Documentary of the Week

“Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge” is a 2-part HBO documentary tracing the history of the magazine’s most memorable articles. Filmmakers Alex Gibney and Blair Foster weave new interviews with classic footage from the worlds of rock n roll, politics and more.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

For more information, click here to visit the film web site.

Actress Sonja Sohn is best known for role in "The Wire” as the police officer Kima. Now she gets behind the camera for the HBO documentary "Baltimore Rising” following activists and police officers after the death of Freddie Gray.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen 

For more information, click here to visit the film web site. 

Filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev explores the history of the Grateful Dead from the psychedelic sixties to the death of band leader Jerry Garcia in 1995. The six-part film on Amazon goes beyond the scope of the average rock documentary to capture the legacy of the band in a way that’s meaningful to both devoted deadheads and outsiders.

For more information, click here to visit the film web site.

Sammy Davis Jr. had multiple talents as a singer, dancer and actor. He broke down color barriers from Broadway to Las Vegas, even doing impressions of white actors in the 1940s. Long seen as Frank Sinatra's sidekick in the Rat Pack, the documentary "Sammy Davis Jr.: I Gotta Be Me" puts him back in the spotlight as a trailblazer.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

For more information, click here to visit the film web site.

Joan Didion, now in her 80s, had long resisted being profiled in a documentary. But she couldn’t say no when the director was her nephew, the actor Griffin Dunne. They have a warm rapport as she tells the stories behind her novels, essays and screenplays in the documentary “Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.”

 — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

 For more information, click here to visit the film web site.

The Netflix documentary “One of Us” follows three members of New York’s Hasidic Jewish community who want to explore a more secular way of life. Oscar-nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp) stay with their subjects for over a year with great sensitivity. The film explores the universal theme of what it means to separate yourself from everything familiar.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

For more information, click here to visit the film web site. 

The documentary “Jane” plays like a romantic epic traversing Jane Goodall’s early days studying chimpanzees in Tanzania. Filmmaker Brett Morgen draws upon a rediscovered archive of gorgeous 16 mm footage from the 1960s, combined with a new candid interview and an original score by Philip Glass.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

For more information, click here to visit the official film web site. 

The HBO short documentary "Clinica de Migrantes” profiles a Philadelphia clinic, Puentes de Salud, that delivers free health care to undocumented workers. Filmmaker Maxim Pozdorovkin covers both the clinic's doctors and patients, reminding us of their humanity and ours.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

For more information, click here to visit the film web site.

In “Faces Places,” the eminent French filmmaker Agnès Varda teams with the street artist JR (known for his recent mural on the Mexican border). They take a wondrous journey of making art and transforming lives in villages across France. This late career gem from the 89-year-old Varda has already won festival prizes in Cannes and Toronto.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

For more information, click here to visit the film web site.

In April 1992, a 24-year-old unarmed black man named William Ford was shot by a white teenager during an argument in a Long Island auto body shop. But a grand jury called it self-defense, and declined to file charges. The victim’s sibling, Yance Ford, explores the case and its impact on his family in the film "Strong Island."

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

For more information, click here to visit the film web site.