Category Archives: Film Festivals

South Africa’s Encounters, Africa’s largest documentary film festival, kicks off its 17th edition tomorrow, Thursday, June 4, in Cape Town, with screenings continuing there and in Johannesburg through Sunday, June 14. About half of its 30+ feature lineup consists of African films, with the remainder made up of a diverse selection of international festival favorites. The highlights below draw from the former: Continue reading →

The Brooklyn Film Festival returns for its 18th edition tomorrow, Friday, May 29, presenting 109 films before it wraps up on Sunday, June 7, curated by new director of programming Bryce Renninger from a record number of film submissions. Among these are the following ten feature documentaries, which premiered at several notable film events and now come to NYC via BFF: Continue reading →

One of the world’s lengthiest film events, the Seattle International Film Festival kicks off three weeks of programming tonight, Thursday, May 14. More than 72 new and recent documentary features will screen through the wrap up of the festival’s 41st edition on Sunday, June 7. While the bulk of these represents standout selections culled from the recent line-ups of other notable events, from Toronto and Berlin to Sundance and SXSW, Seattle also showcases a number of less familiar and some brand new titles as well. The following primarily focuses on these: Continue reading →

Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13, sees the launch of the 68th edition of Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world – at least for fiction films. Once again, the event’s organizers, as well as those of the concurrent independently-run events, Directors’ Fortnight and International Critics’ Week, barely acknowledge that nonfiction is capable of more than just inside baseball film biographies. Out of 54 features in the Official Selection, there are merely two documentaries, both out of competition. None are in Un Certain Regard or the Special Screenings sections, and instead, as usual, shore up the retrospective and cinephilic Cannes Classics sidebar. Between the independent events, there is only one doc, in Directors’ Fortnight, with none appearing in International Critics’ Week. A rundown of all of these follows: Continue reading →

Returning for its 30th edition, DOK.fest Munich begins tonight, Thursday, May 7, and runs through Sunday, May 17. More than one hundred documentary features will unspool over the course of the event, which runs three days longer than last year’s fest, including the following highlights:

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