The battle over identity politics during the Barack vs. Hillary rivalry for the Democratic presidential race was fascinating, precisely because it happened after so many had declared identity politics dead. Which breakthrough would you opt for, the first chick or the Chocolate Kennedy?

The documentary Sex & Justice takes us back to another landmark moment in American political culture, the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings of 1991. Here, filmmaker Julian Schlossberg edits the rather stunning testimony heard, as Hill accuses Thomas of sexual harassment, effectively arguing he is unfit to serve as a Supreme Court justice. It was a sleazy appointment by President Bush; since he had to appoint a black candidate, he had to find someone with black skin and ultra conservative politics.

The result—from the party that opposes affirmative action—was the least qualified, least published justice ever to sit on the bench. Most appalling is the sight of Thomas, who consistently argued against affirmative action, cynically play the race card himself. When he was in a corner, Thomas charged that his critics must be racist themselves as a defence. He referred to the hearings as “a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks,” despite the fact that charges against him had nothing to do with his race. A strange, sobering look back at the hearings, narrated by Gloria Steinem.

In the spirit of the season, look out for Christmas Evil (aka You Better Watch Out), Lewis Jackson’s 1980 oddity about a slaying Santa. The film opens when one young boy sees a man dressed as Santa going down on his mom. This trauma leads him to an adulthood obsession with Saint Nick, culminating in one bloody season of gore as he gets dolled up as Santa and then goes on a rampage (but he only kills people who have it coming). This one is so cheesy (in a good way) that it prompted a culture vulture no less than John Waters to declare it “the best seasonal film of all time.”