Category Archives: Film Festivals

DESCENDANT
Clotilda, the last known ship carrying enslaved Africans to the United States, arrived in Alabama 40 years after African slave trading became a capital offense. It was promptly burned, and its existence denied. After a century shrouded in secrecy and speculation, descendants of the Clotilda’s survivors are reclaiming their story.

Director:
Margaret Brown

Producers:
Essie Chambers, Kyle Martin, Margaret Brown

Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition

More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details by clicking on the film title above.

AFTERSHOCK
Following the preventable deaths of their partners due to childbirth complications, two bereaved fathers galvanize activists, birth-workers, and physicians to reckon with one of the most pressing American crises of our time – the US maternal health crisis.

Directors/Producers:
Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee

Festival Section:
US Documentary Competition

More Info:
Check out the Sundance website for more details by clicking on the film title above.

The 38th Sundance Film Festival will run January 20-30 — in-person in Utah, online, and via seven satellite screens across the US — with an announced lineup of 82 features, 6 episodics, 15 New Frontier projects, 59 new short films, and 40 retrospective short films.

As a Senior Programmer for the Festival, I’m excited for audiences to experience this fantastic slate in a few short weeks. For the purposes of this space, I especially don’t want any of the feature docs and long-form episodic nonfiction to be overlooked. So, starting this coming Monday, I’ll be posting simple, individual pointers to each of these projects in the lead up to the festival, in a feature I’m calling Sundance Don’t Miss Docs.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short Subject shortlists today. In addition, a documentary feature is included on the International Feature Film shortlist. Congratulations to all the filmmakers – especially the Sundance, DOC NYC, and Nantucket Film Festival alumni represented.

The official lists are below. The final nominees will be announced on February 8.

Documentary Feature:

Documentary Short Subject:
Águilas
Audible
A Broken House
Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis
Coded: The Hidden Love of JC Leyendecker
Day of Rage
The Facility
Lead Me Home
Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
The Queen of Basketball
Sophie & the Baron
Takeover
Terror Contagion
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies

International Feature Film:
FLEE was also shortlisted in this category.