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Screen Time: Week of February 11

By Tom White


From 'Hale County This Morning, This Evening'. Photo courtesy of RaMell Ross.
Screen Time is your curated weekly guide to excellent documentaries and nonfiction programs that you can watch at home.


Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer captures the roiling debauchery of the Disco Era of the 1970s--the nucleus of which was Studio 54, the club whose clientele was a massive swirl of uptown and downtown culture, the gay community and A-list celebrities. Studio 54 premieres February 11 on A&E.

The Oscar-nominated Hale County, This Morning This Evening premieres February 11 on Independent Lens. Director RaMell Ross creates an immersive cinematic reverie of African American life in rural Alabama.

From executive producer Jordan Peele and director Joshua Rofé comes Lorena, a four-part series about the notorious case of Lorena and John Bobbitt, in which she, following years of domestic abuse, sliced off her husband’s penis, triggering what was arguably the launch of the 24-hour news cycle phenomenon. Recontextualized 25 years later through the lens of the #MeToo era, Lorena, premiering February 15 on Amazon Prime, examines the deep moral issues and painful human tragedies at the heart of the infamous American scandal.

From the creative mind behind comedic classics such as Borat and Bruno, Larry Charles’ Dangerous World of Comedy, premiering February 15 on Netflix, explores the vast depths and varying definitions of comedy in different cultures all around the world. From Russia, China, India, Iran, Nigeria Turkey and more, Charles travels to the unlikeliest of places and speaks to the unlikeliest of comedians to unearth just how dangerous and how meaningful the world of comedy can be.
 
Presidents at War, airing February 17 and 18 on History Channel, tells the story of World War II through the experiences of eight US Presidents who served in the military. The series examines how their war experiences changed them, made them leaders and informed their decision-making once they reached the White House.