Humanizing the Headlines
Opening with the story of Private Violence, an intimate documentary about domestic abuse, this chapter launches the book’s series of documentary film case studies and analyses positioned within specific titled themes. Each theme (as a chapter) spotlights documentary stories to illustrate a continuum of social change. Chapter 5 focuses on “humanizing the headlines,” showcasing social-issue documentaries that reveal—through creative interpretation and intimacy—the depth and complexity of human stories beneath hot-button, politically polarized social issues. The film teams profiled here are rooted in community, and several also facilitated community engagement efforts designed to help publics and decision makers see the issues in new ways. The documentaries include 13th, an indictment of American racial injustice from historical underpinnings to the present day; Heroine(e), the story of lifesavers and community members working to bring their neighborhoods back from the destruction of opioid addiction; and Charm City, a behind-the-scenes portrait of Baltimore coming together as a community after historic unrest.