The BEST episodes of HBO Documentary Film Series season 2015

#1 - My Depression (The Up and Down and Up of It)

Season 2015 - Episode 19 - Aired 7/13/2015

Through inventive animation and music, this documentary short explores writer/director/composer Elizabeth Swados’ personal struggle with lifelong depression, as well as her efforts to keep her “cloud” at bay.

#2 - Toe Tag Parole: To Live and Die on Yard A

Season 2015 - Episode 21 - Aired 8/3/2015

In 2000, a California State Prison inmate serving Life Without Parole (LWOP) approached the warden to request a dedicated yard for men serving life sentences that would break the code of violence dominating prison life. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) subsequently transformed Yard A at California State Prison into The Progressive Programming Facility, which inmates call The Honor Yard. The only one of its kind in the United States, this experimental prison yard is free of violence, racial tensions, gang activity and illegal drug and alcohol use.

#3 - Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson

Season 2015 - Episode 20 - Aired 7/20/2015

Following Emmy-winning writer/director Jane Anderson on her decades-long quest to find answers to the mysteries surrounding the life of her great aunt - artist Edith Lake Wilkinson.

#4 - Living With Lincoln

Season 2015 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/13/2015

In the years following the Civil War, ancestors of documentary filmmaker Peter Kunhardt collected a treasure trove of photographs, rare books and other artifacts relating to Abraham Lincoln. Over the decades, their descendants carried on the work, helping to preserve an essential part of America’s past

#5 - Sex On, Part 2

Season 2015 - Episode 18 - Aired 7/16/2015

#6 - Sex On, Part 3

Season 2015 - Episode 22 - Aired 8/15/2015

#7 - Sex On, Part 4

Season 2015 - Episode 24 - Aired 8/21/2015

#8 - Tashi and the Monk

Season 2015 - Episode 23 - Aired 8/17/2015

On a remote mountaintop in the Himalayas sits a very special community called Jhamtse Gatsal: a school and home to 85 orphaned and neglected children. Founded by former Buddhist monk Lobsang Phuntsok, who trained with the Dalai Lama and whose own dark childhood has led him to create this safe haven, Jhamtse Gatsal is home to boys and girls, who are given the chance to escape extreme poverty and grow up in an environment where they are free to be themselves and dream about their future. As we see in this documentary short, Lobsang faces a formidable challenge with Tashi, a five-year-old new arrival who was damaged by parental neglect and abandonment, and who after six months still struggles to bond with her new family, lashing out at others and isolating herself. Lobsang refuses to give up on the young girl, and makes it his mission to transform Tashi into the person he knows she can be: someone who can rise above trauma and open up to new friends, just as he once did years before. Intimate, heartfelt and uplifting, Tashi and the Monk is a much-needed reminder of the transformative power of love and acceptance, and the unbreakable bonds we can create through compassion.

#9 - San Francisco 2.0

Season 2015 - Episode 27 - Aired 9/28/2015

San Francisco has long enjoyed a reputation as the counterculture capital of America, attracting bohemians, mavericks, progressives and activists. With the onset of the digital gold rush, young members of the tech elite are flocking to the West Coast to make their fortunes, and this new wealth is forcing San Francisco to reinvent itself. But as tech innovations lead America into the golden age of digital supremacy, is it changing the heart and soul of their adopted city?

#10 - Ferrell Takes the Field

Season 2015 - Episode 26 - Aired 9/12/2015

Comedian Will Ferrell plays ten different positions with ten different major league teams in one day during 2015 spring training in Arizona to raise money for Cancer for College.

#11 - It's Me Hilary

Season 2015 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/24/2015

#12 - The Diplomat

Season 2015 - Episode 28 - Aired 11/2/2015

THE DIPLOMAT tells the remarkable story of the life and legacy of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, whose singular career spans fifty years of American foreign policy from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Told through the perspective of his eldest son David, the documentary takes you behind the scenes of high stakes diplomacy where peace is waged and wars are ended. The film will be released in 2015, the 20th anniversary of Holbrooke’s crowning achievement: the Dayton Peace Accords which ended the war in Bosnia.

#13 - The Latin Explosion: A New America

Season 2015 - Episode 29 - Aired 11/16/2015

The Latin Explosion: A New America celebrates the music, the artists and the visionaries who have pioneered this sea change, exploring how the growing Latino community is impacting American culture for the better. Anchoring the film are exclusive interviews with the musicians at the center of Latino power and influence in this country, including Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, Ricky Martin, Romeo Santos, members of Los Lobos, Rita Moreno, Jose Feliciano and others. They talk about their lives and music, as the film celebrates their mega crossover hits that have defined the American experience and set the stage for the "Latin Explosion" in all aspects of American life.

#14 - 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets

Season 2015 - Episode 30 - Aired 11/23/2015

On November 23, 2012, Jordan Davis, a black 17-year-old, and three friends drove into a gas station in Jacksonville, Fla. Davis and his friends got into a verbal altercation with white 45-year-old Michael Dunn, who took issue with the volume of the teenagers’ rap music. When Davis refused to turn down the music, Dunn opened fire on the car of unarmed teenagers. He fired 10 bullets, three of which hit Davis, who died at the scene. Dunn fled, but was taken into custody the next day. He claimed that he shot in self-defense. Filmed over a period of 18 months, 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, intercuts intimate scenes with Davis’ family and friends with footage from Michael Dunn’s trial and police interrogation, news reports, and prison phone recordings between Dunn and his fiancée. Drawing on 200 hours of footage, the documentary aims to reconstruct the night of the murder, delving into the intricate web of racial prejudice in 21st century America and how such prejudices can result in tragedy. 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets also details the journey of Jordan Davis’ parents from grief to activism, and explores public opinion on Florida’s “Stand Your Ground Law.”

#15 - The Ties That Bind

Season 2015 - Episode 31 - Aired 11/27/2015

Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 double album The River was a landmark achievement that inspired raves from critics and fans alike, and prompted an extended international tour that raised his profile dramatically around the world. The Ties That Bind features an inside look at the creation of this groundbreaking album, along with previously unreleased archival footage from The River Tour. Employing an intimate interview style, Grammy- and Emmy®-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny showcases Springsteen’s first-person take on his writing process. Offering an in-depth discussion on the origins of key tracks from his first double album, Springsteen shares how they were developed, from the notebook page to the studio to, most viscerally, the concert stage. Interspersed throughout the interview are his acoustic versions of several defining tracks from The River, including “Two Hearts,” “The River,” “Independence Day,” “Hungry Heart,” “Point Blank” and “Wreck on the Highway.” In addition to rehearsal clips from September 1980 and live performances from the legendary November 5, 1980 Arizona State University show in Tempe, Arizona, the documentary showcases more than 100 recently unearthed photos of Springsteen and The E Street Band during recording sessions for The River. Also presented are rare and previously unheard demos and outtakes from the 14-month recording process, including songs such as “Stray Bullet,” “Chain Lightning,” “The Time That Never Was,” “Cindy” and “Take ‘Em as They Come.” The River was released October 17, 1980 to critical acclaim. Rolling Stone called it “a rock and roll milestone,” and an “epic exploration of the second acts of American lives,” and included it on the magazine’s list of the greatest albums of all time.

#16 - Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists

Season 2015 - Episode 32 - Aired 12/14/2015

The iconic cartoons of The New Yorker have become an instantly recognizable cultural touchstone over the past 90 years, and Leah Wolchock's intimate documentary offers an unprecedented glimpse into the process behind the cartoons. The film follows cartoon editor Bob Mankoff as he sifts through hundreds of submissions and pitches every week to bring readers a carefully curated selection of insightful and humorous work.

#17 - Heroin: Cape Cod, USA

Season 2015 - Episode 35 - Aired 12/29/2015

Oscar(R)-winning documentary filmmaker Steven Okazaki (1991′s “Days of Waiting”) turns his focus on the heroin epidemic sweeping small-town America in this documentary. Centered primarily in Cape Cod, MA–an idyllic summer town in the midst of a heroin crisis–the film takes an unsparing look at the lives of several young people in their early 20s gripped by heroin addiction and living a seemingly endless existence of getting high while cycling through stages of rehab, recovery and relapse.

#18 - Sex On, Part 1

Season 2015 - Episode 17 - Aired 7/9/2015

Sex On, Part 1, a six-part adults-only late-night series exploring the brave new world of sex and relationships in the Information Age.

#19 - Larry Kramer in Love & Anger

Season 2015 - Episode 15 - Aired 6/29/2015

Author, activist and playwright Larry Kramer is a political firebrand who gave voice to the outrage and grief that inspired a generation of gay men and lesbians to fight for their lives. This pioneering activist co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), where his calls for direct action protest made AIDS a national issue, forever changing public health policy.

#20 - Requiem For The Dead: American Spring 2014

Season 2015 - Episode 14 - Aired 6/22/2015

More than 32,000 people die from gun violence every year in America, an average of 88 people per day. REQUIEM FOR THE DEAD: AMERICAN SPRING 2014 highlights a few of the estimated 8,000 individuals who died from gunfire that spring, drawing exclusively on found media – news accounts, police investigations and social media – to shine a light on little-known stories of tragic loss, bringing the victims to life in their own words and images.

#21 - Saving My Tomorrow, Part 4

Season 2015 - Episode 13 - Aired 6/9/2015

The fourth in the series of family specials on the environment. Focusing on energy use and sustainability, the show features stories about endangered animals alongside scenes with kids who are working to protect the nature around them - from the mountaintops to the coral reefs. Readings and performances by Elizabeth Mitchell, Willie Nelson, They Might be Giants, Dan Zanes, and behind-the-scenes at the American Museum of Natural History with Dr. Christopher Filardi and Dr. Mande Holfold.

#22 - Southern Rites

Season 2015 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/18/2015

SOUTHERN RITES (May 18) visits Montgomery County, Ga., one year after the town merged its racially segregated proms, and during a historic election campaign that may lead to its first African-American sheriff. Acclaimed photographer Gillian Laub, whose photos first brought the area unwanted notoriety, documents the repercussions when a white town resident is charged with the murder of a young black man. The case divides locals along well-worn racial lines, and the ensuing plea bargain and sentencing uncover complex truths and produce emotional revelations. This timely film debuts the week of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision 61 years ago.

#23 - Bessie

Season 2015 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/16/2015

The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.

#24 - Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop

Season 2015 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/11/2015

The film revisits a notorious case that is still evolving, the one in which a New York City police officer named Gilberto Valle was accused of planning to kidnap women, then cook and eat them. What makes the case doubly bizarre is that at the heart of the preposterous-sounding charges are serious and sobering issues: Is it illegal to think vile thoughts and chat about them on the Internet? Where is the line between sadistic fantasizing and imminent crime?

#25 - Tales of the Grim Sleeper

Season 2015 - Episode 7 - Aired 4/27/2015

Lonnie Franklin Jr was arrested in July 2010 after a 25 year killing spree in which it is thought he could have killed over a 100 victims, potentially making him the most prolific serial killer in history. Significantly his arrest was not the product of painstaking detective work but completely accidental, the result of a computer DNA match that linked him to a possible 20 victims. Franklin now awaits trial. Tales of the Grim Sleeper looks into how it was possible for all this to happen.