SFFILM Reveals 11th Doc Stories Film Festival Lineup

SFFILM unveiled the lineup of ten features and 12 short films for the 11th Doc Stories film festival taking place at the Vogue Theatre in San Francisco, November 6–9, 2025.

The festival opens with Cover-Up from filmmakers Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, a documentary portrait of Seymour Hersh and his legendary journalism.

SFFILM wraps up this year’s Doc Stories with A Life Illuminated, a profile of pioneering marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder directed by Bay Area filmmaker Tasha Van Zandt.

“I’m very proud of the 2025 Doc Stories program because this group of films reflects the world as it is, while daring to imagine what it could be,” said Jessie Fairbanks, SFFILM’s Director of Programming. “This festival offers our community a moment to gather and celebrate our shared humanity. Beyond the connectivity of Doc Stories as an event, many of these essential titles are still seeking distribution, making the festival one of the few spaces for audiences to see films of the moment.”

On the importance and value of people watching films together, SFFILM’s Executive Director Anne Lai said, “Audiences are the final puzzle piece in filmmaking, and bringing people together for a first look during Doc Stories is such a rewarding and powerful thing. For me, the gift of a new film is seeing the world through the artist’s eye—to see their observations, to witness a truth, and to feel my curiosity being nurtured. It’s enriching to be told a good story and Doc Stories is filled with them.”

The program in alphabetical order by title is:

Ask E. Jean
Director: Ivy Meeropol (USA 2025, 91 min)
Producers: Laura Bickford, Annabelle Dunne, Ivy Meeropol
In this scintillating portrait, writer, advice columnist, and TV personality E. Jean Carroll, who sued Donald Trump for rape and defamation twice, presents her story unflinchingly and with brio. GUEST EXPECTED: Director Ivy Meeropol

The Bend in the River + Divers
Director: Robb Moss (USA 2025, 82 min)
Producers: Lisa Remington, Kristin Feeley
Robb Moss continues his longitudinal personal filmmaking with his exquisitely crafted final film in the River trilogy. GUESTS EXPECTED: Director Robb Moss

This film will be preceded by the short film Divers, directed by Geordie Wood (USA, 7 min).
This mesmerizing presentation of high divers is an ode to the human body in motion.

Cover-Up—OPENING NIGHT
Directors: Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus (USA 2025, 117 min)
Producers: Yoni Golijov, Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, Olivia Streisand
From acclaimed filmmakers Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, this vital portrait of Seymour Hersh and his legendary journalism, dedication to free speech, and determination to hold institutions accountable, is essential viewing. GUESTS EXPECTED: Directors Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, journalist Seymour ‘Sy’ Hersh

The Eyes of Ghana + In My Day
Directors: Ben Proudfoot (USA 2025, 90 min)
Producers: Nana Adwoa Frimpong, Ben Proudfoot, Moses Bwayo, Anita Afonu, Brandon Somerhalder, Ethan Lewis, Vinnie Malhotra
Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot returns with his debut feature film showcasing the enchanting story of Ghanaian cinematographer Chris Hesse and his mission to preserve the legacy of Africa’s lost cinematic history. GUESTS EXPECTED: Director Ben Proudfoot

This film will be preceded by the short film In My Day, directed by Iga Lis (Poland, 12 min).
Captured in the quotidian poetry of the phone call, conversations between grandmothers and granddaughters shed light on intergenerational inheritance and evolution.

A Life Illuminated—CLOSING NIGHT
Director: Tasha Van Zandt (USA 2025, 89 min)
Producers: Tasha Van Zandt, Sebastian Zeck, Jessica Harrop, Kathryn Everett
This luminous documentary by Tasha Van Zandt offers a rare glimpse into the ocean’s glowing ecosystems while taking audiences on a thrilling deep-sea exploration. GUESTS EXPECTED: Director Tasha Van Zandt, Producer Sebastian Zeck, and marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder

My Mom Jayne—FREE COMMUNITY SCREENING
Director: Mariska Hargitay (USA 2025, 106 min)
Producers: Mariska Hargitay, Trish Adlesic
Mariska Hargitay’s moving and revelatory documentary about her mother, Jayne Mansfield, will be offered as a community screening, free and open to the public. GUESTS EXPECTED: Director Mariska Hargitay, Producer Trish Adlesic

Newport & The Great Folk Dream
Director: Robert Gordon (USA 2025, 99 min)
Producers: Joe Lauro, Robert Gordon, Laura Jean Hocking
Robert Gordon’s comprehensive archival assemblage of the seminal Newport Folk Festival from 1963–66 covers the history of the festival, how race and culture were brought to bear, and finally and most importantly, the glorious music. GUESTS EXPECTED: Director Robert Gordon

Powwow People
Director: Sky Hopinka (USA 2025, 88 min)
Producers: Adam Piron, John Cardellino
Sky Hopinka interrogates the act of viewing and the construct of filmmaking with a stirring new vérité documentary about a contemporary powwow gathering. GUESTS EXPECTED: Director Sky Hopinka, Producer Adam Piron

Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk
Director: Sepideh Farsi (France/Palestine/Iran 2025, 112 min)
Producers: Javad Djavahery, Annie Ohayon-Dekel
A soulful assemblage of video call conversations between director Sepideh Farsi and Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona becomes a deeply poetic manifestation of Fatma’s wisdom, exuberance, and unyielding positivity despite harrowing circumstances. GUESTS EXPECTED: Director Sepideh Farsi

Shorts Block: New York Times Op-Docs
Five shorts from New York Times’s Op-Docs covering artificial intelligence, disability, climate change, and more invite you to interrogate expanding digital frontiers and see from new perspectives.

Am I the Skinniest Person You’ve Seen?
Director: Eisha Marjara (Canada, 24 min)
In this immigrant coming-of-age story, Eisha Marjara recounts her lively upbringing in a Punjabi-Canadian family, which takes a dangerous turn when she embarks on a strict diet with her sister, Seema.

Crying Glacier
Director: Lutz Stautner (Switzerland, 10 min)
The ever-growing urgency of the climate crisis yields a slow, sensory cinematic experience as Swiss artist Ludwig Berger memorializes the Morteratsch Glacier through recording the sound of it melting.

Death of a Fantastic Machine
Directors: Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson (Sweden, 17 min)
A dynamic and probing portrait of the camera, raising questions about its future in media and skepticism of the image—and how to tell fact from fiction.

Their Eyes
Director: Nicolas Gourault (France, 22 min)
Where do self-driving cars learn how to drive? This film exposes the harsh contrast between the lives of people who enjoy cutting-edge technology in Silicon Valley and the laborers in the Global South who teach the machines to see.

View from the Floor
Directors: Megan Griffiths, Mindie Lind (USA, 5 min)
Multi-hyphenate artist and musician Mindie Lind recalls her experience with exploitation in the media industry as a young performer born without legs—and destined for the limelight.

Shorts Block: Spaces of Resistance
This collection of four documentary shorts epitomizes the symbiotic work of journalism and filmmaking from voices including Emmy-winning Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda and veteran CBS reporter Steve Hartman.

All the Empty Rooms
Joshua Seftel (USA 2025, 33 min)
Journalist Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp visit the empty bedrooms of victims of school shootings, offering rich portraits of spaces, families, and love.

Also Resisters
Christina D. Bartson (USA/UK 2025, 14 min)
Lyrical and prophetic, this archival film draws on the writing of American pacifist David E. McReynolds to trace the development of American militarism and antiwar resistance from the late 20th century to the present.

Free Fish
Bisan Owda (Palestine/Portugal 2025, 23 min)
Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda documents the daily life of fishermen on the besieged shores of the Gaza Strip, home to 4,500 fishermen.

Hoops, Hopes & Dreams
Glenn Kaino (USA 2025, 20 min)
The Black civil rights struggle from Martin Luther King Jr. to Barack Obama’s historic presidency amassed community and power from an unlikely common denominator between the people and political leaders: basketball.

The Tale of Silyan + S the Wolf
Director: Tamara Kotevska (North Macedonia 2025, 81 min)
Producers: Tamara Kotevska, Jean Dakar, Anna Hashmi, Jordanco Petkovski
Director Tamara Kotevska, co-director of the Oscar-nominated Honeyland (Festival 2019), seamlessly merges the allegorical and the quotidian in this poetic story of family, land, and storks. GUESTS EXPECTED: Director Tamara Kotevska

This film will be preceded by the short film S the Wolf, directed by Sameh Alaa (France/Egypt, YEAR 10 min).