By Mark Pukalo
It was a day for documentaries at the Sarasota Film Festival on Tuesday and all three proved well worth the time.
"Steal This Story, Please!" the story of independent journalist Amy Goodman and the plight of modern day media, hit the highest note to end the day.
Emmy award-winning directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal put together a fair, detailed documentary on Goodman, who pulls no punches in her honest reporting on difficult issues for her show "Democracy Now!" But it also documents the current problems that independent journalism must deal with in the corporate media age.
Lessin, who was in attendance with her mother at the screening, said they were going to call the film "Chasing Amy," but that was taken. The project took many turns along the way as new issues deserved attention.
The most compelling part was Goodman's reporting on the Indonesian massacre in East Timor. Her "Democracy Now!" story on the Chevron-Nigeria oil dictatorship was maddening as well. It all worked and kept your eyes on the screen.
No doubt, the right wing will call this leftist propaganda. That's a lie. It's even handed and does not put any words in people's mouths. We need more Amy Goodmans. Unfortunately, we've got a ways to go to pull out of the media abyss we are living in. That made the movie a bit sad.
The film will be in the Tampa area in early June. It is already slated for Sun-Ray Cinema near USF, starting June 5. Take a ride, but stay away from the popcorn (unless they have vastly improved it since I first tried it. lol).
We started the day with an epic documentary about the Vietnam War's first black ops team, which reunited after 50 years, called "Soul Patrol." The veterans talk about their memories, revealing some untold stories while trying to deal with mental wounds.
J.M. Harper, who directed a very good documentary in 2024 called "As We Speak" about rappers being prosecuted for their lyrics, won the directing award for US documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival in January for Soul Patrol. It is a moving film that drags a bit at times, but is essential for lovers of history to see.
In between those two serious and powerful documentaries, came Adam Bhala Lough's "Deepfaking Sam Altman," an entertaining journey to learn more about AI. Lough, who was nominated for two Emmys for his HBO mini series "Telemarketers," is the main character in the story as he tries to get an interview with Open AI CEO Sam Altman.
After striking out for months, Lough travels to India to find a tech who puts together an AI version of Altman (Sambot) to interview. The whole process is more about entertainment than information. Lough is never able to interview the real Altman, but becomes somewhat attached to the AI version.
The first review I saw was from Roger Ebert's site and the critic panned Lough's movie. Then I investigated the writer - Matt Zoller Seitz - and saw he did not include the masterpiece "One Battle After Another" in his top 10 for 2025. He also had the pretentious "Life of Chuck" in the 10th spot.
Seitz was probably looking for Deepfaking Sam Altman to be a different movie. Most of the other critics who reviewed the film took it like me. You just sit back and enjoy it.
I have seven more movies to view at the Festival. For more information and the schedule, go to https://www.sarasotafilmfestival.com/festival/2026/schedule.
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