Your Favorite Documentaries

[Kobi]

One area in which equality between gay and straight people is a given is age: We’re all getting older, and for some seniors (or near-seniors) advancing age equals advancing invisibility.

That’s sadly true for the three autumnal subjects in “Before You Know It,” a bittersweet documentary that follows three gay men in different parts of the country who feel time and change breathing down their necks.

Filmmaker P.J. Raval expertly interweaves all their stories, including that of septuagenarian loner Dennis Creamer, who waited most of his life to come out as a cross-dresser yearning for gay relationships. He’s a sweet and quiet man, somewhat adrift and estranged from his family; nothing much seems to pierce his sad isolation.

There is also Robert Mainor, the sardonic, larger-than-life owner of a gay bar in Galveston, Texas. Every inch a community leader, Mainor is proud of the oasis he has built for drag queens. Unfortunately, we watch some of the wonderful bombast and life go out of him as illness and legal troubles take a toll.

Finally, there’s Ty Martin, a gay-rights advocate in Harlem who is certainly aware of anti-gay rhetoric arising in his community’s churches. We see Martin anxiously talk to people on the street about LGBT seniors, and how he gets a warmer reception than expected.

During filming, New York’s marriage-equality law passed, leading Ty to believe he and his partner will soon get married.

As with everything else in this film, destiny has other plans.

[MysticOceansFL]

America Unearth.........................

[Kobi]

ANITA tells the story about a young, brilliant African American Anita Hill who accuses the Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of unwanted sexual advances during explosive Senate Hearings in 1991 and ignites a political firestorm about sexual harassment, race, power and politics that resonates 20 years later today. ANITA is a dramatic look at the consequences to a private citizen acting out of a civic duty to 'speak truth to power.' For the first time on film Anita Hills speaks about her experience in the Senate Hearings, her impact on issues of sexual harassment, workplace rights for women and men, social justice and equality.

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Watching this live in 1991 and watching the film was a powerful look at the ultimate white misogynistic mens club putting a woman to task for airing her story of sexual harrassment in the workplace. It felt like emotional rape then and still does.

Had forgotten Joe Biden was the head of this committee.

[Kobi]

An essential documentary about the birth of the women's liberation movement. Beginning in the late 1960s, featuring never-seen before archival footage and new interviews She's beautiful when she's angry tells the story of one of the most important social movements of the 20th century, bringing to light the efforts of lesser-known activists, including the Boston authors of Our bodies, ourselves, the Chicago Women's Liberation Union, and grassroots organizations across the country who played a pivotal role in the struggle"

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History to some. Life to me.

Nice recap of what life was like before the womens movement, the process of getting angry enough to fight for change, the changes, and how easy it is to lose the gains when people become complacent.

Interesting to see the variety of women involved, describing things themselves. And, to have the lesbians and WOC speak to their part in the process.

BTW, I am still in love with Rita Mae Brown and Karla Jay.

[Kobi]

Consider the Conversation is a series of PBS films created by two long-time Wisconsin friends - Terry Kaldhusdal, a 6th grade history teacher and filmmaker, and Michael Bernhagen, a healthcare business development professional turned hospice advocate.

Both lost loved ones to severe chronic disease during the first part of the 21st century - Mike's mother, Rita, to congestive heart failure and vascular dementia in 2003 and Terry's brother, Peter, to pancreatic cancer in 2009 - and struggled, like most Americans do, to make sense of what was happening.

These personal experiences, combined with Mike's many years of work in the hospice field, led the pair to produce documentaries with one simple goal in mind - inspire culture change that results in end-of-life care that is more person-centered and less system-centered.

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Excellent. Very intense.

[Kobi]

Looks at the remarkable genius of Orson Welles on the eve of his centenary - the enigma of his career as a Hollywood star, a Hollywood director (for some a Hollywood failure), and a crucially important independent filmmaker. Orson Welles's life was magical: a musical prodigy at age ten, a director of Shakespeare at fourteen, a painter at sixteen, a star of stage and radio at twenty, romances with some of the most beautiful women in the world, including Rita Hayworth.

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This was more of an overview of Welles life and career. Brought up more questions than it answered.

I can tell you a young Welles sounds eerily like Frasier Crane.

[Gemme]

I'm not a documentary type person but I picked up Shelter Me and it looks good so far.