HBO announced the upcoming documentaries for the second half of 2020, including THE VOW, a documentary series by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning directors Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer, which takes a deep nuanced look behind the headlines of the self-improvement organization NXIVM, and SIEMPRE LUIS, a portrait of Luis A. Miranda Jr. following his mission to bring his son Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning production of Hamilton to his home island of Puerto Rico.
Kino Lorber will release Epicentro, a richly textured portrait of the resilient people of Cuba directed by renowned documentarian Hubert Sauper (We Come As Friends, Oscar-nominated Darwin’s Nightmare). Winner of the 2020 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary, the film launches in virtual cinemas through Kino Marquee starting Friday, August 28.
Issa Rae is executive producing Seen & Heard, a two-part HBO documentary series exploring the history of Black television as seen through the eyes of trailblazers who wrote, produced, created and starred in groundbreaking series of the past and present.
The Andorra Hustle, a documentary film written and directed by the award-winning filmmaker Eric Merola will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime on September 4, 2020.
Filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass are currently in production on “The Lady and the Dale”, an HBO documentary series exploring an audacious 1970s auto scam centered around a mysterious entrepreneur.
On Friday, September 11, 2020, Alamo Drafthouse and Laemmle Theaters will exclusively premiere the new movie Space Dogs, an Icarus Films release. A week later on Friday, Sept. 18, Space Dogs will expand to a wide virtual theatrical release supporting local theaters across North America. In the film, directors Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter document a pack of Moscow street dogs and trace the story of Laika, the first dog in space.
Focus Features released the trailer for The Way I See It, the new documentary on former Chief White House Photographer Pete Souza’s time behind-the-scenes covering Presidents Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan.
Director Shalini Kantayya’s feature documentary, Coded Bias, that premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival explores the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini’s startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately. As part of a national Science on Screen initiative, Coded Bias will have a virtual cinema release starting at Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in Queens, New York (Two week run opening Wednesday 11/11) and Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA (Two week run opening Friday 11/18).
Actor Samuel L. Jackson will headline the new six-part docuseries Enslaved set to premiere September 14, 2020 at 10 P.M. ET/PT on EPIX. Enslaved sheds new light on 400 years of human trafficking from Africa to the New World. Based on a DNA test identifying his ancestral tribe, the series traces Jackson’s personal journey from the U.S. to Gabon for his induction into the Benga tribe, with rare and unprecedented access to secret ceremonies and local customs. Following its launch on EPIX, Enslaved will also premiere on CBC in Canada on Sunday, October 18 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT).
Award-winning actress Sigourney Weaver (“Alien,” “Avatar,” “Gorillas in the Mist”) will narrate the National Geographic docuseries Secrets of the Whales, which chronicles the whale way of life and their challenges and triumphs in an ever-changing ocean with renowned filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer-at-Large James Cameron serving as executive producer. Secrets of the Whales will premiere globally on National Geographic on Earth Day 2021 in 172 countries and 43 languages.
The new feature documentary, Blood on the Wall, from Academy Award nominee and best-selling author, journalist and filmmaker Sebastian Junger and Emmy-winning filmmaker Nick Quested, will premiere Wednesday, September 30, at 9/8c on National Geographic.
Before Oprah – before Arsenio – there was Mr. SOUL! Ellis Haizlip made television broadcast history with SOUL!, America’s first “black Tonight Show.” The documentary titled Mr. SOUL! which brilliantly profiles Haizlip is right on time given the subject with Black Lives Matter and the current state of our country and our communities addressing racism in a meaningful manner – Haizlip’s story and his inspiration is now even more important. Mr. SOUL! comes to theaters and cinemas across the nation through the virtual cinema platform starting August 28, 2020.