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: A hybrid exploring life in Ceaușescu’s surveillance state through the story of a teenager who began drawing protest slogans in public spaces in 1981.
Select Festivals: Asian/Asian American fests in Austin, Dallas, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle, Los Angeles
About: The complex personal histories of four adult adoptees born in South Korea are interwoven with the rise of the country’s global adoption program.
About: Anonymous and exploitative, a network of online chat rooms ran rampant with sex crimes, prompting a tenacious hunt by Korean investigators to take down its operators.
Coming to NYC’s Pure Nonfiction tomorrow, Wednesday, May 18, and to theatres and VOD this Friday, May 20: HOLD YOUR FIRE
Director: Stefan Forbes
World Premiere: Toronto 2021
Select Festivals: DOC NYC, Palm Springs
About: Captives, cops, and robbers in New York City’s longest hostage siege reflect in this suspenseful and enlightening take on an event long misunderstood.
Coming to Paramount+ today, Tuesday, May 17: BLACK GOLD
Director: Gabrielle Schonder, Zach Heinzerling
World Premiere: Theatrical release (May 2022)
About: The story of the cover-up of the century, in which a boss atop the trillion-dollar oil industry discovered a shocking truth 40 years ago, created a black ops conspiracy to hide the evidence, and stopped at nothing to keep the money flowing as the world burned.
About: Returning to its regular May berth after a delayed-then-cancelled 2020 edition and a July 2021 edition, the premier film event offers approximately 80 new features, with docs once again making up less than a quarter of the slate, while its parallel sidebars present just two works of nonfiction out of more than 30 features.
Select Festivals: Trento, Washington DC Environmental
About: In the furthest reaches of the Navajo Nation, at the most remote high school in the continental US, three Indigenous students maneuver through the vagaries of adolescence in hopes of realizing their dreams for the future.