Coffee @ Ralph’s: Davis Guggenheim

If there’s such thing as a rock star in the world of documentary filmmaking, that’s how we’d describe Davis Guggenheim. His films aren’t just commercial successes—three are among the 100 highest-grossing documentaries of all time: An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for “Superman,” and It Might Get Loud (about actual rock stars)—they also manage to shape the national conversation on big, important issues like climate change and school choice. With its inspiring storyline and global appeal, his latest film, He Named Me Malala, may well become his most successful yet. Through a series of interviews in the home the 18-year-old Pakistani activist shares with her family in Birmingham, England, as well as media footage and vivid illustrations, Guggenheim presents an intimate and deeply moving portrait of Nobel Peace Prize–winner Malala Yousafzai, who is simultaneously one of the most remarkable girls of our time and an example of how a single person really can bring change to the world. The film is also the story of a daughter and her father, whose role in Malala’s rise to prominence represents a central question of the film.