12 Best Hidden Gem Movies Of 2016

About as honest a documentary as you’re likely to see, Gleason tells the story of former American football player Steve Gleason as he battles with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS – the motor neurone disease popularized, for want of a better word, by the ice bucket challenge that swept social media a couple of years ago.

Originally intended as a means of documenting Gleason’s post-diagnosis life for his young son, it evolved into something much bigger when filmmakers Ty Minton-Small and David Lee were brought on board. Eventually amassing around 1,500 hours of footage, director Clay Tweel was hired to whittle that down and condense Gleason and his family’s journey into a two-hour-long film.

The result is a raw, unflinching portrait helping to raise awareness of the reality of living with ALS and the effects it has on marriage and parenthood.