Nothing Compares by Kathryn Ferguson (pic courtesy of Sundance)
Ten docs are selected for Sundance World Cinema Doc Competition. Highlights include Calendar Girls (Sweden), The Mission (Finland), Midwives (Myanmar), Danish Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made Of Splinters and the Irish/UK Nothing Compares, about the early career of Irish songster Sinead O’Connor.
Nine films selected for US Doc Competition, plus details of documentary selections across all sections:
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
All That Breathes (Ind-UK) Dir: Shaunak Sen
Against the darkening backdrop of Delhi’s apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protect one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the Black Kite.
Calendar Girls (Swe) Dirs: Maria Loohufvud, Love Martinsen
A coming-of-golden-age look at Florida’s most dedicated dance team for women over 60, shaking up the outdated image of “the little old lady,” and calling for everyone to dance their hearts out, while they still can.
A House Made Of Splinters (Den) Dir: Simon Lereng Wilmont
In Eastern Ukraine, follow the daily life of children and staff in a special kind of home: an institution for children who have been removed from their homes while awaiting court custody decisions. Staff do their best to make the time children feel safe and supported.
Midwives (Myanmar) Dir: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Two midwives work side-by-side in a makeshift clinic in Myanmar.
The Mission (Fin) Dir: Tania Anderson
A revelation of the inner lives of young LDS missionaries, as they leave their homes for the first time and embark upon the most emotionally, physically and psychologically challenging period of their life.
Nothing Compares (Ire-UK) Dir: Kathryn Ferguson
The story of Sinéad O’Connor’s phenomenal rise to worldwide fame and subsequent exile from the pop mainstream. Focusing on Sinéad’s prophetic words and deeds from 1987 to 1993, the film reflects on the legacy of this fearless trailblazer through a contemporary feminist lens.
Sirens (Leb) Dir: Rita Baghdadi
On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and Shery, co-founders and guitarists of the Middle East’s first all-female metal band, wrestle with friendship, sexuality and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars.
Tantura (Isr) Dir: Alon Schwarz
In 1948, the State of Israel was established and civil war broke out. Hundreds of Palestinian villages were destroyed with their inhabitants killed or exiled. The film focuses on one village: Tantura, bringing to light Israel’s founding myth and its society’s inability to come to terms with its dark past
The Territory (Bra-Den-USA) Dir: Alex Pritz
When a network of Brazilian farmers seizes a protected area of the Amazon rainforest, a young Indigenous leader and his mentor must fight back in defense of the land and an uncontacted group living deep within the forest.
We Met in Virtual Reality (UK) Dir: Joe Hunting
Filmed entirely inside the world of VR, this vérité documentary captures the excitement and surprising intimacy of a burgeoning cultural movement, demonstrating the power of online connection in an isolated world.
U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Aftershock Dirs: Paula Eiselt, Tonya Lewis Lee
Following the preventable deaths of their partners due to childbirth complications, two bereaved fathers galvanise activists, birth-workers and physicians to reckon with one of the most pressing American crises of our time – the US maternal health crisis.
Descendant Dir: Margaret Brown
Clotilda, the last ship carrying enslaved Africans to the United States, arrived in Alabama 40 years after African slave trading became a capital offense. It was promptly burned, and its existence denied. After a century shrouded in secrecy and speculation, descendants of the Clotilda’s survivors are reclaiming their story.
The Exiles Dirs: Ben Klein, Violet Columbus
Documentarian Christine Choy tracks down three exiled dissidents from the Tiananmen Square massacre, in order to find closure on an abandoned film she began shooting in 1989.
Fire Of Love Dir: Sara Dosa
Intrepid scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: unraveling the mysteries of volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded. A doomed love triangle between Katia, Maurice and volcanoes, told through their archival footage.
Free Chol Soo Lee Dirs: Julie Ha, Eugene Yi
After a Korean immigrant is wrongly convicted of a 1973 San Francisco Chinatown gang murder, Asian Americans unite as never before to free Chol Soo Lee. A former street hustler becomes the symbol for a landmark movement. But once out, he self-destructs, threatening the movement’s legacy and the man himself.
I Didn’t See You There Dir: Reid Davenport
Spurred by the spectacle of a circus tent that goes up outside his Oakland apartment, a disabled filmmaker launches into an unflinching meditation on freakdom, (in)visibility, and the pursuit of individual agency.
The Janes Dirs: Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes
In the spring of 1972, police raided an apartment on Chicago’s South Side. Seven women were arrested. The accused were part of a clandestine network. Using codenames, blindfolds and safe houses, they built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions. They called themselves JANE.
Jihad Rehab Dir: Meg Smaker
A group of Al-Qaeda members are transferred from Guantanamo to a secretive rehabilitation center for Islamic extremists.
TikTok, Boom Dir: Shalini Kantayya
With TikTok now crowned the world’s most downloaded app, these are the personal stories of a cultural phenomenon, told through an ensemble cast of Gen-Z natives, journalists and experts alike. This film seeks to answer, ‘why is an app, best known for people dancing, the target of so much controversy?’
NEXT
Framing Agnes (Can-USA) Dir: Chase Joynt
After discovering case files from a 1950s gender clinic, a cast of transgender actors turn a talk show inside out to confront the legacy of a young trans woman forced to choose between honesty and access.
Mija Dir: Isabel Castro
Doris Muñoz is a young, ambitious music manager whose undocumented family depends on her ability to launch pop stars. When she loses her biggest client, Doris hustles to discover new talent and finds Jacks, another daughter of immigrants for whom “making it” isn’t just a dream: it’s a necessity.
Riotsville, USA Dir: Sierra Pettengill
Welcome to Riotsville, a fictional town built by the US military. Using footage shot by the media and government, the film explores the militarisation of the police and the reaction of a nation to the uprisings of the late ’60s, creating a counter-narrative to a critical moment in American history.
PREMIERES
2nd Chance Dir: Ramin Bahrani
Bankrupt pizzeria owner Richard Davis invented the modern-day bulletproof vest. To prove that it worked, he shot himself 192 times. He launched a multi-million-dollar company and became a cult figure among police. Davis’ rise and fall reveals a man of contradictions and the nature of power and impunity in America.
Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power Dir: Nina Menkes
Based on Nina Menkes’ acclaimed talk ‘Sex & Power: The Visual Language of Cinema’, a mesmerising journey into how shot design intersects with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse/ assault and employment discrimination against women. Containing over 175 film clips, this will unalterably change the way we view and make movies.
Downfall: The Case Against Boeing Dir: Rory Kennedy
An investigation of the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people, exploring both the root causes and the human cost. At once a chilling portrait of a crumbling corporate culture and a fierce indictment of Wall Street’s corrupting influence.
jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy Dirs: Clarence “Coodie” Simmons, Chike Ozah
Kanye West in three acts. The story beyond the iconic music, an intimate and empathetic chronicle featuring never-before-seen footage from 21 years in the life of a captivating figure.
La Guerra Civil (UK) Dir: Eva Longoria Bastón
The epic rivalry between iconic boxers Oscar De La Hoya and Julio César Chávez in the 1990s sparked a cultural divide between Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans. A chronicle of a battle that was more than a boxing rivalry, and examines a fascinating slice of the Latino experience in the process.
Lucy And Desi Dir: Amy Poehler
Lucille Ball had an immense influence on the creation of TV syndication, as she rose to become a true entrepreneur and multi-faceted mogul. Through interviews and archival, a tribute to one of the greatest trailblazers in comedy and entertainment.
The Princess (UK) Dir: Ed Perkins
Princess Diana’s story is told exclusively through contemporaneous archive creating a bold and immersive narrative of her life and death. Turning the camera back on ourselves, it also illuminates the profound impact she had and how the public’s attitude to the monarchy was, and still is, shaped by these events.
To The End Dir: Rachel Lears
Stopping the climate crisis is a question of political courage, and the clock is ticking. Over three years of turbulence and crisis, four remarkable young women of color fight for a Green New Deal, and ignite a historic shift in U.S. climate politics.
We Need To Talk About Cosby Dir: W. Kamau Bell
Can you separate the art from the artist? Should you even try? While there are many people about whom we could ask those questions, none pose a tougher challenge than Bill Cosby.
MIDNIGHT
Meet Me In The Bathroom (UK) Dirs: Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace
An immersive journey through the New York music scene of the early 2000s. Set against the backdrop of 9/11, the film tells the story of how a new generation kickstarted a musical rebirth for New York City that reverberated around the world. Inspired by the book by Lizzy Goodman.
SPOTLIGHT
Three Minutes – A Lengthening (Neth) Dir: Bianca Stigter
Three minutes of footage are the only moving images known of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk in Poland before the Holocaust. An examination of that film — in color, random, full of life — reveals historical and personal dimensions. Narrated by Helena Bonham Carter.
SPECIAL SCREENING
Last Flight Home Dir: Ondi Timoner
An examination of Eli Timoner’s intentional death and his family’s emotional turmoil as they grapple with his decision to end his own life. The family journeys back through Eli’s remarkable, painful life to discover what true love looks like and help him shed shame he’s carried for forty years.
INDIE EPISODIC
Instant Life Dirs: Mark Becker, Aaron Schock
Destitute without electricity and running water, Yolanda Signorelli Von Braunhut has lost control of her late husband Harold’s iconic Amazing Live Sea Monkeys novelty. Yet she alone knows their secret formula, and from her crumbling estate on the Potomac, Yolanda wages legal and existential battles to fully win them back.
