Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global peer-led mutual aid fellowship begun in the U.S. and dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through their spiritually inclined twelve-step program. Besides stressing anonymity and offering membership to anyone wishing to stop drinking, AA's twelve traditions establish it as free to all, non-professional, non-denominational, apolitical and unaffiliated. In 2020 AA estimated its worldwide membership to be over two million with 75% of those in the U.S. and Canada.
American Movie is a 1999 American documentary film directed by Chris Smith, produced by Smith and Sarah Price, and edited by Jun Diaz and Barry Poltermann.
William Griffith Wilson, also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
Lydia Susanna "Linda" Hunt is an American actress of stage and screen.
Lois Wilson, also known as Lois W., was the co-founder of Al-Anon Family Groups, a 12-Step fellowship for the friends and family of alcoholics. She was the wife of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) co-founder Bill W. They both followed their respective groups' tradition of anonymity until The New York Times revealed their full names upon Bill's death in 1971. However, she continued to be known as Lois W. within Al-Anon until her death.
Amir Bar-Lev is noted for his work in directing documentary films. His debut, Fighter (2000) (director), was named one of the top documentaries of the year by Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and The Village Voice. Fighter won six international festival awards and was called “brilliant,” by The New Yorker, “enthralling” by the New York Times, and “one of the best documentaries of this year or any other” by Rolling Stone.
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within is a 2010 independent American documentary film directed by Yony Leyser about William S. Burroughs, featuring previously unreleased footage and interviews with his friends and colleagues.
Stephen Ives is an American documentary film director and original founder of Insignia Films. Among his productions are The West (1996), Reporting America at War (2003), Roads to Memphis (2010), and Grand Coulee Dam (2012), and the four-part series Constitution USA (2013) which aired on PBS in the summer of 2013. PBS broadcast his most recent aired work, The Great War, in three parts (2017).
The Dust Bowl is a 2012 American television documentary miniseries directed by Ken Burns which aired on PBS on November 18 and 19, 2012. The four-part miniseries recounts the impact of the Dust Bowl on the United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
An Apology to Elephants is a 2013 documentary that explores abuse and brutal treatment of elephants. It showcases elephant training and the psychological trauma and physical damage done by living conditions in some zoos and circuses. It was premiered on HBO on April 22, 2013, also celebrated as an Earth Day. The documentary includes interviews with environmental activists and biologists, including Performing Animal Welfare Society co-founders Ed Stewart and Pat Derby. The film was dedicated to Derby, also known as an "elephant lady", who died on February 15, 2013.
16 Acres is a 2012 documentary film directed by Richard Hankin which provides an account of the recovery effort following the September 11 attacks, specifically the reconstruction process of the World Trade Center site. The name of the documentary refers to the 16 acres of land that the site is on.
Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story is a 2014 documentary film directed by N.C. Heikin. The film focuses on Frank Morgan, a jazz saxophonist and the protégé of Charlie Parker. Funding for the film was partially raised through a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Life Is Strange is a 2012 American documentary film of interviews giving an oral history portrait of the life of pre-World War II European Jews by filmmaker Isaac Hertz. The film juxtaposes the childhood memories of interviewees with archival footage. Interviewees include Israeli president Shimon Peres, author Uri Orlev, academics, Nobel laureates, and friends of the filmmaker, Walter Kohn, Robert J. Aumann, Alain Jakubowicz, Sammy Grundwerg, Ron Samuels, Zachary Cirino, Chaim Hertz, Arianne Brown, Artem Zuev and Jean-Michel Guirao.
Magical Universe is a 2013 documentary film directed by filmmaker Jeremy Workman about reclusive outsider artist Al Carbee who created elaborate dioramas and collages featuring Barbie dolls. The title of the film is taken from Carbee's own voluminous writings about his wondrous art.
Alive and Kicking is a 2016 American documentary film about swing dancing, its origins in Harlem, and its rebirth starting in the 1990s. It is directed/produced by Susan Glatzer. The film premiered at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival and was subsequently acquired by Magnolia Pictures. The executive producers were Jason Blum and Robert Rippberger.
Raising Bertie is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Margaret Byrne and produced by Ian Robertson Kibbe, Margaret Byrne, and Jon Stuyvesant. It was distributed by Kartemquin Films and aired in shortened form on the 30th season of PBS's documentary series POV on August 28, 2017.
Cuba and the Cameraman is a 2017 American documentary film written, directed and co-produced by Jon Alpert. The film is a Netflix Original and was first shown at the 74th Venice International Film Festival.
Bedlam is a 2019 American feature-length documentary directed, produced, and written by Kenneth Paul Rosenberg. Produced, and written by Peter Miller, co-produced by Joan Churchill and Alan Barker, edited by Jim Cricchi, with additional editing by James Holland, it immerses us in the national crisis surrounding care of people with serious mental illness through intimate stories of patients, families, and medical providers.
My Darling Vivian is a 2020 American documentary film about Vivian Liberto, the first wife of Johnny Cash, directed by Matt Riddlehoover.
Jacoba Atlas is an American executive producer in television, also publishing as a journalist, music critic, novelist, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. She won a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award and a CableACE Award for Survivors of the Holocaust (1996), a TV documentary made for TBS.
