Author: Aviva Dove-Viebahn

Aviva Dove-Viebahn is an associate professor of film and media studies at Arizona State University and a contributing editor for Ms.' Scholar Writing Program.

Sundance 2026: The Tea Is Profitable. The Land Is Contested. Documentary ‘Kikuyu Land’ Tells the Story.

The Kikuyu are a tribal people located in the Kenyan highlands—a gorgeous region now dominated by enormous tea plantations, many owned by multinational corporations. 

As the documentary Kikuyu Land spells out, the farms are owned by wealthy Kenyans and multinational corporations who seem quite capable of hiding their exact provenance. One such corporation: consumer goods behemoth Unilever.

As news of journalists being abducted and people being killed over land disputes filters into the film, Nairobi-based journalist Bea Wangondu tries to track down a representative of Unilever willing to address the allegations against the plantations, going so far as traveling to its headquarters in London. When those efforts fail, she seeks answers in archival records. But, as she digs into her own family and its claims to Kikuyu land, she discovers an upsetting history of complicity and betrayal.

The documentary is a gripping investigation with stakes that are both intimately personal and startlingly global, contrasts the arresting beauty of its geographical setting with the dark underbelly of its secrets.

(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)

The Masculinist and Eugenicist Origins of AI Are Writ Large in Documentary ‘Ghost in the Machine’

A fast-paced Sundance documentary, Ghost in the Machine traces how modern AI’s obsession with “intelligence” and innovation is rooted in the eugenicist, sexist and racial hierarchies that have long shaped Silicon Valley and its technologies.

(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)

A Film About Revolution and Hope in Iran, ‘The Friend’s House Is Here’ Shows How Art and Friendship Sustain Resistance

Even when it’s created at great personal risk, nothing can negate the power of art. So, too, the importance of friendship, which impacts our choices, shapes our ideas about the past, present and future, and changes lives.

These are central themes of The Friend’s House Is Here, a U.S.-Iranian co-production that won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at Sundance this year. In their presentation of the award, the jury praised the film’s ensemble cast “for delivering performances that each of us could find ourselves in, revealing a story that is frighteningly universal. The ensemble injects the world with gravity, love, and humor, and shows us the way community and connection are often our key to survival.”

In a case of life imitating art, the film circulates through its own act of defiance: It had to be smuggled out of Tehran for it to be shown at Sundance.

(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)

Sundance 2026: Based on a True Story, ‘The Huntress’ Film Mythologizes a Vigilante Born of Juárez’s Violence

A gripping portrait of a Juárez factory worker who becomes an avenger after systemic violence against women goes unpunished, The Huntress (or La Cazadora) explores how myth, motherhood and desperation collide in a city where justice is scarce.

(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)

Sundance 2026: Documentary ‘Silenced’ Exposes How Defamation Suits Muzzle Survivors and Journalists

Featuring the cases of Amber Heard, Gisèle Pelicot, Brittany Higgins, Colombian journalists at Volcánicas and others, Silenced traces a global pattern of defamation suits used to punish survivors and the reporters who amplify their stories.

It’s a fitting but frustrating coda that Silenced itself faced legal threats right after its festival premiere.

(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)

The Best Feminist Fiction Films and TV Shows of 2025

From devastating dramas to sharp satires and genre-bending thrillers, this year’s feminist fiction on screen refused easy answers—and demanded our attention. These films and series center women’s agency, ambition and survival, offering stories that linger long after the credits roll. Here are some of the standout feminist fiction watches of the year.

Aviva Dove-Viebahn reviews the top fiction feminist watches from the past year including The Substance, Ironheart and The Better Sister.

Now Streaming: New Film ‘Lilly’ Tells Transformative Story of Equal-Pay Hero Lilly Ledbetter

It’s tempting these dark days to dismiss the idea that any one person can make a difference. And yet, every day ordinary people fight injustice. And some days, those people persist long enough, resist long enough, that their fights rise to national prominence.

One such fight is chronicled in the new film Lilly, released in theaters this May and now available for rent. The brainchild of director Rachel Feldman, Lilly tells the story of Lilly Ledbetter, “an ordinary woman who became extraordinary,” in the words of Patricia Clarkson, who portrays her in the film.

The Woman Behind the Fair Pay Act Comes to Life in ‘Lilly’ Film

It’s tempting these dark days to dismiss the idea that any one person can make a difference.

And yet, every day ordinary people fight injustice. And some days, those people persist long enough, resist long enough, that their fights rise to national prominence. One such fight is chronicled in the new film Lilly, in theaters beginning May 9. The brainchild of director Rachel Feldman, Lilly tells the story of Lilly Ledbetter, “an ordinary woman who became extraordinary,” in the words of actor Patricia Clarkson, who portrays her in the film.

Unfortunately, Ledbetter didn’t live to see the film arrive in theaters. She died in October 2024 at age 86. “She was so profoundly happy to know that her legacy would extend in entertainment form,” Feldman says, “particularly so that young women would absorb the story.”

Sundance 2025: Timely, Incisive and With Unexpected Humor, ‘Coexistence, My Ass!’ Offers a Singular Perspective on Conflict in the Middle East

Coexistence, My Ass!—which received a World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression at Sundance this year—chronicles five years in the life and work of activist and standup comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi.

Born to Romanian and Iranian Jewish parents, Shuster-Eliassi grew up in the Oasis of Peace, also known as Neve Shalom (in Hebrew) and Wahat al-Sallam (in Arabic), a social experiment in the form of a small village where Palestinians and Jews live intentionally as neighbors, and their children attend a bilingual school where they take classes on peacebuilding.

But Coexistence, My Ass! is far from a myopic biography of one activist comedian; instead, it becomes something much more expansive. The film encapsulates the deep complexities, horrors and challenges of the crisis in the Middle East and the conundrums of peacebuilding facing its many interlocuters without coming across as either naïve or completely hopeless.