Category Archives: Overviews

Festival:
The 77th Venice International Film Festival

Dates:
September 2-12

About:
The world’s oldest festival is also the first major Fall event to take place in theatres in the COVID-19 era, albeit with a somewhat truncated lineup of approximately 60 new features – 15 of those nonfiction. In addition, the autonomous parallel sidebars offer eight documentaries among their approximately 30 selections. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 22nd Encounters: South African International Documentary Festival

Dates:
August 20-30 (hybrid)

About:
Just under 40 nonfiction features screen online, as well as in select Cape Town and Johanneburg venues, for Africa’s largest documentary event. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 9th BlackStar Film Festival

Dates:
August 20-26 (online)

About:
Focused on work by people of the African diaspora and other communities of color, this Philadelphia event presents just over 20 features in this online edition, the vast majority nonfiction. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 19th DokuFest

Dates:
August 7-25 (online)

About:
More than 60 new and recent features make up the online edition of this noted event based in Prizren, Kosovo. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 18th AFI Docs

Dates:
June 17-21 (online)

About:
Available online throughout the US, this Washington DC event showcases nearly 30 new feature and episodic documentaries. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 31st Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Dates:
June 11-20 (online)

About:
The NYC edition of this respected event presents eleven documentary features, available online throughout the US.

Among the lineup’s offerings are the world premiere of Erika Cohn’s BELLY OF THE BEAST, an exposé of the illegal practice of involuntary sterilizations in California’s women’s prisons. Other selections include Christina Antonakos-Wallace’s FROM HERE, which contemplates belonging and identity through the stories of four immigrants in Berlin and NYC; Sanjay Rawal’s GATHER, about indigenous efforts to reclaim their food sovereignty; Mira Jargil’s REUNITED, about a Syrian family separated across three countries; Juliana Fanjul’s RADIO SILENCE, about a crusading Mexican radio journalist who risks her life to fight against fake news and government corruption; and Ursula Liang’s DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL, about the aftermath of the killing of a black man by a Chinese American police officer.

Festival:
The 67th Sydney Film Festival

Dates:
June 10-21 (online)

About:
This long-running Australian event holds an online edition this year, focused on documentaries, female filmmakers from Europe, and shorts, offering Aussie audiences 12 nonfiction features among its 19 feature presentations. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 27th Hot Docs

Dates:
May 28-June 6 (some selections until June 24) (online)

About:
North America’s largest documentary event goes online this year, presenting nearly 100 new features to Ontario audiences, including the world premieres noted below. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 51st Cinéma du Réel

Dates:
April 17-May 2 (online)

About:
This well-respected Swiss nonfiction event remarkably has been able to respond quickly to the COVID-19 crisis, transitioning to a robust online edition, most of which is available worldwide for free. Continue reading →

Festival:
The 42nd Cinéma du Réel

Dates:
March 13-22

About:
This Paris event presents nearly 50 new and recent documentary features. Continue reading →