Durham NC’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival opens its 17th edition this Thursday, April 3, and runs through Sunday, April 6, presenting nearly a hundred films and special events. Among the special programs this year are a tribute to Steve James, including screenings of six of his past films and a conversation about the 20th anniversary of HOOP DREAMS; and “Approaches to Character,” a subject-focused program curated by filmmaker Lucy Walker. Beyond this retrospective programming, the festival’s line-up includes several strong films from Sundance, SXSW, and IDFA, as well as several titles making significant premieres in Durham, spotlighted below:
Eight feature docs enjoy their world premiere at Full Frame, including: Doug Block’s meditation on marriage, 112 WEDDINGS, which opens the fest; Lucia Small and Ed Pincus’ personal confrontation with mortality and grief, ONE CUT, ONE LIFE; Joanna Lipper’s chronicle of Nigeria’s most influential political families, THE SUPREME PRICE; Abby Ginzberg’s portrait of a celebrated anti-Apartheid leader, SOFT VENGEANCE: ALBIE SACHS AND THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA; Stephanie Wang-Breal’s exploration of the bureaucracy of child protective services, TOUGH LOVE; Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick’s look at union organizing by NYC restaurant workers, THE HAND THAT FEEDS; Kenneth Price’s profile of a music producer turned Harvard scholar, THE HIP-HOP FELLOW, and Mike Attie and Meghan O’Hara’s exploration of Vietnam War re-enactors, IN COUNTRY.
Making its US premiere is Heilika Pikkov’s FLOWERS FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, following an octogenarian Russian Orthodox nun. Among the North American premieres are: Chai-Min Ahn’s WHERE IS MY SON? (pictured), in which a son returns to care for his elderly mother; Paul-Anders Simma’s OLGA – TO MY FRIENDS, about the sole woman on a Lapland reindeer brigade; Corinne van Egeraat and Petr Lom’s ANA ANA, in which four Egyptian women document their lives in Cairo; and Yotam Feldman’s THE LAB, an exploration of Israeli’s lucrative defense industry.
