Students today encounter ideas, arguments, and information through streaming media, podcasts, social platforms, and video as often as they do through traditional texts. This session demonstrates how documentary film offers a uniquely rich text for critical analysis because it combines evidence, multiple perspectives, and visual rhetoric in ways that naturally support inquiry. Participants will explore a practical framework that transforms passive viewing into active learning by analyzing evidence, evaluating perspectives, recognizing rhetorical choices, integrating research, and constructing evidence-based arguments. By teaching students to read what they watch, instructors can make literacy instruction more relevant while strengthening higher-order thinking.