<h1>Darrel Manson</h1>

Darrel Manson

Posts by Darrel Manson:

20,000 Species of Bees – Finding a true self

20,000 Species of Bees – Finding a true self

“Can I die and be reborn as a girl?” In Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species of Bees, an eight-year-old who is  experiencing gender dysphoria searches for an identity. The child’s mother has her own identity issues to deal with. How each sees themselves and...

Re: Uniting – Where life leads

Re: Uniting – Where life leads

“I think I missed it. ... Life.” In Re: Uniting, written and directed by Laura Adkin, a group of best friends come together twenty-five years after college. Their lives have taken them in a variety of directions. They are at a point where they are beginning to...

Three Promises: Home movies of a war zone

Three Promises: Home movies of a war zone

Three Promises, from Yousef Srouji, is the story of a family living through a very difficult situation—Palestine, during the Second Intifada. It is told through family videos taken by his mother, Suha, with voiceover commentary from Yousef’s interviews with her. The...

H2: The Occupation Lab

H2: The Occupation Lab

The Israeli-Palestinian situation is obviously complex and often controversial. It has been an area of conflict for nearly a century—even before the establishment of the state of Israel. Documentary filmmakers Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf seek to show the...

Stay with Us: A path between faiths

Stay with Us: A path between faiths

“I’m on a path.”  “It’s good to be on a path.” Gad Elmaleh’s Stay with Us takes us along a path the ponders the meaning of faith, identity, and community. The semi-autobiographical comedy is about a man with Sephardic Jewish roots who is contemplating converting...

Space: The Longest Goodbye

Space: The Longest Goodbye

The current goal is to send people to Mars within the next decade. That is certainly an ambitious and worthy undertaking. Want to be on that first three-year mission? Perhaps you should watch the Independent Lens documentary Space: The Longest Goodbye before you get...

Alam: Raising a flag of independence

Alam: Raising a flag of independence

“My dad used to say that the beginning of liberation is to raise your flag. The highest level of liberation is to burn it.” In Alam (The Flag), directed by Firas Khoury, we see Palestinian youth struggling with a world in which they have had no voice. It is not just...