Ramblin' with Roger

Oscar noms: Documentary Feature Films 2026

one-man resistance movement

The nominations for Documentary Feature Films 2026 are:

The Alabama Solution – Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman. I saw this on my laptop this past week. “Inside one of the nation’s deadliest prison systems, incarcerated men defy the odds to expose a cover-up.” During an annual event, where inmates at Alabama’s prisons were, uncharacteristically, given edible food.

This led to prisoners recording contraband cell phone footage taken by incarcerated men at facilities across the state. Jarecki tells Jimmy Fallon how he was able to make the film.

From Sundance: “The Alabama Solution exposes the inhumane conditions, systemic injustice, and brutal treatment of those behind bars in the Alabama prison system, told through their own voices and their own stories. The film expertly weaves the pressing issues of prison privatization, inmate slave labor, abuse of power, government corruption, and extreme violence together to help audiences on the outside get a real sense of the abhorrent conditions of our fellow human beings.”

It is remarkable that it got made at all, very important, and frankly, depressing as hell. One inmate killed by a sadistic guard became a narrative about his family seeking, if not justice, then at least real answers.

For whatever reason, I could not view it on my Roku, yet I could see it online HERE.

Andrea Gibson

Come See Me in the Good Light – Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, and Stef Willen

The Colorado poet laureate, Andrea Gibson, was a rock star. Their live presentations were so popular that they were selling out venues. They met poet Megan Falley on the spoken-word poetry circuit, and Gibson and Falley became a couple.

When the film crew is invited into the home, Andrea had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021. Surgery and treatments worked for a time, but the aggressive cancer kept returning. Eventually, the doctors declared Gibson incurable.

Yet the couple is occasionally hysterically funny together. Andrea claims she only knows “five words” while Megan edits Andrea’s work, which Andrea “hates” because Megan is usually correct. And sometimes bawdy, as the producers explain in this later interview with Stephen Colbert.

Still, the pair knows Andrea has lived past the time the doctors gave them. It sounds like a cliché, but you believe that Gibson and Falley are aware that every day is a gift and that nothing is a guarantee. Gibson knows every moment is much sweeter. They celebrate after good medical news, but when reading brutal test results, Andrea, in particular, notes. “When I accept it, all of the sweetness trickles in.”

Gibson really wants to perform one more show, but doesn’t want to book it and then have to bail.

This was ultimately a joyous celebration of life and its vagaries. I loved this film, which I saw on Apple TV.

Also

I have not seen the other three films yet.

Cutting Through Rocks – Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni. “First female councilor in her Iranian village, Sara Shahverdi challenges tradition by teaching girls to ride motorcycles and fighting child marriage, while facing doubts about her motives.” I can’t find it streaming.

Mr. Nobody against Putin – David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Helle Faber, and Alžběta Karásková. “Before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine…, Pavel “Pasha” Talankin was just a school videographer and events coordinator. But when the war started, everything changed.” The documentary “charts how Pasha became a one-man resistance movement simply by turning his camera on. He turned his state-mandated footage into an eye-opening exposé on pro-war propaganda at the school level, making Karabash a window into Putin’s insidious militarization tactics.” You can get a 7-day free trial from Kino.

The Perfect Neighbor – Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu, and Sam Bisbee. “Ajike ‘AJ’ Owens was a beloved mother of four who was raising her children in a tight-knit community in Ocala, Florida. Owens was fatally shot by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz, over a seemingly minor dispute gone wrong, one rooted in Lorincz’s frustration with children playing in a field outside her home.” It is available on Netflix.

Encyclopedia Americana

married 76 years ago today

In musing about how I (eventually) became a librarian, I thought about how my parents bought us the Encyclopedia Americana when I was nine. Or twelve or at some time in between; I don’t quite remember.

I am pretty sure the purchase resulted from a door-to-door salesman visiting our home. While our parents didn’t get into the details of the household economy, my sisters and I knew that we weren’t particularly flush with cash.

My mother was a bookkeeper for McLean’s department store in downtown Binghamton, NY. She was well-suited to the job, as I also saw in her home budgeting.

My father was probably working nights at IBM in nearby Endicott, driving a forklift, a job he hated because it was not intellectually stimulating. He had done and was still doing other jobs, notably floral arranging, sign painting, and a bit of singing, but they were not lucrative enough to support a family of five.

So the purchase of the Americana was a big deal. I’ve read the set costs somewhere between $200 and $300, depending on the binding. That would be around $2000 in 2026 dollars.

It was pitched as an educational investment for the family. But everyone knew who was most likely to read it was the kid who memorized stats from the backs of his baseball cards.

Aardwolf?

Sure enough, I read the entire set, starting with Aachen, followed by aardvark, aardwolf… I didn’t know what that was, but it isn’t an aardvark or a wolf. It took me more than a year to finish. But I sped up the process when they purchased an annual update to the standard set, to reflect the changes, usually political.

One of my sisters commented that my father was certainly the one who used the Encyclopedia Americana more than anyone else, besides me. I was told that he wasn’t much of a student as a kid, but his innate curiosity as an adult required him to always be learning.

Along with the World Almanac, which I received for Christmas every year, my parents boosted my geek cred.

Les Green and Gertude (Trudy) Williams got married on March 12, 1950, and stayed together until my father died on August 10, 2000; my mom died on February 2, 2011.

Mead Art Center

JooYoung Choi; Kwame Brathwaite

On Tuesday, February 17, my wife, daughter, and I visited the Mead Art Center at Amherst College in western Massachusetts. Adventures of the Quantum Soup Surfer was the primary exhibit. It is by self-described astro-futurist artist JooYoung Choi (b. 1982 in Seoul, South Korea; lives in Houston, TX).

The artwork was a series of vibrant colors, with a narrative of self-discovery. “She documents the interconnecting narrative of a fictional planet called the Cosmic Web.” The fiction was stimulated in part because she did not know that her name had changed after her childhood adoption in 1983.

“Choi’s art explores themes such as anti-racism, gender inclusivity, trans-racial adoptee rights, post-traumatic growth, and spirituality rooted in social justice.

The display runs from January 27 to July 5, 2026.

Positive images of African Americans

Also showing is Kwame Brathwaite: Revolutionary Movements. “This exhibition will explore movement as an integral throughline in Kwame Brathwaite’s work—one that spans his deep engagement with social and political movements.”

Kwame Brathwaite, Untitled (Couple’s Embrace), c. 1971. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the Kwame Brathwaite Archive and Philip Martin Gallery. Copyright Kwame Brathwaite Archive.“Brathwaite (b. 1938 in Brooklyn; d.2023 in New York) is perhaps most recognized for photographs celebrating Black beauty and excellence in fashion, music, and athletics. His studio portraits and concert photography, like his documentation of historic marches, the everyday life of residents in Harlem and The Bronx, and of athletes such as Muhammad Ali, convey the power of the body as a symbol of cultural strength, resilience, and pan-African solidarity. “

There was a massive photo of the Supremes at the Apollo Theater partly on a sliding door, so when the door was open Mary and Flo were visible but Diana was not, as I pointed out to a staffer. Other musicians portrayed include Abbey Lincoln and Bob Marley.

One room had a mirror ball like object. The record player had perhaps a dozen albums/12″ vinyl below. I sat and listened to System of Survival (Dub 1 Mix) by Earth, Wind and Fire. What this record and others (The Blackbyrds’ City Life, Hendrix in the West and two Joan Armatrading LPs, among others) have to do with the photographer, I am uncertain.

Family affair

“Curated in close partnership with Brathwaite’s son and daughter-in-law, Kwame and Robynn Brathwaite (Amherst College Class of 1996 and 1998, respectively), Revolutionary Movements will expand stories about the artist’s work and its international circulation.”

This show runs from February 17 to July 5, 2026. February 17? Then it opened that very day we visited. Staffers were scurrying around moving furniture, asking whether there should be chairs so people could watch a slideshow, etc.

It’s not a particular large exhibit space. We spent about an hour there. Some children’s art was in another room. “The Mead is free for all, and welcomes thousands of art appreciators every year from campus, the local community, and far beyond.”

With God On Our Side

Military Religious Freedom Foundation

Recent events have gotten the song With God On Our Side stuck in my mind. Yes, the Bob Dylan original, but also the Neville Brothers version.

The antepenultimate verse:

But now we got weapons of chemical dust

If fire them, we’re forced to, then fire them we must

One push of the button, and a shot the world wide

And you never ask questions when God’s on your side

The final verse:

So now as I’m leavin’ – I’m weary as Hell

The confusion I’m feelin’ ain’t no tongue can tell

The words fill my head, and fall to the floor

That if God’s on our side, He’ll stop the next war

When I was in fourth grade, two things happened. I had a “born again” experience watching a Billy Graham revival. And I learned the lyrics to the fourth and final verse of the Star Spangled Banner, which I still know by heart.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause, it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

At 9, I was fully inculcated in the mythos of God and country. But by the time I was 16, the linkage began to fray.

Atomic Cafe

Still, I “get” it. When I saw the movie Atomic Cafe in the early 1980s, I was most taken by the songs that linked the struggle for nuclear supremacy with religiosity, none more than Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb by Lowell Blanchard.

Everybody’s worried ’bout the atomic bomb

But nobody’s worried about the day my Lord will come

When he hits (great God almighty) like an atom bomb

When he comes, when he comes

Here are versions by the Soul Stirrers and the Pilgrim Travelers.

O.M.G.

I found reports that “US military commanders have been invoking extremist Christian rhetoric about biblical ‘end times’ to justify involvement in the Iran war to troops” to be heretical to true Christianity.

“The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) says it has received more than 200 complaints from service members across all branches of the armed forces, including the Marines, Air Force, and Space Force.”

One noncommissioned officer said their commander had “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He said that [FOTUS] has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”

This is disturbing but hardly surprising. “Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, is known for his embrace of Christian nationalism. He previously endorsed the doctrine of “sphere sovereignty”, a worldview derived from the extremist beliefs of Christian reconstructionism (CR). The philosophy calls for capital punishment for homosexuality and strictly patriarchal families and churches.”

A current meme online: “If your pastor is telling you that murdering Iranians will hasten the return of Jesus, you’re not a church member. You’re a cult member.”

Confronting Christian nationalism

I really loved what Rep. James Talarico, now the Democratic candidate for the US Senate seat in Texas, had to say on the Stephen Colbert YouTube interview.

SC: One of the things that gotten you attention out there is that you are a Presbyterian seminarian…

JT: The right attempts to co-opt Christianity… But the religious right is a largely a political movement that references spirituality… They convinced a lot of our fellow Christians that the most important issues were abortion and gay marriage. Two issues that aren’t mentioned in the Bible. Two issues that Jesus never talked about.

Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us exactly how you and I and every one of our fellow believers how we’re going to be judged and how we’re going to be saved. By feeding the hungry, by healing the sick, by welcoming the stranger. Nothing about going to church, nothing about voting Republican. It was all about how you treat other people…

Two commandments

JT: My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas. And when I was little, he told me that Christianity is a simple religion. Not an easy religion, he would always clarify, but a simple religion, because Jesus gave us two commandments. Love God and love neighbor. And there was no exception to that second commandment.

immigration status or religious affiliation. And it’s why I have fought so hard for the separation of church and state in the state capital in Texas

JT: That’s right.

JT: Well, because we are called to love all of our neighbors, including our Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, agnostic, and atheist neighbors. And forcing our religion down their throats is not love.

First Amendment

JT: It’s why I fought so hard for that sacred separation in our First Amendment. Because my granddad, he raised me to believe that that boundary between church and state doesn’t just benefit the state or our democracy -although it certainly does -but it also benefits the church.

Because when the church gets too cozy with political power, it loses its prophetic voice, its ability to speak truth to power, its ability to imagine a completely different world. And so this separation between church and state is something we have to safeguard. It’s something we have to fight for.

And I think we need someone in the US Senate who is going to confront Christian nationalism and tell the truth, which is that there is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism. It is the the worship of power in the name of Christ. And it is a betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth.

It goes on from there, but you get the point: Christian nationalism is not Christianity.

11 films in one day

Some animated shorts are available on YouTube

Since I had seen a total of zero films in a cinema between January 20 and February 27, I decided to see two sets of films on Saturday, February 28, which turned out to be 11 films in one day. Unsurprisingly, it was at the Spectrum Theatre in ALB. I went alone because my wife was working. These were the Oscar-nominated short documentaries and animated films.

Perfectly A Strangeness (15 minutes) -“In the dazzling incandescence of an unknown desert, three donkeys discover an abandoned astronomical observatory and the universe. A sensorial, cinematic exploration of what a story can be.” It was largely filmed at La Silla Observatory, a European Southern Observatory (ESO) site in Chile, with some shots filmed further north at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. The film was written and directed by Alison McAlpine. I didn’t “get” it, nor did the folks nearby.

The Devil Is Busy (31 minutes) documents a day at an abortion clinic in Atlanta. The focus is on the head of security, a compassionate and religious woman named Tracii, who prays for protection from outside forces and for the women, often from out of state, who come to the clinic. It is impossible not to see and hear the men who protest at the edge of the property, also citing God for their behavior. The movie is directed by Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir, whose feature-length documentary “The Perfect Neighbor” is also nominated for an Oscar. I could see it HERE as of this writing. This may win the Oscar.

War videographer

You know what happens in Armed Only With A Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (38 minutes). He was shot and killed near Kyiv by Russian forces on March 13, 2022; “he was the first journalist on assignment from an American news organization to be killed while reporting on the war in Ukraine.” But you know that from the title.

What the movie does is go back and forth from his death, people mourning him, and his funeral, to the various disasters and wars he documented, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the political crises in northern Africa, and the refugee crisis in Central America, often with his brother Craig. The Renaud brothers are credited as its directors, cinematographers, editors, and producers. You WILL appreciate Brent Renaud’s work and humanity after this. I could see it HERE. This film could win the Oscar.

School shootings

The premise of All The Empty Rooms (33 minutes), directed by Joshua Seftel, is that journalist Steve Hartman, the usually jovial CBS On The Road journalist, also covered too many school shootings. The project he and photographer Lou Bopp worked on for seven years was to create portraits of the children’s untouched bedrooms.

Between talking to still-grieving parents of the children, Hartman speaks of trying to keep from going numb to the sheer number of tragedies. I had seen this eight-minute clip on CBS’s Sunday Morning, and it was more effective (and affecting) than the whole film. Film Yap, a Substack piece, noted, “There’s a studied way about this film, and its tendency to focus more on… Hartman… than the children themselves. I’m an old-school believer in ‘don’t report on the reporting,’ and there’s too much of that here.” I agree; if all eight children’s stories were included in a longer film, it would be stronger. You can see it on Netflix.

Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” (21 minutes) was directed by Hilla Medalia. It’s a film about peace activists in Israel holding a series of vigils, showing pictures of Palestinian children killed in the Gaza war. Silently, they stand there, bringing a human face to the conflict. After each protest, they debate among themselves, mulling over whether what they’re doing is effective or if they should try a bolder strategy. Unsurprisingly, some Israelis curse and scream at them, calling them traitors. Available if you have Apple TV.

Animation

The Three Sisters (13 minutes) by Konstantin Bronzit is a silent portrayal of the three dour-looking women alone on an island. As they compete for the affections of an uncouth sailor landing on their tiny island, they become more colorful and competitive. Mildly funny, and at least mildly sexist. If it’s available, I’m not finding it.

The Girl Who Cried Pearls (17 minutes), from Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, uses stop-motion of somewhat creepy molded figures. It shows an impoverished corner of Montreal around the early 20th century. Interesting narrative, but the payoff is weak. It’s available on Netflix and Prime Video.

Retirement Plan (7 minutes) by John Kelly is a single, piano-scored montage. The protagonist, in voice-over supplied by Domhnall Gleeson, imagines all the things he’ll do when he retires. Some of the attendees thought it was obvious, but I thought it was saying something more profound. Watch it HERE – I think it’ll come in second in the Oscar race.

Olympics

But I believe the Oscar will go to Florence Miailhe’s Papillon/Butterfly (15 minutes).” It is an affecting impressionistic biopic of the French swimmer Alfred Nakache (1915-83). And by impressionistic, think Monet or Matisse. Nakache was an Algerian-born Jew who competed for France in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and then again in 1948 in London, after surviving Auschwitz. “The closing text reveals that Miailhe was taught to swim by Nakache’s brother.” Watch it HERE.

Forevergreen (13 minutes) from Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears is the story of a bear cub and the coniferous giving tree that raises him. Then the bear discovers potato chips! Smokey the Bear would be pleased by the lesson. Watch it HERE.

The program was too short, as is often the case with the animated shorts, so they added Giovanna Ferrari’s Éiru (13 minutes). Imade the list of 15 shortlisted titles but didn’t secure a nomination. “Éiru is a young girl and aspiring warrior who restores water to her parched clan and makes peace with its neighbors.” Watch it HERE.