Virtual Festival

We are thrilled to announce the virtual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival! Our online edition of this year’s event is made possible through a new partnership with Shift 72, a premiere streaming platform for film festivals.

The virtual festival launches on June 10 at 10 a.m. (EST) and run through June 14 at 11:59 p.m. (EST). 30 titles from our exceptional 2020 festival line-up, listed below, will be made available to stream during the 5-day online event.

In addition, we have provided an FAQ to help our audience navigate the new virtual festivities.

Have more questions? Email us at info@fullframefest.org.

Films

Please note: Films that will have limited views are noted below the title and filmmaker information.

Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa / U.S. (Directors: Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, Mike Attie; Producers: Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, Mike Attie)
In Philadelphia, counselors at a women’s health fund field calls from women seeking to end their pregnancies but who cannot afford the procedure. This powerful short intercuts this work with archival footage of the passing of the Hyde Amendment, which successfully limited abortion access for the most financially vulnerable women.

All Cats Are Grey in the Dark / Switzerland (Director: Lasse Linder; Producer: Edith Flückiger) LIMITED VIEWS
Christian and his two cats, Katjuscha and Marmelade, are inseparable. In an attempt to ensure future companionship, Christian breeds Marmelade with a spry tomcat. Tender moments between owner and pet compose this short and lighthearted examination of aging and connection. 

Apart / U.S. (Director: Jennifer Redfearn; Producers: Tim Metzger, Jennifer Redfearn) LIMITED VIEWS
In the Midwest, against the backdrop of the opioid epidemic and rising incarceration rates, three women navigate the challenges of mothering their children from prison. With poignant sensitivity, this film follows them as they prepare to reunite with their families and rebuild relationships after years of separation.  World Premiere 

As Long As You Still Have Arms / Germany (Director: Luisa Bäde; Producer: Luisa Bäde)
From a single stage and with a collection of intricately designed puppets, Frank Karbstein delivers his ultimate performance of the activist work that led him to be imprisoned in the German Democratic Republic during the 1980s. Using memory and theater to explore the lingering question of who among his pacifist group betrayed him, Frank searches for answers through art.  North American Premiere

Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business / U.S. (Director: Christine Turner; Producer: Erin Wright)
The inimitable 93-year-old artist Betye Saar—known for such electrifying and boundary-pushing pieces as The Liberation of Aunt Jemima—assembles found objects into profound sculptural collages. This short but astute character film captures Saar’s influence in the art world and her passionate philosophy surrounding craft.

Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn / U.S. (Director: Ivy Meeropol; Producers: Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn, Ivy Meeropol)
LIMITED VIEWS
Candid interviews with colleagues and acquaintances trace the infamous late lawyer’s life and career, from his early days as a prosecutor in the still-controversial espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg—director Ivy Meeropol’s grandparents—to his work with Senator Joseph McCarthy to his role as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and mentor.

City So Real / U.S. (Director: Steve James; Producers: Zak Piper, Steve James)
This four-hour series captures the city of Chicago at a pivotal moment, as residents grapple with a divisive mayoral election alongside the trial of the policeman who killed Laquan McDonald. Documenting the city from multiple vantages, City So Real highlights the experiences of candidates and citizens alike to consider how issues of race manifest across the political spectrum and in everyday lives.

Dani / U.S. (Director: Lizzy Hogenson; Producers: Jim Wolfe Jr., Kyle McClary)
In this short film, stop-motion animation illustrates a poignant phone call between a mother and her daughter. By turns tender and firm, their exchange portrays a deep connection despite physical distance.

Five Years North / U.S., Guatemala (Directors: Chris Temple, Zach Ingrasci; Producer: Jenna Kelly)
Luis, an undocumented Guatemalan teenager living in New York City, has prioritized work over school to help support his family back home. Judy, a Cuban American ICE agent in the Bronx, is grateful for a stable job but struggles with changing priorities in her longtime line of work. With outstanding access and character development, their stories come together in this nuanced account of immigration in the United States today.  World Premiere

The Giverny Document (Single Channel) / U.S., France (Director: Ja’Tovia Gary; Producers: Paige Wood, Artesia Balthrop, Ja’Tovia Gary)
A striking cinematic essay on the autonomy of the black female body that incorporates footage of the filmmaker in Monet’s garden, cell phone footage of Philando Castile’s murder, and careful sound design to reflect on self-identity and ideas of safety in a white, patriarchal world.

The Harvest / Georgia (Director: Misho Antadze; Producers: Natia Guliashvili, Melissa Demetras)
This vérité meditation on the non-virtual world of bustling cryptocurrency production in Tbilisi, Georgia, examines how machines and nature are intertwined, revealing a drastically changing human landscape.  North American Premiere

I Am Not Alone / Armenia, U.S. (Director: Garin Hovannisian; Producers: Garin Hovannisian, Alec Mouhibian, Eric Esrailian, Tatevik Manoukyan)
In this inspiring account of the 2018 Armenian Revolution, parliament member and activist Nikol Pashinyan embarks on a two-week cross-country walk to protest the possible election of president Serzh Sargsyan as prime minister—a move to avoid term limits and solidify power. Interviews with Pashinyan, other activists, even Sargsyan, revisit the events of this successful activist uprising (underreported in America).

The Infinite Race / U.S., Mexico (Director: Bernardo Ruiz; Producer: Bernardo Ruiz)
LIMITED VIEWS
The annual Ultra Maratón Caballo Blanco, a spectacular fifty-mile race in Mexico’s Copper Canyon, was created as a way for indigenous Rarámuri endurance runners to preserve their culture. With stunning cinematography and access on all sides, The Infinite Race employs personal testimonies to examine the underbelly of an event marred by appropriation and exploitation.  World Premiere

The Last Painting / Germany (Director: Tom Salt; Producer: Inka Achté)
In the English countryside, a painter meticulously replicates a photograph from his American past. Without dialogue, this luminous short film captures his process, juxtaposing his current landscape with the panorama on his canvas.  North American Premiere

La Mami / Spain, Mexico (Director: Laura Herrero Garvin; Producers: Laura Imperiale, Patricia Franquesa, Laia Zanon, Laura Herrero Garvin)
LIMITED VIEWS
In the Barba Azul Cabaret in Mexico City, “La Mami” reigns as the benevolent, calm center of the legendary nightclub. Night after night, she presides over the hard-working female dancers and hostesses in their communal haven—the bathroom—often silent but always watchful. Gradually, a beautiful friendship develops between La Mami and a new, hopeful hire.

Mirador (Lookout) / Uruguay (Director: Antón Terni; Producer: Patricia Olveira)
LIMITED VIEWS
In the lovely and magical world of Pablo, Valeria, and Oscar, time is spent camping, swimming, drinking and talking, and going to concerts along the Uruguayan coast. Their reverie, shared through poetic imagery and Pablo’s insightful musings, is a sensory experience in which the three friends navigate their blindness while foregrounding their connection with each other.  U.S. Premiere

My English Cousin / Switzerland (Director: Karim Sayad; Producer: Joëlle Bertossa)
LIMITED VIEWS
Since 2001 when he left Algeria, the filmmaker’s cousin Fahed has lived in Grimsby, England, and steadily worked two jobs, gotten married, and picked up the distinct accent of the region. In this quietly executed story of a man straddling two worlds—his place of birth and his adopted country—Fahed’s understanding of origin and identity are tested in this affectionate look at how one defines home. 

Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack / U.S. (Director: Deborah Shaffer; Co-Director: Rachel Reichman; Producers: Davina Pardo, Deborah Shaffer, Amy Sultan)
LIMITED VIEWS
This vibrant study of painter and sculptor Audrey Flack tracks a career that trailblazed through an artworld designed for men. The octogenarian artist reflects on her expansive body of work and the struggles she faced balancing her talent and ambition with her role as a wife and mother.

Riafn / Germany (Director: Hannes Lang; Producers: Hannes Lang, Mareike Wegener)
LIMITED VIEWS
The Franklin Humanities Institute Award
Farmers and shepherds in the Alps rely on a distinct communication style, a steady stream of call and response that echoes off the mountainsides. A condensed pictorial symphony, this short offers a glimpse into a blissful form of connection far removed from the reaches of technology.

Saudade / Germany (Director: Denize Galiao; Producer: Michael Kalb)
LIMITED VIEWS
Full Frame President’s Award
In this short, sensitive personal essay, a Brazilian-born filmmaker grapples with the physical, and emotional, distance between her life in Germany and her family back at home. Saudade, a Portuguese word that cannot be translated into any other language, is the thread that ties familial generations together and explores what it means to long for home.  North American Premiere

Softie / Kenya (Director: Sam Soko; Producers: Toni Kamau, Sam Soko)
Affable and spirited Boniface Mwangi (nicknamed “Softie”) is running for political office in Nairobi. Through longitudinal access to the election’s lead-up and Softie’s life at home, this beautifully edited journey engages with what it means for a man of integrity to choose between fighting for country or for family. The film excels in illustrating the joys and pains of an activist’s push for real change.

Spit on the Broom / U.S. (Director: Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich; Producer: Krystal Tingle)
Tracing its roots and operations to the Underground Railroad, the United Order of Tents remains a secret organization of African American women who offer support and aid to their communities and to one another. Featuring members of the Tents as well as actors, this short film creatively reflects on the group’s history of service, which has remained a powerful, clandestine force for nearly two centuries.

Then Comes the Evening / Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina (Director: Maja Novaković; Producers: Maja Novaković, Milan Milosavljević)
Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short
Two aging women on a farm in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina live a simple but idyllic life of hard work and immense care for each other and for the land. With a combination of pristine landscape shots and sparse dialogue, this richly textured short preserves an irreplaceable heritage.

A Thousand Cuts / U.S.  (Director: Ramona S. Diaz; Producers: Ramona S. Diaz, Leah Marino, Julie Goldman, Chris Clements, Carolyn Hepburn)
LIMITED VIEWS
A Thousand Cuts examines current events in the Philippines, where President Duterte’s war on drugs has resulted in the murders of thousands. With staggering access, the film juxtaposes the stories of two political candidates who support Duterte’s administration with the intrepid work of journalist Maria Ressa and her team at the online news site Rappler, who report the facts in a climate where the truth, and those who expose it, are both under fire.

Tutwiler / U.S. (Director: Elaine McMillion Sheldon; Producer: Alysia Santo)
This short film follows inmates at Alabama’s notorious Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women as they prepare to give birth. With the support of a group of doulas, and one another, they navigate pregnancy, labor, and the profound loss of being separated from their newborns.

Two Gods / U.S. (Director: Zeshawn Ali; Producer: Aman Ali)
LIMITED VIEWS
In striking black and white, this exquisitely shot film tells the story of a Muslim casket maker and ritual body washer in Newark, NJ. As he mentors two young men in his community, seeking to set them on paths towards better lives, he works to come to terms with decisions he made in the past. 

Up at Night / Belgium (Director: Nelson Makengo; Producer: Rosa Spaliviero)
Nighttime Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is often illuminated solely by thousands of portable LED lights. With the power often cut out, people have found a way to improvise. In this visually layered experimental short, three screens reflect a city filled with political strife and violence, and people who are primed to resist their circumstances.

Us Kids / U.S. (Director: Kim A. Snyder; Producers: Lori Cheatle, Maria Cuomo Cole, Kim Snyder)
LIMITED VIEWS
Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights
In the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, in 2018, students come together to speak out against gun violence. Grieving but refusing to stay silent, they spark a national movement to hold public officials accountable for their inaction and demand legislative reform.

V.S. (Vreugdevuur Scheveningen) / The Netherlands (Director: Romke Hoogwaerts; Producer: Romke Hoogwaerts)
Two Dutch working-class communities take part in a peculiar competition: which group can build the biggest bonfire? This short film charts the preparations for the astonishing showdown, when monumental piles of wooden pallets are set ablaze.  North American Premiere

Whirlybird / U.S. (Director: Matt Yoka; Producer: Diane Becker)
LIMITED VIEWS
A young journalist couple changes the breaking-news landscape as they take to the Los Angeles skies in their helicopter, capturing some of the city’s most pivotal moments as they unfold on the streets below, including the 1992 riots and the O.J. Simpson pursuit. Featuring extensive footage from their archive, Whirlybird reflects on their extraordinary success and the personal tolls of living with the pressing impulse to get to the story first.

A Word for Human / Denmark (Director: Mauricio González-Aranda; Producers: Mauricio González-Aranda, Signe Byrge Sørensen)
Multiple worlds coexist in the Royal Danish Library in this observational film. Collections spring to life and crisp cinematography renders a lucid portrait of library staff and users, revealing how the library’s day-to-day work moves beyond the pages of a book or the walls of an exhibition to extend conversation and culture to Copenhagen, and beyond.  U.S. Premiere

FAQ

HOW LONG IS THE VIRTUAL FESTIVAL?The festival will launch on Wednesday, June 10^th at 10 a.m. EST and run through Sunday, June 14^th at 11:59 p.m EST.

WHO HAS ACCESS TO THE VIRTUAL FESTIVAL?
Access to the virtual festival is being limited to those who had already received or purchased a pass or ticket package and were committed to attending the 2020 festival. It is not open to the public.

HOW MUCH DOES THE VIRTUAL FESTIVAL COST?
The virtual festival is free for you to watch but it is not free for us to create! Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support Full Frame’s ongoing efforts to showcase established and emerging documentary filmmakers by visiting https://www.gifts.duke.edu/fullframe. 

HOW DO I ACCESS THE VIRTUAL FESTIVAL?
A dedicated login credential will be sent to your email account on file. This login cannot be shared with any other user and is tied to the email it was delivered to. Once you have created an account, you can access the festival by visiting www.fullframefest2020.org.

WHO DO I REACH OUT TO IF I AM HAVING TECHINICAL DIFFICULTIES?
Email info@fullframefest.org.

IS THE ENTIRE 2020 FESTIVAL LINE-UP AVAILABLE?
About 30 titles from the 2020 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival are participating in the virtual festival.

DO I NEED TO RESERVE A TICKET TO WATCH A FILM?
No. All films will be available to stream beginning at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 10^th. Some films will have a limited amount of views available, which may mean they will “sell out” before the end of the virtual festival.

HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO WATCH A FILM?
A film is available to you for 48 hours after you hit the play button.

WHAT COUNTS AS A VIEW?
As soon as you click “play” on a film, a view is counted and your 48-hour viewing window for that specific title begins.

WHY IS A FILM NOW UNAVAILABLE TO WATCH?
Films may have a limited number of views available, similar to the in-person event. Much like a sold-out house, you may encounter films that, due to limited views, will be “sold out” and therefore cannot be accessed.

WHAT FILMS WILL HAVE LIMITED VIEWS AVAILABLE?

All Cats Are Grey in the Dark

Apart

Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn.

The Infinite Race

La Mami

Mirador (Lookout)

My English Cousin

Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack

Riafn

Saudade

A Thousand Cuts

Two Gods

Us Kids

Whirlybird

WHY ARE THERE NO SUBTITLES ON MY FILM?
Look in the lower righthand corner of your video player for the CC (closed caption) symbol. Click on this symbol for English subtitles.

Films that may need CC:

V.S. (Vreugdevuur Scheveningen)

My English Cousin

Mirador (Lookout)

WHAT ARE THE LETTERS AND NUMBERS ON THE LEFT SIDE OF MY FILM SCREEN?
These are watermark numbers that are used for piracy protection for the filmmakers.