--
By Stephanie Ornelas
Pictured: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010)
Biographical films give us the opportunity to learn about lives different from our own, with all the tragedy, triumph, and tears that accompany them. The people who tell those stories provide us with a unique lens. Today is National Biographers Day, the day Samuel Johnson - famous poet, essayist, literary critic, and editor - met his biographer James Boswell, who authored the beloved book The Life of Samuel Johnson.
Like Boswell's piece on Johnson, these projects are a powerful reminder that sometimes, when you're given a small window into someone's life through a film or a book, you can learn more than you thought possible. They help us understand the lives (or segments thereof) of past and present prominent people - both famous and infamous.
Johnson once wrote, It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. So, to honor this day, here are eight Sundance films available to stream right now that tell the incredible stories of the lives (and some, the deaths) of a few notable public figures.
RBG (2018)
In this Oscar-nominated film, filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen gain unprecedented access to explore the life and career of United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg - and examine how her legacy propelled the battle for gender equality. (Available to stream on Tubi and Vudu.)
Lucy & Desi (2022)
Director Amy Poehler explores the unlikely partnership and enduring gift of one of the most prolific power couples in entertainment history. With special access to family archives, Poehler takes a look at the life of the '50s comedy trailblazers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. (Available to stream on Amazon Prime.)
Grizzly Man (2005)
Werner Herzog's remarkable film chronicles the life and death of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell and what drove him to live among grizzly bears on an Alaskan reserve. A devoted conservationist, Treadwell believed he had finally bridged the gap between human and beast. But when one of the bears he loved and protected turns on him, his footage serves as a window into our understanding of nature's grim realities. (Available to stream on YouTube.)
NAVALNY (2022)
In this jaw-dropping film, creator Daniel Roher was given unprecedented access to Russian opposition leader and former presidential candidate Alexei Navalny. NAVALNY details the 2020 assassination attempt of Navalny, in which he was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent. (Available to stream on Hulu Premium.)
Biggie & Tupac (2002)
Formerly known as LA Story, the feature-length film centers around two murdered American rappers, Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. In the film, creator Nick Broomfield suggests the two murders were planned by Suge Knight, head of Death Row Records. (Available to stream on Amazon Prime.)
jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy (2022)
Sometimes the best stories are told by our friends who were there in the beginning. The film jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy documents the life of rapper, record producer, and fashion designer Kanye West. Directors Coodie and Chike were given front-row seats to the early stages of Kanye's music career, giving fans and viewers not just a peek inside West's triumphs, but also his struggles. (Available to stream on Netflix.)
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (2021)
Director Mariem P rez Riera tells the story of Rita Moreno, a girl born into poverty on a Puerto Rican farm who overcomes relentless racism to become an award-winning singer, actor, and dancer. In addition to looking closely at her personal life, including romances and personal struggles, the film also addresses the extremely limited ideas Hollywood has of Latin actors and actors of color, a problem that persists in the present day. (Available to stream on Netflix.)
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010)
Following the life and career of veteran comedian Joan Rivers, directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg explore her early years in the comedy industry and touch on her longtime professional relationships with celebrities like Johnny Carson, George Carlin, Phyllis Diller, Kathy Griffin, and her own daughter, Melissa Rivers. (Available to stream on Roku Channel.)
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
-- 
