You don’t need to like formula one motor racing to appreciate this spectacular documentary on the life of Brazilian champion Ayrton Senna, says freelance writer Andrew Rankin.
Documentaries
Daily Proposition: A mysterious mockumentary
You can be forgiven if, for a moment, you mistake Leigh Hart’s Mysterious Planet — airing tonight on ABC2 — as a serious documentary. But host Leigh Hart is taking the piss, says Matthew Smith. And it’s very funny.
Daily Proposition: A night of shifty women and dirty rats
We can never really have enough historical Australian documentaries, writes Matt Smith of Crikey comedy blog Laugh Track.
film reviews 
Catfish and the rise of the ‘real-or-not-umentary’
Documentary filmmakers and their subjects have always blurred the line between truth and fiction. Catfish is the latest is the first wave of the ‘real-or-not-umentary,’ which is destined to make audiences more cynical and hostile than ever before, writes Luke Buckmaster.
Daily Proposition: Stay inside with guitar heroes
I pretty much dare anyone who likes guitars and/or guitar-based rock and blues to not like music documentary It Might Get Loud. Tim Dunlop watches.
Impartiality and the ABC: the Middle East doco rejected for broadcast
ABC Television will “consider” broadcasting a Middle East pro-peace documentary it had previously refused to show after pressure from the film’s distribution company.
Watch the environmental movement’s first TV series
Our Vanishing Wilderness was a seminal and pivotal 1970s TV documentary series that first raised Americans’ awareness of pollution and environmental destruction, and the whole thing is now available free online.
Australia’s 3D film debut set to be a real toad
In the wake of Avatar’s monolithic success, Australian film makers are keen to get a slice of the three-dimensional pie. Our first 3D flick? A nature doco about cane toads.
VIDEO: Inside the Indonesia-Australia people smuggling trade
Al Jazeera goes inside a network of people smugglers taking asylum seekers from Indonesia to Australia, revealing some closely-guarded secrets of the human trafficking trade.
New York Times: The Movie
A documentary filmmaker has taken up residence at the NYT to make a movie based around the paper’s media desk, documenting the journos’ depressing task of reporting on newspaper layoffs and closures, day-in, day-out.
Film review: This Is It
The documentary of Michael Jackson’s concert-that-never-was, This Is It might be smashing box office records around the world, but the film’s lack of commentary, insight and context will make it a struggle for most to sit through, says Luke Buckmaster. One for the fans.
Starsuckers: British tabloids caught in the act by filmmakers
The sewers of London’s tabloid newspapers are explored in a documentary film called Starsuckers Predictably, the silence of the tabloids has been deafening.
Video of the Day: Welcome to the most polluted place on earth
Take a trip to the coal-mining town of Linfen in Shanxi Province, China — the single most polluted place on earth. If you haven’t had your “Oh Shit” moment yet, this might just be it.
VIDEO: The Wizard of Oz munchkins: where are they now?
It’s been 70 years since the release of classic (and let’s face it, still slightly creepy) film The Wizard of Oz. Newsweek has tracked down the film’s five surviving “munchkins” to share some on-set memories.
VIDEO: The Vodka Wars: Russia vs. Poland
Vice magazine’s Ivar Berglin travels to Poland and Russia in a drunken journey to uncover the real origins of vodka.
Vogue and the chill of Wintour
Culture Mulcher reviews new film The September Issue a documentary about Vogue magazine and its notoriously icy editor, Anna Wintour.
The Rolling Stones’ Cocksucker Blues finally leaked online. What took so long?
The Rolling Stones’ banned 1972 documentary Cocksucker Blues has finally made its way on to the internet. A bizarre court order actually prevents the film from being shown unless director Robert Frank is physically present, but even so: it took 37 YEARS to leak?
Japan’s secret dolphin slaughter
A new documentary, The Cove, exposes the thriving but clandestine Japanese dolphin meat market. The film’s creators, photographer Louie Psihoyos and animal activist Ric O’Barry explain how they infiltrated the industry.
Liberal Rule: historical epoch or chapter of accidents?
Despite what you may have seen on SBS series Liberal Rule, the rise and fall of the Howard government did not represent big shifts in national sentiment, writes Charles Richardson.
MasterHistorian: Aussies learn their history off TV
Aussies love historical dramas, but historians need to get actively involved with film production — since it’s how the public is learning their history, writes Ruth Balint.
The curious rise of the “fan-doc”
Fans of films, TV shows, cartoons and more are sharing their love with the world by making documentaries about their obsessions. “When did an entire wave of budding documentarians decide to start making the equivalent of unsolicited DVD bonus features?” asks the A.V. Club.
Liberal Rule vs. The Howard Years
Does SBS’s new series Liberal Rule provide a better look back at the Howard government than the ABC’s The Howard Years? Peter Brent ranks the retrospectives.
Al Jazeera pulls West Papua doco
Al Jazeera’s English channel has decided not to air an Australian documentary on human rights abuses in the Indonesian province of West Papua. Did they cave in to pressure from the Indonesian government?
Michael Moore takes on the GFC
(In)famous doco maker Michael Moore has the economy in his sights. But there’s nothing particularly memorable about it, expect perhaps the trailer, says Luke Buckmaster.
Michael Moore’s next target: capitalism
Because the Right don’t quite hate him enough yet, film maker Michael Moore is planning to take on America’s entire economic structure in his next documentary.
