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Screen Time: Week of May 13

By Tom White


Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home.

What’s My Name: Muhammed Ali, from Antoine Fuqua and executive producers Lebron James and Maverick Carter explores the boxing icon’s challenges, confrontations, comebacks and triumphs through archival recordings of Ali himself. The film celebrates a man who transcended his sport to become a global beacon of hope and a symbol of humanity and understanding. The two-part series premieres May 14 on HBO Sports, then streams on HBO Go and HBO Now through May.

Manuel Correa’s The Shape of Now, premiering May 14 through Indiepix Films' Amazon channel, examines Colombia today, more than two years into the brokered peace deal between the government and the FARC rebels that ended a 50-year civil war. Correa follows Colombian citizens as they try to shape the difficult process of reconciliation and healing.

The Employables, a new series premiering on A&E on May 15, follows job seekers with conditions such as autism or Tourette Syndrome as they work to overcome obstacles and find fulfilling employment that provides them with the skills to excel long term in their careers.

Premiering May 14 on PBS World/America Reframed, Julie Mallozzi’s Circle Up is the story of a grieving mother, the men who murdered her son, and the unexpected bonds they create to prevent more violence.After the brutal slaying of her teenage son, Janet Connors reaches out to her son’s killers to offer forgiveness, becoming the first person in Massachusetts to hold a victim-offender dialogue through the corrections system. Janet establishes a connection with one of the men responsible - AJ together they team up with other mothers of murdered children to help young people break the chain of violence and revenge.

Currently streaming on OVID.TV, Through a Lens Darkly the 2014 documentary from Thomas Allen Harris, explores the American family photo album through the eyes of black photographers. The film probes the recesses of American history to discover images, from slavery to the present, that have been suppressed, forgotten and lost, and connects the viewer to a community of storytellers who collectively transform singular experiences into a journey of discovery--and a call to action.