Documentary of the Week

Director Liz Garbus, a two-time Oscar nominee, captures a series of intimate conversations between Anderson Cooper and his mother Gloria Vanderbilt in HBO's Nothing Left Unsaid. Vanderbilt reflects on her highs and lows including her relationships with Leopold Stokowski, Frank Sinatra, Sidney Lumet and Wyatt Emory Cooper. While her life in the spotlight is unique, her joys and pain are universal.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

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

The conservative Senator Jesse Helms once castigated Robert Mapplethorpe’s provocative photographs, saying “look at the pictures.” Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato take him at face value in this candid HBO biography “Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures” that includes interviews with the photographer’s inner circle and rare recordings in his own words.

 — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

For more information, click here to visit HBO's official web site for the film.

Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson has collaborated with acclaimed filmmakers such as Laura Poitras and Michael Moore. Now she takes the role of the director in the documentary Cameraperson, drawing upon 25 years of footage to craft her own visual memoir.

 — Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

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

Against all odds, Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm — the first black congresswoman in the U.S. — ran for President in 1972 and took her campaign all the way to the Democratic convention. Director Shola Lynch explores this forgotten chapter of political history in CHISHOLM 72: UNSOUGHT AND UNBOSSED, now available for download on multiple platforms.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen 

For more information, click here to visit the film's Facebook page.

In the film City of Gold, director Laura Gabbert profiles the Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold, who chronicles the ethnic mosaic of Los Angeles through its cuisine. The film also reflects on the craft of food writing with appearances by Calvin Trillin, Robert Sietsema and several restaurateurs.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

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

Winner of a special jury prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, the documentary Trapped follows abortion providers who are battling state laws that could shut them down. The laws are known by the acronym TRAP, for "targeted regulation of abortion providers." One clinic profiled in the film is Whole Woman’s Health — the plaintiff in the current Supreme Court case that could have a significant impact on abortion rights.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen 

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

For four decades, Chef Georges Perrier presided over one of America's top restaurants, Le Bec-Fin. Filmmaker Erika Frankel follows him for several years as his restaurant faces hard times while his protege Nicholas Elmi rises in prominence.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen

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

Body Team 12, directed by David Lang (13 minutes). Liberia's outbreak of Ebola is seen through the eyes of Garmay Sumo, the lone woman on a team dedicated to the safe disposal of dead bodies. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

Chau, Beyond the Lines, directed by Courtney Marsh (34 minutes). Chau, a Vietnamese teenager who suffered birth defects resulting from his mother’s exposure to Agent Orange, uses art to transcend his handicap. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, directed by Adam Benzine (40 minutes). Thirty years after the release of the epic documentary Shoah, director Claude Lanzmann looks back on the effort and his eventful life. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site. 

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (40 minutes). In Pakistan, eighteen-year-old Saba defies her family’s choice for marriage and is targeted for an “honor killing” by her father and uncle. But she survives to tell the tale. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site. 

Last Day of Freedom, directed by Dee Hibbert-Jones & Nomi Talisman (32 min). Illustrated with lyrical animation, Bill Babbitt tells the story of feeling obligated to turn in his troubled brother for a crime. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site. 

And here is a link to showtimes at the IFC Center.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen 

Body Team 12, directed by David Lang (13 minutes). Liberia's outbreak of Ebola is seen through the eyes of Garmay Sumo, the lone woman on a team dedicated to the safe disposal of dead bodies. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

Chau, Beyond the Lines, directed by Courtney Marsh (34 minutes). Chau, a Vietnamese teenager who suffered birth defects resulting from his mother’s exposure to Agent Orange, uses art to transcend his handicap. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site.

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, directed by Adam Benzine (40 minutes). Thirty years after the release of the epic documentary Shoah, director Claude Lanzmann looks back on the effort and his eventful life. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site. 

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (40 minutes). In Pakistan, eighteen-year-old Saba defies her family’s choice for marriage and is targeted for an “honor killing” by her father and uncle. But she survives to tell the tale. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site. 

Last Day of Freedom, directed by Dee Hibbert-Jones & Nomi Talisman (32 min). Illustrated with lyrical animation, Bill Babbitt tells the story of feeling obligated to turn in his troubled brother for a crime. For more information, click here to visit the official film web site. 

And here is a link to showtimes at the IFC Center.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen 

Visionary filmmaker Henry Hampton spent 10 years raising the money and building the crew to create the 14-hour history of civil rights Eyes on the Prize. After his death in 1998, the series fell out of circulation due to the costs of re-licensing its impressive array of archival footage and music. Now it's finally back, on public television's World Channel, in time for Black History Month. It's an essential text of American history.

— Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen 

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