This month, I give you three short reviews of documentaries that all have an excellent chance to be nominated for an Oscar. In addition, our next installment of the Cube Cinema Series will be on Friday, Dec. 12 at 6:30 pm. The film starts at 7 pm, with a discussion immediately after. Please join us for The Holdovers (2023), the Academy Award-nominated gem from director Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendents, Nebraska), starring Paul Giamatti.

The Holdovers

Tickets are available at the MCA website, mca2038.com, and please don’t forget to bring food and personal item donations for the MSU Denver Food Pantry if you are able. Our students need the help more than ever, especially during the holiday season. Thank you in advance!

The Tale of Silyan (2025)

This elegant documentary from director Tamara Kotevska straddles the line between harsh realism and beautiful poetry. It tells the story of North Macedonian farmer Nicola, who struggles to make a living, watches his son and family move abroad to find a better life, and finds himself suddenly alone after his wife leaves to help their son’s family.

The Tale of Silyan

The other half of the story is the poetry: Narration tells a local folk tale about a boy who is turned into a stork after arguing with his father. The stork eventually makes his way back to the father and lives with him. The stories then mirror each other when Nicola adopts a wounded white stork (plentiful and mythical in this part of the world) and nurses it back to health. Until Nicola’s wife returns, the stork becomes his companion. The dense film—full of gorgeous cinematography—also touches upon subjects of animal migration and dwindling food supplies for those animals, as well as the difficulties of farming and raising a family in the midst of hyper-globalization. This is a great one for the holiday season; it will make you laugh and cry, yet it still manages to inject a plethora of social issues into its narrative.

Available on Disney+/National Geographic.

The Perfect Neighbor (2025)

This tense and disturbing documentary tells the story of a white Florida woman who shoots and kills her Black neighbor, Ajike Owens, when Owens knocks on her door after a seemingly innocuous neighborhood dispute. The narrative unfolds through dashcam and bodycam footage, as well as CCTV footage from a police station interview room. This story from 2023 grabbed national headlines, and the documentary takes us through the lead-up to the shooting as well as the arrest, investigation, and trial. There are limitless ways to be sad and frustrated about this story, but the saddest, to me, is how it is not all that shocking.

Available on Netflix.

Come See Me in the Good Light (2025)

This beautiful and poetic documentary does sweet justice to its principal subject, Colorado Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson, as it tells the story of their fight with a terminal cancer diagnosis at the age of 45. Gibson and their wife, fellow poet Megan Falley, lived in Longmont, and the film tells their life story while focusing on their last few years together. They are funny, they are happy, they are beautiful together, and they ride the emotions of diagnosis, treatment, and life beautifully together. Director Ryan White wisely keeps the focus on these luminous figures and steps out of the way, letting them live life in front of us and tell their story. Sad, gorgeous, depressing, and uplifting all live together in visual form, right in front of our eyes. We feel everything with them.

Available on Apple TV.

Vincent Piturro, PhD, is a professor of film and media studies at MSU Denver. Contact him directly at vpiturro@msudenver.com or follow him on X. For more reviews, search The Indie Prof at FrontPorchNE.com.