The Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and Symposium taking place October 19 to 22, in Washington, DC will feature a lineup of 13 documentary films that go beyond the headlines to capture riveting stories and confront matters that have been hidden from the public, until now.
The film program is intertwined with a daytime symposium with topics this year including panels on “the real take” on fake news, protecting sources and subjects in newly hostile environments, immersive and undercover reporting, and conversations with leading filmmakers.
“We are excited to bring these probing, new investigative documentaries to Washington audiences,” said Diana Jean Schemo, Double Exposure’s founder and co-director. “This season’s slate explores timely issues in our nation’s political life just now, including race in America, the drug trade, Latin America, and the media itself.”
“The films in this year’s lineup are not only great works of journalism, but great works of cinematic storytelling that bring vivid and distinct focus to a range of topics and issues otherwise left unseen,” said Sky Sitney, Double Exposure co-director.
COCAINE PRISON
Washington, DC Premiere
Director Violeta Ayala
Australia / France / Bolivia / United States
From inside Bolivia’s most notorious prison a cocaine worker, a drug mule and his younger sister reveal the country’s complex and inescapable relationship with cocaine.
DEVIL’S FREEDOM (LA LIBERTAD DEL DIABLO)
Director Everardo González
Mexico
In searing testimony from both victims and perpetrators, this documentary paints an indelible portrait of violence in Mexico. Using masks to protect the identities of his subjects, filmmaker Everardo González brings a rare candor to their tales.
DID YOU WONDER WHO FIRED THE GUN?
Washington, DC Premiere
Director Travis Wilkinson
United States
Travis Wilkerson sets out to explore the truth behind a family story: that his white supremacist great grandfather killed a black man in his store in lower Alabama in 1946.
END OF TRUTH
World Premiere
Directors Tricia Todd and Eric Matthies
United States
An emotionally powerful investigation into the political and criminal enterprise of kidnappings as ISIS rose to power in war torn Syria. By intercutting exclusive footage with intimate interviews of negotiators, investigators, fixers and even a used car salesman who are caught up in the confusion, the filmmakers examine the leads that led to lies revealing the terrible consequence of misinformation when lives are at stake.
HALL OF MIRRORS
Washington, DC Premiere
Directors Ena Talakic and Ines Talakic
Italy / United States
Edward Jay Epstein has built a career on taking a deeper look at hidden trends and unquestioned scripts that enter mainstream thinking. In Hall of Mirrors, he delves into Edward Snowden’s historic leak of data on U.S. government surveillance, delighting in the absurdities he discovers.
NO STONE UNTURNED
Centerpiece Film – Washington, DC Premiere
Director Alex Gibney
United States
In 1994, six men were gunned down and five wounded in a pub while watching a World Cup soccer match in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. With a police investigation that was perfunctory at best, the case remained unsolved. In this non-fiction murder mystery, Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney reopens the original case to investigate why no culprit was ever brought to justice.
ONE OF US
Opening Night Film – Washington, DC Premiere
Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
United States
Academy Award nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow the lives of three people who have chosen to leave the world of Hasidic Judaism. A Netflix Original Documentary.
THE OTHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING
U.S. Premiere
Director Mila Turajlic
Serbia
A locked door inside a Belgrade apartment has kept one family separated from their past for over 70 years. As the filmmaker begins an intimate conversation with her mother, the political fault line running through their home reveals a house and a country haunted by history. She fights and secures the release of hidden records that the nationalist government had removed from public archives. The chronicle of a family in Serbia turns into a searing portrait of an activist in times of great turmoil, questioning the responsibility of each generation to the next.
THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR
Washington, DC Premiere
Director Nancy Buirski
United States
Recy Taylor was gang raped by 6 white boys in Alabama in 1944. Unbroken, she spoke up, and with help from Rosa Parks and legions of women, fought for justice. Entwined through family and social ties with local police, Taylor’s rapists were never tried for their crime. The film explores the largely hidden phenomenon of white men raping black women in the south, a crime all but ignored by law enforcement and the press.
TRUSTWHO
World Premiere
Director Lillian Franck
Germany
Is the World Health Organization sick? The filmmaker and mother Lilian Franck reveals clandestine influences by the tobacco, pharmaceutical and nuclear industries on the organization, charged with protecting global health.
VOYEUR
Closing Night Film – Washington, DC Premiere
Directors Myles Kane and Josh Koury
United States
Voyeur follows journalist Gay Talese as he reports on one of the most controversial stories of his career: a Colorado motel owner, Gerald Foos, who spent decades spying on his guests and recording their private moments. A Netflix original documentary.
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