Festival:
The 13th DOC NYC
Dates:
November 9-27
About:
More than 100 new and recent features are presented by America’s largest documentary festival.
Among the offerings:
Special Events:
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: WITHOUT A NET
Director: Dawn Porter
The world’s most famous circus prepares to remount its flagship show more than a year after an abrupt global shut-down, and performers and crew members face uncertainty as they prepare to return to the stage.
THE CONSPIRACY
Director: Maxim Pozdorovkin
A bold, visually striking animated documentary that traces the origins of the insidious conspiracy theory that Jews have a plot to control the world, and charts how such antisemitic ideas persist today.
GUMBO COALITION
Director: Barbara Kopple
Two visionary leaders of the AfricanAmerican and Latinx American communities fight for racial justice in the Trump – and COVID – era.
THE VOLCANO: RESCUE FROM WHAKAARI
Director: Rory Kennedy
A riveting retelling of the survivors and rescuers from the 2019 New Zealand White Island volcano disaster.
US Competition:
THE 50
Director: Brenton Gieser
Fifty men embark on a journey of healing and radical change as the California prison system’s first-ever inmate substance abuse counselors.
1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED A CULTURE
Director: Sharon “Rocky” Roggio
Seeking the origins of homophobia in the Christian church, two LGBTQIA+ activists make a ground-breaking discovery: an erroneous translation of the word “homosexual” in the Bible.
COLDWATER KITCHEN
Directors: Brian Kaufman, Mark Kurlyandchik
In Coldwater, Michigan’s Lakeland Correctional Facility, Chef Jimmy Lee Hill leads a highly regarded program where prisoners find a renewed sense of purpose through the culinary arts.
DEAR THIRTEEN
Director: Alexis Neophytides
In their own words, this tender, illuminating look into the lives of nine 13-year-olds from around the world reveals who they really are.
DUSTY & STONES
Director: Jesse Rudoy
A road trip through the American South, a story of the trials and triumphs of a duo of touring country music singers from the unlikeliest of places—Swaziland.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF FENTANYL
Director: Colin Askey
With fentanyl overdose deaths at an all-time high in Vancouver, Canada, the Overdose Prevention Society creates a safe injection site to save lives and support their community.
International Competition:
BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN
Director: Karen Cho
After the pandemic and harmful city redevelopment plans, Chinatowns in New York, Montreal, and Vancouver resist by innovating new ways to keep their culture and communities thriving.
DESTINY
Director: Yaser Talebi
After the death of her mother, 18-year-old Sahar takes care of her mentally disabled father in an isolated village in Iran while dreaming of university, volleyball, and Instagram.
FATI’S CHOICE
Director: Fatimah Dadzie
After surviving a perilous migration to Europe, a Ghanaian mother returns to her village to reunite with her children, meeting disdain from her family and neighbors.
THE HERMIT OF TREIG
Director: Lizzie MackEnzie
A spirited elderly hermit and a young filmmaker forge a 10-year friendship, as the hermit navigates his declining health and questions his ability to continue living in the wilderness.
LÁZARO AND THE SHARK: CUBA UNDER THE SURFACE
Director: William Sobourin O’Reilly
Among rival conga bands in Santiago de Cuba, tensions build and tempers flare as marketplace realities and political frustrations come to bear on one of the world’s poorest Carnivals.
Metropolis Competition:
IN SEARCH OF BENGALI HARLEM
Directors: Vivek Bald, Alaudin Ullah
An uncovering of mid-20th century Harlem history that provokes a rethinking of our notions of immigration and who is really an American.
PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY
Director: Jennifer Takaki
Beloved Chinese American photojournalist Corky Lee brought art and politics together through his decades documenting the Asian experience in America.
QUEEN OF THE DEUCE
Director: Valerie Kontakos
Through her ownership of 24-hour porn theaters in 1970s NYC, Greek immigrant and unconventional matriarch Chelly Wilson rose to riches as the “Queen of the Deuce.”
Kaleidoscope Competition:
I’M PEOPLE, I AM NOBODY
Director: Svetislav Dragomirović
An ex-porn performer arrested for public exposure recalls the panicked overreaction that led to his misfortune as he awaits the outcome of a Kafkaesque trial process in a Maltese prison.
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY
Director: Victoria Linares
A filmmaker goes on a journey of self-discovery as she unearths the pioneering cinematic work of a kindred ancestor in 1950s Dominican Republic.
OUR MOVIE (NUESTRA PELÍCULA)
Director: Diana Bustamante
Constructed from archival Colombian news footage of the ’80s and ’90s, this visceral personal essay explores the violent history that imprinted itself on the filmmaker in her formative years.
WHITE NIGHT
Directors: Tania Ximena Ruiz, Yóllotl Alvarado
Thirty-eight years after a Zoque village in Chiapas was destroyed by a volcano eruption, the community excavates to unearth the ancient town.
Other Sections:
MY SISTER LIV
Director: Alan Hicks
A sobering look into the shocking reality of the current teen mental health crisis through the story of two extraordinary sisters.
MY SO-CALLED HIGH SCHOOL RANK
Directors: Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg
Chronicles the popularity of a high school musical, called Ranked, which captures the increasingly pressurized college admissions process.
SANTA CAMP
Director: Nick Sweeney
With Christmas looming, three unconventional new recruits join the jolly white, bearded, ranks of Santa Camp and shake up the image of Kris Kringle.
THE ʼVOUS
Directors: Jack Porter Lofton, Jeff Dailey
After a milestone 70th anniversary, The Rendezvous, Memphis’ world-famous barbecue institution, grapples with the transition of the legendary family restaurant to a third generation.
WISDOM GONE WILD
Director: Rea Tajiri
A filmmaker documents her mother’s long struggle with dementia to create an homage and a record that belongs to the collective archives of Asian American lives.
THE ART OF REBELLION
Director: Libby Spears
An artist and single mother refuses to give into societal limitations and a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis that threatens to steal her livelihood.
KINGDOM OF DREAMS
Directors: Camilla Hall, Nick Green
Trailblazers, iconoclasts, and industry titans usher in a golden era of haute couture in a high-stakes, three-decade chronicle of the rise of modern fashion.
SPLICE HERE: A PROJECTED ODYSSEY
Director: Rob Murphy
A jubilant love letter to film projection and cinema on film, and one projectionist’s efforts to ensure new generations experience the magic of both.
THE WIND BLOWS THE BORDER
Director: Laura Faerman, Marina Weis
On the border between Brazil and Paraguay, an indigenous activist and teacher fights alongside her community to reclaim their ancestral land against Bolsonaro-era agribusiness proponents.
A WITCH STORY
Director: Yolanda Pividal
The descendant of a woman hanged for witchcraft in Salem more than 300 years ago traces the lineage of witch hunts, real and metaphoric, to present-day patriarchal power-grabs.
JEANETTE LEE VS
Director: Ursula Liang
Asian American trailblazer Jeanette Lee, aka Black Widow, ruled pool halls in the 1990s and early 2000s; now she reflects on her historic legacy in the face of a recent cancer diagnosis.
SOUTH BEACH SHARK CLUB: LEGENDS AND LORE OF THE SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK HUNTERS
Director: Robert Requejo Ramos
In 1970s Miami, a group of reckless teenage outcasts take up what would be a lifelong sporting passion: catching sharks.
SUPER EAGLES ’96
Director: Yemi Bamiro
The Super Eagles, Nigeria’s men’s national soccer team, capture the hearts of the world with a groundbreaking run as the first African nation to win gold during the 1996 Olympic games.
JANUARY 6TH
Directors: Jules Naudet, Gedeon Naudet
An extraordinarily detailed account of the Capitol attack, giving a minute-by-minute look into the events of January 6th.
PATH OF THE PANTHER
Director: Eric Bendick
A wildlife photographer charts the habitat of the elusive, endangered Florida panther to make a case against public indifference to government-sanctioned environmental destruction.
THE QUIET EPIDEMIC
Directors: Lindsay Keys, Winslow Crane-Murdoch
In 1975, the CDC and insurance companies set guidelines still used today to deny the existence of chronic Lyme disease; now a family fights for their daughter’s testing and treatment of the disease.
BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE: CARRY IT ON
Director: Madison Thomas
Fierce and fearless, folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie—educator, Oscar winner, activist, and philanthropist—has always been a woman ahead of her time.
JERRY BROWN: THE DISRUPTER
Director: Marina Zenovich
A look at the life and career of the two-time, four-term Governor of California, and his record of forward-thinking policymaking.
IMMEDIATE FAMILY
Director: Denny Tedesco
Five studio musicians who worked on many of the most iconic recordings from the 1970s to today, chart their careers behind-the-scenes in creating the music of an era.
LEE FIELDS: FAITHFUL MAN
Directors: Jessamyn Ansary, Joyce Mishaan
Former member of Kool & the Gang and sampled by A$ap Rocky, blues and soul singer Lee Fields’ career has spanned 50 years of ups and downs before reaching its current all-time high.
LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILL
Directors: Andy Brown, Brian Lindstrom
Part Janis Joplin and part Leonard Cohen, Judee Sill was a 1970s original far ahead of her time; her legacy is revived in this documentary, with contemporary artists interpreting her jaw-dropping artistry.
what (not) to doc 