SHORTS: MOTHER EARTH
With DOC NYC opening today, my film spotlight ends with a look at the festival’s shorts programming, curated by Opal Hope Bennett:
Shorts Programs
SHORTS: BODY LANGUAGESHORTS: BODY LANGUAGE
On the limits and potential of the human body, exploring dance, tattoos, pro wrestling, meditation, and light sensitivity.
SHORTS: CITY LIGHTSSHORTS: CITY LIGHTS
The ups and downs of city living, featuring artists, improv, hard work, boxing, and table tennis.
SHORTS: DREAM WEAVERSSHORTS: DREAM WEAVERS
About fulfilling dreams and reimagining the world, featuring Cuban cigar factory workers, men seeking wives, a mail-order bride, and more.
SHORTS: THE FUTURE IS FEMININESHORTS: THE FUTURE IS FEMININE
Everyday women and girls who inspire, including a housekeeper turned real estate entrepreneur, children’s rights advocate, unlikely athletes, and a special birthday girl.
SHORTS: JUSTICE FOR ALLSHORTS: JUSTICE FOR ALL
True crime and the criminal justice system, exploring death row, surveillance, juvenile offenders, police corruption, war criminals, and capital punishment.
SHORTS: MOTHER EARTH
Protecting the planet, from Standing Rock and anti-fracking activism, to saving orangutans and sea turtles.
SHORTS: THE NEW NORMALSHORTS: THE NEW NORMAL
America, before and after 11/8/16, exploring the Trump campaign, a divided electorate, immigration anxiety, fake news, and disturbing parallels to past regimes.
SHORTS: RECORDED MEMORYSHORTS: RECORDED MEMORY
The past looms large in these affecting stories about confronting family relationships, reckoning with career decisions, remembering trauma, and more.
SHORTS: STRANGE BUT TRUESHORTS: STRANGE BUT TRUE
Quirky real life stories exploring insomnia, dreams, fetishes, first love, conspiracy theories, and psychic abilities.
SHORTS: SURVIVING THE SYSTEMSHORTS: SURVIVING THE SYSTEM
Finding oneself in and out of the criminal justice system, in stories about a police traffic stop that escalates into violence and a restaurant offering former prisoners a second chance.
Shorts screening before Features
CATSKILLSCATSKILLS
Director: Ben Kitnick
An 86-year-old dancer remembers the heyday of the upstate resort community.
DURANGODURANGO
Director: att Sukkar
Adolescent brothers cope with loss over a summer in bucolic Colorado.
EDITH+EDDIEEDITH+EDDIE
Director: Laura Checkoway
The love story of America’s oldest interracial newlyweds is threatened by a family feud.
A GARBAGE STORYA GARBAGE STORY
Director: Olivier Bernier
Over 30 years in the garbage business, Nick has become a bonafide trash connoisseur.
NOBODY LOVES MENOBODY LOVES ME
Directors: Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman
High in the Andes, a frog with an unusual appearance is threatened with extinction.
OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CITY (A CITY SYMPHONY)OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CITY (A CITY SYMPHONY)
Director: Lucy Walker
A celebration of summertime in NYC.
THE SHIFTTHE SHIFT
Directors: Elivia Shaw and Paloma Martinez
Spend an overnight shift with the emergency dispatchers for the city of San Francisco.
A WONDERFUL PLACEA WONDERFUL PLACE
Director: Sam Ketay
Octogenarian Norma shares stories while giving a tour of her property atop her John Deere tractor.
DOC NYC U – Showcasing some of the city’s top student documentary filmmaking programs
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SHOWCASE
Work from Columbia Journalism School’s Documentary Project profiles deportation fears under Trump, a drug crisis in the Muslim community, and adult illiteracy.
NEW SCHOOL SHOWCASE
Selections from The New School’s Documentary Media Studies program, featuring a tap dancer, migratory birds, New York life, selfies, and a yodeling punk singer destined for greatness.
NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY SHOWCASE
NYFA selections profile a Hiroshima orphan, a Central Park mainstay, a wolf rescuer, a persecuted journalist, and a lost city.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SHOWCASE
NYU’s NewsDoc offerings explore a controversial Tibetan boarding school program in China, and the growing popularity of taxi driving as a career for women in India.
SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS SHOWCASE
SVA’s SocDoc program presents profiles of artists, musicians, designers, a vintage barbershop, broken hearts, and Native American activism.
More Info:
For full descriptions, a list of expected special guests, screening details, and to purchase tickets, click on the individual titles above, and follow links for ticketing, where still available. Or consider purchasing one of DOC NYC’s several Pass options for access to a variety of programming.
what (not) to doc 