Category Archives: Overviews

Festival:
The 16th annual DOXA

Dates:
May 4-14

About:
Approximately 50 new and retrospective features screen at this Vancouver documentary festival. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 24th annual Hot Docs

Dates:
April 27-May 7

About:
The Toronto event, the largest nonfiction fest in North America, offers nearly 150 new feature docs. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 22nd annual It’s All True

Dates:
April 20-30 (Rio de Janeiro), April 21-30 (Sao Paulo)

About:
The Brazilian documentary showcase includes more than 30 new and recent docs, including the following: Continue reading →

Festival:
The 4th annual Art of the Real

Dates:
April 20-May 2

About:
The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s showcase of nonfiction and hybrid presents just over 20 new works: Continue reading →

Festival:
The 16th annual Tribeca Film Festival

Dates:
April 19-30

About:
Slimmed down slightly since last year’s edition, the NYC event includes just over 50 recent and new documentary features: Continue reading →

Festival:
The 20th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

Dates:
April 6-9

About:
Approximately 50 recent and new documentary features, plus retrospective programming, make up the lineup of this Durham NC doc fest: Continue reading →

Festival:
The 60th annual San Francisco International Film Festival

Dates:
April 5-19

About:
Approximately 150 films, including more than 30 documentaries: Continue reading →

Festival:
The 41st annual Cleveland International Film Festival

Dates:
March 29-April 9

About:
Approximately 200 features, including more than 80 documentaries:

This year the fest refocuses its long running nonfiction prize, the Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Competition, specifically on portraiture, featuring such projects as Kevin Burke’s exploration of film promotion, 24X36: A MOVIE ABOUT MOVIE POSTERS; and Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen’s look at an Italian village that holds an annual play about themselves, SPETTACOLO.

Social justice docs take the spotlight in the George Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition, including Andrew Michael Ellis’ FIGHT HATE WITH LOVE, about a former prisoner turned criminal justice reform activist; Apo W Bazidi’s RESISTANCE IS LIFE (pictured), a Kurdish youth’s perspective on refugee life; and Brad Riley’s BE RELENTLESS, following a human sex trafficking victims attempts to raise awareness.

A third nonfiction-focused competition explores Global Health, through such films as: John Gomez’s WHEN I STUTTER, a corrective to misperceptions around stuttering; Robin Berghaus’ STUMPED, which follows a man facing unexpected, catastrophic health problems through humor; Melissa Dowler’s LETTING GO OF ADELE (pictured), about a cardiac service dog; and Brian Storm’s THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, charting a road trip between twin brothers, one of whom lives with cerebral palsy.

Documentaries figures in several remaining sections, including the Local Heroes Competition which celebrates Ohio through work like: Catherine Gund’s DISPATCHES FROM CLEVELAND, which explores pressing issues facing the city; Geoff Yaw’s A MORE CIVIL WAR (pictured), a look at the city during the 2016 Republican National Convention; Danielle Miller and Julia Thorndike’s BURN THE SHIPS, on an Akron women’s pro softball team; and Tony Shaff’s 44 PAGES, a behind-the-scenes look at Highlights magazine.

The 39th edition of Cinéma du Réel, the documentary festival of Paris, begins tomorrow, Friday, March 24 and runs through Sunday, April 2. The event will showcase approximately 50 new and recent documentary features, along with shorts, panels, and retrospectives. Feature highlights follow: Continue reading →