Slamdance documentary features at Slamdance 2026 | ScreenFish I found that the Documentary Features was the strongest section of Slamdance Film Festival this year. It should be noted that all the films in this section ...

doc features at Slamdance. bit.ly/4rZ3yDw

Ghost Elephants - Werner Herzog leads us to wonder | ScreenFish When Werner Herzog puts on his documentarian hat, it is always with a sense of awe about what is in the world.

Werner Herzog at his most Herzogian. bit.ly/46No813

Some Short Docs from Slamdance 2026 | ScreenFish Here are a few of the documentary shorts playing at Slamdance 2026.

Short docs at Slamdance. bit.ly/3ONWmeQ

Unstoppable films at Slamdance | ScreenFish One of the wonderful things about Slamdance Film Festival is that it has a section of films that it labels “Unstoppable”. These are films that focus on over ...

Unsoppable features at Slamdance. bit.ly/4smdZAJ

Meduza: Connected sniper | ScreenFish The come-on for Meduza, from director Roc Morin, is that it is a documentary about an actor who played a sniper actually becoming a sniper in the war in Ukr ...

Actor plays sniper, becomes sniper, philosophizes. bit.ly/4qOApcG

A pair of international docs at Sundance 2026 | ScreenFish Here’s a look at a pair of international documentaries that we picked from the selection at Sundance 2026. Both are award winners. Everybody to Kenmure Stre ...

Everybody to Kenmure Street was probably the most timely film at Sundance. bit.ly/3OeP6bx

A pair of US narrative films from Sundance 2026 | ScreenFish Here’s a quick look at a pair of US narrative films from Sundance 2026. Take Me Home, directed by Liz Sargent, is a very personal project, but that doesn’t ...

Take Me Home, Carousel bit.ly/4ahvBGx

Some international dramas from Sundance 2026 | ScreenFish My wife and I picked well when we chose our films from the offering of international dramatic offerings at Sundance. All three of them got an award of some ...

3 award winning foreign films at Sundance. bit.ly/4aakXCV

Three US docs from Sundance 2026 | ScreenFish I don’t cover Sundance Film Festival as a journalist, but my wife and I do buy an online package each year that gives us access to ten films. Among our choi ...

Here are the US docs that I took in during Sundance. bit.ly/4abypoN

Darrel's "Dozen" 2025: Double Features | ScreenFish Double features are from times past, when going to a movie meant two movies, plus a cartoon, maybe a newsreel. My double features have some sort of thematic ...

My list of best films of 2025, bit.ly/4q0W7dl

Come See Me in the Good Light: Finding life in death | ScreenFish This film offers us an opportunity to step away from “living” too much to consider death so that we might think about if we really are living.

This is an excellent doc. bit.ly/3NdhVon

It Was Just an Accident: Revenge, mercy, and justice | ScreenFish Is there any room for mercy in justice? Is there any justice in mercy? What if we substitute “vengeance” for “mercy”? Jafar Panahi brings these issues to th ...

My view on Panahi's latest. bit.ly/4bs20MQ

My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow | ScreenFish Creating a record of events is a primary foundation of journalism. It is also the function of documentary filmmaking. My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last ...

Young Russian journalists take on the regime. bit.ly/4pWb54l

A Little Prayer: Portrait of love | ScreenFish A Little Prayer, directed by Angus MacLachlan, is a story of decisions and consequences. It plays out within a family that seems to be happy and caring. And ...

My review of A Little Prayer bit.ly/3YuVy03

The Voice of Hind Rajab: Listening to the dead | ScreenFish A popular poster in dorm rooms when I was in college read, “War is not healthy for children and other living things.” It seems so obvious. Yet each generati ...

The Voice of Hind Rajab. Very powerful! Shortlisted for Best International Feature. bit.ly/3MK3Luw

Rental Family - Acting that matters | ScreenFish What do you do when you need someone to be a mourner, or a groom, or a father, or a companion? What if you need someone to apologize to a spouse? Why not hi ...

One of my faves from AFIFest. American actor gets job filling in for family members. bit.ly/4pf21qZ

Cutting Through Rocks: A determined woman | ScreenFish While we may think of the film being Iran-specific, all of these themes continue to be in flux all around the world.

A motorcycle riding former midwife is elected to local government in Iran. bit.ly/4phYhVE

Train Dreams: Does one life matter? | ScreenFish “The world needs a hermit in the woods as much as a preacher in the pulpit.” What is the meaning of a life? That is the underlying question in Clint Bentley ...

This is my favorite film of the year so far. bit.ly/4oYJYVQ

The Choral: Singing for life | ScreenFish “Life is short. So sing.” Music is an emotive art. It can convey joy, sorrow, grief, patriotism. The act of singing can often bring people—even whole commun ...

My review of The Choral. Sometimes singing is about more than the music. bit.ly/4hWcRQA

AFIFest: Day 4 | ScreenFish The T-shirt for this year’s AFIFest Presented by Canva has a quotation from the Guest Artistic Director Guillermo del Toro, “The love of films heals you.” I ...

Saturday at #AFIFest. The President's Cake. Olmo. The Voice of Hind Rajab. bit.ly/3LySs7G

AFIFest 2025: Day 5 | ScreenFish My choices for today’s films were all Special Screenings, featuring films that will be coming out in the coming months.

Sunday at #AFIFest, including a brief look at my favorite film of the year so far, Train Dreams. bit.ly/4nvPK0a

AFIFest 2025: Day 2 | ScreenFish “Welcome, film lovers. You’re in good company.” These words come up on the screen before every screening at AFIFest presented by Canva. That is not just a w ...

What I saw Thursday at #AFIFest. The Eyes of Ghana. Orphan. Rental Family. bit.ly/3JrdNiN

AFIFest 2025: Day 3 | ScreenFish Welcome back to Hollywood and AFIFest Presented by Canva. Today I encountered the first film that didn’t really work for me. For some reason this is a day t ...

What I saw Friday at #AFIFest. Below the Clouds. The King of Color. The Plague. bit.ly/47kFxgZ

AFIFest 2025: Opening Day | ScreenFish Time again for AFIFest Presented by Canva—five days of some of the best films of the year. This is AFIFEst’s 39th year. There are over 160 films, representi ...

Wednesday at #AFIFest. 1001 Frames. Silent Rebellion. Father Mother Sister Brother. bit.ly/3L5We8y

Blue Moon: Exuberent sorrow | ScreenFish Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon is a study in contradiction. From the title card that opens the films with two contrasting comments about Lorenz Hart, it push ...

A man trying hard not to be depressed. bit.ly/43tUHiM

Stella: A Life - Can we judge? | ScreenFish Most stories we see about the Holocaust focus on the noble actions or withstanding of suffering in the midst of such a dark evil. Stella: A Life, from direc ...

She's certainly not innocent, but can we pronounce her guilty? bit.ly/3VR69RE

Satisfied: The life of a working mother | ScreenFish For fans of Hamilton, this film gives a chance to remember the extraordinary event that it was. Renée is part of the development at a very early stage, and ...

Hamilton and the stress of a working mother. bit.ly/3KMVMf2

The Summer Book: Hoping for new life | ScreenFish “Life is long.” For a young girl and her family, a summer at their island summer cabin is filled with many things: boredom, excitement, discovery, loss, the ...

3 generations coming of age bit.ly/4gHT7iI

Death of a Ladies' Man - Dying to the lyrics of Leonard Cohen | ScreenFish “Who am I and who are the ghosts?” Philosophers often note that our mortality brings insight into our understanding of life. For example, Samuel Johnson not ...

My review. now on VOD
bit.ly/4nkFqJ5

The Ugly: Digging up the truth | ScreenFish “If a bad person pretends to be a good person, does that make them bad? Or good?” The Ugly, written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho based on his graphic novel, ...

My review of The Ugly: kind of a Korean podcast-ish mystery
bit.ly/3VC4cbE