Documentary

'Crazy, moving': Noga Erez documentary charts music star's rise through tragedy and triumph

The movie, most of which is in Hebrew, takes a fly-on-the-wall approach, chronicling their lives and mixing different styles to create a portrait of the duo that will be entertaining and interesting

|ByHANNAH BROWN
NOGA EREZ performs at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, last year.
‘ALL I HAD WAS NOTHINGNESS’

What to watch this week: The story behind ‘Shoah,’ the end of ‘The Bear,’ and a riveting ‘Betrayal’

TV TIME: 'All I Had Was Nothingness' is a kind of road movie that follows 'Shoah' creator Lanzmann through many different roads in Germany, Poland, Israel, and the US.

|ByHANNAH BROWN
Screening of "The Prophet" in Delray, Florida, June 8, 2026.

October 7 documentary ‘The Prophet’ to make Jerusalem debut on Thursday

Melissa Francis said she was motivated to make the film after Oct. 7 to explain Israel to viewers outside the country, particularly in the United States.

|ByKEN TOLTZ
Meir Shalev

Docaviv 2026 opens in Tel Aviv with global documentaries, masterclasses, and retrospectives

The 28th Docaviv festival runs through June 6, featuring Israeli and international documentaries, masterclasses with Oscar winners, retrospectives, and a focus on politics, culture, and music.

|ByHANNAH BROWN

Paul McCartney's 'Man on the Run' documentary brings viewers back to the 1970s - review

The documentary covers the period from 1970, when McCartney retreated to his bucolic ramshackle farm in Scotland and his first post-Beatles solo album, to 1980, when John Lennon was murdered.

FEBRUARY 18, 2026ByDAVID BRINN
AUL MCCARTNEY is the executive producer of a new documentary chronicling his first steps after The Beatles broke up.

Frederick Wiseman, social institution documentary filmaker, dies at 96

Wiseman directed 45 films and some theatrical productions in France. His experiences of antisemitism greatly influenced his documentary career.

FEBRUARY 17, 2026ByANDREW LAPIN/JTA
Frederick Wiseman attends the "Law And Order" Photocall at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 16, 2024 in Cannes, France.

Melania Trump hosts former hostages Aviva, Keith Siegel for White House visit

Melania notably released a biographical documentary last week, in which Aviva features. She stressed the visit with the Siegels was not a promotion for the film.

FEBRUARY 5, 2026ByFRAIDY MOSER
U.S. first lady Melania Trump meets with freed American-Israeli couple Keith and Aviva Siegel, who were abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 4, 2026.

Judd Apatow grew up idolizing Mel Brooks. Now he’s telling Brooks’ story in an HBO documentary

Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man!, a two-part HBO documentary debuting this week, is a career-spanning portrait of one of American comedy’s most influential figures.

JANUARY 22, 2026BySTEPHEN SILVER/JTA
MEL BROOKS and Judd Apatow attend the Los Angeles premiere of HBO Documentary Films' Mel Brooks: 99 Year Old Man! at Ted Mann Theater at the Academy Museum on January 20, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.

'Public broadcasting is not a luxury': Filmmakers defend KAN documentaries

Speaking out for public funding of quality documentaries

JANUARY 13, 2026ByHANNAH BROWN
Noa Aharoni’s documentary ‘Eyes Wide Open’ tells the devastating story of the female border observers from the Nahal Oz IDF base, whose warnings about Hamas activity were ignored.

AI and fading survivors reshape how we remember the Holocaust - analysis

In a world of hate and AI, what does the future of Holocaust remembrance hold?

DECEMBER 30, 2025ByGILA OREN
Soon, memory of the Holocaust will rely not on firsthand accounts but on documentation, interpretation, and increasing technological forms of representation.

BBC edit of January 6 speech sparks $10B lawsuit from Trump

Trump has launched a defamation lawsuit against Britain’s BBC, saying edited clips of a January 6 speech created a false impression he incited the US Capitol attack.

DECEMBER 16, 2025ByREUTERS
The BBC logo outside the BBC Broadcasting House. November 15, 2025.

Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival features story of Polish Jewish teenager who triggered Kristallnacht

In Proud Jewish Boy, documentarian Isri Halpern sets out to find the truth about the 17-year-old Jewish refugee who assassinated a German diplomat in Paris in 1938.

DECEMBER 15, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
Scene from the film, Proud Jewish Boy, by Isri Halpern.

Taylor Swift condemned over mention of Israel in new documentary series

Social media users are breaking the internet in a rush to condemn the 36-year-old Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, accusing her of being a "Zionist."

DECEMBER 13, 2025ByHANNAH BROWN
Taylor Swift performs as her record-breaking The Eras Tour comes to an end with the first of her three concerts in Vancouver, British Columbia

Documentary on Jews in Iran repeats regime narratives while silencing reality - opinion

Iran’s Jews do not need Blumenthal to speak for them. They need the world to understand why they can’t speak for themselves.

NOVEMBER 30, 2025ByMATTHEW NOURIEL
A rally marks Quds Day in Tehran in 2023. It coincided with Passover, and Jewish leaders, under government directive, told their communities to postpone Seders and attend state rallies instead, says the writer.