A daughter goes home to face the family tragedy that broke everything.

“Hearse Chasing,” the new documentary from director Teresa Alfeld, follows singer-songwriter Cassidy Waring as she returns to Calgary with her brother Cooper to confront their mother’s death and the violence that led to it. The film screens at VIFF Centre on Mother’s Day, May 10th, with a live performance from Waring and her band.

Growing up in 90s suburban Calgary, Waring’s family looked stable until addiction and abuse shattered it. Years later, now deep into her music career, she’s diagnosed with Complex PTSD and starts unpacking what really happened. Through therapy sessions, home movies, and her songwriting process, the film traces what healing actually looks like when the past won’t stay buried.

The doc premieres on TELUS Optik TV and TELUS Stream+ on May 13th, then drops free on YouTube the same night during Mental Health Awareness Month. A live chat will run alongside the online premiere.

“My relationship with my mom is such a big part of both the film and my music,” Waring says. “I know this day can bring love and celebration, but also grief and heartache.”

Waring’s new album, “If I Had Only Been Better,” digs deeper into her experience with complex trauma. For indie artists turning their pain into art, this one hits close.

One of the greatest documentaries ever made about filmmaking is getting the deluxe treatment it deserves. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse hits 4K UHD on May 19, exclusively through Lionsgate Limited.

Eleanor Coppola’s raw, unflinching chronicle of her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s chaotic production of Apocalypse Now remains a masterclass in documentary filmmaking. She captured everything, the disastrous weather delays, Martin Sheen’s health crisis, the political turmoil in the Philippines, and Francis spiraling under the weight of his own ambition. The documentary even includes secretly recorded conversations with Coppola at his most vulnerable.

The three-disc collector’s edition is loaded. Beyond the 4K restoration of the 97-minute doc, it includes audio commentary from Eleanor and Francis, plus a new featurette titled “Eleanor Coppola: Art Is All Around Us.” A third disc dives deep into Eleanor’s broader body of work, featuring her shorts from the ’70s and behind-the-scenes docs she shot on films like Marie Antoinette, The Virgin Suicides, and CQ.

Eleanor passed away in 2024, making this release a fitting tribute to an artist who understood that the struggle behind great art is often as compelling as the finished work itself. Pre-orders are live now at Lionsgate Limited for $79.99.

A surly middle schooler who only cares about plants might be the most relatable protagonist you’ll see this year.

“Mabel” opens today at Cinema Village in New York, marking the feature debut of director Nicholas Ma. The coming-of-age story centers on Callie, a biracial teen played by newcomer Lexi Perkel, who’s more interested in botany than people. After her family moves and she has to switch schools, Callie talks her way into a high school science class taught by substitute teacher Ms. G (Judy Greer). There, she starts an experiment growing chrysanthemums in complete darkness and somehow convinces her bubbly younger neighbor Agnes to help.

Christine Ko and Quincy Dunn-Baker round out the cast. Ma co-wrote the script with Joy Goodwin, and the film was produced by Ben Howe, Luca Borghese, and Helen Estabrook.

“Mabel” screened at the 2024 San Francisco Film Festival before landing its theatrical release. The film hits digital on April 21, just four days after its Cinema Village run begins.

It’s refreshing to see an indie coming-of-age story that ditches the usual teenage angst for something more specific. A precocious kid using plants as a bridge into adolescence? That’s a new one.