Documentary

Ross McElwee has made a career out of filming his life. He's made seven feature-length documentaries, including Sherman's March, Time Indefinite, Something to Do with the Wall and Six O'Clock News. His latest film is Bright Leaves about his family's connection to the tobacco industry. His great-grandfather created the brand of tobacco known as Bull Durham. McElwee is a visiting lecturer at Harvard University's Department of Visual and Environmental Studies.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, a documentary that explores the psychological drama of the heavy metal band.

Filmmakers Israel Goldvicht and Tom Roberts went inside Israeli prisons to examine the minds of suicide bombers. Their documentary, Suicide Bombers, is part of the PBS series "Wide Angle." They spoke with three failed bombers, one bomb builder and one recruiter. The show premieres Thursday, July 1, on PBS.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new documentary Super Size Me

Producer Raney Aronson is the producer, writer and director of the new PBS Frontline documentary, The Jesus Factor (April 29, at 9 p.m. on many stations). It examines President Bush's evangelical Christian faith, how he became a born-again Christian and the impact it has on his politics. Also, Wayne Slater, Austin bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News. He's followed Bush's political career, and appears in the documentary. He is also the author of the book, Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush President.

Sellers is one of the top jockeys in his profession. His winnings top $100 million. He's ridden two Breeder's Cup winners, and has ridden in 14 Kentucky Derbies. Shane Sellers appears in the upcoming HBO Undercover documentary Jockey. The film delves into aspects of jockey's lives that are not widely known. Jockeys endure a punishing regime of sweating and purging to make weight minimums, and many work without contracts and health insurance.

His new documentary, The Fog of War, is a profile of the man many considered to be the architect of the Vietnam conflict, Robert McNamara. Taken from a series of interviews Morris conducted with McNamara, it yields new insights into the mind of the former Secretary of Defense. Morris' other films include The Thin Blue Line, Vernon, Florida, Gates of Heaven, and Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. He's also done a number of commercials. His clients include Apple, Nike, Miller High Life and PBS.

Film critic David Edelstein talks about the year's top movies. Edelstein is a film critic for the online magazine Slate.

Helen Stickler's new documentary, Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator, tells the story of former skateboarding star Mark "Gator" Rogowski. Rogowski is now serving 31 years in prison for the rape and murder of a former girlfriend. Ken Park, a former skateboarder and friend of Rogowski, is interviewed in the film. Park is now the president and CEO of John Galt Media. Stickler is an Emmy-nominated writer, producer and director of documentary films and commercials.

Arn Chorn-Pond is the subject of the new documentary The Flute Player. As a child, Chorn-Pond was held in a Khmer Rouge labor camp where many children starved to death, many others were murdered, and those who survived were forced to work from 5 a.m. to midnight. He was taught to play the flute to play propaganda songs which helped assure his survival. Later at age 14, Chorn-Pond was forced into the Khmer Rouge army to fight the invading Vietnamese. After seeing his friends die, he fled into the jungle.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new documentary Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films by director Bred Wood. It's about the Highway Safety Foundation of Mansfield, Ohio, which made a series of graphic driver's education films in the 1960s to warn students about the dangers of driving recklessly, sleepily or drunk.

Susan Orlean is a staff writer at The New Yorker. In 1994 she wrote a profile of David Friedman, one of the Friedman sons. David was known as Silly Billy, a popular clown who was a favorite at children's birthday parties in New York City. David's father and brother were accused of molesting children, and the family's story is told through their own home movies in the documentary film Capturing the Friedmans. Orlean is also the author of the best-selling book, The Orchid Thief.

His new movie is Capturing the Friedmans. It's a non-fiction feature film about a seemingly normal Long Island, New York family. The film takes a look at the convoluted case and attempts to determine the true story. Capturing the Friedmans won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance festival. This is Jarecki's first feature film. He was also the founder and CEO of Moviefone, which was acquired by AOL in 1999 for nearly $400 million.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Capturing the Friedmans, a new documentary by Andrew Jarecki about a family torn apart by charges of pedophilia and child molestation.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg looks at the new film Spellbound and the history of the spelling bee.

Critic Milo Miles reviews the new documentary and soundtrack Amandla! about protest music in black communities of South Africa during the Apartheid years.

Film critic John Powers reviews Better Luck Tomorrow, the controversial new independent film about a group of Asian American teenagers. It was made by MTV films.

Writer, actor, director, comedian and host of Le Show, Harry Shearer. He's starring in the new folk music mockumentary A Mighty Wind, directed by Christopher Guest, who also directed Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman. Shearer also starred with Guest in the classic heavy metal parody This is Spinal Tap. Shearer's public radio show is now in its 19th year.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews A Mighty Wind, the latest from the people who brought you This is Spinal Tap and Best in Show. It's a satiric look at folk music, starring Christopher Guest (who also directed), Eugene Levy and Michael McKean.

Film critic David Edlestein reviews a new documentary on domestic violence.