’s breadwinner.

(Director: Emily Cohen Ibañez; Writer: Ashley Solis Pavon, Emily Cohen Ibañez)

The Hunt For Planet B

A documentary about a pioneering group of scientists on their quest to find another Earth among the stars.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Nathaniel Kahn; Stars: Sara Seager, Natalie Batalha, Jill Tarter)

Hysterical

A backstage pass into the lives of some of stand-up comedy’s most boundary-breaking women, exploring the hard-fought journey to become the voices of their generation and their gender.

(Year: 2021; Director: Andrea Nevins; Stars: Margaret Cho, Fortune Feimster, Rachel Feinstein, Marina Franklin, Nikki Glaser, Judy Gold, Kathy Griffin, Jessica Kirson, Sherri Shepherd, Iliza Shlesinger)

The Lost Sons

In 1960s Chicago, a baby is kidnapped from a hospital. Fifteen months later, a toddler is abandoned. Could he be the same child?

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Ursula Macfarlane)

Mau

The unlikely story of design visionary Bruce Mau and his ever-optimistic push for massive change.

(Country: Austria, US; Year: 2021; Director: Benji Bergmann, Jono Bergmann)

Spring Valley

Review preview for Spring Valley

The film balances a search for solutions with an understandable degree of cynicism.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A viral video shows a white policeman throwing a Black teenager from her school desk. One woman helps the girl, faces the officer, and dismantles the system.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Garrett Zevgetis)

Full review

WeWork: Or The Making And Breaking Of A $47 Billion Unicorn

A look at the rise and fall of one of the biggest corporate flameouts and venture capitalist bubbles in recent years – the story of WeWork, and its hippy-messianic leader Adam Neumann.

(Year: 2021; Director: Jed Rothstein; Stars: Adam Neumann)

When Claude Got Shot

Three strangers’ lives become inextricably entwined by a weekend of gun violence.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Brad Lichtenstein)

Who We Are: A Chronicle Of Racism In America

ACLU lawyer Jeffery Robinson’s shattering talk on the history of US anti-Black racism is interwoven with archival footage, interviews and Robinson’s own story, exploring the legacy of white supremacy.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler; Writer: Jeffery Robinson)