Remember when documentaries were the purview of PBS, Jacques Cousteau, the Disney Nature films of the 60s, and they felt like junior high Social Studies? Not anymore! Since filmmakers Barbara Koppel, Michael Moore, Ken Burns and others entered the field the documentary has become one of the primary contemporary catalysts for environmental change, setting straight the long-bent historical record, and instigating a wide spectrum of social change – from setting the innocent free, sending those who “got away with it” up the river, bringing abusive political, religious and other leaders to justice … . And, oh, yeah, very often they're as damned entertaining (and poignantly moving) as any narrative film. But what sets one apart as unique or special? We've got three films we believe by year's end will be forefront in the hearts and minds of many, ... and we've got a sit-down with each of the filmmakers behind them.

Staci Layne Wilson's THE VENTURES: STARS ON GUITARS (begin 4:10) is a fast and fun retrospective of her father Don Wilson and The World's All Time Bestselling Instrumental Band - featuring testimonials, accolades and fandom from everyone from Jimmy Page, John Fogerty and The Surfragettes, to Lalo Schifrin, Billy Bob Thornton and more. With DISPOSABLE HUMANITY (begin 16:15) documentarian Cameron Mitchell traversed Europe to bring to light WWII Germany's tragic (but little known) medical genocide program "Aktion T4" which took the lives of 300,000 physically disabled, and served as a developmental precursor to gas chamber "technology", death camps and ultimately the Holocaust. And finally with STUNTWOMEN: THE UNTOLD HOLLYWOOD STORY (begin 29:44) director April Wright and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS' Michelle Rodriguez pull out all the stops and let the film industry's greatest stuntwomen tell their own story with stirring (and at times heartbreaking) recollections ... and the best scenes from some of Hollywood’s greatest action flicks. Wright calls her film an “action documentary”. But truth is it’s a bad-assed contemporary action classic in it’s own right  - with the participation of over 50 filmmakers and (of course) those high flying, physics smashing stuntwomen themselves!

Learn more - 

* THE VENTURES: STARS ON GUITARS @ https://theventuresstarsonguitars.com/movie

* DISPOSABLE HUMANITY @ https://www.disposablehumanity.com/?fbclid=IwAR0QCqtmtHi4RI1vci9dMrt1O0x72khEzPNiUfev1DI1d29jQlgeSvyCY1M

* STUNTWOMEN: THE UNTOLD HOLLYWOOD STORY @ 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/stuntwomen-untold-hollywood-story-watch-150057359.html

https://instabio.cc/StuntWomen?fbclid=IwAR3sjTqDbpfh2NXH1u6P3MISaewQR5zMy60pGjj5HwpZhPLXAWWkeMFW-ac

______________________________________________________________________________

THE MOVIE SNEAK PODCAST is part of The GullCottage/Sandlot - a film blog, cinema magazine, growing reference library and online network "Celebrating The Art of Cinema, ... And Cinema As Art".

Explore the GULLCOTTAGE / SANDLOT @ www.gullcottageonline.com

Rights to film / TV clips and other audio excerpts held by copyright owners. Presented here for educational and criticism purposes.