I’d recommend American Factory from 2019. It’s about a Chinese Billionaire reopening a car factory with many workers that were formerly employed at the old factory operated by GM but now they are facing lower pay and bad working conditions. The film also shows the culture clash between the Chinese foremen and the American workers. Some American workers are invited to the main plant in China which is very surreal experience. It’s very interesting to see the change of mind of the American workers that started with hope and motivation. Some scenes of the movie made me as a European even think whether it’s really a documentary or staged. American Factory also got very positive reviews.

Recently watched Good Night Oppy, a documentary about the Opportunity Mars Rover. Fascinating and surprisingly emotional story of some amazing scientists and engineers working together to explore the solar system.

Really enjoyed it.

I really liked Ivory Tower, because there aren’t a million documentaries on the topic even though you’d think there would be. It’s essentially about the post-secondary education system - what’s going to happen to it, online alternatives that are gaining momentum, student debt, etc. I wish they had spent less time on individual stories and more time talking about alternatives (in STEM especially), but I still enjoyed it overall. It was good food for thought.

Now sure what is considered “recent” but I really enjoyed the “Q: Into The Storm” (2021) series on HBO about the origins of QAnon, as well as “The Great Hack” (2019) on Netflix about Cambridge Analytica’s use of data mining to influence elections.

Paired together, they offer some good insights as to why the world seems so divided at the moment, and helps remind me to keep my own biases in check.