SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world’s biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, ‘Bernando Bertolucci’ and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story charts the life and crimes of boy band impresario Lou Pearlman. The film tracks his life from discovering NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, to his perpetration of one of the largest ponzi schemes in US history.

Over the past 25 years, Lauren Greenfield’s documentary photography and film projects have explored youth culture, gender, body image, and affluence. In this fascinating meld of career retrospective and film essay, Greenfield offers a meditation on her extensive body of work, structuring it through the lens of materialism and its increasing sway on culture and society in America and throughout the world. Underscoring the ever-increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots, her portraits reveal a focus on cultivating image over substance, where subjects unable to attain actual wealth instead settle for its trappings, no matter their ability to pay for it.

One of music’s biggest stars returns home to Fayetteville, NC, delivering a riveting performance in the exclusive HBO presentation J. COLE FOREST HILLS DRIVE: HOMECOMING, debuting SATURDAY, JAN. 9 (10:00–11:30 p.m. ET/PT). Part concert film, part backstage pass, the special tells his compelling life story through Cole’s own words and music, and through the observations of those who know him best. Featuring guest appearances by Jay Z and Drake, J. COLE FOREST HILLS DRIVE: HOMECOMING showcases live versions of all 13 songs from his third album, “2014 Forest Hills Drive.” Cole delivers a powerful performance that leaves his fans elated or in tears, connecting with audiences in a way few others can. Songs from “2014 Forest Hills Drive” include “January 28th,” “Wet Dreamz,” “03’ Adolescence,” “A Tale of 2 Citiez,” “Fire Squad,” “St. Tropez,” “Love Yourz,” “G.O.M.D.,” “No Role Modelz,” “Hello” and “Apparently.”

A wilfully offensive band, The Mentors gained infamy for performing in black executioner hoods and spewing cartoonishly racist, homophobic and misogynistic lyrics in the 1980s and ‘90s—but was their use of shock meant to propagate hate or confront it?

The story of one remarkable woman who became a global icon in animal welfare and conservation who not only hoped for a better world, she achieved it! This sweeping documentary celebrates the vast legacy of Dr. Goodall’s four decades of advocacy work for chimpanzees and depicts the next chapter for generations to come.

A Netflix Comedy Special: Comedian and actor Chris D’Elia (“Undateable” and “Whitney”), known for his dynamic physical comedy, explains why the NFL would be way more entertaining if it were real lions, bears and Vikings battling each other, that babies are the worst prize ever, and that you should never ask a Cuban directions unless you’re ready for the best time of your life.

The Original Kings of Comedy achieves the seemingly impossible task of capturing the rollicking and sly comedy routines of stand-up and sitcom vets Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac and the magic of experiencing a live concert show. Director Spike Lee and his crew plant a multitude of cameras in a packed stadium and onstage (as well as backstage, as they follow the comedians) to catch the vivid immediacy of the show, which is as much about the audience as it is about the jokes.

A group of intrepid explorers go on a journey of discovery and excitement as they climb and live atop a 17,000ft mountain in Eastern Turkey to conduct a scientific expedition to determine the final resting place of Noah’s Ark. Finding Noah is more than a quest for answers, it is a testament of the human spirit, where belief and the need for exploration transcend risk and limitations.

The profound story of Lucy Temerlin, a female chimpanzee raised as human from birth in a domestic environment, and Janis Carter, the woman who took on the seemingly impossible task of giving her a new life in the wild.

Jeremy Clarkson and James May travel to the North of England to name and shame some of the worst cars in history, from manufacturers who “should have known better”.

Unprecedented access to the New York Times newsroom yields a complex view of the transformation of a media landscape fraught with both peril and opportunity.