Announcing the 2024 Film Lineup!

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is pleased to announce the complete lineup for the 26th annual festival, April 4–7, 2024. Full Frame will exhibit documentary features and shorts from around the world in a premier showcase of film screenings, discussions, and panels held in historic downtown Durham, N.C. This year’s festival will include 50 titles, 35 features and 15 short films from 22 countries. NEW DOCS 1489 / Armenia (Director: Shoghakat Vardanyan; Producer: Shoghakat Vardanyan) Over two…

Nancy Buirski and D. A. Pennebaker will be celebrated with the 2024 Full Frame Tribute

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will celebrate filmmakers Nancy Buirski, who also founded the festival, and D. A. Pennebaker with the 2024 Full Frame Tribute.  “Remembering Nancy and Penny, I cannot think of two people who are more responsible for shaping Full Frame as a cultural institution,” said co-festival director and artistic director Sadie Tillery. “Over the years, they shared their films, their passion for the craft of filmmaking, their knowledge of the documentary…

Jessica Edwards and Gary Hustwit Curate the 2024 Thematic Program: “In Process: Documenting Creativity”

Full Frame has announced the 2024 Thematic Program curated by award-winning filmmakers Jessica Edwards and Gary Hustwit. The 2024 Thematic Program, titled “In Process: Documenting Creativity,” examines the creative process through films that illuminate how artists—on both sides of the lens and across a variety of mediums—make their work. The series features six selections, four features and two shorts, and considers both the triumphs and the uncertainties involved in producing art and transforming personal experience…

Passes + Ticket Packages Are On Sale Now!

Passes and Ticket Packages are on sale now to the 26th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Attendees can choose from a range of flexible and affordable options: Fanatic (15), Flex (10), and Fun (5) Passes: available in a range of price points, passes come with special perks including early access to ticket reservations and free entry to films via the Last Minute Line (space permitting). Makers Pass: Full Frame Alum and industry members can apply now. Ticket Packages: great…

Join the Green Team!

The Green Team represents Full Frame’s commitment to waste reduction and recycling at the festival. The Green Team volunteers will monitor and divert recycling and composting to keep waste properly sorted.   Looking for a way to join this effort? Consider joining Full Frame as a Green Team leader! Green Team leaders will be in charge of the Green Team volunteers, and work with Full Frame staff to plan, manage, and lead these efforts during…

8 Films for the Middle of Winter

With striking landscapes, muted pastels, and the juxtaposition of a season filled with both hardship and hibernation, winter often integrates itself uniquely into visual stories. Whether becoming a silent character, enhancing a film’s themes or the  thoughts of the protagonists, or providing a silent, snowy moment of reflection for the audience, filmmakers have used the icy months to create compelling, layered, and memorable work over the years. As we lean into the wintry season, Full…

Nancy Buirski, founder of Full Frame, has passed away

It is with great sadness that we share that Full Frame founder and award-winning filmmaker Nancy Buirski has died. We have lost a visionary artist and a champion for both the festival and the documentary community at large. In founding Full Frame, Buirski established a singular celebration for filmmakers and audiences in Durham, North Carolina. The immeasurable impact of her extraordinary talent and steadfast determination will never be forgotten.

Save the date! Full Frame returns to downtown Durham April 4–7, 2024

After a one-year pause, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will return to Durham in 2024. The four-day festival, which routinely draws huge crowds for films and panel discussions, will be presented again at the Carolina Theatre and Durham Convention Center April 4-7. “Full Frame is an extraordinary cultural event for Duke, Durham and the broader documentary film community,” said Ed Balleisen, Duke’s vice provost for interdisciplinary studies. “Rest assured: Full Frame will return in…

A Message from CDS on the 2023 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) will pause its annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival for ​the 2023 season as the organization continues a strategic planning process around the Center’s next chapter led by Executive Director Opeyemi Olukemi with unanimous support from the CDS Board of Directors. Full Frame was held entirely online for the 2020–22 festivals due to COVID-19. Plans are to return to an in-person event in 2024. “We recognize that this may…

Five Full Frame Alums Receive IDA Award Nominations!

The International Documentary Association (IDA) has announced this year’s nominees for the organization’s 38th annual awards. “We are thrilled to celebrate the achievements of such a stellar group of films and programs from around the world.  We look forward to celebrating these outstanding works, which provide inspiration not just for the documentary field but also real-world change on a global scale. Kudos to IDA staff and the screening committee and jury members from around the…