Women on Death Row

Small Small Thing

A look at the high profile case of Liberian Olivia Zinnah, who died in 2012 of complications from a rape that occurred when she was just 7 years old.

2017

A Suitable Girl

A Suitable Girl follows three young women in India struggling to maintain their identities and follow their dreams amid intense pressure to get married. The film examines the women's complex relationship with marriage, family, and society.

8.0

2018

Footprints of Pan-Africanism

In 1957, Ghana was the first African country to become independent of its colonial rulers, in this case the British. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of what in 1960 became the Republic of Ghana, called on Africans from all over the world to come to Ghana to help build the new nation. The most important aim was to "undo the damage caused by the slave trade" as filmmaker Shirikiana Aina expressed it in her documentary Footprints of Pan Africanism. Several people speak in Aina’s film about the reconstruction of Ghana and Nkrumah, who was deposed in 1966, offering room for their frequently gripping personal stories. These are often marked by racism, the emerging civil rights movement and what it’s like to be black and live elsewhere. For many, returning to Africa was like going home.

5.5

1994

The Devil Never Sleeps

The Devil Never Sleeps is a “whodunit” documentary about family secrets. Filmmaker Lourdes Portillo received a phone call informing her of the mysterious death of her wealthy Mexican uncle Oscar. Officially ruled a suicide, Portillo’s relatives claimed murder, offering several possible suspects including a business partner, a ranch hand, and Oscar’s young widow who stood to inherit everything. Traveling to Mexico, Portillo attempts to learn the truth about her powerful uncle. Using interviews, old snapshots and home movies, she finds a complicated web of family secrets, intrigue, rumor and betrayal that makes her enigmatic uncle’s murder seem ever more likely, yet ever more obscure. As the Mexican saying goes, “When evil is lurking, the devil never sleeps.”

6.6

2017

Alone

This investigation into the layers of mass incarceration and its shaping of the modern black American family is seen through the eyes of a single mother in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1974

Weiss ist die Farbe der Verlierer

Short film against the oppression of women. At first, differences in education are presented and then how the relationship between women and men looks like in the professional world.

1971

Filmstudenten - in die Praxis entlassen

Documentary about the situation of film students after graduation.

7.5

1989

How Good to See You Alive

Four years after a military coup overthrew the Brazilian government in 1964, all civil rights were suspended and torture became a systematic practice. Using a mix of fiction and documentary this extraordinary film is a searing record of personal memory, political repression and the will to survive. Interviews with eight women who were political prisoners during the military dictatorship are framed by the fantasies and imaginings of an anonymous character, portrayed by actress Irene Ravache.

5.3

2020

The Imperial Lullaby

The armies of Fascist Italy conquered Addis Ababa, capital of Abyssinia, in May 1936, thus culminating the African colonial adventure of the ruthless dictator Benito Mussolini, by then lord of Libya, Eritrea and Somalia; a bloody and tragic story told through the naive drawings of Pietro Dall'Igna, an Italian schoolboy born in 1925.

7.0

1995

Zapatista Women

April 1994 in the Lacandona Jungle, Chiapas, México. The Zapatista women talk about the living conditions of Mexican indigenous populations and the life of peasant women. They explain the reasons for their struggle and their uprising.

9.0

2023

Unsolved Mysteries: Behind the Legacy

Sitting down with co-creators Terry Dunn Meurer and John Cosgrove, along with long-time actors, producers, and directors of the show, this documentary special pulls back the curtain with behind-the-scenes stories from research and casting to solving mysteries soon after episodes aired. With never-before-seen outtakes of beloved host Robert Stack and a look into some fan-favorite moments. This program honors one of television's most enduring and recognizable shows as well as the fans who were integral to its success.

6.0

2012

Menhaden: The Most Important Fish in the Bay

Menhaden: The Most Important Fish in the Bay examines the role of a little-known, oily, little fish in the Chesapeake Bay. From its original concept as a classic man-versus-environment story, the film evolved to reflect the complexity of sustaining a menhaden fishery that many diverse interests depend on. The outcome: a story that seamlessly weaves together different perspectives on the menhaden fishing industry and its culture utilizing engaging personal vignettes, scientific data and creative visual storytelling techniques. Techniques include archival footage blended with cinematic live-action footage, musical performances and original, handmade animations.

5.0

One Cut, One Life

When seminal documentarian Ed Pincus is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he and collaborator Lucia Small team up to make one last film, much to the chagrin of Jane, Ed’s wife of 50 years. Told from two points of view with vulnerability, intimacy and humor, ONE CUT, ONE LIFE challenges the form of first person documentary while offering a complex story of love, loss, legacy, and the delicacy of capturing the preciousness of life while time is fleeting.

5.5

2011

Untold Odyssey: Reindeer Wrangling

A lyrical and haunting portrait of reindeer herding in the twilight expanses of the Lappish wilderness.

9-Man

'9-Man' is an independent feature documentary about an isolated and exceptionally athletic Chinese-American sport that's much more than a pastime. Since the 1930s, young men have played this gritty streetball game competitively in the alleys and parking lots of Chinatown. At a time when anti-Chinese sentiment and laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act forced Chinese restaurant workers and laundrymen to socialize exclusively amongst themselves, nine-man offered both escape and fraternity for men who were separated from their families in China and facing extreme discrimination and distrust. Pivoting between oil-spotted Chinatown parking lots and jellyfish-filled banquet scenes, the film captures the spirit of nine-man as players not only battle for a championship but fight to preserve a sport that holds so much history.

2021

Renée Nyberg: The Kidnap of Ulrika Bidegård

Journalist Renée Nyberg meets showjumper Ulrika Bidegård, who in 1993 was kidnapped and kept locked up for five days while the police launched an extensive search operation. Now she and her family are talking about the terrible days and life afterwards.

2023

Léa devant la caméra

Revisiting her film set photos, director Léa Pool reflects on her prolific career. The filmmaker left Switzerland at the age of 25 to settle in Quebec and embark on a surprising career. She reinvents herself from film to film, exploring themes that deeply resonate with her: identity, exile, maternal absence, transitional spaces... In both documentary and fiction, she has directed 20 feature films that feature strong female characters and contemporary issues. Somewhere between a masterclass and an intimate conversation, this documentary invites Léa to share her cinematic journey in front of the camera.

6.3

2010

Into Our Own Hands

When confronted with their lingerie factory (Starissima) going bankrupt, the employees attempt to take it over by forming a cooperative. Soon questions about fundamental economic and social issues pop up amidst the bras and panties. Through this adventure together they discover a new freedom.

My Name Is Salt

Year after year, just after the monsoon season has finished, thousands of families travel to a bleak desert in Gujerat, India, where they will stay for an endless eight months and extract salt from the earth, using the same painstaking, manual techniques as generations before them. Director Farida Pacha spent a season with one of these families, observing the very particular rhythms of their lives.

6.4

The Decent One

Through previously undiscovered private letters, photos and diaries that were found in the Himmler family house in 1945, the "The Decent One" exposes a unique and at times uncomfortable access to the life and mind of the merciless "Architect of the Final Solution" Heinrich Himmler.

Recommended Movies

7.3

2024

The Menendez Brothers

Serving life in prison for murdering their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez speak out in this documentary explaining the shocking crime and ensuing trials.

7.5

2018

RBG

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg now 84, and still inspired by the lawyers who defended free speech during the Red Scare, Ginsburg refuses to relinquish her passionate duty, steadily fighting for equal rights for all citizens under the law. Through intimate interviews and unprecedented access to Ginsburg’s life outside the court, RBG tells the electric story of Ginsburg’s consuming love affairs with both the Constitution and her beloved husband Marty—and of a life’s work that led her to become an icon of justice in the highest court in the land.

2011

Into the Abyss

We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.

7.8

2016

13th

An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

7.4

2012

West of Memphis

The documentary tells the hitherto unknown story behind an extraordinary and desperate fight to bring the truth to light. Told and made by those who lived it, the filmmakers' unprecedented access to the inner workings of the defense allows the film to show the investigation, research, and appeals process in a way that has never been seen before; revealing shocking and disturbing new information about a case that still haunts the American South.

6.8

I Am Ali

Unprecedented access to Muhammad Ali's personal archive of "audio journals" as well as interviews and testimonials from his inner circle of family and friends are used to tell the legend's life story.

7.2

2004

In the Realms of the Unreal

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

6.8

2025

Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers

Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story

6.2

2025

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story

Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.

2026

The Crash

A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.

6.4

2026

The Investigation of Lucy Letby

An engaging and thought-provoking look at Lucy Letby, the former nurse serving life in prison after being convicted of the murders of seven infants and the attempted murders of seven others.

7.2

2026

Maternal Instinct

Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.

8.0

2025

My Mom Jayne

Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.

7.4

She's Beautiful When She's Angry

A documentary that resurrects the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women's movement from 1966 to 1971.

6.8

2020

Time

Fox Rich, indomitable matriarch and modern-day abolitionist, strives to keep her family together while fighting for the release of her incarcerated husband. An intimate, epic, and unconventional love story, filmed over two decades.

7.4

2024

The Walking Dead: The Return

Stars of "The Walking Dead," Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, walk down memory lane and visit iconic locations where pivotal moments between their characters, Rick and Michonne, were filmed.

6.1

Tricked: The Documentary

This character-driven film considers the evolving sex trafficking landscape as seen by the main players: the exploited, the pimps, the johns that fuel the business, and the cops who fight to stop it.

7.1

Maidentrip

14-year-old Laura Dekker sets out on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone.

6.6

Love, Marilyn

Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.

7.0

1971

Directed by John Ford

A documentary about the life and films of director John Ford.