Hot Docs at Home – What to Watch This Week

It’s Monday, and that means Hot Docs updated their weekly list of titles to stream on their VOD platform, Hot Docs at Home.

Hot Docs at Home’s weekly line-ups feature first-run films, special series, and events. My personal recommendation this week is Dawn Porter’s inspiring doc, John Lewis: Good Trouble . This feel-good movie covers the civil rights icon’s legendary career, highlighting his many sacrifices, accomplishments, and enormous impact on the movement.

Even if you’re jaded by the United States’ toxic political landscape, this look at Lewis’s life serves as a beautiful reminder that some people are working within the system to hold America to its lofty ideals. The world is a better place because people like John Lewis dared to dream, and after watching this doc, you will too.

Opening This Week

Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful – Starts July 23
Helmut Newton the trailblazing late photographer who had a defining impact on the worlds of fashion and art.

Now Streaming

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets – Until Aug. 15
A look at the final moments of a Las Vegas dive bar called ‘The Roaring 20s’.

White Riot – Until Aug. 8
Rock Against Racism was formed in 1976, prompted by Eric Clapton. It blends fresh interviews with archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches.

Bread: An Everyday Miracle – Until Aug. 15
Explore the sudden rise of breadmaking and meet the artisan bakers working to keep the tradition alive.

John Lewis: Good Trouble – Until Aug. 15
The film explores Georgia representative’s, 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health care reform, and immigration.

For They Know Not What They Do – Until July 30
Faith meets LGBTQ life in this timely and powerful look at four American families navigating the uneven path to progress.

Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint – Until July 24
The first abstract artist was a woman, misjudged and concealed. This is her story.

My Darling Vivian – Until July 24
Before June there was Vivian. Discover the fascinating untold story of Johnny Cash’s first wife.

Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things – Until July 24
The remarkable life and music of the Queen of Jazz.

Beyond Moving – Until July 30
Beyond Moving is a documentary about Siphe November, an exceptionally gifted ballet dancer from South Africa. The documentary follows his journey, from being discovered while dancing in the hard township of Zolani, to his intensive training at Canada’s National Ballet School, to eventually stepping into the world of professional ballet.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century – Until July 30
Adapting one of the most groundbreaking and powerful books of our time, Capital in the 21st Century is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, shining a new light on the world around us and its growing inequalities.

The Booksellers – Until July 30
A behind-the-scenes look at the New York rare book world.