Films + Events
55 NEW DOCS Titles Announced
45365
Directed by Bill Ross, Turner Ross. Produced by Bill Ross. USA. 93 min.
Deftly captured and assembled vignettes of life in Sidney, Ohio provide an enduring depiction of American existence.
12 Notes Down (12 Toner ned)
North American Premiere
Directed by Andreas Koefoed. Produced by Caroline Blanco. Denmark. 26 min.
This touching portrayal of transition follows a talented adolescent as he is forced to abandon his longstanding role in the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir when his youthful voice begins to drop.
Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene
Directed by Loren Mendell. Produced by Bob DeMars. USA. 52 min.
Ralph Petey Greene was Washington, DC’s incendiary voice of the people from the sixties to the eighties. What a voice and what style!
Art & Copy
Directed by Doug Pray. Produced by Michael Nadeau, Jimmy Greenway. USA. 86 min.
Where’s the Beef? Got Milk? Just Do It. Here are the creative people behind our most iconic ads.
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
Directed by Jessica Oreck. Produced by Jessica Oreck, Akito Kawahara, Maiko Endo. USA/Japan. 90 min.
A look at how steadfastly the Japanese revere insects, from celebrating their place in history and literature to collecting them as pets.
Between Dreams
North American Premiere
Directed by Iris Olsson. Produced by Nisi Masa, Mirumir, Moviement. Finland/Russia/France. 10 min.
Traveling by train across the Trans-Siberian landscape, passengers in a third-class sleeping car share their dreams, both hopeful and haunting. Which ones will come true?
Bitch Academy
Directed by Alina Rudnitskaya. Produced by Vyacheslav Telnov. Russia. 29 min.
In St. Petersburg, bitch really is the new black as attractive and accomplished young women enroll in the Vixen Academy to learn how to “turn off their heads” around men and dance like strippers for imaginary sugar daddies.
Boy Interrupted
Directed and produced by Dana Perry. USA. 92 min.
Filmmaker Dana Perry reveals an extraordinarily personal document of her son’s mental illness and the grief and questions surrounding his eventual suicide at the age of 15.
Burma VJ
Directed by Anders Østergaard. Produced by Lise Lense-Møller. Denmark. 85 min.
This riveting film shows how activists in Myanmar use camcorders to document the brutality of the military regime, smuggling the footage out of the country in the hopes of an international outcry.
California Company Town
Directed and produced by Lee Anne Schmitt. USA. 77 min.
Combining contemporary and archival footage, this haunting film unfolds as a series of portraits of abandoned company towns, where the mishmash of kitsch, cultural detritus, and natural majesty reveals the lost promise of the United States’ frontier.
Camp Diaries
World Premiere
Directed and produced by William Noland. USA. 15 min.
A chilling reminder of what fear can do to democracy, this film juxtaposes World War II-era US propaganda films with Dorothea Lange’s subtly subversive photographs of the puzzled and demoralized inmates of the Japanese internment camps.
China's Wild West
Directed by Urszula Pontikos. Produced by Michael Riley. United Kingdom. 10 min.
This mesmerizing short captures the relentless and often unfulfilling quest for jade – a gem 40 times more valuable than gold – in the dried beds of China’s Yurungkash River.
La Chirola
North American Premiere
Directed and produced by Diego Mondaca. Bolivia. 26 min.
A lyrical meditation on what really constitutes imprisonment, this film follows the rueful recollections of an ex-con who finds life on the outside more lonely than in la chirola (jail).
Eden End
North American Premiere
Directed and produced by Enrique R. Baixeras. Spain. 10 min.
This hypnotic compilation film pairs a lush Chopin score with archival footage from mid-century travel films to stage a cinematic fall from grace: here, fossil-fuel-powered machines and the desire to encounter the exotic, rather than apples and demon reptiles, conspire to destroy the Garden.
The Flying Shepherd
US Premiere
Directed by Catalin Musat. Produced by Roxana Comes. Romania. 26 min.
Romanian shepherds and their sheep find a way to get along with “the German,” owner of a hang-gliding business, and his airstrip in this meditative study of lifestyles in collision.
Hair India
North American Premiere
Directed by Raffaele Brunetti, Marco Leopardi. Produced by Raffaele Brunetti. Italy. 75 min.
A story about beauty in our globalized world, this film follows the journey of a young Indian girl’s hair as it transforms from a religious offering to a movie star’s accessory.
The Kinda Sutra
Directed by Jessica Yu. Produced by Patrick Degan, Anne Clements. USA. 8 min.
A whimsical mix of interview and animation shows the childhood confusion about where babies come from.
Lady Kul el-Arab
Directed by Ibtisam Mara'ana. Produced by Barak Heymann, Timna Goldstein-Hattav. Israel. 56 min.
A Druze Arab girl from Jerusalem is caught in a bitter struggle between tradition and ambition as she moves on from the local “Lady of the Arabs” beauty pageant to the Miss Israel competition, which demands a swimsuit round that violates the standards of her religion and community.
Leavenworth, WA
North American Premiere
Directed and produced by Hannes Lang. Germany/USA. 30 min.
Germans observe Americans who dress as Germans in an American town made to look like a Bavarian village.
Love on Delivery (Fra Thailand til Thy)
Directed by Janus Metz. Produced by Jesper Jack, Henrik Veileborg. Denmark. 59 min.
A beautifully photographed document of the awkwardly sweet courtship between Kae, a Thai woman visiting her aunt in Denmark, and Kjeld, the young Dane who answered her personal ad.
Luber Aloft (Lüber in der Luft)
US Premiere
Directed by Anna-Lydia Florin. Produced by Stella Händler. Switzerland. 81 min.
A cinematic portrait of the works of Swiss performance artist Heinrich Lüber, who defies gravity, proportion and comfort with his human installations.
Ma Bar
Directed and produced by Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall. United Kingdom. 12 min.
Bench-pressing over 350 pounds at the age of 74, competitive powerlifter Bill McFadyen defies our ideas of what it is to be a senior citizen.
Mechanical Love
Directed by Phie Ambo. Produced by Sigrid Helene Dyekjaer. Denmark. 79 min.
Exploring the possibility of love between humans and robots, Mechanical Love challenges conceptions of companionship and loneliness in the modern age.
The Memories of Angels (La mémoire des anges)
US Premiere
Directed by Luc Bourdon. Produced by Christian Medawar. Canada. 80 min.
A sweeping portrait of Montreal comprised of excerpts from 120 different films made in the 1950s and ’60s.
Merely a Smell (Moujarad Raiha)
Directed by Maher Abi Samra. Produced by Maher Abi Samra. Lebanon. 10 min.
The haunting, infernal beauty of this depiction of rescue workers digging through rubble and of empty coffins being loaded onto a truck makes the horror of the 2006 bombing of Beirut all the more palpable.
Milking the Rhino
Directed and produced by David E. Simpson. USA. 83 min.
Africa’s Maasai and Himba -- two of the oldest cattle-herding tribes on earth -- are vying to get a piece of the wildlife-tourism pie. But when your culture is ancient, change is hard, and some within their communities see wildlife conservation as a remnant of Western colonialism.
O'er the Land
Directed and produced by Deborah Stratman. USA. 52 min.
An experimental filmmaker weaves emblematic images of patriotism and of the American experience into an evocative essay on freedom as defined by The American Way.
Objectified
Directed and produced by Gary Hustwit. USA/United Kingdom. 75 min.
From potato peelers to iPhones, Gary Hustwit’s latest project brings us behind the scenes of our manufactured environment and introduces us to those who have created the (material) world we live in.
Oblivion (El Olvido)
Directed by Heddy Honigmann. Produced by Carmen Cobos. The Netherlands. 93 min.
A portrait of modern Peru, as told by the bartenders, vendors, craftsmen, and street performers who struggle, with great resilience, to survive in the midst of the political corruption.
Oil Blue (VÄYLÄ)
North American Premiere
Directed by Elli Rintala. Produced by Arttu Nurmi. Finland. 25 min.
An oil tanker travels the Baltic Sea as humans, technology, and nature converge in unexpected ways in this quiet, lyrical film.
Owning The Weather
World Premiere
Directed by Robert Greene. Produced by Douglas Tirola, Robert Greene, Susan Bedusa. USA. 92 min.
Juxtaposing interviews with weather scientists and lay obsessives with evocative images that subtly comment on the way humans interact with their environments, this compelling study of weather modification becomes a stark meditation on, and cautionary tale about, our all too human need to control.
Pinuccio Lovero. A Midsummer Death’s Dream
North American Premiere
Directed by Pippo Mezzapesa. Produced by Vivo Film. Italy. 52 min.
This film has it all—an endearing hero with a charming gap-toothed grin, unrequited love, the grand paradox of life and death, lively music, and cemeteries.
The Red Race
Directed by Chao Gan. Produced by Patricia Schlesinger, Ying Qiming. China/Germany. 70 min.
Young children hoping to achieve Olympic glory for China are pushed to the breaking point in this revelatory film.
Reporter
Directed by Eric Daniel Metzgar. Produced by Mikeala Beardsley, Steven Cantor. USA. 98 min.
As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof takes a harrowing trip through eastern Congo to shed a penetrating light on the wretched conflict there, he reminds us of how crucial authentic reporting is to the survival of democracy.
Rough Aunties
Directed by Kim Longinotto. Produced by Teddy Leifer, Paul Taylor. United Kingdom. 104 min.
A close-knit, multi-racial group of women activists help find justice and healing for victims of child rape in South Africa.
Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie
Directed by Michelle Esrick. Produced by David Becker. 81 min.
The true story of cultural phenomenon Wavy Gravy - a man whose commitment to making the world a better place has never wavered.
Salonica
World Premiere
Directed by Paolo Poloni. Produced by Rose-Marie Schneider. 60 min.
Through a collection of personal stories, this graceful film reveals the unique and unfamiliar significance of Thessaloniki, a city at the crossroads of religion, geography and history.
Say My Name
Directed by Nirit Peled. Produced by Nirit Peled, Dave Hemmingway. USA. 75 min.
A candid portrayal of female lyricists whose passion and art perservere in a hip hop and R’n’B world run predominantly by men.
Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech
Directed by Liz Garbus. Produced by Liz Garbus, Rory Kennedy, Jed Rothstein. USA. 74 min.
A compelling story about the First Amendment's past and future shown with several gripping case studies about the limits of free speech in today's America.
Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story
Directed by Lee Storey. Produced by Lee Storey, Bari Pearlman. USA. 81 min.
Up With People, the preternaturally perky, wholesome singing group: sinister cult, or “the yeast that built and preserved freedom”?
Sons of Cuba (Hijos de Cuba)
World Premiere
Directed and produced by Andrew Lang. United Kingdom. 88 min.
A rare behind-the-scenes look at the legendary Havana Boxing Academy, where young boys train to be champions and bring honor to their country.
Steel Homes
Directed by Eva Weber. Produced by Anna Higgs, Gavin Humphries. United Kingdom. 10 min.
In an unnamed self-storage warehouse in an undisclosed location, award-winning filmmaker Eva Weber unlocks stories of triumph and regret behind row upon row of identical steel doors.
Supermen of Malegaon
North American Premiere
Directed by Faiza Ahmad Khan. Produced by Chung Yong Park, Junichi Katayama, Heeyah Ong. Japan/Singapore/South Korea/India. 52 min.
Documenting a localized remake of Superman in economically depressed Malegaon, India, this film captures a very particular example of the primal fun of movies around the world.
Sweet Crude
World Premiere
Directed by Sandy Cioffi. Produced by Sandy Cioffi, Kate Wolf. USA. 90 min.
A riveting look at the rising oil conflict in the Niger Delta, where the poverty-stricken communities fight for better living conditions as billions of dollars of crude oil are pumped out of the region.
The Swindler (Bedragaren)
North American Premiere
Directed by Åsa Blanck, Johan Palmgren. Produced by Åsa Blanck. Sweden. 84 min.
This film follows Swedish detectives through Sweden, Israel, and Hungary in pursuit of an enigmatic international conman.
Unit 25 (Unidad 25)
Directed by Alejo Hoijman. Produced by Hugo Castro Fau. Argentina/Spain. 90 min.
In Unit 25, a skeptical inmate must embrace evangelical Christianity to escape the usual horrors of Argentine prison life.
Unmistaken Child
Directed by Nati Baratz. Produced by Ilil Alexander, Arik Bernstein, Nati Baratz. Israel. 102 min.
Guided by the drift of smoke and dreams, the Buddhist monk Tenzin Zopa sets off across the austere Tibetan countryside to find the reincarnation of his recently deceased spiritual master.
Utopia, Part 3: The World’s Largest Shopping Mall
Directed by Sam Green, Carrie Lozano. Produced by Sam Green, Carrie Lozano, Xiaoli Zhou. USA. 13 min.
A monument to consumerism, the South China Mall is missing two important pieces: stores and shoppers.
The Visitors
World Premiere
Directed and produced by Melis Birder. USA. 65 min.
This poignant portrayal of prison life, as told through the bus journey of those who travel each week from New York City to upstate prisons to visit their loved ones, offers an intimate look at love across barriers of space and time.
Voices from El-Sayed (Shablul Bamidbar)
World Premiere
Directed by Oded Adomi Leshem. Produced by Itay Ken-Tor, Liran Atzmor, Neomi Schori. Israel. 75 min.
The Israeli village of El-Sayed is home to the largest population of deaf people in the world, but how will a community in which deafness is only natural respond when one young boy receives a cochlear implant?
The Way We Get By
Directed by Aron Gaudet. Produced by Gita Pullapilly. USA. 85 min.
For the past five years, three senior citizens have shown up night and day at the Bangor, Maine, airport to thank American soldiers and wish them well as they leave for, and return from, war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We Live in Public
Directed by Ondi Timoner. Produced by Ondi Timoner, Keirda Bahruth. USA. 89 min.
A provocative look at the life of Josh Harris, internet pioneer, social engineer and artist who made it big in the 1990s but went bust when the dotcom bubble burst.
What would the drop know about that?
Directed by Jan Zabeil. Produced by HFF "Konrad Wolf", Christina Marx. Germany. 13 min.
With an atmospheric score and stunning visual imagery, this haunting short film explores the relationship of a custodial crew to the powerful German parliamentary building in their care.
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
Directed by Sarah Kunstler, Emily Kunstler. Produced by Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler, Jesse Moss, Susan Korda. USA. 90 min.
The story of an infamous civil rights leader and advocate told from the perspective of his daughters.
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
Directed and produced by Chai Vasarhelyi. USA. 102 min.
An enthralling representation of the Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour and the many facets of faith and culture that continue to influence his cherished voice.
