Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars[/caption]
DOC NYC announced the full lineup of over 250 films and events for its eighth edition, running November 9 to 16 at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village and Chelsea’s SVA Theatre and Cinepolis Chelsea.
Special Events include Closing Night Film, the NYC premiere of Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, directed by Lili Fini Zanuck, with the acclaimed musician in attendance; Centerpiece Film, the world premiere of Far From the Tree, director Rachel Dretzin’s adaptation of Andrew Solomon’s bestselling book; and the NYC premiere of Wormwood, an ambitious new project from Errol Morris exploring the 1953 death of a CIA agent. The NYC premiere Greg Barker’s The Final Year, accompanied by members of the Obama administration, will open the festival.
World premieres at the festival include A Murder in Mansfield, by Barbara Kopple (Miss Sharon Jones!), which explores the impact of a 1989 murder on a family; Maynard, by Sam Pollard (Two Trains Runnin’), about Atlanta’s first black mayor, Maynard Jackson; Naila and the Uprising, by Julia Bacha (Budrus), about the hidden role women played in the First Intifada, a project that won last year’s DOC NYC Pitch Perfect competition; Father’s Kingdom, by Larry Feinberg, exploring the legacy of Father Divine, who attracted over a million followers and claimed to be God; The Iconoclast, by King Adz, about notorious art forger Michel van Rijn; and The Godfathers of Hardcore, by Ian McFarland, on the long-lived NYC hardcore punk band Agnostic Front.
Among this year’s U.S. premieres are David Bowie: The Last Five Years, by Francis Whately, an intimate look at the creative final years of the music icon; Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco, by James Crump, a portrait of the most influential fashion illustrator of 1970s New York and Paris; Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, by Matt Tyrnauer, about the man who was the secret sexual procurer to the stars; The Stranger, by past DOC NYC award winner Nicole N. Horanyi, about a woman who discovers the man of her dreams has secrets; Armed with Faith, by Geeta Gandbhir and Asad Faruqi, which follows the heroic Pakistani Bomb Disposal Unit; Soufra, by Thomas Morgan, and executive produced by Susan Sarandon, about a woman who starts her own successful catering company in a Lebanese refugee camp; EuroTrump, by Stephen Robert Morse and Nicholas Hampson, on the Dutch Donald Trump, Geert Wilders; and The Beatles, Hippies and Hells Angels: Inside the Crazy World of Apple, by Ben Lewis, a look back at the wild early days of Apple Corps.
“Documentary storytellers help us make sense of the tumultuous times we’re living in with artistry, humor and inspiring characters,” said Director of Programming Basil Tsiokos. “This year’s DOC NYC line-up gives audiences fresh insight into high profile figures and shines a light on lesser-known individuals who leave a big impression.” Tsiokos led the program selection in collaboration with Artistic Director Thom Powers and Executive Director Raphaela Neihausen.
The festival is curated in 18 sections that include two new strands: New World Order, with 6 films about global issues in the news, including Sky & Ground, which follows an extended family of refugees as they escape Syria; and Spiral, about the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Centerstage, an 8-title section focused on performing and performers, presents the world premieres of The Problem with Apu, in which a South Asian-American comedian explores the impact of the character from The Simpsons; and Repeat Attenders, about musical theater superfans.
In the festival’s two feature competition sections, 8 films appear under the Viewfinders section for distinct directorial visions. They include the world premiere of Mole Man, about an autistic man who has built a 50-room structure in his backyard; and the U.S. premieres of The Judge, about the first female Shari’a judge in the Middle East, and Silas, about a Liberian environmental activist.
In the Metropolis competition section, 7 films are dedicated to stories set in New York City. They include the world premieres of The Iron Triangle, about the resistance to the urban renewal of Queens’ Willets Point; Vigilante: The Incredible True Story of Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels, an unfiltered look at the founder of the controversial group; and Miracle on 42nd Street, about an apartment complex providing housing to performing artists, including past residents Alicia Keys, Terrence Howard and Angela Lansbury.
Other returning sections include high-profile Special Events; national and global takes inAmerican Perspectives and International Perspectives; and thematic sections Fight the Power (on activism), Sonic Cinema (on music), True Crime (on crime), Science Nonfiction (on science and technology), Modern Family (on unconventional families),Wild Life (on animals), Art & Design (on artists), and Behind the Scenes (on filmmaking). Short-form content (85 films in total) is represented by the festival’s Shorts Competition and DOC NYC U (showcasing student work).
The following is a breakdown of programming by section:
Shot in the Dark
Orr Academy’s high school basketball team is a refuge from the brutal realities of the streets of Chicago’s West Side.
Directed by Dustin Nakao Haider
Genre(s) Documentary Film
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DOC NYC 2017 to Close with NY Premiere of ERIC CLAPTON: LIFE IN 12 BARS + Announces Lineup
[caption id="attachment_23415" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars[/caption]
DOC NYC announced the full lineup of over 250 films and events for its eighth edition, running November 9 to 16 at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village and Chelsea’s SVA Theatre and Cinepolis Chelsea.
Special Events include Closing Night Film, the NYC premiere of Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, directed by Lili Fini Zanuck, with the acclaimed musician in attendance; Centerpiece Film, the world premiere of Far From the Tree, director Rachel Dretzin’s adaptation of Andrew Solomon’s bestselling book; and the NYC premiere of Wormwood, an ambitious new project from Errol Morris exploring the 1953 death of a CIA agent. The NYC premiere Greg Barker’s The Final Year, accompanied by members of the Obama administration, will open the festival.
World premieres at the festival include A Murder in Mansfield, by Barbara Kopple (Miss Sharon Jones!), which explores the impact of a 1989 murder on a family; Maynard, by Sam Pollard (Two Trains Runnin’), about Atlanta’s first black mayor, Maynard Jackson; Naila and the Uprising, by Julia Bacha (Budrus), about the hidden role women played in the First Intifada, a project that won last year’s DOC NYC Pitch Perfect competition; Father’s Kingdom, by Larry Feinberg, exploring the legacy of Father Divine, who attracted over a million followers and claimed to be God; The Iconoclast, by King Adz, about notorious art forger Michel van Rijn; and The Godfathers of Hardcore, by Ian McFarland, on the long-lived NYC hardcore punk band Agnostic Front.
Among this year’s U.S. premieres are David Bowie: The Last Five Years, by Francis Whately, an intimate look at the creative final years of the music icon; Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco, by James Crump, a portrait of the most influential fashion illustrator of 1970s New York and Paris; Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, by Matt Tyrnauer, about the man who was the secret sexual procurer to the stars; The Stranger, by past DOC NYC award winner Nicole N. Horanyi, about a woman who discovers the man of her dreams has secrets; Armed with Faith, by Geeta Gandbhir and Asad Faruqi, which follows the heroic Pakistani Bomb Disposal Unit; Soufra, by Thomas Morgan, and executive produced by Susan Sarandon, about a woman who starts her own successful catering company in a Lebanese refugee camp; EuroTrump, by Stephen Robert Morse and Nicholas Hampson, on the Dutch Donald Trump, Geert Wilders; and The Beatles, Hippies and Hells Angels: Inside the Crazy World of Apple, by Ben Lewis, a look back at the wild early days of Apple Corps.
“Documentary storytellers help us make sense of the tumultuous times we’re living in with artistry, humor and inspiring characters,” said Director of Programming Basil Tsiokos. “This year’s DOC NYC line-up gives audiences fresh insight into high profile figures and shines a light on lesser-known individuals who leave a big impression.” Tsiokos led the program selection in collaboration with Artistic Director Thom Powers and Executive Director Raphaela Neihausen.
The festival is curated in 18 sections that include two new strands: New World Order, with 6 films about global issues in the news, including Sky & Ground, which follows an extended family of refugees as they escape Syria; and Spiral, about the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Centerstage, an 8-title section focused on performing and performers, presents the world premieres of The Problem with Apu, in which a South Asian-American comedian explores the impact of the character from The Simpsons; and Repeat Attenders, about musical theater superfans.
In the festival’s two feature competition sections, 8 films appear under the Viewfinders section for distinct directorial visions. They include the world premiere of Mole Man, about an autistic man who has built a 50-room structure in his backyard; and the U.S. premieres of The Judge, about the first female Shari’a judge in the Middle East, and Silas, about a Liberian environmental activist.
In the Metropolis competition section, 7 films are dedicated to stories set in New York City. They include the world premieres of The Iron Triangle, about the resistance to the urban renewal of Queens’ Willets Point; Vigilante: The Incredible True Story of Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels, an unfiltered look at the founder of the controversial group; and Miracle on 42nd Street, about an apartment complex providing housing to performing artists, including past residents Alicia Keys, Terrence Howard and Angela Lansbury.
Other returning sections include high-profile Special Events; national and global takes inAmerican Perspectives and International Perspectives; and thematic sections Fight the Power (on activism), Sonic Cinema (on music), True Crime (on crime), Science Nonfiction (on science and technology), Modern Family (on unconventional families),Wild Life (on animals), Art & Design (on artists), and Behind the Scenes (on filmmaking). Short-form content (85 films in total) is represented by the festival’s Shorts Competition and DOC NYC U (showcasing student work).
The following is a breakdown of programming by section:
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2017 Camden International Film Festival Announces Lineup, Opens with World Premiere of SHOT IN THE DARK
[caption id="attachment_23992" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Shot in the Dark by Dustin Nakao Haider[/caption]
The 2017 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) will take place September 14 to 17, 2017 throughout Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine, and present 37 features, 35 short films, and a dozen virtual reality experiences from 30 countries. Keeping with CIFF’s mission to discover and support new talent in nonfiction filmmaking, over half of the lineup’s 37 features are made by first- or second-time filmmakers.
CIFF will open with the world premiere of Dustin Nakao Haider’s Shot in the Dark. Additional highlights include titles making their US debut following premieres at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (Love Means Zero, Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars, Cocaine Prison), the North American premieres of films coming from Locarno (Sand und Blut, Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?) and Venice (This Is Congo), award-winning films from Visions du Reel (Taste of Cement, All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn’t Open) and Berlin (El Mar La Mar, House In The Fields, Devil’s Freedom) alongside some of the year’s top documentaries (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Whose Streets?, The Work).
The 13th Camden International Film Festival is a program of the Points North Institute. This year, eight projects that have participated in the Points North Institute’s Artist Programs will be screening at CIFF. These titles include All That Passes By Through A Window That Doesn’t Open, No Man’s Land, The Cage Fighter, The Family I Had, The Reagan Show, The Sensitives, Whose Streets? and Commodity City. These films have garnered awards and debuted at prestigious festivals including Sundance, Locarno, Tribeca, Rotterdam, and Visions du Reel.
“Screening at CIFF this year feels like a homecoming,” says Sabaah Folayan, Director of Whose Streets?, distributed by Magnolia Pictures. “This community believed in our project when it was still just an idea and it means everything to be able to come back and share the finished film.”
This year also features an expanded 2nd edition of Storyforms: Remixing Reality, CIFF’s exhibition of VR, immersive media, and installations. For the first time, Storyforms will present “room-scale” and “walk-around” VR experiences. Highlights include Tree by Milica Zec and Winslow Porter, which comes to CIFF after showing at Sundance, Tribeca and Cannes. Storyforms will also include a sneak preview of the latest groundbreaking walk-around VR experience produced in a new collaboration between FRONTLINE PBS and Nonny de la Peña’s Emblematic Group, which brings climate change to life as never before, allowing viewers to travel alongside NASA scientists to a place where the glaciers are melting faster and faster.
2017 Camden International Film Festival Features
SHOT IN THE DARK – Opening Night Film Dustin Nakao Haider | United States | 96 mins Orr Academy’s basketball court is a haven. Outside, it’s a neighborhood racked with gangs and violence. Though each player has his own struggle, they’ll need to fight together if they ever want to break out. World Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance 69 Minutes of 86 Days Egil Håskjold Larsen | Norway | 71 mins A 3-year-old girl and her family’s long journey from a Greek refugee centre to Uppsala, in a film that gives the tragedy both a form and a face. US Premiere A River Below Mark Grieco | USA, Colombia | 86 mins A River Below captures the Amazon in all its complexity as it examines the actions of environmental activists using the media in an age where truth is a relative term. Filmmaker in Attendance Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Steve James | USA | 88 mins From acclaimed director Steve James, ABACUS tells the incredible family saga of the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Filmmaker in Attendance All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn’t Open Martin DiCicco | USA, Qatar | 70 mins A journey by rail where workers reflect upon opportunity and regret, floating through a Eurasian expanse striving to fill their days and dreams, as much as their pockets. North American Premiere / PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance Behold the Earth David Conover | USA | 63 mins A feature-length musical documentary film that inquires into America’s divorce from nature, built out of conversations with leading biologists and evangelical Christians. Filmmaker in Attendance Bobbi Jene Elvira Lind | Denmark. Sweden, Israel, USA | 96 mins A love story, and a film about a woman’s fight for independence, a woman trying to succeed with her own art in the extremely competitive world of dance. Filmmaker in Attendance Cocaine Prison Violeta Ayala | Australia, Bolivia, France & USA | 76 mins From inside one of Bolivia’s most infamous prisons, comes the story of the foot soldiers of the drug trade. US Premiere | Filmmakers in Attendance Common Carrier James N. Kienitz Wilkins | USA | 78 mins A mix of artists struggle to perform their roles, at once connected and alienated by the plague of modern life. Filmmaker in Attendance Devil’s Freedom Everardo González | Mexico | 74 mins A deeply compelling investigation into the phenomenon of Mexico’s “disappeared” from the perspectives of those bereaved by, and those responsible for, some truly barbaric acts. Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun? Travis Wilkerson | USA | 90 mins This isn’t a White Savior story. It’s a White Nightmare story. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Do Donkeys Act? Ashley Sabin, David Redmon | UK | 72 mins A film that subtly subverts the notion of the “dumb beast” as it captures donkeys communicating emotionally with each other in the midst of healing from human cruelty and neglect. Filmmakers in Attendance El Mar La Mar Joshua Bonnetta, J.P. Sniadecki | USA | 94 mins A portrait of the Sonoran Desert along the United States border with Mexico. Filmmakers in Attendance Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars Lili Fini Zanuck | USA | 95 mins A look at the life and work of guitarist Eric Clapton told by those who have known him best, including BB King, Jimi Hendrix, and George Harrison. US Premiere House in the Fields Tala Hadid | Morocco, Qatar | 86 mins House in the Fields is the first part of a triptych set in Morocco, that starts in the Atlas Mountains, journeys through Casablanca and finishes beyond the borders. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance In the Waves Jacquelyn Mills | Canada (Québec) | 60 mins An expressive documentary that depicts the life of 80 years old Joan Alma Mills in her aging coastal village as she finds herself confronted by the fragility of life. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Let There Be Light Mila Aung-Thwin, Van Royko | Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, USA | 90 mins Let There Be Light follows the story of dedicated scientists working to build a small sun on Earth, which would unleash perpetual, cheap, clean energy for mankind. After decades of failed attempts, a massive push is now underway to crack the holy grail of energy. Filmmaker in Attendance Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry Laura Dunn, Jef Sewell | USA | 80 mins A cinematic portrait of farmer and writer Wendell Berry. Through his eyes, we see both the changing landscapes of rural America in the era of industrial agriculture and the redemptive beauty in taking the unworn path. Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Gustavo Salmerón | Spain | 90 mins A bustling, loose-limbed portrait of actor-director Gustavo Salmerón’s large family, especially his unforgettable mom. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Love Means Zero Jason Kohn | USA | 89 mins Nick Bollettieri coached a generation of tennis champions, but his relentless desire to win cost him the relationship he valued most. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Maineland Miao Wang | China, USA | 89 mins Chinese students now account for over one-third to one-half of international secondary school students, including in a small liberal arts college in Maine. Filmmaker in Attendance No Man’s Land David Byars | USA | 83 mins Embedded with the militants of the 2016 occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, NO MAN’S LAND provides a vivid depiction of events that have become emblematic of the current political divide. PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance Purge This Land Lee Anne Schmitt | USA | 80 mins Contemplating the culpability of White America in the ongoing disenfranchisement of Black America, this film combines images of sites of white racial violence with anecdotal history of John Brown’s radical ethics. Sneak Preview | Filmmaker in Attendance Quest Jonathan Olshefski | USA | 104 mins The moving portrait of a family in North Philadelphia who open the door to their home music studio, which serves as a creative sanctuary from the strife that grips their neighborhood.Filmmaker in Attendance Resurrecting Hassan Carlo Guillermo Proto | Canada, Chile | 100 mins A blind family is haunted by the tragic death of their son Hassan and seek to resurrect his spirit and transcend their suffering, while singing in the subways of Montreal. Filmmaker in Attendance Sand und Blut (Sand and Blood) Matthias Krepp, Angelika Spangel | Austria | 90 mins Private video footage narrated by refugees now living in Europe offers a new and intimate perspective on Syria and Iraq’s recent history: a montage of haunting images of devastation, fear, and hatred. North American Premiere | Filmmakers in Attendance Secret Screening Academy-Award Winning Director | USA A gripping investigation by one of the country’s most celebrated directors. Sneak Preview | Filmmaker in Attendance Shot in the Dark Dustin Nakao Haider | USA | 96 mins Orr Academy’s basketball court is a haven. Outside, it’s a neighborhood racked with gangs and violence. Though each player has his own struggle, they’ll need to fight together if they ever want to break out. Opening Night Film | World Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Stranger in Paradise Guido Hendrikx | Netherlands | 72 mins A blunt film essay on the power relations between Europe and refugees. Filmmaker in Attendance Taste of Cement Ziad Kalthoum | Germany, Lebanon, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Qatar | 85 mins In Beirut, Syrian construction workers are building a skyscraper while at the same time their own houses at home are being shelled. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance The Cage Fighter Jeff Unay | USA | 83 mins Although a man promises his wife and daughters that he will not return to competitive mixed martial arts fighting, he secretly begins training for the dangerous sport that gives him a sense of purpose. PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance The Departure Lana Wilson | USA | 87 mins Ittetsu Nemoto, a former punk-turned-Buddhist-priest in Japan, has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live. Filmmaker in Attendance The Family I Had Katie Green, Carlye Rubin | USA | 77 mins How does the mother to a murdered child and the murderer himself move forward, and what kind of relationship can she forge with her now incarcerated son? PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance The Reagan Show Pacho Velez, Sierra Pettengill | USA | 75 mins Made up entirely of archival news and White House footage, this documentary captures the pageantry, absurdity, and mastery of the made-for-TV politics of Ronald Reagan. PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance The Sensitives Drew Xanthopoulos | USA | 83 mins What if modern life made you sick? PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance The Work Jairus McLeary, Gethin Aldous | USA | 87 mins Set entirely inside Folsom State Prison, “The Work” follows 3 men during 4 days of intensive group therapy with convicts, revealing an intimate and powerful portrait of authentic human transformation that transcends what we think of as rehabilitation. Filmmakers in Attendance This is Congo Daniel McCabe | USA | 93 mins Following four compelling characters, the film offers a truly Congolese perspective and an immersive exploration into Africa’s longest continuing conflict. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Whose Streets? Sabaah Folayan, Damon Davis | USA | 90 mins “Portrait of Ferguson May Be the Doc of the Year: Powerful you-are-there portrait of how a community raged in the aftermath of tragedy – and reacted with activism – could not be more vital” – Rolling Stone PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance
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33 Independent Documentary Films Selected for 2015 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Support
Thirty-three independent documentary films have been selected for 2015 Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program support.
The Sundance Documentary Fund moved to a limited rolling open call in 2015, encouraging filmmakers to submit applications only when they feel their film is ready to share. Rahdi Taylor, Film Fund Director, said, “This past year was one of experimentation and change. We eliminated deadlines, embraced risk taking in form, filmmaker and subject matter, but we stayed true to our core purpose of discovering contemporary stories of meaning and moral purpose. Overall the selections are characterized by risk, inclusion and innovation as well as addressing the most vital conversations of our time.”
DEVELOPMENT
The Acali Experiment (Sweden) (pictured above)
Director: Marcus Lindeen
Producer: Erik Gandini
In 1973 five men and six women went on a dramatic raft expedition across the Atlantic Ocean for 101 days to study human aggression and sexuality. This documentary reunites them forty years later to reveal what actually happened during one of history’s strangest group experiments.
Afterglow (Hungary)
Director: Noémi Veronika Szakonyi
Producer: Julianna Ugrin
The filmmaker found her missing brother, who was kidnapped at age six by his father, a man with extraordinary connections in communist Hungary.
Casting JonBenet (Australia/U.S.)
Director: Kitty Green
Producer: Scott Macaulay and Kitty Green
An artful exploration of the legacy of the world’s most sensational child-murder case, the unsolved death of six-year-old American beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey.
Shirkers (U.S.-Singapore)
Writer-Director-Producer: Sandi Tan
In 1992, an enigmatic American named Georges shot Singapore’s first indie film with a group of female teenage film-buffs, then absconded with all the footage. Nearly twenty years later, his widow uncovers the 16mm cans in New Orleans—and ships them to the film’s screenwriter-actress, who embarks on a new voyage to Singapore, Cambridge, New Orleans, and into the past.
Three Identical Strangers (U.K.)
Director: Tim Wardle
Producer: Grace Hughes-Hallett
There’s no-one else on Earth quite like you. Or is there…?
Untitled Kronos Project (U.S.)
Director: Sam Green
Untitled Kronos Project is an experimental, live documentary that will tell the story of legendary classical group the Kronos Quartet and its 40 year career.
Untitled Prison Project (U.S.)
Director: Roger Ross Williams
Producer: Femke Wolting, Bruno Felix, Roger Ross Williams
Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams sets out on a deeply personal journey to understand why so many friends from his childhood town of Easton, Pennsylvania are in prison.
Yoghurt Utopia (U.K./Spain)
Directors: Anna Thomson, David Baksh
Producer: Adrian Pennink
Christopher Columbus gives 200 mental patients an opportunity to live, work and lead productive lives producing La Fageda, a top yogurt brand from Catalonia, Spain. Can this Yoghurt Utopia survive the mounting internal and external pressures?
Young Men and Fire (US)
Director: Kahlil Hudson and Alex Jablonski
Producer: Kyle Dickman
Young Men and Fire tells the story of working class men in a single wildland firefighting crew as they struggle with fear, loyalty, love, and defeat all over the course of a single fire season.
When God Sleeps
Director: Till Schauder (U.S/ Germany)
Producer: Sara Nodjoumi & Till Schauder (U.S./Germany)
When God Sleeps depicts the journey of an Iranian musician who is forced into hiding after hardline clerics offer a $100,000 reward for his murder
Whose Streets? (U.S.)
Director: Sabaah Jordan and Damon Davis
Producer: Flannery Miller
The murder of a teenage boy became the last straw for a community under siege. Whose Streets? follows the journey of everyday people turned freedom fighters, whose lives intertwine with a burgeoning national movement for black liberation.
PRODUCTION
All These Sleepless Nights (Poland/UK)
Director: Michal Marczak
Producer: Marta Golba, Michal Marczak, Julia Nottingham, Thomas Benski and Lucas Ochoa
A new era is coming, and Warsaw stands uncomfortably at its edge. Christopher and Michal, on the precipice of their own coming of age, restlessly roam their city’s streets in search of living forever inside the beautiful moment. Never content with answers, they push each experience to its breaking point, testing what it might mean to be truly awake in a world that seems satisfied to be asleep.
Audrie & Daisy (U.S.)
Director: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
Producers: Richard Berge and Sara Dosa
Two teenage girls are sexually assaulted while unconscious by boys who they thought were their friends. Each girl is harassed relentlessly online, both attempt suicide, and tragically, one girl dies. High school assault in the age of social media is explored from the perspective of the girls –and the boys –involved in the assaults.
Cecilia (India)
Director/Producer: Pankaj Johar
When Cecilia Hasda’s 14 year old daughter is trafficked and found dead in Delhi, the filmmaker and his wife decide to help her seek justice. As they battle a web of corruption at all levels, they find themselves navigating a complex network of cops, traffickers, judges, lawyers, villagers and family members.
Eagle Huntress (UK/Mongolia)
Director: Otto Bell
Producer: Stacey Reiss and Sharon Chang
This spellbinding documentary follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old nomadic Mongolian girl as she battles a culture of misogyny to become the first female Eagle Hunter in 2,000 years of male-dominated history.
Forgiveness (U.K.)
Director: Elizabeth Stopford
Producer: Nicole Stott
A modern American ghost story and a house that vanished. In the wake of two seemingly inexplicable shooting sprees, can a community forgive the teenage boy at the heart of its tragic past? .
Greywater (U.S.)
Director: Jeff Unay
Greywater is the story of Joe, a blue-collar family man who breaks the promise he made years ago to never fight again. Now forty years old, with a wife and four children who depend on him, he risks everything—his marriage, his family, his financial security— to go back into the fighting cage for one last time and come to terms with his past.
The Keepers (U.S.)
Director: Ryan White
Producer: Jessica Lawson
A documentary thriller unraveling a longstanding mystery in Baltimore.
Untitled Newtown Documentary (U.S.)
Director: Kim A. Snyder
Producer: Maria Cuomo Cole, Kim A. Snyder
We witness residents of Newtown, CT navigate the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history.
Untitled Reef Project (U.S.)
Director: Jeff Orlowski
Producer: Larissa Rhodes
Richard Vevers quit his job at a top London ad agency and sets out to become an underwater photographer. Face-to-face with stunning evidence of the human caused destruction of vibrant underwater ecosystems, Richard races the clock to save the oceans.
POST-PRODUCTION
Almost Sunrise (U.S.)
Director: Michael Collins
Producer: Marty Syjuco
Two friends, ex-soldiers, embark on an epic journey to heal from their time in combat. Filled with hope for veterans who’ve left the battlefield behind and are now seeking peace on the home front, Almost Sunrise follows Tom and Anthony as they walk 2,700 miles across America.
The Event (Ukraine/Russia)
Director: Sergei Loznitsa
Producers: Sergei Loznitsa & Maria Choustova
Three days that shook the world or much ado about nothing?
Holy Cow (Azerbaijan/Germany/Romania)
Director: Imam Hasanov
Producer: Andra Popescu, Veronika Janatkova, Stefan Kloos
One man’s dream of bringing a European cow in his remote village in Azerbaijan unsettles the conservative community that wants to keep their secular traditions intact.
Maman Colonelle (France/DR Congo)
Director: Dieudo Hamadi
Producer: Christian Lelong
Colonel Honorine works for the Congolese police force and heads the unit for the protection of minors and the fight against sexual violence. Having worked for 15 years in Bukavu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she learned she was being transferred to Kisangani. There, she found herself faced with new challenges.
Markie in Milwaukee (U.S.)
Director: Matt Kliegman
Producer: Matt Kliegman and Zac Stuart-Pontier
Markie dreams of completing her gender transition, but can she overcome the ghosts of her past as a Fundamentalist Baptist preacher?
The Pearl Button (El Boton de Nacar)
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Producer: Renate Sachse
The Pearl Button is a story about water, Cosmos and us. It all starts with the discovery of two mysterious buttons deep in the Pacific Ocean, off the Chilean coast.
Proposition for a Revolution (India)
Directors: Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla
Producer: Anand Gandhi
Co-Producer: Ruchi Bhimani
Exec. Producer: Joris van Wijk
What happens when an insider challenges corruption in the world’s largest democracy? Proposition for a Revolution tells the extraordinary story of the 2013 New Delhi elections, which catapulted bureaucrat-turned-activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal into power within a year of forming a new anti-corruption political party. A ground-level verite portrait depicting the transformation of a people’s movement into a political party, the film follows Arvind Kejriwal with unprecedented access as he takes on the oldest political party in India–The Congress Party.
The Reagan Years (U.S.)
Director: Pacho Velez
Producer: Sierra Pettengill
The Reagan Years is about a prolific actor’s defining role: Leader of the Free World. It uses the Reagan administration’s internal documentation to capture the spectacle of American might at its acme.
Teatro (U.S./Italy)
Director: Jeff Malmberg
Producer: Chris Shellen
For the past 50 years, the villagers of Monticchiello have confronted their communal issues through art in the form of a play that the entire town writes and performs. Teatro is a portrait of this tradition seen through the lens of the last man trying to keep it alive.
They Call Us Monsters (U.S.)
Director: Ben Lear
Producer: Sasha Alpert and Gabriel Cowan
They Call Us Monsters takes us behind the walls of The Compound, where Los Angeles houses its most violent juvenile offenders. To their advocates, they’re kids. To the system, they’re adults and to their victims they’re monsters. This film asks us to decide for ourselves.
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
1971 (U.S.)
Director: Johanna Hamilton
Producer: Marilyn Ness
On March 8, 1971 a group of citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, PA near Philadelphia and raided thousands of secret files that revealed an illegal government program known as COINTELPRO. Never caught, they have remained anonymous. Until now.
Enter the Faun (U.S.)
Director & Producer: Tamar Rogoff and Daisy Wright
Executive Producer: Véronique Bernard
Art and science collide as a young actor with cerebral palsy and a dancer embark on a journey that leads to unprecedented physical transformation and challenges the limitations associated with disability.
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Shot in the Dark (U.S.)
Director: Dustin Nakao Haider
Producers: Daniel Poneman, Daniel Dewes, Derek Doneen, and Ben Vogel
For the players on Orr Academy’s basketball team, the court is a haven. Outside, it’s the Westside of Chicago – a neighborhood racked with gangs, gun trafficking, and violence. Within those walls, each player has his own struggle. But they’ll need to fight together if they ever want to break out.