I want to watch more documentaries, particularly about social issues and the relationship between technology and people. Please send me recommendations if you have any! Here are a few recent ones from me:
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Graphic Means: A lovely exploration of a dead, little known medium of phototypesetting, but really more of an exploration of what creativity can be, and how to foster it.pic.twitter.com/dQ9dNVQhsL
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Three Identical Strangers: This already-unbelievable story took a surprising turn in the middle, and become an even more gripping exploration of nature vs. nurture.pic.twitter.com/Wb30KwBNdd
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The Clinton Affair:
@MonicaLewinsky is in this and she’s speaking to the camera in a way that’s so incredibly thoughtful, earnest and *good* I was completely blown away. It’s worth watching this just for her.pic.twitter.com/n2duXuEUvq
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We Live In Public: This starts as Hackers × The Social Network, but then goes into a few fascinating social experiments and a wild portrait of an early-Internet person I haven’t heard of. Some of the questions on how the attention of others changes you feel very pertinent today.pic.twitter.com/r9YSryHwra
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808: A history of the influential drum machine. Interesting to see tech in an area I don’t know much about. The movie also shows music as this huge living fabric where people all over the world riff off of each other; the biggest hits are often the most unlikely combinations.pic.twitter.com/s1BOAl4WvX
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A great documentary I just rewatched was this 35-minute YouTube video. It talks about an old video game, but then it goes deeper, and deeper, and deeper still – only to reveal itself at the end to be about something much more meaningful. Very recommended.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnPOQr1pxY8 …
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The Woman Who Wasn’t There: A portrait of a serial confabulator, and how it’s possible to find meaning and identity – or simply an opportunity to deceive – in mass tragedy. Interesting visually. Wish it went further, but maybe the point is that it’s not really possible to do so.pic.twitter.com/J7ULX8Kp2b
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13th: Very well done and very important look at systemic oppression and racism in America. Not easy to watch. Right next to Random Family, Detroit, The New Jim Crow, and Hoop Dreams in contributing to my education. (thx to many people who recommended this)pic.twitter.com/helcSE3V0G
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Get Me Roger Stone: This was rather awful, the Who’s Who of the most cynical, despicable, opportunistic, soulless people in American politics, with at least one of them sporting a non-ironic Richard Nixon tattoo. Painful to watch, painful to see all the repeating patterns.pic.twitter.com/nsLmL8m40O
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Citizen Jane: Battle for The City: I have heard this story before – I wrote about it, even – but I can never get enough of this modern-day David and Goliath battle for the souls of our cities. Well-made, with tons of great visuals, and beautiful score to boot. <3 JJ.pic.twitter.com/kiEJzAdnte
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The Thin Blue Line: Morris wanted to avoid labeling this a “documentary,” and I can see why; this 1988 film doesn’t feel quite like any other I’ve seen. I can’t say that the murder case gripped me – but the production, narrative, and meta sides of the film are truly fascinating.pic.twitter.com/CGTpL7pRiC
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The American Meme: I expected to roll my eyes a lot – and I guess I did – but there was much more depth and tragedy here than I expected, in this documentary about modern celebrity and the amplification and distortion that modern social media brings to fame.pic.twitter.com/d8FjGxjUOs
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Closer Than We Think: A portrayal of Arthur Radebaugh, an “imagineer” – illustrator of the future – who worked between 1930s and 1970s. Talks about our relationship with progress, and responsibilities of futurism. Surprisingly touching at the end.pic.twitter.com/1CugNWwydv
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Senna: Beautiful and heartbreaking. (Full disclosure: I remember being little and watching Ayrton Senna race on television. I have never really cared about any sports after that.)pic.twitter.com/LLyfqjj3Mk
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Behind the Curve: Entertaining and also frightening, highlighting the amount of delusion and denial that we can choose to get behind only so that we belong somewhere. Went deeper than it ought to – but I wanted it to go even farther.pic.twitter.com/M5YlHLvDtd
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Indie Game: The Movie: I loved this when it came out. Rewatching it today, post-Gamergate, feels a bit different. And yet, there are still some touching and even poignant moments here highlighting the tricky and fascinating relationships between the creators and their creations.pic.twitter.com/ZfVBKUx3KM
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The Man In The Machine: This is a caveated recommendation. The documentary a sprawling movie, a disjointed collection of various “what’s wrong with Apple” threads. And yet, it was important to me to see videos of Jobs unpolished, petty, cruel.pic.twitter.com/rHcnbzvKLo
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Apollo 11: I watched this at a theatre and it was an incredible experience, with footage so crisp and vivid it felt as if we sent someone with a modern camera 50 years back in time. My mouth was agape for a significant portion of this movie.pic.twitter.com/AeFl0zHHaR
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The Last Steps: A short movie (free to watch) documenting the Apollo 17 flight, made by the same crew as “Apollo 11.” It’s nice on its own, but particularly fascinating as a prelude – a “dry run,” in words of the composer – to the main event.https://vimeo.com/192013765
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For The Record: Not as professional as other documentaries in this thread, but I still enjoyed this look at court reporting and captioning stenographers, I learned a new things, and a few moments made me pause.pic.twitter.com/uyUbGSRHTE
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Love Notes To Newton: Starts in a messy way, but then finds its footing. I never knew Newton, and this film made me reflect on two deaths of a computing platform: first when the product is discontinued, and second when its fans move on or pass away.pic.twitter.com/ILcLRfC26i
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How To Survive A Plague: A documentary about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America, and the efforts of activists to help affected people, and to hold the government accountable. Powerful, poignant, moving. I think everyone should watch this. (thx to
@hypatiadotca for recommendation)pic.twitter.com/KB8bWzO8OT
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The Patent Scam: This was bad in a fascinating way – a cross between an awful self-published book and Troll 2 maybe? The subject matter is worthwhile, but the execution… like the best worst movies, it entertained me *and* taught me a lot about the art of documentary filmmaking.pic.twitter.com/R9CpXebjQR
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The Century Of The Self: A sprawling, ambitious, epic even history of the 20th century through the lenses of psychotherapy, consumerism, and advertising. I feel like I need to watch it again to fully get it. More Adam Curtis scheduled already. (thx to many who recommended!)pic.twitter.com/758sSCnzai
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Knock Down The House: Just like the RBG documentary, this reminded me that there’s still room for humanity, hope, and integrity in politics. Unexpectedly touching throughout – and particularly at the end.pic.twitter.com/BHusQ5MBdy
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The Biggest Little Farm: Cleaned up and tends to be sappy, but it is also really beautifully shot and, as a city boy, I actually learned quite a bit.pic.twitter.com/6uvSDItORS
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The Inventor: For me, this worked as sort of a visual companionship to the Carreyrou’s book. Surprised by many shots from company meetings and inside Theranos labs, and likewise many CGI sequences explaining the malfunctioning machines.pic.twitter.com/sdDoe3j0Ml
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Chernobyl: Devastating docudrama portraying people working against unknown forces in an utterly broken system. Also, beyond masterful. (I am impatient, and at the same time dreading the remaining two episodes.)pic.twitter.com/8pcF3S7mst
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(Also, I have learned so much about storytelling and movie-making from the excellent accompanying podcast where
@petersagal talks to the show’s writer about each episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chernobyl-podcast/id1459712981 …)Show this thread -
What We Left Behind: That this is a weird documentary becomes clear within the first five seconds. But that’s a great thing – and this recent retrospective on Deep Space Nine (best Trek!) is also rather lovely, and *very* lively, and I’m glad I watched it.pic.twitter.com/TFezAXo6Qv
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