The Brooklyn Film Festival returns for its 18th edition tomorrow, Friday, May 29, presenting 109 films before it wraps up on Sunday, June 7, curated by new director of programming Bryce Renninger from a record number of film submissions. Among these are the following ten feature documentaries, which premiered at several notable film events and now come to NYC via BFF:
From IDFA, the largest documentary film event in the world, come three titles – Ryan Mullins’ CHAMELEON (pictured), about a crimebusting undercover journalist in Ghana; Abhay Kumar’s PLACEBO, an inside look at the perils of a notoriously challenging medical school; and Katharina von Schroeder and Florian Schewe’s WE WERE REBELS, the story of a former South Sudanese child soldier – while North America’s biggest nonfiction fest, Hot Docs, recently premiered Neal Broffman’s HELP US FIND SUNIL TRIPATHI, which tracks the hysterical response to a missing person turned terror suspect.
Both Alex Winter’s exploration of the clandestine Internet, DEEP WEB; and Mo Scarpelli and Alexandria Bombach’s portrait of Afghan photojournalists, FRAME BY FRAME (pictured), had their debuts at SXSW this past March.
Slamdance offerings include Ryan Wise’s I AM THOR (pictured), about the rise and fall of a music performer; and Jeremy Royce’s 20 YEARS OF MADNESS, which finds a Detroit Public Access TV show crew reuniting after two decades.
Finally, two titles stemming from somewhat lower-profile events make their Brooklyn bow: Omar Al Abdul Razzak’s PARADISO, a profile of Madrid’s last remaining adult movie theatre; and Jack Schurman and Robert Schurman’s WILD HOME (pictured), about a Maine couple who rescue and rehabilitate exotic animals.
what (not) to doc 