After President Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in Raqqa, eliciting increased unrest by torturing a group of schoolchildren, Daesh militants swept into the vacuum and seized the city as the capital of their Islamic state. And things got much worse. Aziz and Hamoud were university students, while Mohamad was a high school maths teacher; their anger at Assad turned into a guerrilla journalistic movement called Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS). Their undercover reporters have documented Daesh's brutality over the years, even after all three founders were forced to flee for their lives.

Filmmaker Heineman assembles this almost like a thriller, following these young men through their harrowing experiences as they escape to Turkey, where their editor Naji Jerf is murdered by Daesh, and then to a hideout in Germany, where they are forced to confront violently racist anti-immigrant protests. Through all of this, they are consumed with worry for their colleagues and relatives in Syria. One of the film's wrenching segments involves Hamoud and his brother Hassan receiving a video of their father being arrested and executed.

These guys were carefree students before the protests began, partying with their friends in what was once a relaxed, hospitable provincial city. When Assad's attacks became unbearable, they had no choice but to stand up for their rights. Then when Daesh moved in, they risked their lives to show the world what was happening. Now in exile, they watch with revulsion at what's happening back home. The film captures their transformation from thoughtless young people into concerned heroes without lionising them. Each displays a sense of regret and even exhaustion.

The film is unflinching in its depiction of the situation in Raqqa. The RBSS footage isn't blurred here as it is on the nightly news, so the executions and brutality are shown in all their horror. In addition to this news footage, Heineman also includes telling clips from Daesh propaganda films, which are produced to an unnervingly high standard to lure young people from the West to live their violent videogame fantasies. As the RBSS team emphasis, this isn't a war against Daesh, it's a battle against extremist thought.

Growing up in Montana, Idaho and Virginia, Lynch's childhood was a mix of sunny antics and darker rebellion, watched over by loving parents. His mother recognised his artistic streak from a very young age, refusing to give him colouring books because they might limit his imagination (his siblings did get them). Later, his father wasn't so sure that studying at art college was such a great idea, but he too came to support his son. Then after Lynch started experimenting with film at university, he won a grant to study in Hollywood.

Lynch narrates the story in his dry, witty way, filling the movie with colourful anecdotes that are packed with vivid details. In present-day clips, we watch him at the microphone recording his voiceover, and also working on a massive piece of art that combines sculpture and painting, while his young daughter Lula circles around him. His words are illustrated with a remarkable collection of stills and clips, including family home movies and segments from his early experimental films.

Lynch's storytelling is so engaging that it provides a beautifully crisp through-line to distract from the flourishes the filmmakers continually throw in. Everything is a bit heightened, from the way the film is shot (by producer Jason S) and edited (by director Neergaard-Holm) to Jonatan Bengta's growly score. It often feels like the filmmakers are trying to upstage Lynch with their own artistic sensibilities, which makes the entire documentary feel more than a little pretentious.

Thankfully, it still has a terrific subject at the centre. And the way Lynch recounts his life story is both riveting and important. While his fans will have no trouble understanding the relevance of everything on screen, especially as it relates to his subsequent work over the decades, there's another element here that makes the film essential viewing: this is a reminder about how important it is to allow artistically gifted children the space to explore their creativity and cultivate their voice. The scary thing to think about is how many genuinely world-changing artists like Lynch have had their inventiveness quashed by being forced to conform to parental expectations.

A self-described "agent provocateur", Stone values the power of disinformation, bragging about the dirty tricks he has deployed since working on Nixon's 1972 campaign (he was named in the Watergate scandal at age 19). Then at 25 he strategised Reagan's presidential campaign, Dole in '92 and Bush in 2000. He boasts about sidestepping campaign finance rules to pioneer negative advertising. And he made his fortune peddling influence to the world's vilest dictators. Noting that the anti-elitism touted by Nixon and Reagan culminates in Trump, he says he'd do anything to win.

The film is briskly edited with archival footage and interviews with people from across the political spectrum. As much as a biography of Stone, this is a documentary about the emergence of slash-and-burn politics and too-powerful lobbyists. As an aside, it traces Trump's career from his early days as an ego-centric business tycoon. The filmmakers chronicle each election over the past half-century, which sometimes bogs the movie in seemingly irrelevant details. But Stone's role in all of this is shocking, revealing his wholesale manipulation of the American underclass. Indeed, the film carefully shows how Trump's most outrageous statements come straight from Stone.

Most relevant, obviously, is how the filmmakers trace how Stone started urging Trump to run for president in the mid-1980s, recognising public interest in this offbeat celebrity. For the 2016 campaign, he positioned Trump against the system, appealing to anyone who feels like they're outside the mainstream. It has nothing to do with serving for the public good; it's about taking down the status quo and destroying perceived enemies in the most cynical way possible with rumours and outright lies.

Thankfully, there's also plenty of ironic wit, including a tour of Stone's collection of Nixon memorabilia (he has Nixon's face tattooed on his back) and photos of Stone as a shirtless bodybuilder. An outspoken libertarian who opposes conservative right-wing policies, Stone embraces his reputation as a dirty trickster, arguing that it's better to be infamous than never to be famous at all. In other words, it's a bone-chilling documentary that makes us worry about the future.

The film opens with a video Bennett made in 1999 at age 6 about his family, then jumps to him at 19 on YouTube, having just started hormone therapy to formally become a man. It was easy to be a boy until puberty kicked in, at which point Ben rebelled, doing drugs and cutting himself. Now sober, he lives with his mother Suzy in Pasadena, longing for support from his family but understanding why it's complicated for them. With his best pal Dylan, Ben is focussing on his transition, aiming to have surgery on the same day and talking about one day having girlfriends.

Ben's sister and dad aren't speaking to him, while his loving but unsupportive mother asks whether it's brain or body that define gender, still calling him Rachael and blurring pronouns as if this might be a phase. But Ben argues that his body has simply never fit. His idol is Joe Stevens, who offers hope of a successful future as an ex-addict trans musician. Meeting him leaves Ben starstruck, but they become friends and musical collaborators. And Ben finds further independence by moving in with Dylan to attend university in Santa Cruz and prepare for surgery.

Haas' filmmaking approach is deeply personal, seeing events through Ben's eyes to help the audience understand his thoughts and feelings, both about himself and the people around him. And his mother also speaks to the camera, expressing her struggle with the process and recounting her own childhood in a liberal but repressed family. By contrast, Joe helps Ben learn how to do things like trim a beard and knot a tie, recounting his own similar back-story. He also offers Ben a makeshift family that inspires him to look forward for the first time in his life.

The film has a strong musical sensibility, beautifully underscoring everything with Ben's expressive songs and the heartfelt roots music of Joe's band Coyote Grace. Beautifully shot and edited, the fly-on-the-wall cameras observe his life in detail while also tracing Suzy's own journey, loving her son even though she doesn't understand. This is a remarkably honest coming-of-age story, following this open-hearted young man over three years as he works to find himself.