Nothing But the Truth: A Documentary Novel

Associated Press journalists Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko were the last international reporters in Mariupol when Russia besieged the city in 2022. Their footage of a maternity hospital bombing, mass graves and doctors working by flashlight is edited into a day-by-day record of the siege. The film won the 2024 Oscar for best documentary.

Why it’s here: The film is what witness looks like when somebody refuses to look away. What's punk is that the reporters kept filming while Russian propaganda called their footage staged. What's pedagogical is how clearly it shows the work of journalism, and the cost. Pairs with Winter on Fire, This Is Not Propaganda and the Fascism bundle. Note: graphic scenes including dead children; for older teens and adults.

In 2021, twenty-six royal treasures looted by French troops from the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1892 are returned to Benin. Diop follows one artifact, a statue numbered 26, as it is packed up in Paris and carried home, and ends with Beninese students arguing over what the return means and who it is for. Part documentary, part essay, with the statue itself given a voice.

Why it’s here: It's a film about what it takes to return what was taken. What's punk is a statue that speaks and a room of students who tell the government it's not enough, twenty-six pieces out of thousands. What's pedagogical is the debate at the end: who owns history, and who decides? Pairs with Open Veins of Latin America, King Leopold's Ghost and Discourse on Colonialism. Note: short (68 minutes), slow and poetic; French, Fon and English with subtitles.