Over 140 documentary films will be showcased as part of 2020 Hot Docs Festival Online, which starts May 28. Among the documentaries featured at the festival include Finding Sally, directed by Tamara Mariam Dawit; and the World Premiere of First We Eat directed by Suzanne Crocker; and Meat the Future directed by Liz Marshall.
CineCina Film Festival rolls out its Online Film Festival this week spotlighting 9 feature films and 2 classic short films, highlighted by award-winners like Congcong Teng’s SEND ME TO THE CLOUDS and Oliver Siu Kuen Chan’s STILL HUMAN. The online festival will be made made available on CathayPlay.com, beginning this week and next, as the New York City-based film festival joins other film organizations presenting films virtually. More titles will be added (and announced later) as the CineCina Film Festival continues throughout the first two weeks in June.
Hola Mexico Film Festival which has been postponed until September 2020, wants to help give viewers a chance to see some of the best films that have come out of Mexico in recent years with the launch of the Hola Mexico Virtual Theater online film series starting May 21.
Filmed over seven years with extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated people, Erika Cohn’s ‘Belly of the Beast‘ exposes modern-day eugenics and reproductive injustice in California prisons. The film will have its World Premiere as the opening night film of the 2020 Human Rights Watch Film Festival New York Digital Edition taking place June 11-20, 2020.
SXSW unveiled their new collaboration, SXSW 2020 Virtual Cinema on Oculus TV set to globally launch on May 22, 2020. This event will present seven 360 projects that were entered into the SXSW Virtual Cinema Competition, prior to its cancellation by the City of Austin due to concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of these works showcases how virtual reality can take users to places they can’t go and experience stories alongside the storytellers, in a time when so many people are isolated or socially distancing. Participating projects will be available on Oculus TV from May 22-31, 2020.
The 1st Annual Big Bear Film Summit, announced the film lineup for the festival’s debut which will take place virtually on June 12-July 12, 2020. The inaugural edition will present 52 films (12 feature length and 40 short films and music videos). Created to encourage artistic production in and around Big Bear Lake, California, the Big Bear Film Summit made a quick pivot to the virtual space like many film festivals have done since March.
The 58th New York Film Festival (NYFF), set to take place from September 25th through October 11th, will feature changes to the festival’s programming structure and new selection committee and advisory roles.
Producer Jessica Sanders is the winner of the Sun Valley Film Festival (SVFF) $25,000 Ford Producers Grant prize for her project titled Picking Cotton, based off the New York Times bestseller, and will now have the opportunity to take her in-development film one big step closer to reality.
Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference (AFF) announced their fifth annual “25 Screenwriters to Watch.” This year’s “25 Screenwriters to Watch” list includes a roster of promising and innovative voices, featuring writers from diverse backgrounds, mediums, and points in their careers.
Amidst the Covid-19 health crisis, for the first time ever, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will present a digital edition of its full slate of films from June 11-20, 2020. Expanding beyond New York City, the festival announced the first eight films of the line up that will enjoy their U.S. Digital Festival Premieres, making the films available nationwide. In keeping with the festival’s long-standing tradition of contextualizing films with conversations, online screenings will feature in-depth discussions with filmmakers, film subjects and Human Rights Watch researchers. The festival plans to return to Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center next year and beyond.
In the new era of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AFI DOCS, the American Film Institute’s annual documentary celebration in the nation’s capital, announced the festival’s 18th annual edition is going global. AFI DOCS will showcase current non-fiction fare in a re-imagined online film festival – “where the best seat is in your house.” AFI DOCS 2020 will open with BOYS STATE, directed by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine. The festival will run June 17–21 and films will be available to view on DOCS.AFI.com.
