We told you guys about it last week, but this year’s DOC NYC Fest is truly shaping up to be one of the premiere film festivals in the entire City. The programming is impeccable, on-point, and there is an almost giddy feeling in all of the recent screenings- whether it was watching the astounding doc about story-book creator and illustrator Tomi Ungerer (whose work turned towards pornography later in life)  in director Brad Bernstein’s nspiring Far Out Isn’t Far Enough, or the brilliant homage to Wonder Woman and other great female heroines in recent pop culture in Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s Wonder Women, to the plight of the New York City taxi driver in Joshua Z Weinstein’s excellent Drivers Wanted, to Treva Wurmfeld’s Shepard and Dark- the fascinating  story of the forty-plus year friendship between actor and playwright Sam Shepard and pal Johnny Dark- which managed somehow to be incredibly exhilarating and haunting, simultaneously (no mean feat that!) Also of note: Girl and a Gun, Artifact, Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp, Rafea-Solar Mama, and Sweet Dreams…Not to mention a NYC-heavy rotation of wonderful documentaries-including Zipper, about the fate of Coney Island’s Boardwalk and park, the above mentioned Drivers Wanted, and Men at Lunch- the story behind the iconic photo of eleven steel workers casually having lunch while sitting atop a steel beam, precariously dangling 59 stories above New York.

The DOC NYC Fest ends this Thursday evening, (November 15th) with a gala screening of Ken Burns’ Central Park Five, which focuses upon the five African-American and Latino youths who were wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 Central Park Jogger rape and battery case. Ken Burns and members of the cast will also be there in person.

The DOC NYC Festival must become a must-view for ANY film fan in the City. Get your tickets here- it is truly an embarrassment of riches just trying to decide what to see!

Read more

We told you guys about it last week, but this year’s DOC NYC Fest is truly shaping up to be one of the premiere film festivals in the City. The programming is impeccable, on-point, and there is an almost giddy feeling in all of the recent screenings- whether it was watching the astounding doc about story-book creator and illustrator Tomi Ungerer (whose work turned towards pornography later in life)  in director Brad Bernstein’s nspiring Far Out Isn’t Far Enough, or the brilliant homage to Wonder Woman and other great female heroines in recent pop culture in Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s Wonder Women, to the plight of the New York City taxi driver in Joshua Z Weinstein’s excellent Drivers Wanted, to Treva Wurmfeld’s Shepard and Dark- the fascinating  story of the forty-plus year friendship between actor and playwright Sam Shepard and pal Johnny Dark- which managed somehow to be incredibly exhilarating and haunting, simultaneously (no mean feat that!) Also of note: Girl and a Gun, Artifact, Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp, Rafea-Solar Mama, and Sweet Dreams…Not to mention a NYC-heavy rotation of wonderful documentaries-including Zipper, about the fate of Coney Island’s Boardwalk and park, the above mentioned Drivers Wanted, and Men at Lunch- the story behind the iconic photo of eleven steel workers casually having lunch while sitting atop a steel beam, precariously dangling 59 stories above New York.

The DOC NYC Fest ends this Thursday evening, (November 15th) with a gala screening of Ken Burns’ Central Park Five, which focuses upon the five African-American and Latino youths who were wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 Central Park Jogger rape and battery case. Ken Burns and members of the cast will also be there in person.

The DOC NYC Festival must become a must-view for ANY film fan in the City. Get your tickets here- it is truly an embarrassment of riches just trying to decide what to see!

Read more

DOC NYC – Yes- The Show (Still) Goes On!
November 8-15 at the IFC Center and SVA Theatre

Festival to Partner with Echelon Donates for City Harvest Food Drive
During Event to Benefit Hurricane’s Neediest Victims

“One of the city’s grandest events.” – The Wall Street Journal

“[Has] shot to the top tier of our most essential festivals list.” – New York Magazine

Jared Leto brings his film-about-his-band Artifact to the Opening Night of the Doc NYC Festival, Thursday, November 8th, 2012, and will be there in person.

NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2012 – Despite the setbacks Hurricane Sandy put in its way, DOC NYC organizers are pleased to say that the 3rd annual festival is set to launch, as planned, this Thursday, November 8 through November 15, with eight documentary-filled days of films, special events, panels, and masterclasses at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave.) and SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd St.).

With the festival’s production hub, the IFC Center, closed last week, most of its staff dealing with power outages and displacement, and the serious effect the storm has had on ticket sales, there’s been a big impact on preparations—but the show will indeed go on. Said DOC NYC Artistic Director, Thom Powers: “There’s no question that the hurricane was a blow to us. Normally, we’d anticipate 40% of our ticket sales to happen during the week of the power outage, so we have a lot to make up. But we’re determined give our filmmakers and audiences the best festival possible.”

And it’s set to be a terrific festival! In addition to the 115 films and events, starting with opening night presentations Artifact and Venus and Serena, the festival will welcome dozens of special guests (several from out of town): Jared Leto, Andy Summers, Antony Hegarty, Pete Seeger, Rufus Wainwright, Ice-T, and some of the country’s top documentary filmmakers, including Ken Burns, Barbara Kopple, Alex Gibney, Jonathan Demme, Joe Berlinger, Rory Kennedy, and Michael Moore. In addition to post-screening discussions with these and other participating filmmakers and film subjects, the five men wrongly incarcerated for the crime detailed in the closing night film, The Central Park Five, will be brought together for the first time since their release for an onstage discussion.

DOC NYC organizers are also pleased to announce that the festival has partnered with Echelon Donates—a non-profit founded by fans of the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, featured in Artifact—to run a food drive to help those most seriously affected by Hurricane Sandy, during this year’s event. From November 8-11, film-goers will be able to drop off non-perishable items for City Harvest, at collection boxes located in the SVA Theatre.

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