Documentaries are about real life. They don’t star glamorous actors or light up the screen with fancy special effects. Instead, they attempt to tell us about something worth knowing.

This week on Full Frame, we take a look at some of this year’s most buzz-generating, award-winning documentary films and the people who inspired the stories behind them.

Bryn Mooser: Humanitarian filmmaker

When there are major disasters around the globe, humanitarian Bryn Mooser has found his way there. He’s served with the Peace Corps in West Africa and, in 2010, he helped build Haiti’s largest cholera center after the country was hit by a devastating earthquake. In 2012, Bryn was named one of Esquire Magazine’s “Americans of the Year.” He is the co-founder of RYOT, the first breaking news website that connects every story to an opportunity to take action.

He’s also an award-winning filmmaker whose eleventh film, Body Team 12, won the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival award for “Best Documentary short.” The film profiles an Ebola health worker in Liberia who is the only woman working with a team tasked with removing bodies during the height of the Ebola epidemic. Moved by the bravery of these body collectors, Bryn was struck by the courage and love of country exhibited by one particular worker, Garmai.

Bryn talks with Mike Walter in our Los Angeles studio to share his experience in Liberia and to talk about his willingness to tell stories from places where other people don’t venture.

Andrew Morgan: The cost of clothing

How does fashion impact the people who make it and the world we live in? In 2013, an eight-story garment factory, filled with workers making clothes for major Western brands, collapsed in Bangladesh. It killed more than a thousand people trapped inside and injured thousands more. It was this catastrophe that motivated American filmmaker, Andrew Morgan, to search for answers.

His documentary, The True Cost, has been sweeping both film festivals and the fashion media around the globe…looking at both the human and environmental cost of fast fashion.

Andrew joins Mike Walter in our Los Angeles studio to explain his inspiration for the film and reveals some of the unexpected challenges, and joys, he encountered while creating it.

Justin Baldoni: Creating socially-conscious media

Justin Baldoni has become one of American television’s favorite leading men and possesses a unique combination of good looks and good intentions. In the breakout hit, Jane the Virgin, Justin plays cancer survivor and former playboy “Rafael Solano” who often finds himself surrounded by women and controversy.

But, don’t let his good looks fool you. In addition to acting, Justin is also a prolific director and owner of Wayfarer Entertainment, a digital production company dedicated to “celebrating and elevating the human spirit” through socially conscious media.

How did a Hollywood actor decide to get involved with such a unique cause? And what does he hope to accomplish with his organization?

Justin joins Mike Walter in our Los Angeles studio to talk about how he looks at life through a different lens.