Running November 11-19, festival goes online for 2020 and available US-wide for first time; 23 world premieres, 12 International/North American premieres and seven US premieres among 200+ films and events.
DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, announced the line-up for its eleventh edition, running online November 11-19 and available to viewers across the US. The 2020 festival includes 107 feature-length documentaries among over 200 films and dozens of events. Included are 23 World Premieres, 12 international or North American premieres, and 7 US premieres.
Fifty-seven features (53% of the lineup) are directed or co-directed by women and 36 by BIPOC directors (34% of the feature program).
“Documentary film has never felt so vital as in these tumultuous times,” said Director of Programming Basil Tsiokos. “This year’s lineup represents a wide array of voices both on screen and from behind the camera, creating works of art that will resonate for years to come.”
World Premieres at the festival include Nelson G. Navarrete and Maxx Caicedo’s A La Calle, Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s The Meaning of Hitler, Gong Cheng and Yung Chang’s Wuhan Wuhan, Sian-Pierre Regis’s Duty Free, Noah Hutton’s In Silico, Nancy Buirski’s A Crime on the Bayou, Jeff Daniels’s Television Event, Ilinca Calugareanu’s A Cops and Robbers Story, Frank Matson’s Restaurant Hustle, Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz’s Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters, Cheryl Dunn’s Moments Like This Never Last, and Lauren DeFilippo and Katherine Gorringe’s Red Heaven, among others.
Among this year’s international, North American, and US premieres are Mor Loushy’s Kings of Capitol Hill, Oliver Murray’s Ronnie’s, Ulrike Ottinger’s Paris Calligrammes, Siji Awoyinka’s Elder’s Corner, Meng Han’s Smog Town, Justin Staple’s American Rapstar, Mayye Zayed’s Lift Like a Girl, Sam Osborn and Nick Capezzera’s Universe, Magnus Skatvold and Greg Mallozzi’s Blue Code of Silence, and Julien Temple’s Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane McGowan.
DOC NYC’s feature programming is curated in 14 sections, including two competition sections. The Viewfinders Competition, recognizing 11 films demonstrating distinct directorial vision while the 10 films of the Metropolis Competition are dedicated to stories set in New York City.
Winner’s Circle highlights 8 films that have won awards at Oscar-qualifying international festivals, and includes David Osit’s Mayor, Elizabeth Lo’s Stray, Radu Ciorniciuc’s Acasa, My Home, and Katrine Philp’s Beautiful Something Left Behind.
Other returning sections include Masters, offering a spotlight on the newest work from nonfiction auteurs like Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (9to5: The Story of a Movement), and Errol Morris (My Psychedelic Love Story); national and global takes in American Perspectives and International Perspectives, and thematic sections Investigations (thought-provoking investigative nonfiction), Fight the Power (activism), Portraits (profiling singular individuals), Jock Docs(sports), Behind the Scenes (films and television), Arts & Culture (the arts), and Sonic Cinema (on music). DOC NYC also puts a special Spotlight on Canada this year, celebrating work by Canadian filmmakers, co-presented by the Consulate General of Canada in New York.
Short-form content is represented by the festival’s Shorts Competition (43 films in 8 thematic programs) and DOC NYC U (46 films representing student work from 7 NYC schools).
“We are proud to support the 11th annual DOC NYC Film Festival, which this year will allow viewers nat
ionwide to enjoy more than 200 documentary films online, including a number of international premieres,” said Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Anne del Castillo. “Documentary filmmakers are an integral part of NYC’s creative economy and production community, and their ability to capture and communicate the human condition is so important during these challenging times.”
