Sidney

Reginald Hudlin's documentary is Sidney Poitier's last appearance on camera, and its spine is seven hours of interview that Oprah Winfrey recorded with him in 2012. Winfrey also produced, so the film is built around Poitier narrating himself. Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Barbra Streisand, Spike Lee, Robert Redford and Lenny Kravitz fill in around him. The account runs from a poor Bahamian childhood to the Oscar while keeping his intersections with the civil rights movement in the foreground throughout. The tone is admiring and the critical distance is thin, but as primary source material its value is hard to argue with. Apple TV+ released it on 23 September 2022. Who it is for: viewers who want Poitier's career and the racial politics around it in his own voice. Who it is not for: anyone after a sceptical, arm's length biography.