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Documentary Series 2024
August 23 – September 5
The Lindsay’s Second Annual Documentary Series,
August 23 – September 5
As the 2024 summer movie season draws to a close, The Lindsay invites everyone on a globe-spanning journey highlighting our collective humanity, creativity and penchant for innovation.
The Lindsay’s second annual documentary series will provide our guests with eight specially curated films about everything from a sports icon to the women whose hard work is lifting their impoverished communities.
Some of these documentaries tackle issues of national—and sometimes international—importance. Two selections came to us from local production companies, and one of our films gives long-overdue recognition to a widely used medical service that originated in 1960s Pittsburgh.
Week 1: August 23 – August 29, 2024
Common Ground
PG | 1h 45m
Directors: Joshua Tickell & Rebecca Harrell Tickell
Stars: Rosario Dawson, Jason Momoa, Donald Glover
Filmmaking duo Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell know their way around an environmental documentary.
Common Ground, the Tickells’ recent followup to their influential 2020 film Kiss the Ground, focuses on regenerative agriculture and how more widespread application of this unique (and cost-effective) farming technique could stem the effects of climate change.
“The movie lays out a dire situation in its opening minutes and cranks up the klaxon as it goes,” writes RogerEbert.com. Forbes describes Common Ground as a “brisk, accessible and worthwhile watch” that also functions as “the most comprehensive feature to date on” the regenerative agriculture movement.
Common Ground features a slew of farmers and land management experts touting the potential life-saving benefits of regenerative agriculture. Celebrities like Jason Momoa, Laura Dern, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson and Donald Glover also serve as ambassadors for this potentially life-saving proposal.
“We wrote Common Ground as a love letter to our children,” the Tickells tell The Lindsay. “In a very real sense, the film is an urgent call to action and a plan for how we can save the future, heal our climate and fix our broken food system—all through regenerative agriculture.”
Sara Klingensmith, an education associate with the Allegheny Land Trust, will join us on Friday, Aug. 23, at 4:30 p.m. for a special talk on land preservation before that day’s 4:45 p.m. Common Ground screening.
O Pioneer
NR | 1h 13m
Director: Jonathan Lacocque & Clara Lehmann
Stars: Nellie Rose Gundersen Davis, Tim Hibbs, James Morely, Kaïa Kater
The folks who Walt Whitman described in his 1865 poem Pioneers! O Pioneers! wererugged adventurers who had the courage and endurance to build lives for themselves out West. But what does a modern American pioneer look like?
That’s the million-dollar question filmmakers Jonathan Lacocque and Clara Lehmann set out to answer in O Pioneer, a 2023 documentary in which they follow three West Virginians who exemplify a pioneering spirit akin to those 19th-century American settlers.
O Pioneer is an “immersive, magical realist tapestry of life,” raves Film Obsessive. This “must-watch movie” shines a spotlight on ordinary Appalachians while helping viewers “understand that we are all pioneers in life,” writes Film Threat.
Lacocque and Lehmann examine what it means to be a 21st-century pioneer through their three subjects, the vocal stylings of narrator Kaïa Kater, archival footage and other cinematic techniques. They also make a point to portray this region with dignity and respect, as Lehmann told 100 Days in Appalachia.
“I want this film to give us some light and give us something we’re proud of,” she says. “And I hope that West Virginians are proud of these three people because they really are special, and they are you. And they’re us.”
Each screening will also feature a video Q&A provided by the O Pioneer filmmaking team.
Missing From Fire Trail Road
NR | 1h 41m
Director: Sabrina Van Tassel
Stars: Deborah Parker, Deb Haaland, Teri Gobin
Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis vanished without a trace in late 2020. Her disappearance is the jumping-off point for Missing from Fire Trail Road, which spotlights the shocking number of murdered indigenous women whose cases remained unsolved.
“Her story exposes how hundreds of indigenous women continue to go missing in the USA, perpetuating trans-generational trauma on Indian reservations,” explains the film’s website.
Johnson-Davis was last seen on the Tulalip reservation near Seattle, walking along Fire Trail Road. Director Sabrina Van Tassel’s documentary includes interviews with her family, Tulalip leadership, prominent indigenous activists and even U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
This “essential documentary…shines a light on the plight of a culturally rich segment of Americans that are literally going unnoticed and unaided,” writes Film Threat.
“Missing from Fire Trail Road is an incredibly heavy piece,” adds Next Best Picture, “but it’s the strength and resilience that this community embodies that sticks with you—as well as the message that they can’t fight this fight alone.”
Stop Making Sense
PG | 1h 28m
Director: Jonathan Demme
Stars: David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth
Jonathan Demme redefined the horror genre with 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, which was shot in the Pittsburgh area and became one of the only films to ever win all five major Academy Awards categories.
Seven years earlier, Demme became the king of concert films with Stop Making Sense, his epic rendering of the Talking Heads’ three-night engagement at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theatre in December 1983.
“Mr. Demme has captured both the look and the spirit of this live performance with a daring and precision that match the group’s own,” declares The New York Times.
Stop Making Sense is the best-reviewed concert film ever thanks to its 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film highlights lead singer David Byrne’s incomparable stage presence and boasts “rhythmic, beautifully organized editing that invites involvement with the music,” writes Empire Magazine.
“(The) bands’ infectious enthusiasm and Demme’s sleight of hand make this just about the best concert film ever made.”
Week 2: August 30 – September 5, 2024
Neat: The Story of Bourbon
NR | 1h 15m
Director: David Altrogge
Stars: Steve Zahn, Freddie Johnson, Marianne Eaves
Bourbon aficionados: This one’s for you!
Neat: The Story of Bourbon hails from David Altrogge, the film’s director and a co-founder of local production company Vinegar Hill. This expansive documentary chronicles bourbon’s history, how to make it, and the American ideals still associated with this particular form of whiskey consumption.
“Neat is not a movie about bourbon,” Altrogge tells The Lindsay. “It’s a movie about friendship and community, and legacy and craft. As a Pittsburgh-proud filmmaker, I couldn’t be more excited to share this film with the community I’m so proud to be a part of.”
Altrogge’s film is presented in vignettes that explore how bourbon grew to be arguably the most quintessentially American alcoholic beverage. You’ll meet plenty of master distillers, farmers, tasting experts, connoisseurs and even actor (and avid bourbon enthusiast) Steve Zahn.
Neat “is a true love letter to this whiskey category” that “really captured the beauty and history of this American spirit,” declares Distiller. The film’s trailer had the Los Angeles Times hankering for some bourbon.
“It’s enough to make you want to stop what you’re doing, grab a bottle and run outside.”
Altrogge will be at The Lindsay on Sunday, Sept. 1, at 2:45 p.m. for a Q&A preceding the 3 p.m. showing of Neat.
She Rises Up
NR | 1h 31m
Directors: Maureen Castle Tusty
Stars: Gladys Yupanqui, Magatte Wade, Selyna Peiris
The filmmakers behind She Rises Up were interested in exploring “the intersection of women and poverty and the power of work.” That’s why three fledgling businesswomen take center stage in director Maureen Castle Tusty’s globe-trotting narrative.
The film follows Gladys Yupanqui, the owner of a Peruvian mini-market; Magatte Wade, who founded a cosmetics manufacturing company in Senegal; and Selyna Peiris, whose textile operation in Sri Lanka is ripe for expansion.
She Rises Up is an “eye-opening, moving and empowering documentary,” raves The NYC Movie Guru. Reason Magazine praises the film for treating Wade, Yupanqui and Peiris “as complex individuals with mixed motivations.”
“The result yanks the heartstrings without being sappy.”
These women all possess shrewd entrepreneurial instincts and use those inherent talents to provide for their families while also helping to improve their impoverished communities. As Wade puts it in the film: “To have a heart for the poor, that’s easy. To have a mind for the poor, that’s the challenge.”
Director Maureen Castle Tusty will participate in a live Q&A directly following the 7 p.m. She Rises Up screening on Friday, Aug. 30.
Freedom House Ambulance – The FIRST Responders
NR | 30m
Director: Annette Banks
Stars: Phil Hallen, George McCrary III, John Moon
Pittsburgh has a long history of innovation. Fun fact: This region is where the nation’s first emergency medical technician (EMT) service was founded.
The 2023 documentary Freedom House Ambulance—The First Responders tells the story of Freedom House Ambulance Service, which originated in the Hill District and was staffed solely with Black paramedics trained to serve a community that was often overlooked by the city’s emergency services.
This 30-minute documentary was produced by WQED and contains interviews with one of Freedom House’s founders, some of its initial recruits, local historians, longtime Hill District residents and more.
Freedom House shut down in 1975, but not before establishing a paramedic-training template that spread across the U.S. Director Annette Banks couldn’t bear the thought of Pittsburghers not knowing about Freedom House and set out to immortalize that landmark organization on film.
“It was a little-known story, with major impact,” she tells The Lindsay. “It is no wonder that the city that brought us the polio vaccine would also pioneer emergency services. It was my privilege to meet and tell the story of the men and women of Freedom House.”
John Moon, a former Freedom House member and Pittsburgh EMS assistant chief, and Minette Seate, WQED’s Managing Director of Production, will be on hand for a live Q&A directly following the 5 p.m. Freedom House screening on Thursday, Sept. 5.
Who Is Stan Smith
NR | 1h 35m
Director: Danny Lee
Stars: Stan Smith, John McEnroe, Pharrell Williams
How do you know Stan Smith? Maybe as the former No. 1 tennis player in the world with two major singles championships under his belt? Or as the name on those iconic Adidas tennis shoes that have sold more than 30 million pairs worldwide since 1971?
The 77-year-old sports legend is front and center in the aptly named Who Is Stan Smith?, a 2022 documentary that reminds a generation of sports fans and fashionistas about the man behind such iconic footwear.
Who Is Stan Smith? was executive produced by SpringHill Company, a production outfit co-founded by NBA superstar LeBron James. The film features interviews with sports and cultural luminaries like fellow tennis star John McEnroe and music mogul Pharrell Williams.
No one can answer the film’s titular question, though, better than the man himself. Smith “comes across as warm, friendly and compassionate” in this “slickly edited and well-paced” sports documentary, praises NYC Movie Guru.
“For as impressive as the sneakers are,” writes Film Threat, “Who Is Stan Smith? shows that the man is doubly so.”
