A Documentary That Lands Like a Twister

Jeffrey McHale’s It’s Dorothy doesn’t tiptoe into the conversation. It spin-kicks its way through the festival circuit with ruby-slipper authority. Premiering worldwide at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, then rolling into the Micheaux Film Festival as the opening night feature, this documentary arrives the way Dorothy always has: via whirlwind, dramatic timing, and zero apology.

McHale, already known for his forensic camp analysis in You Don’t Nomi, brings that same myth-archaeologist energy to Oz. What emerges is less a documentary and more a cultural excavation.

125 Years of Dorothy, and We’re Still Not in Kansas

Dorothy Gale first stepped onto the page in Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 125 years ago, but McHale argues she’s never stayed in one form long enough to age. She’s evolved, fractured, expanded, rebooted, into a figure more symbolic than literal.

Dorothy isn’t just a character; she’s a living archetype, a meme before memes, a beacon for anyone who’s ever needed to flee home in order to understand it.

Voices That Reclaim the Yellow Brick Road

Where the documentary becomes truly electrified is in its choice of who gets to speak.

McHale hands the mic to the communities who actually found themselves in Dorothy. Women finding agency in her defiance. People of color reinterpreting her journey through their own histories. LGBTQ+ voices who inherited Dorothy as a symbol of survival, chosen family, and camp transcendence

This isn’t Oz from above—it’s Oz from inside.

A Cast of Cultural Heavyweights

The lineup features Ashanti, Fairuza Balk, Danielle Hope & Nichelle Lewis, Shanice Shantay, Amber Ruffin, Margaret Cho, Rufus Wainwright, Lena Waithe, and John Waters.

Each voice refracts Dorothy differently, creating a kaleidoscope of identity, history, and rebellion.

It’s Dorothy is currently on the festival circuit.

ALSO SEE: Brute 1976 – Review

FOR FANBOYS, BY FANBOYS Have you checked out LRM Online’s official podcasts and videos on The Genreverse Podcast Network? Available on YouTube and all your favorite podcast apps, This multimedia empire includes The Daily CoG, Breaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, Anime-Versal Review Podcast, and our Star Wars dedicated podcast The Cantina. Check it out by listening on all your favorite podcast apps, or watching on YouTube! Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts |  Spotify |  SoundCloud | Stitcher | Google Play