The Value of Authenticity

Some less discussed films from Sundance 2025, and a trend toward hybrid filmmaking

If Truth is Stranger than fiction, then it is no surprise why people love documentaries. Yes, of course, documentaries are not solely “truth”. At best they can be “truthful”. They are not journalism, and by even using that term I mean what we used to refer to as journalism. You know, the even-handed, non-biased just reporting the facts, m’am journalism that an entire generation by now has never been exposed to. At least not in real time. I think I once mentioned BROADCAST NEWS in another Substack as one of the best films about journalists and the post’s author had never seen the film, but thought he might “have heard of it”. (The film was nominated in every major category for the Academy Awards in its year, 1988, including Best Film, Actor, Actress, etc.)

Still, nonfiction, in all its forms, is not for everybody. So I was pleasantly surprised by two films I watched at this year’s Sundance Film Festival that were hybrid narrative films. In fact, I might have missed one had I not ventured into the less watched or discussed “NEXT” category of films. The very term “hybrid” gives me a rash. But given that so many titles I wanted to see were unavailable for the small price of $750 for my at-home, online, SIO pass, venture I did.

I will add that last year’s FOUR DAUGHTERS, also at Sundance, ventures into this category as well, and there are others. We can include SING SING here as well, allowing the original inmates who were the actors of their own work inside, to be melded with, restructured and performed with Colman Domingo into a scripted version of what they themselves had inspired. Perhaps best explored by Chloe Zhao, (THE RIDER and NOMADLAND) films that mix “real people” with actors, and allow those people to at times speak as themselves or as a character, playing themselves, is a welcome shift in making content. It makes the “actor” more equal to the director and writer, allowing them more agency (though not entirely) over the storytelling that they are inspiring, though less than a straight ahead documentary would or does.

NOMADLAND

Both the marketplace and the awards circuits are paying notice. Both NOMADLAND and SING SING have been highly celebrated, the first winning three major awards all the way to Best Picture, Director and Actress at The Academy Awards, the second with three nominations for the 2025 Oscars, including Best Actor for Mr. Domingo. FOUR DAUGHTERS is currently streaming, as linked above. Additionally, as of this writing, both of the two films I will discuss from Sundance 2025 have been picked up, though one has just been picked up by SONY Classics, which is good and bad news. Good because it will have a US theatrical release, bad because, usually, anything they pick up skips the rest of the US festival circuit. The fest circuit builds excitement and word of mouth for these films, before and/or concurrently to reaching the art house cinemas. This is a shame, because that word of mouth helps films like these enormously. Remember THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS? No? Because it skipped the US fest circuit after Sundance. It’s made 500K in the US, which is notable for a foreign documentary title, but could more people have seen it? Do they care? Meh. Thanks so much, SONY.

The two titles from 2025 Sundance I am referring to are DJ AHMET, and EAST OF WALL. Both won awards, DJ for Special Jury Award for Creative Vision and the Audience Award, and WALL again for the Audience Award in the NEXT category.

DJ AHMET

AHMET premiered in the World Dramatic category, so it is, in fact, a straight ahead narrative film, but it stars, most effectively it’s lead male character, people from the small Yuruk village in Macedonia where it was filmed. Rights have only been sold in Australia, New Zealand, Benelux, Canada, Spain, Israel, Portugal and in former Yugoslavia. Hopefully a US deal will be announced soon. It’s a wonderful story of a teen shepherd in love with a neighbor girl, already promised to another. Being married to someone with an Arab background, there are similar cultural references from this part of the world, as well as Greece. This film opens with the school principal calling for “Ahmet to stand” and six boys stand waiting to hear why they are in trouble. Just like in MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, anyone from one of these cultures laughs in recognition, just as when Michael Constantine introduces the Portakolis family as “Nick, Nick, Nicky, Nicholas, Nick, Nick, and I am Gus!” A favorite touch is the “Greek chorus” of gabbing women, shot from afar under a tree, gossiping about what happened between the boy and girl. I have watched so many father/son or boy gets girl stories from all over the world that remind us these human relationships are the same, wherever you are. It’s the best part of international cinema. Not, how we are different, but how, rather, we are exactly the same. If you get the chance, seek this film out.

Which brings me to EAST OF WALL. Starring the mother and daughter who inspired the film, Tabatha and Porshia Zimiga, and aided by two professional actors, Scoot McNairy but most especially Jennifer Ehle as Tabatha’s mother, I found this a revelation. My daughter grew up riding in the south, so I was drawn to the story of a woman trainer trying to make it breaking horses. Kate Beecroft, the director, found the family Tabatha has built of outcast teens who find family and purpose living with her and tending to horses, which they show for sale as work horses at auction, and performing at rodeos. As one who knows, these are remarkable horsewomen, and their need for freedom and meaning is expressed through the horses they train. When some refer to Tabatha as a “witch”, I have known horsewomen like this. They are not witches. They have spent thousands of hours with these animals and can read their signals, and work with them, not against them, just like the teens. Beecroft gets so much from these actors, all of them. Ehle is especially effective, and a circle of women discussing their abuse at the hands of the men now gone from their lives is harrowing and then cathartic. You can tell Ehle is not only grounding the work but emotionally grounding these women to relax into the fictional framework Beecroft has set to capture their story. And the riding is spectacular. Kudos. Don’t miss it.

Cast of EAST OF WALL and Director, left

The line between fiction and documentary has blurred before, but more and more we are seeing it employed for great storytelling. I hope the trend continues and becomes a way to equitably share stories without exploiting those involved in the process. In the talk back, Porshia states several times she wants to do more acting. One feels compelled to hope she finds other avenues for her talents, not because she may not be worthy, but because too often the business can make false promises after one successful outing, and most often the actor is still not in control of the process. It was inspiring in these films to see experiences that have been rewarding for all involved.