Documentary

Apple TV+ released the official trailer for the new four-part documentary series Lincoln’s Dilemma, a 21st-century examination of a complicated man in the context of his times. With never-before-heard stories about Lincoln, as well as close-up perspectives of him as a man, the docuseries shines a light on a side of Lincoln rarely seen — and provides a fresh perspective on a story that feels more timely and relevant than ever when explored alongside the events that Americans are living through today. Narrated by Jeffrey Wright, and featuring the voices of Bill Camp as Abraham Lincoln and Leslie Odom Jr. as Frederick Douglass, all four parts of Lincoln’s Dilemma will premiere globally on Friday, February 18 on Apple TV+.

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ESPN Films has started production on the new multi-part documentary on Colin Kaepernick, with Spike Lee on board to direct.

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HBO documentary Icahn: The Restless Billionaire directed by Bruce David Klein, explores the fascinating contradictions at the heart of the famed financier, Carl Icahn. Amassing close to $20 billion dollars over the last half century and at the forefront of some of the most legendary business deals of our times, Icahn, often referred to as the “Lone Wolf of Wall Street,” is a feared negotiator and master strategist in the art of corporate takeovers and investments. A polarizing figure described as both an activist investor and a ruthless corporate raider, Icahn rose from modest beginnings in Queens to become one of the richest men in the world, embodying the American Dream, whose impact on companies, products, CEOs, stock markets, and capitalism itself is vast. Yet, he openly criticizes corporate excess and the huge wealth inequality gap. In his own words and with commentary from family members, journalists, and fellow titans of industry, Icahn: The Restless Billionaire probes Icahn’s humble roots, his business acumen, and his obsessive drive to stay atop America’s corporate hierarchy.

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Inspired by David Blight’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography, “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” and executive produced by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the HBO documentary Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches brings to life the words of our country’s most famous anti-slavery activist.

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President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground and Netflix acquired the documentary Descendant& which won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

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CNN Films and TIME Studios have teamed with Academy Award^®-nominated and Emmy^® Award-winning filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen (RBG, Julia, My Name is Pauli Murray) for Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, a tender yet raw documentary about former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords’ remarkable perseverance following a horrific 2011 assassination attempt that left her with partial paralysis and the language impairment, aphasia. Home movies taken at the hospital, and current-day cinema verité filming, show Gifford’s painstaking and miraculous recovery from a gunshot to her head, and her path to becoming one of America’s most effective advocates for gun violence prevention. The filmmakers also capture a remarkable love story. Nine years after Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly gave up his job as a NASA astronaut to support his wife’s recovery, cameras follow an exuberant Gabrielle Giffords on the 2020 campaign trail supporting Kelly’s successful run for the U.S. Senate for Arizona. Production of Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down is near completion.

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