Errol Mark Morris is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of their subjects, and the invention of the Interrotron device for his style of filmmaking. In 2003, his documentary film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. His film The Thin Blue Line placed fifth on a Sight & Sound poll of the greatest documentaries ever made. Morris is known for making films about unusual subjects; Fast, Cheap & Out of Control interweaves the stories of a wild animal trainer, a topiary gardener, a robot scientist and a naked mole rat specialist.
Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Ebert was known for his intimate, Midwestern writing style and critical views informed by values of populism and humanism. Writing in a prose style intended to be entertaining and direct, he made sophisticated cinematic and analytical ideas more accessible to non-specialist audiences. Ebert frequently endorsed foreign and independent films he believed would be appreciated by mainstream viewers, championing filmmakers like Werner Herzog and Errol Morris, as well as Martin Scorsese, whose first published review he wrote. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert "was without question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him "the best-known film critic in America."
Kids is a 1995 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Larry Clark in his directorial debut and written by Harmony Korine in his screenwriting debut. It stars Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Chloë Sevigny, and Rosario Dawson, all in their film debuts. Set in 1995, Fitzpatrick, Pierce, Sevigny, Dawson, and other newcomers portray a group of teenagers in New York City. They are characterized as hedonists, who engage in sexual acts and substance abuse, over the course of a single day.
Harmony Korine is an American filmmaker, actor, photographer, artist, and author. His methods feature an erratic, loose and transgressive aesthetic, exploring taboo themes and incorporating experimental techniques, and works with art, music, fashion and advertising.
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter, author and podcaster. He is the co-presenter, with Ellen E. Jones, of the BBC Radio 4 programme Screenshot and co-presenter of the film-review podcast Kermode & Mayo's Take alongside long-time collaborator Simon Mayo. He is a regular contributor to The Observer, for which he was chief film critic between September 2013 and September 2023.
Matt Walsh is an American right-wing political activist, author, podcaster, and columnist. He is the host of The Matt Walsh Show podcast and is a columnist for the American conservative website The Daily Wire. He has authored four books and starred in The Daily Wire online documentary film What Is a Woman?.
Red Eye is a 2005 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Wes Craven and written by Carl Ellsworth based on a story by Ellsworth and Dan Foos. It stars Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, and Brian Cox. The story follows a hotel manager ensnared in an assassination plot by a terrorist while aboard a red-eye flight to Miami.
Fudge is a 1995 American children's television series based on a series of Judy Blume books about a young boy nicknamed Fudge. The series ran for two seasons, with 24 episodes following a telefilm adaptation of Blume's novel Fudge-a-Mania, which aired on January 7, 1995, in primetime, as part of the ABC Family Movies.
Jennie Livingston is an American director best known for the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning.
Atomic Ed and the Black Hole is a documentary released in 2001 by filmmaker, Ellen Spiro. The documentary was made for HBO's Cinemax Reel Life Series. Sheila Nevins served as Executive Producer and Lisa Heller served as Supervising Producer. Karen Bernstein served as Producer. Laurie Anderson provided her song, Big Science, for the soundtrack.
Gasland is a 2010 American documentary film written and directed by Josh Fox. It focuses on communities in the United States where natural gas drilling activity was a concern and, specifically, on hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), a method of stimulating production in otherwise impermeable rock. The film was a key mobilizer for the anti-fracking movement, and "brought the term 'hydraulic fracturing' into the nation's living rooms" according to The New York Times.
Sheila Nevins is an American television producer and former head of MTV Documentary Films division of MTV Entertainment Studios. Previously, Nevins was the President of HBO Documentary Films. She has produced over 1,000 documentary films for HBO and is one of the most influential people in documentary filmmaking. She has worked on productions that have been recognized with 35 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, 42 Peabody Awards, and 26 Academy Awards. Nevins has won 31 individual Primetime Emmy Awards, more than any other person. She is also a member of the board of directors for the Peabody Awards.
Kate Madison is a British independent filmmaker, director, producer and actor. She portrayed the character Elgarain in her film, Born of Hope.
Square One: Michael Jackson is a 2019 investigative documentary directed by Danny Wu. It focuses on the 1993 case in which Michael Jackson was accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy. Through interviews with people closest to the case, the film makes a case for Jackson's innocence. The interviews showcase statements from trial witnesses, Jackson's nephew, and legal assistant to the prosecutor in 1993.
Workhorse Queen is a 2021 documentary film directed by Angela Washko. After a surprise casting onto reality television show RuPaul's Drag Race, 47-year old suburban telemarketing manager Ed Popil leaves his job to pursue a full-time entertainment industry career as his drag queen alter ego, 1960s-era housewife Mrs. Kasha Davis. The film premiered at the 2021 Slamdance Film Festival. Workhorse Queen will be released on video on demand and DVD through the film's distributor Breaking Glass Pictures on May 3, 2022 and on TV broadcast and streaming in June, 2022 on STARZ.
Libs of TikTok is a handle for various far-right and anti-LGBT social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content created by left-wing and LGBT people on TikTok, and on other social-media platforms, often with hostile, mocking, or derogatory commentary. The accounts promote hate speech and transphobia, and spread false claims, especially relating to medical care of transgender children. The Twitter account, also known by the handle @LibsofTikTok, has nearly 3 million followers as of February 2024 and has become influential among American conservatives and the political right. Libs of TikTok's social-media accounts have received several temporary suspensions and a permanent suspension from TikTok.
Measure for Measure is a 2020 Australian drama film written by Damian Hill and Paul Ireland, directed by Ireland and starring Hugo Weaving. It is based on the play of the same title by William Shakespeare.
Sean Wang is an American film director. His first feature-length film, Dìdi, premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the U.S. Dramatic audience award. His documentary short, Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó, originally premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, where it won both the audience and grand jury award and then went on to be nominated for the 96th Academy Awards.
Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Mathieu Fournier and released in 2022. The film explores the concept of the digital shadow, or the traces of a person's past internet activity that can be recovered to follow them around for years or even decades later, through revisiting the story of Ghyslain Raza, a Canadian man who unwittingly became one of the first-ever viral videos as the "Star Wars Kid".
