AFI Docs 2020: 10 of the Most Exciting Films in This Year’s Lineup

“9to5: The Story of a Movement”

Hot off their Oscar win for Best Documentary “American Factory,” prolific documentarians Julia Reichart and Steven Bognar were set to premiere their next anticipated feature at this year’s cancelled SXSW, a look at a “largely forgotten” movement instigated by Boston-area clerical workers in the early ’70s. The doc, now popping up at other festivals like AFI Docs, focuses on a group of secretaries who, in their serach for a better and more equitable working environment, ended up joining together the women’s movement and the labor movement to enriching ends.

Armed with a hot topic and plenty of post-awards attention for the filmmaking duo, “9to5: The Story of a Movement” seemed destined to find new outlets, and fast. One of them is AFI Docs, which will make the urgent and informative new film available as part of its online push. Worth the wait, in more than one way. —KE

“City So Real”

The unofficial subtitle of “City So Real” — Steve James’ long-gestating and utterly gripping portrait of Chicago — is “The American City at a Crossroads.” Flashing onto the screen over a map of the city broken into neighborhoods, the subtitle isn’t used in each of the four episodes, yet its initial inclusion emphasizes the docuseries’ striking duality.

First and foremost, there’s the crisis facing Chicago. Police shootings and gang violence have led to racial and economical divides. Citizens are fleeing for other metropolitan locales in the hopes of finding safer, more affordable homes and better jobs. The city has long been ravaged by political corruption, but the 2019 mayoral election marks voters’ best opportunity to upend the status quo.

That election, and its unprecedented 21 candidates, serve as the ostensible focus of James’ four-hour series. But if it’s not already evident from the topical descriptions above, “City So Real” encapsulates more than just a historical moment for Chicago. James isn’t telling the story of an American city, but the American city; Chicago’s problems are America’s problems, from our divisions to our strengths. By speaking to the candidates who want to shape the future and the residents living through a difficult present, James finds as many connections as contradictions, giving the campaign’s uplifting lessons a prime spotlight without overlooking the dubious warnings we can’t afford to ignore — not again. —BT

“The Dilemma of Desire”

If nothing else, Maria Finitzo’s alternately very funny and intensely informational “The Dilemma of Desire” will instill a brand new vocab word in its viewers’ minds: “cliteracy.” Following the unique stories of four bold women — including artist Sophia Wallace (the creator of “cliteracy”), Dr. Stacey Dutton (intent on pushing the publishing industry to stop leaving out vital parts of female anatomy in its textbooks), Dr. Lisa Diamond (dedicated to reframing ideas about female arousal), and Ti Chang (the head of a company that builds “elegant” vibrators) — Finitzo’s film takes a thrilling look at female bodies.

What the filmmaker and her subjects ultimately find goes beyond just questions of art, science, and representation (like that’s not already enough), offering a full spectrum look at how ignoring anatomy feeds into all corners of existence. By its end, good luck not being suddenly, immensely cliterate. —KE

“Freedia Got a Gun”

The subject of gun violence can be an overwhelming ocean of grief, anger, and powerlessness. With every mass shooting, we shake our heads wondering how we got here. It’s not exactly a topic rife for entertainment, and an even harder one to summarize even in a feature-length film. But if anyone can tackle such an important issue with the fervor and flair required to make people sit up and pay attention, it’s New Orleans music and dance legend Big Freedia.

The grande dame of bounce music is lending her considerable voice to “Freedia Got a Gun,” a new documentary that addresses the epidemic in New Orleans through her personal lens of having lost her brother to gun violence. The film hails from “Rupaul’s Drag Race” producers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, who run the influential LGBTQ-focused production company World of Wonder, and is directed by Chris McKim, who previously partnered with World of Wonder for Emmy-winning doc “Out of Iraq.”

Freedia’s unique perspective will offer an invaluable take on the issues of gun violence, which disproportionately harms black communities. —JD

“Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President”

Originally set to open the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, Mary Wharton’s lively profile of the 39th president — still kicking it after all these years — takes an original angle on his legacy, by portraying the way the humble peanut farmer-turned-political icon catapulted onto the national stage in part through his affinity for rock and roll.

The documentary tracks Carter’s rise to fame as Georgia’s governor, where he befriended the likes of Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers, before parlaying support from them and others into a successful White House bid. The movie features vibrant performances from Carter’s time in office, including a delightful onstage collaboration with Dizzy Gilespie, and also shows the way Carter turned to his musical pals to help impress foreign leaders.

More than that, the documentary doubles as a snapshot of Carter’s chaotic ride through the White House, from the idealism of his early days through the rough economic circumstances and the hostage crisis that ruined his reelection prospects. It’s a welcome opportunity to revisit the challenges of national leadership, as well as why it matters to have a president with good taste. —EK

“The Fight”

On its face, “The Fight” is built around four different cases the ACLU has taken on since Trump assumed office in January 2017 — the film’s opening voiceover follows Trump’s inauguration, setting him up as the film’s primary antagonist with the minimum of fuss. The cases all exemplify some of the more wrenching injustices inflicted on American citizens and hopeful immigrants since early 2017. There’s a case about abortion access, one involving the census question about citizenship, family separation work, and the one challenging the transgender military ban.

The concept sounds solid enough, but its execution leaves much to be imagined — or does it? Rigid structures don’t suit uneasy times, and while even three years ago a film that divided its stories was an illustrative way of telling a larger story, “The Fight” grapples with a narrative collapse that says almost as much about the current state of the world than the subjects it follows. The film debuted at Sundance in January and will hit VOD and select theaters this July. —KE

“Through the Night”

It’s hard to overstate the extent to which this country is failing its parents, many of whom have to work several jobs that keep them away from their children just so they can cover the cost of daycare and basic living expenses (and that was before the pandemic, when even those of us lucky enough to work from home are deprived of the support that allows them to actually get that work done). Kids need someone to be there for them 24 hours a day, and our economy just doesn’t make that possible for a lot of parents.

If it takes a village to raise a child, then Loira Limbal’s heartfelt, sobering “Through the Night” offers a vérité profile at two of the private childcare providers who do their best to fill that void. Embedding with Deloris “Nunu” and Patrick “Pop Pop” Hogan in the New York suburb where they’ve been providing round-the-clock child care for more than 20 years in a way that makes the term “daycare” feel insufficient, Limbal’s loving but outraged film explores the backbreaking work and tireless support required for single mothers to raise their kids, a feat that’s only possible because of people who are willing to offer their community some of the help and compassion the United States government won’t. —DE

“A Thousand Cuts”

We’ve seen how it works a thousand times across history: Authoritarian rulers criminalize (or aggressively ramp up their war against) certain aspects of society in order to exert greater power over their people. For Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, extrajudicial killings of drug users and other people deemed “criminals” have always been a favorite way for the popular strongman to flex his muscle; we’re talking about a man who publicly vowed to pardon himself for all the murders committed before and during his term.

It goes without saying that someone like Duterte views anyone capable of holding him accountable as an enemy, which puts the press at the top of his list. In a horrifying preview of what might be to come in the United States should our wannabe Duterte win re-election, Ramona S. Diaz’s “A Thousand Cuts” chronicles the legal battle that ensued when Duterte’s police force arrested Maria Ressa — a co-founder of the popular independent news outlet Rappler, as well as one of its most indomitable journalists — on specious charges and accusations of “fake news.”

Filmed with rare access to Ressa herself and offering remarkable clarity into the ominous forces behind her oppression, Diaz’s film would be urgent enough without the terrifying coda that came to pass just this week: Ressa was found guilty of cyber libel, and faces up to six years in prison. —DE

“White Noise”

The debut feature from director Daniel Lombroso is a troubling and timely look at a trio of far-right nationalists behind its harrowing resurgence around the country: Mike Cernovich, Richard Spencer, and Lauren Southern. Through online conspiracy theories, fake news, and hate-spewing YouTube followings, these loathsome provocateurs are responsible from some of the most profound issues facing American discourse today — as well as its impact on who makes it into public office.

The movie promises an inside look at the alt-right, from horrifying rallies to business meetings where racist, xenophobic ideology takes root. It might be hard to watch, but if 2016 taught us anything it’s that sometimes you have to stare into the void to understand the sheer nature of the ugliness that America must overcome to chart a better path forward. —EK

“Women in Blue”

Playing at AFI Docs as a work in progress — presumably in part because some things can’t wait — Deirdre Fishel’s “Women in Blue” is an all too urgent look inside the Minneapolis Police Department in the years leading up to the murder of George Floyd. More specifically, the film profiles Janée Harteau, who in 2012 became the first female police chief in the department’s 150-year history, and chronicles her efforts to (try not to cringe) reform the MPD by weeding out “the bad cops” and promoting women in their place (female officers being statistically less inclined to use force).

No one in 2020 America will be surprised to learn that Harteau failed in her efforts and was forced to resign in the aftermath of a police murder — in this case, the murder of a white woman by a Black officer — but Fishel’s film is valuable and fascinating for how it examines the extent to which sexism has deepened the systemic toxicity of our police departments, and also for how clearly it positions women (women of color most of all) as being instrumental to the next iteration of the United States’ police system. —DE