THE DAO OF THAO

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE When living openly often meant losing family, employment, or community, underground lesbian helplines across Ireland offered women something radical: someone who would listen. Drawing from handwritten call logs, archival material, dramatic recreations, and the memories of former volunteers, Lesbian Lines resurrects a network of care forged amid profound social repression. Poetic and emotionally resonant, the film bridges generations to preserve an overlooked queer history, celebrating listening as an act of solidarity, and the connections that helped women survive and find one another. - Ruth Somalo

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Cara Holmes.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

NYC PREMIERE In a tiny school in Busan, 20 students are learning to step out into the light after being made invisible. The teenagers are children of defectors who have escaped from North Korea to South Korea, leading considerably ostracized lives. Director Jeremy Workman, known for Secret Mall Apartment, shows how the school becomes an in-between space where the children are allowed to bloom without buckling under the weight of stigma—a space to cultivate identity, resilience, and possibility. - Bedatri D. Choudhury

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director/producer Jeremy Workman.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

WORLD PREMIERE As a young man eager for adventure, Jason Eftink broke his neck in a devastating skiing accident. With support from his mother and community, he built a new life despite profound challenges. Following 30 years rife with pain, procedures, and physical decline, Jason decides to end his life. Forever, For Now follows him as unexpected circumstances make that decision far more complicated than he imagined. - Brandon Harrison

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director/producer/editor Will Wertz, producer Matt Spear, and editor Amelia Kramer.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

NYC PREMIERE Rachelle persuades her fiercely America-loving, Haitian-born father, Edouard, to restore his Haitian nationality so she can seek dual citizenship. Together they navigate bureaucracy, rediscover family ties, and reignite a love for the country Edouard left behind. As a backdrop for their playful, spirited relationship, a Haiti of beauty, complexity, and charm emerges along the way. This feel-good portrait, brimming with humor and heart, delivers a timely exploration of diaspora, belonging, and the bonds that endure across generations. - Karen McMullen

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Rachelle Salnave, cinematographer Marc Baptiste, and director of photography Estaïlove St-Val.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.

NYC PREMIERE Irish filmmaker Sinead O’Shea returns to DOC NYC with a provocative portrait of American millionaire heir James “Fergie” Cox Chambers, who renounced his family’s fortune for communist ideals—while remaining a multimillionaire who uses money to control and “help” others. From funding an intentional community to orchestrating vandalism of weapons manufacturers and fleeing the U.S., his actions continually expose the contradictions of wealth, power and ideology. - Jaie Laplante

The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Sinead O'Shea.

All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center can also provide a T-Coil loop for compatible devices.