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Concepcion de Leon
Posts
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‘Black Barbie: A Documentary’ Review: Becoming the Main Character
A new Netflix documentary explores what led to the release of Black Barbie in 1980, both celebrating her existence and recognizing her limitations.
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‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project’ Review: An Afrofuturist Space Odyssey
The experimental documentary is punctuated by Giovanni’s poetry, read both by her and the actress Taraji P. Henson. But the film offers only what the...
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‘Colette and Justin’ Review: The Colonized Speak Up
In a new documentary, a filmmaker turns his lens on his grandparents during a pivotal moment in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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‘Fire Through Dry Grass’ Review: Unsafe Space
This enlightening, troubling documentary chronicles life (and death) among residents in a long-term care facility during the heights of the pandemic.
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‘A Million Miles Away’ Review: From the Fields to Outer Space
In this biopic, a boy from a family of migrant farm workers watches the moon landing in 1969, which ignites his desire to be an...
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‘The Taking’ Review: This Land Is Not Your Land
Monument Valley embodies the Old West. But the fantasies presented in Westerns obscure its darker history and the lives of the Navajo people who inhabit...
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‘Chupa’ Review: A Terrifying Myth Made Cuddly
On a trip to his grandfather’s ranch in Mexico, a boy makes an astonishing discovery that turns into a family adventure.
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‘Split at the Root’ Review: A Powerful Lens on Immigrant Families Split Apart
This documentary shows the plight of one woman as she tries to reunite with her sons and make a permanent home in the United States.
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‘Love in the Time of Fentanyl’ Review: Heartbreak, Death and Hope in Vancouver
To combat the overdose crisis, a group that includes former and current users open a safe consumption site where shooting up does not have to...
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‘The Sound of Christmas’ Review: A Gospel Singer Finds Love
A young singer gets more than she bargained for when she accepts a job as a nanny for a billionaire’s children.