Basil Tsiokos is a Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, focusing on nonfiction features. He was most recently with DOC NYC for nearly a decade, where he served as Director of Programming since 2014, and with the Nantucket Film Festival as its Film Program Director. Prior to those positions, Basil was the longtime Artistic and Executive Director of NewFest. He has been affiliated with Sundance since 2005 as a Programming Associate. Basil serves on the feature nominating committees for the International Documentary Association Awards and Cinema Eye Honors. He has written about documentaries daily since 2010 on what (not) to doc. Basil holds a Masters degree from New York University and two undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.
About: This fall cinephile mainstay returns to an all in-person event this year, presenting more than 50 new and recent features, among them just 13 works of nonfiction, as noted below.
Director: Devin Amar, Matt Mitchener, Charles Todd
World Premiere: American Masters PBS broadcast (July 2021)
About: An exploration of the life and career of the legendary blues guitarist, a pioneer of Chicago’s West Side sound and major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.
Select Festivals: DOC NYC, Sheffield, San Francisco, Kerala, Nashville, Rhode Island, Heartland, Hot Springs Doc, Philadelphia Asian American, St Louis, WatchDocs, San Diego Asian American, Cinema Verite, Goteborg, DocPoint Talinn, Ann Arbor
About: A meditation on incomplete films made in Afghanistan during periods of instability between 1978-1992.
Select Festivals: Rotterdam, Telluride, Melbourne, New Horizonz
About: A Soviet film from 1969 is found in an Icelandic fisherman’s net, and the filmography of its leading actor offers a portal into a history that has endured on celluloid.
Select Festivals: DOC NYC, San Francisco Jewish, Pan African, Cleveland
About: A portrait of the outspoken US Congresswoman.
The film screened as part of DOC NYC, for which our program notes read: An intimate, inspiring, and timely portrait of Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a true pioneer of American civil rights who was the lone voice in opposition to the authorization of military force after the September 11th attacks. A unique selection of political commentators, activists, politicians, and family members add depth to the story of the highest-ranking Black woman in the US Congress. Uncompromising and conscientious to the core, she is its most steadfast voice for peace, and for economic and racial justice.