BY: Amanda Jane Stern

Catch up on these documentaries this spring before heading out to a summer party where you can stand awkwardly in a corner and talk about the documentaries you watched during the end of quarantine.

 

WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn

Over the last year, perhaps no location has metastasized more into a horror movie location than a WeWork office. In the era of COVID-19, so many of us have been lounging on the couch in sweatpants that the idea of sitting in an open office near dozens of strangers seems terrifying (and unsanitary). Not to mention, the unrepentant bro/grind culture that came to dominate the world of WeWorks. And that’s before even diving into the shady financial house-of-cards that WeWork was built upon.

The film was helmed by writer/director Jed Rothstein, who was an Oscar nominee for his 2010 documentary short Killing in the Name about a suicide bombing at a wedding. Rothstein uses this film to examine the  rise and ouster of WeWork founder Adam Neumann, as he went from real estate wunderkind to persona non grata. In the tech-finance world a “Unicorn” refers to a privately held startup firm with a current valuation of at least $1 billion (USD). 

After a March 17, 2021 premiere at SXSW, it was released on Hulu on April 2nd, 2021

 

P!NK: All I Know So Far

At the 2017 American Music Awards, P!NK sang Beautiful Trauma while scaling a building. And through 156 performances across 18 countries, the singer-songwriter’s Beautiful Trauma World Tour climbed up the charts to become the 2nd highest grossing tour by a female solo-artist —only outranked by Madonna’s 2008–09 Sticky & Sweet Tour. 

This documentary was put together by director Michael Gracey (behind The Greatest Showman), covering her Beautiful Trauma World Tour, which went from March 2018 through November 2019. 

Interspersed with the musical performances are interviews and footage from backstage and on the road. 

This music documentary will be available for streaming on Prime Video on May 21, 2021.

 

Fathom

If we could speak to whales, would they even want to talk with us?

In this Apple TV+ documentary, a pair of scientists put that question to the test. Dr. Ellen Garland and Dr. Michelle Fournet drop a (hopefully waterproof) speaker in a ground breaking experiment to communicate with humpback whales in the Pacific Ocean. 

Director/Cinematographer Drew Xanthopoulos (behind the Tribeca Film Festival documentary The Sensitives) follows this scientific inquiry with an philosophical and awe inspiring lens

It will play at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival and be available for streaming on Apple TV+ on June 25th, 2021

 

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

This documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (aka “Black Woodstock”) shattered an acquisition record at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. After winning both the Grand Jury prize and an Audience award, Summer of Soul was picked up by Searchlight Pictures and Hulu. According to Variety, this acquisition was north of $12 million, a new record for a Sundance documentary.

This documentary marks Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s (of The Roots’) directorial debut. The film has been called joyful and revelatory, and includes some never before seen footage of classic artists including B.B. King, Nina Simone, and Stevie Wonder.

It is currently scheduled for a July 2nd, 2021 release. 

 

Pray Away

But I’m A Cheerleader hit it’s 20th anniversary last year. Tthe offbeat romcom shined a light on gay conversation “therapy” with a bitting satircal lens. Butin the two decades since it’s release  across the United State gay converstion “therapy” is still a mendacious practice promoted by religious and ignorant communities. And survivors of the practice are still left to deal with the trauma. 

In a documentary described as heart-wrenching Director Kristine Stolakis, with producer Jason Blum (of horror megastudio Blumhouse Productions) look at the harrowing practice through its survivors. While it seem unbelieve that practice continues in the age of gay marriage, Stolakis’ film takes a look at how the religuous right continues to support and weaponize this barbaric institution. 

Pray Away will play at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2021, however a release date has not yet been announced.