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  4. Essential Doc Reads

Essential Doc Reads

A weekly feature in which the IDA staff recommends recent pieces about the documentary form and its processes. 

  •  Stunt performer Johnny Knoxville is seen getting hit by a bull in a stunt. From Jeff Tremaine’s ‘Jackass Forever.’ Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
    February 18, 2022

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of February 14, 2022

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • A group of Trump supporters storm the US Capitol Building on January 6, 2022. From The New York Times Visual Investigations’ 'Days of Rage. 'Courtesy of The New York Times
    January 15, 2022

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of January 10, 2022

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • John Wilson is a white male filmmaker wearing a colorful sun umbrella around his head. He is holding a video camera with palm trees in the background. From ‘How To with John Wilson.’ Image courtesy of Joe Buglewicz/HBO.
    January 8, 2022

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of January 3, 2022

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • Film still of Jacques Costeau underwater in scuba diving gear. Courtesy of National Geographic
    December 11, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of December 6, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • Terrick Trobough is a young white male actor wearing a white shirt, sitting on a church bench. He is wearing a cross. Image from Robert Greene’s ‘Procession.’ Courtesy of Netflix.
    November 20, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of November 15, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • Meera and Shyamkali are two South Asian journalists looking at filmed footage on a cellphone. From Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s ‘Writing With Fire.’ Courtesy of Music Box Films
    November 12, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of November 8, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • A masked Black woman funeral worker at a funeral at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans. She is standing next to a casket. From the 'Frontline' documentary ‘Death Is Our Business,’ directed by Jacqueline Olive. Courtesy of PBS Frontline.
    November 4, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of November 1, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • An image of a pair of eyes displayed on a screen atop a skyscraper. From Todd Chandler’s 'Bulletproof.' Courtesy of Grasshopper Film.
    October 29, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of October 25, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • Karen Dalton is a white woman in a white sweater and blue jeans. She is playing a guitar and smoking a cigarette. Image from Richard Peete and Robert Yapkowitz’s ‘Karen Dalton: In My Own Time.’ Courtesy of The 2050 Group.
    October 15, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of October 11, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
  • Animated image of Amin, an Afghan man with a dark beard and short hair. He islieing on a patterned rug. From Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s documentary ‘Flee.’ Image courtesy of TIFF.
    October 8, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads: Week of October 4, 2021

    Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around
    Read more
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    An In-Person Hot Docs 2022: Of Memory, Longing, Reconstructing, Questioning

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