Uplifting Documentaries Rule 2018

I’ve been saying it for years. We need more uplifting documentaries, films that take on difficult social issues with hope. This year delivered!

My two favorite documentaries of 2018 rang up impressive numbers at the box office. RGB, about Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, grossed $14 million. And Won’t You Be My Neighbor, about Mr. Rogers, is approaching $23 million, ranking #12 in all-time theatrical receipts, according to Box Office Mojo.

“I think that maybe it’s a filmmaker’s job to look for hope, look for good behavior, to find examples of when people do things right rather than when they do things wrong,” director Debra Granik recently told Filmmaker Magazine. Granik, who directs documentaries and narrative films, says the trick is to “celebrate that without making it vanilla and dreadfully didactic and treacly.”

One way to avoid vanilla is to take on a tough social issue through a protagonist who makes headway solving it. For example, we recently edited the documentary From India With Love, about a protagonist who brings together victims and perpetrators of violence on a healing trip to India.

Or take The Price of Free, about an Indian activist who helped liberate thousands of children from sex trafficking. Its premise reminds me of the inspiring HBO documentary that I worked on, 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus. Other examples include Science Fair, Free Solo and Quincy.

And it’s not just indies that are leading the trend in inspirational docs. According to Variety, CNN Films “clearly has a handle on empowering protagonists and great stories”. This seminal article quotes Courtney Sexton, VP of CNN Films, who says “positive stories are breaking through”.

For more about this affirming trend, check out my blog Recommendations for Editing Inspiring Documentaries and Variety’s article “Why Uplifting Documentaries Took Over the Box Office in 2018.”