Hot Docs 2026: Steal This Story, Please! Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

American journalism has had quite the history and has seen countless advances over the years, as it continues to document the arc of U.S. society, from telling stories through newspapers and magazines, such as the New Yorker in the early 1900s, to doing so through broadcast news, and the rise of independent media looking to disrupt the mainstream. An ode to the storied history of American journalism, Steal This Story, Please!, by directors Carl Dean and Tia Lessin, which highlights the professional career of Amy Goodman, the founder of Democracy Now!, a now thirty-year-old independent news program that airs online, on TV, and on the radio. 

She begins by framing her career as the frustrated dream of joining her favorite TV show, but the film’s chronological approach doesn’t always serve that story well. The clearest example is its most compelling sequence: an in‑media‑res opening that follows Goodman trekking a long distance to press the Trump administration’s climate chief for answers. In just a few minutes, the directors capture her talent for confronting and challenging high‑level officials. At a time when many journalists lean toward partisan commentary or corporate caution, Goodman comes across as a more traditional reporter—one who relentlessly pursues questions others avoid. Even when the film looks back across decades of Democracy Now footage, the contrast remains stark. Goodman consistently positions herself as a provocateur, exposing the uncomfortable realities of American foreign policy and the government’s most fraught decisions.

Despite the access to thirty years of privileged material, Deal and Lessin decide on an utterly conventional structure to utilize that footage. Goodman is a fascinating figure as the last kind of journalist that honors her press badge, travelling to the eye of the storm, whether it be during the dictatorship in Nigeria or the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. When focusing on the materiality of that content, such as her journey to Nigeria after her interview with an activist denouncing the Shell’s oil exploitation in the country, leading to his death, is an exercise of the power of journalism. Yet, that powerful moment lies beneath a dull structure that decides for the conventionalism. 

Goodman is indeed a legendary figure, but the documentary highlights passages of her career as a slideshow, a reel of the best moments of her and Democracy Now. Despite interviews with some of her past colleagues, all speaking wonderfully about her. Leaving audiences fascinated by some of the chosen excerpts and uninterested in anything else, the film is dense but dull, leading to some reflection within the first moments, before losing them over the following ones. 

In documentary filmmaking, archival privilege is not enough to craft a great documentary, and this is the case for Steal This Story, Please!. Unfortunately, this makes for an utterly conventional look at the brilliant career of journalist Amy Goodman, let down by a dull format that diminishes the impact of noteworthy journalism. 

still courtesy of Hot Docs

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Pedro Lima

Brazilian film writer. He is also a producer and executive producer for Zariah Filmes. Member of the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA), International Documentary Association (IDA), and Gotham and Media Film Institute.