Brooklyn Castle  (102 minutes) Directed by Katie Dellamaggiore November 28, 2017 The Carolina Theatre Film starts at 11:00 am, Doors open at 10:30 am Free for Durham Public School teachers and students. Please contact education@fullframefest.org for more information. Brooklyn Castle tells the compelling stories of five members of the chess team at junior high school I.S. 318 in Brooklyn, that has won more national championships than any other in the country. The film follows the challenges…

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Directed by Steve James In the 1980s, Thomas Sung was a busy lawyer in New York City, but he saw a need. There was no bank serving the Chinese immigrant community. Motivated to help, Sung founded Abacus Federal Savings Bank in Manhattan’s Chinatown. In the decades that followed, his daughters joined him at the family company, and the business grew. And then, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis,…

Strong Island Directed by Yance Ford In 1992 filmmaker Yance Ford’s older brother William was fatally shot during an argument with an auto mechanic. When the white assailant goes unindicted for the killing of the young black Long Island schoolteacher, the Ford family, like an appalling number of families in the years that follow, faces life-altering grief and incomprehensible outrage. A formally inventive investigation and memoir, the film unearths histories both personal and procedural and…

JANE Directed by Brett Morgen Drawing from over 100 hours of never-before-seen footage that has been tucked away in the National Geographic archives for over 50 years, award-winning director Brett Morgen tells the story of JANE, a woman whose chimpanzee research challenged the male-dominated scientific consensus of her time and revolutionized our understanding of the natural world. Set to a rich orchestral score from legendary composer Philip Glass, the film offers an unprecedented, intimate portrait…

Join us April 5 – 8, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina for a four-day, morning to midnight doc fest of over 100 films, panel conversations, and southern hospitality. The festival landscape is extremely walkable. In fact, it’s only a 10-minute walk end to end. Here are some tips on how to navigate the festival landscape. Visit the VENUES page for: Location and seating capacity of screening venues Location and hours for the Festival Box Office and Pass Pick…

Kill them as invasive pests destroying coastal wetlands or keep them as part of the region’s culture? In this quirky account, citizens are divided on what to do about nutria, the giant 20-pound rodents with protruding orange teeth who have made southern Louisiana their home for decades.

Working within a broken criminal justice system, a team of rebel heroines work to change the way women arrested for prostitution are prosecuted. With intimate camerawork that lingers on details and brings the Queens criminal courtroom to life, Blowin’ Up celebrates acts of steadfast defiance, even as it reveals the hurdles these women must face.

Six young scientists from around the globe compete in the largest international high school science fair—with their ingenious solutions to environmental problems, they don’t just aim to bring home the top prize, they hope to change the world.

Through brilliant observational filmmaking, This Is Home tells the story of four Syrian families on the path to self-sufficiency, and success, in a resettlement program in Baltimore, Maryland.

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, three friends travel to North Carolina to do voter protection work at the polls. This on-the-ground look at their efforts to help potential voters navigate the new laws and requirements that may prevent their vote reveals shocking accounts of voter suppression in play.