Issue 125 – Spring/Summer 2026

In Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions, the iconic Rough Trade singer opens up about making music that pushed boundaries and broke ground for queer representation through songs like “High School Confidential” and “All Touch.” The film directed by Michelle Mama opens this year’s Hot Docs and leads our survey of new docs on the festival circuit.

Digital issues available via Press Reader, Magzter, and Zinio.

Photo: Boris Spremo / Getty Images

This issue will be en route to subscribers in late April.

Inside this issue:

Publisher’s Note by Pat Mullen

Editorial by Marc Glassman

Policy Matters by Julian Carrington
Isn’t documentary a bulwark for democracy?

Current State of Docs

Fault Lines and Frontiers by Davide Abbatescianni
Is European cinema in crisis?

The Real State of the Union by Tom White
Making films under Trump.

The New Patron Age by Adam Benzine
Canadians search for new funding models.

Cover Story

Carole Pope’s Rough Ride by Susan G. Cole
Legendary Rough Trade vocalist is given her due.

Festival Circuit

How The Sandbox Explores the Human Costs of the Eyes in the Sky by Pat Mullen
Humanistic doc focuses on the people lost in the migration crisis.

POV Interview: David and Liani Greaves by Jason Gorber
The Harlem Renaissance is evoked in Once Upon a Time in Harlem by doc pioneer William Greaves and his family.

Kim Nguyen’s Kaleidoscopic Pursuit of Truth in Saigon Story  by Rachel Ho
Tracing the tragedies created by a famous Vietnam War photograph.

Oysters, Lagoons, and Environmental Resilience by Nirris Nagendrarajah
Concrete Turned to Sand by Jessica Johnson and Ryan Ermacora is a poetic treatment of intertidal life in B.C.

Considering Photography

Revisiting Impressions by Sara Knelman
Recalling a trailblazing photo magazine and its era.

What Is Jeff Wall Making? by Daniel Glassman
Internationally famous, Wall’s work is well worth contemplating.

Essays

Filming in Retrospect by Gabrielle Brady, Poh Lin Lee
A luminous diaristic exchange between a filmmaker and a narrative consultant on their process while making Island of the Hungry Ghosts and The Wolves Always Come at Night.

Geopolitics and Ecology Heat Up the North by Gesilayefa Azorbo
A vast land coveted by super-powers and resisted by Indigenous nations captures contemporary collisions between the the environmental, its inhabitants, and global politics.

Profiles

Riddle Me This by Marc Glassman
Riddle Films celebrates 25 years of making films with integrity—and partners.

Jessica Earnshaw’s Family Viewing by Liam Lacey
The accent is on the personal in Earnshaw’s work, which includes Jacinta and Baby Doe.

Shelley Saywell Reflects on Love and Mortality by Barri Cohen
Doc filmmaker’s memoir has a sad beauty.

Freeze Frame by Marc Glassman
The wisest man in the room.