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Covering the latest quick bites from IDA and the world of documentary.

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A black-and-white image of the members of the underground network of abortion providers, the Janes, from August 1972. Image from Emma Pildes and Tia Lessin’s ‘The Janes.’ Courtesy of HBO.
Screen Time: Week of June 27 2022
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. It’s been a hard week to fish out hope, to feel like there is a future that...
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BeBe Zahara Benet is a Black drag queen preparing for a show in her dressing room in Minneapolis. She is wearing a very large brown wig and false eyelashes, while looking into a mirror. From Emily Branham’s ‘Being BeBe.’ Courtesy of the filmmaker.
Doc Star of the Month: Marshall Ngwa aka BeBe Zahara Benet, 'Being BeBe'
World-premiering at the 2021 Tribeca Festival, Emily Branham’s Being BeBe is a revealing walk (uh, sashay) down memory lane with the titular BeBe Zahara Benet, the very first winner of RuPaul’s Drag...
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Hollyn Patterson and Colie Moline are two white women wearing cowboy hats and shirts. We can see their backs as they ride horses against the lush greenery of rural Idaho. From Emelie Mahdavian’s ‘Bitterbrush.’ Courtesy of Alejandro Mejia/Magnolia Pictures.
Screen Time: Week of June 20 2022
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. Forty years ago, Vincent Chin—a young Chinese American man—was murdered by a...
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Margaret Ratliff is a white woman. Her back faces the camera as she looks at a billboard advertising the TV series ‘The Staircase.’ From Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall’s ‘Subject.’ Photo courtesy of Susan Norget Film Promotion.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of June 13, 2022
Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around the internet, as well as from the Documentary...
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Filmmaker Hao Wu is a Chinese American male. Seen here sitting eating at a table with his child, his family members, and partner. From Hao Wu’s ‘All in My Family.’ Courtesy of Netflix.
Screen Time: Week of June 13 2022
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. It’s Pride Month here in the US, and while we celebrate the work and art of our...
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Actors Mona Maris and David Newell in a production still from the 1934 film ‘White Heat.’ From Anthony Banua-Simon’s ‘Cane Fire.’ Courtesy of Cinema Guild.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 30, 2022
Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around the internet, as well as from the Documentary...
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A line of uniformed policemen silhouetted against streetlights. From Mike Shum’s ‘Police on Trial.’ Courtesy of FRONTLINE (PBS).
Screen Time: Week of May 30, 2022
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. Two years since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis by police officers, the...
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A Black woman with a megaphone raises her arm and shouts in a crowd of people. From Sabaah Folayan's 'Whose Streets?', a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Documentaries To Watch on Guns and America
It has been a devastating month for us reeling from gun violence in the US. The most recent wave of horrifying shootings targeting Black Americans and young children has many asking, “When will this...
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Detail from a black stone statue in Paris’ Père-Lachaise Cemetery, showing enclasped fingers of a figure. From Heddy Honigmann’s ‘Forever.’ Photo by Cobos Films, BV. Courtesy of Icarus Films.
Screen Time: Week of May 23, 2022
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home. We at IDA are heartbroken at the passing of Heddy Honigmann, documentarian...
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A set of trophies from the 34th Annual IDA Documentary Awards.
IDA Documentary Awards Team Shares What Submitters Need to Know for 2022
By KRISTAL SOTOMAYOR and EDDIE Hustleby The 2022 IDA Documentary Awards Call For Entries (CFE) launches on Thursday, May 26! The IDA Documentary Awards are a crucial event in our field. Nominations...
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