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: When the young founder of a collapsing cryptocurrency exchange dies unexpectedly, irate investors suspect there’s more to his death than meets the eye.
About: In this personal essay about motherhood, grieving, and transgender masculinity, the unexplained death of his niece leads the director back to his family.
Select Festivals: Hot Docs, AFI Fest, Seattle, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Woodstock
About: ACLU lawyer Jeffery Robinson’s shattering talk on the history of US anti-Black racism is interwoven with archival footage, interviews, and Robinson’s story, exploring the legacy of white supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it.
Select Festivals: DOC NYC, Big Sky, Freep, Sebastopol Doc, Portland, Thin Line, Montreal Black
About: Despite serving life without parole, a man works to improve others’ lives.
The doc previously screened at DOC NYC, for which our program notes read: Kimonti Carter is serving life without parole in a Washington state prison based on a harsh 1990s three-strikes law, but rather than accept this condemnation, he has worked to transform inmates’ lives through education. His experience brilliantly elucidates the dehumanization and trauma that accompany incarceration, but also demonstrates the possibility of redemption even among those society has called irredeemable. Gilda Sheppard’s profound and revealing film represents a 12-year journey to investigate the circumstances and inequities that have landed a whole generation of African-American youth in prison.
World Premiere: Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2020 (unscreened)
Select Festivals: New York, Sheffield, Brussels, Toronto, Melbourne
About: This exploration of police violence in contemporary France examines the ways in which a government justifies brutal acts against its own citizens, enacting totalitarian methods to keep the populace under its control.