‘Boys State’ gives us a frighteningly accurate microcosm of what real American politics look like today—complete with political shenanigans, scandal and even a wee bit of backstabbing. And yet, somehow, you walk away from this film feeling curiously hopeful.

In her new documentary, Dads, Bryce Dallas Howard reminds us how hard fatherhood can be … but how wonderful and critical it is, too.

Runner depicts the inspirational journey of Guor Mading Maker from refugee to world-renowned athlete.

The Booksellers offers a compelling, wistful look at the art of selling rare books in the age of Amazon and Instagram, and it reveals that booksellers are often as quirky as the books they sell.

Jump Shot uncovers the inspiring true story of Kenny Sailors, the proclaimed developer of the modern day jump shot.

Crip Camp tells the story of a groundbreaking summer camp that galvanizes a group of teens with disabilities to help build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality.

Cosmos: Possible Worlds is an exploration through space and time narrated by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson that shows the audience what it means to consider what’s just past our field of vision and to engage in wonder about what exists on the next level. 

Free Burma Rangers explores the extraordinary 20-year journey of missionaries Dave and Karen Eubank. The film follows Dave, Karen, and their three young children, as they venture into war zones where they are fighting to bring hope to the hopeless.

We Believe in Dinosaurs, a 90-minute documentary airing on PBS Feb. 17, zooms its cameras on a creation story, if you will: How creationist Ken Ham’s sprawling Ark Encounter came to be.

The Oscar-nominated film The Cave, which aired recently on National Geographic, follows Dr. Amani and other heroic women as they assist those who are caught in the middle of the Syrian war.

One Child Nation offers a riveting and, at times, horrific look at China’s One-Child Policy—a policy that held sway in the country for more than 35 years.

American Heretics is a film about a group of defiant Oklahomans who have been labeled “heretics” for challenging fundamentalist Christian doctrine by calling for a more inclusive interpretation of scripture.

Framed as a letter to her daughter, Waad al-Kateab’s For Sama depicts human dignity in the midst of the horrors of war using her own footage from a besieged Aleppo.

Roll Red Roll is a true-crime thriller that goes behind the headlines to uncover the deep-seated “boys will be boys” culture at the root of high school sexual assault in America.

Emanuel features intimate interviews with survivors of the tragic shooting that occurred in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015. This film is a poignant story of justice and faith, love and hate, and examines the healing power of forgiveness.

Awarded ‘Best Documentary’ at Tribeca Film Festival, Scheme Birds tells the story of Gemma- a young girl growing up in the Scottish ghetto of Motherwell.

The Biggest Little Farm is a beautiful documentary by and about John and Molly Chester and their incredible journey creating a two-hundred acre, completely organic and biodynamic farm in Southern California.

During some of the most tumultuous times in our nation’s history, Reverend Theodore Hesburgh finds himself to be an influential voice leading the fight for peace and equality.

The River and the Wall is a story about five adventurers, who set out on a journey along our nation’s southern border and attempt to explore the tough issues surrounding immigration.

Amazing Grace captures a breathtaking performance by the legendary Aretha Franklin, and invites us all take part in what was a truly extraordinary evening.

Strange Negotiations is a film about David Bazan, as he reflects on his long career in the music business, his family, and his faith that has played a central role throughout.

What you’re left with at the end of Bluebird is an enormous appreciation and gratefulness that some smart and caring people kept this remarkable place alive all these years.

The Story of God, which begins its third season March 5 on National Geographic, follows Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman as he and the show’s crew travel around the globe, exploring fascinating and often hidden facets of the world’s religions.

In his new documentary, Tigerland, Ross Kauffman impresses upon us the urgency with which conservationists are working to save the tigers. 

Midnight Family is the story of the Ochoa family as they run their private ambulance in Mexico City.

Honeyland tells the story of Hatidze, a woman who lives in a remote area of Macedonia and is the last living beekeeper of her kind in the world.

Hassan Fazili, his wife, and their two young daughters, fled Afghanistan in 2015 to Tajikistan when the family learned that the Taliban had put a price on his head. This documentary chronicles the Fazili family’s incredible journey and struggle to find safety.

Monrovia is a celebration of small towns and community but also of friendship and family. More significantly, though, it’s a celebration of our shared humanity.

On Her Shoulders is a testament to a perseverance born out of immense suffering. Nadia Murad has been through much more than most, and that has instilled in her an ability to endure the burden of advocacy for her people.

Paris to Pittsburgh makes a powerful argument that the fight against climate change in the U.S. is as strong as ever thanks to hundreds of cities, states, universities and businesses who picked up the baton and continued the goals of the Paris agreement, despite the Trump administration’s position.

Mars offers a unique, grounded look at space exploration and shows us how it relates to those of us whose feet will always be planted on earth.

In Social Animals one thing becomes clear – for all the ways Instagram allows someone to filter and frame their life, it can’t help but also be truly revelatory. What we choose to show and not show discloses who we are and what we value.

When it comes to some of our most vulnerable men and women—people with disabilities that we might avoid or discount— ‘Intelligent Lives’ reminds us more progress needs to be made.

Cielo creates space of the cinematic kind so that the viewer can create space inwardly to reckon with the vastness of outer space and all it contains, an immensity which we can only see with our naked eye in the night sky.

A meditative and gorgeously filmed experience that asks the question, “Is the root cause of the environmental crisis we face spiritual in nature?”

Science Fair makes you smile—not just a surface smile because it’s a fun, entertaining, well-made documentary (which it is), but a deeper smile. One that comes of being encouraged and inspired by these high schoolers, and what they can do in the coming years.

Free Solo is the kind of documentary that makes you hold your breath, both because you don’t want Alex to slip off the granite face of El Capitan and because you can see how easy it would be for him to slip free of those who love him.

Crime + Punishment is riveting and persuasive. It’s not an instrument in tearing down a treasured institution as much as a potential tool to help rebuild it.

The temptation in observing outlandish people is to “other” them. Generation Wealth wants to do the opposite — to see how we are like them, so that we may reconsider our own selfish pursuits.

The past has its own gravity, pulling at us, keeping us in the same circular orbits we’ve always known. To break free requires tremendous resolve, not to mention a little outside help.

Far From The Tree is as rich, as moving and as frustratingly complex as family itself.

Eugene Jarecki’s brilliant The King may be the most surprisingly profound documentary film of the year.

Three Identical Strangers hits every note of emotion and questions the very fabric of human nature in light of a story that is just as sad as it is joyful.

RBG documents the legacy and marriage of the iconic supreme court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

American Jail isn’t just brave filmmaking. It’s loving. It wants us all to be free, and it knows that it must act in love even now in the face of such injustice if love is to triumph over all.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is a beautifully simple portrayal of a man who had the quiet audacity to challenge the status quo in everything he did.

America Inside Out reminds us that a resilient thread of humanity remains, ready to dig in to bring about change for the good of the country.

The Heart of Nuba chronicles the life of a community of Catholic aid workers and the Nuba peoples who surround, work, and are helped by the hospital.

‘Hondros’ is not just an informative piece of nonfiction filmmaking; it is also a tribute to a man who was remarkable for reasons beyond his bravery and facility with a camera.

‘Summer in the Forest’ reminds us of the simplicity of life—how simple and beautiful it is to love someone, to work with our hands, to play with our friends, and to laugh, learn, and remember.