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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 34 movies from Firelight Media
The film explores the pursuit of the “Chinese Dream.” Driven by mesmerizing—and sometimes humorous—imagery, this observational documentary presents a contemporary vision of China that prioritizes productivity and innovation above all.
Oct 2021
An immersive look at the eventful life and brilliant artistic career of visionary American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991).
Aug 2019
Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
Apr 2006
A visual journey into the mind and soul of Pulitzer Prize–winning author Navarro Scott Momaday, relating each written line to his unique Native American experience representing ancestry, place, and oral history.
Jan 2019
Three brave cheerleaders take on the NFL, battling the massive, male-dominated sports league for recognition — and a raise.
Apr 2019
With sharp humor and a critical sense of curiosity, comedian CJ Hunt documents the fraught removal of four Confederate monuments in New Orleans. As the scope of his film expands, Hunt investigates the origins of a romanticized Confederacy and confronts hard truths much of America has yet to face.
Jun 2021
An intimate portrayal of a quest for love and acceptance at any cost, Q depicts the influence of a secretive matriarchal religious order on filmmaker Jude Chehab’s family and the unspoken ties and consequences of loyalty that have bonded her mother, grandmother, and herself to the mysterious organization. A love story of a different kind, Q is a multigenerational tale of the eternal search for meaning.
Jun 2023
This inspiring documentary chronicles the extraordinary life of Ruby Duncan, an activist who fights the welfare system and becomes a White House advisor.
Aug 2022
When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case--an activist attorney, a transgender journalist and Jennifer's mother)--galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of US imperialism.
Apr 2018
Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story.
Jul 2026
A documentary examining the 1955 murder of a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago while visiting relatives in Mississippi, and the broad impact of his death, his funeral, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of his accused killers.
Jan 2003
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson's look back at the 40 years he spent summering at Oak Bluffs, a black-oriented resort community on Martha's Vineyard.
Feb 2004
Documentary feature about 11-time Jeopardy! champion and Internet iconoclast, Arthur Chu.
Jan 2017
Chico Colvard interviews family members 30 years after a dirty family secret is revealed. He finds out how his three sisters survived severe abuse at the hands of their father and how they cope as adults.
Jan 2010
Following the success of her debut novel, All This Could Be Different, author Sarah Thankam Mathews embarks on her second novel, drawing from her adolescence between India and Oman. As Sarah excavates lost place and time, she must contend with the weight of truthful representation and the contradictions within her childhood memories.
Nov 2024
Birthing A Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney explores the story of forced reproduction in the antebellum South and reveals the agency of Mary Gaffney, an enslaved woman who takes control of her body and fertility.
Aug 2023
Explores a variety of underground hazing rituals that are abusive and sometimes deadly. The journey to understand hazing culture reveals a world of toxic masculinity, violence, humiliation, binge drinking, denial, and institutional coverups.
Jun 2022
Assata Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, was a member of the Black Liberation Army and had been a fugitive sought by the U.S. since escaping prison in 1979. Shakur died on September 25, 2025 in Havana, Cuba, where she had received political asylum.
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Meet Special K, Peanut, Charlie, and the rest of The Brentford Penguins, a soccer team with a difference: all the young players have Down’s Syndrome. Mighty Penguins follows Coach Allan, the players, and their families as they prepare to be the guard of honor for a premiership match.
An intimate and kaleidoscopic voyage behind the closed doors of the Chinese birth tourism industry in the U.S.
Mar 2023