The 28th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, taking place April 16–19, 2026, in downtown Durham, North Carolina, revealed the 49 films in the New Docs and Invited Programs lineup.
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of nonfiction cinema. Each spring, Full Frame welcomes filmmakers and film lovers from around the world to historic downtown Durham, North Carolina, for a four-day, morning-to-midnight array of nearly 100 films, as well as discussions, panels, and Southern hospitality. Set within a few city blocks, the intimate festival landscape fosters community and conversation among filmmakers, film professionals, and the public.
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival started in 1997 and takes place in Durham, North Carolina
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28th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Unveils New Docs and Invited Programs Lineup
The Oldest Person in the World by Sam Green (courtesy Full Frame)
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Brittany Shyne’s ‘ Seeds’ Wins Grand Jury Award at 2025 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Willie Head Jr. in Seeds by Brittany Shyne | photo by Brittany Shyne. Seeds, Brittany Shyne’s documentary portrait of Centennial farmers in the geographical south has won the Full Frame Grand Jury Award at the 2025 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Using lyrical black-and-white imagery, the film examines the decline of generational Black farmers and the significance of owning land.
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‘Prime Minister’ and ‘SALLY’Headline 27th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Lineup
Jacinda Ardern in Prime Minister by Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Radio New Zealand) The 27th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival taking place April 3-6, 2025, in downtown Durham, North Carolina has unveiled a lineup of forty-nine films from 30 countries
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Jean Tsien to be Feted with Tribute at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Jean Tsien.(Kristina Bumphrey) Award-winning editor and producer Jean Tsien will be honored with the 2025 Full Frame Tribute at the 27th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival taking place April 3-6, in Durham. The festival will also screen a curated selection from her significant body of work.
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Ibrahim Nash’at’s ‘Hollywoodgate’ Wins Grand Jury Award at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2024
Hollywoodgate Hollywoodgate by Egyptian filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at took the Grand Jury Award at the 2024 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. With an interpreter by his side Nash’at documents a Taliban group taking control of a former CIA base nicknamed “Hollywoodgate” just days after the U.S. Army’s controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
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‘Girls State’ and ‘Luther: Never Too Much’ Headline 26th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Lineup
Luther: Never Too Much | (photo by Matthew Rolston) Full Frame Documentary Film Festival announced the lineup of 50 titles including 35 features and 15 short films from 22 countries, for the the 26th edition of the festival taking place April 4–7, 2024 in historic downtown Durham, N.C.
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Filmmakers Jessica Edwards and Gary Hustwit Curate Full Frame Documentary Film Festival’s Thematic Program
Gary Hustwit and Jessica Edwards (Credit: Ebru Yildiz) Titled “In Process: Documenting Creativity,” award-winning filmmakers Jessica Edwards and Gary Hustwit has curated the 2024 Thematic Program of the 26th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival taking place April 4–7, 2024
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2023 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Canceled
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is ‘pausing’ its 2023 edition, as the organization Center for Documentary Studies continues what it describes as a “strategic planning process around the Center’s next chapter.” Plans are to return to an in-person event in 2024.
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25th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Announces Winners. ‘I Didn’t See You There’ Wins Grand Jury Prize
I Didn’t See You There directed by Reid Davenport I Didn’t See You There directed by Reid Davenport won the Grand Jury Award at the 25th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Filmed in and around director Reid Davenport’s apartment in Oakland, California, this documentary is part essay, part travelogue, and part formal observational inquiry, all linked by the director’s subjectivity as a disabled filmmaker.
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MOVE ME – Documentary Made By and About Quadriplegics Premieres at Full Frame Fest
Move Me directed by Kelsey Peterson, Daniel Klein. Photo by Brennan Vance Courtesy of Submerged Film LLC Move Me, a feature film made by and about a quadraplegic, world premieres at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival on April 7th, and also plays at the ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York on April 12th.
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25th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Announces Official Selections
Eat Your Catfish directed by Adam Isenberg, Noah Amir Arjomand, Senem Tüzen Full Frame Documentary Film Festival revealed the 37 official festival selections for the virtual 25th edition of the festival, which takes place April 7–10, 2022. Thirty films will screen as part of NEW DOCS and are eligible for juried cash awards.; and the Invited Program includes seven feature films screening out of competition.
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2021 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Announces New Dates
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival The 24th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will take place June 2–6, 2021, two months later than the previously announced April dates. Organizers cite the pandemic’s impact on industry calendars, audiences, and the documentary filmmaking community for the date change.