For decades, the life of American jazz musician Billy Tipton was framed as the sensationalistic story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. Now that history gets re-interrogated by trans artists as they try to reimagine Tipton’s life through acts of performance, reclaiming him as a trans icon. […]
A whirlwind of a life takes Stan Brock to the Amazonian ranches of South America and around the world as a nature-television presenter. An incident at his hacienda in Guyana spurs the Englishman to pursue his true life’s work: providing healthcare to those in need. In this profile, Brock fights for Americans’ right to healthcare, […]
US PREMIERE | After 45 years together, 69-year-old Jola finally is able to separate from her abusive, alcoholic husband. Leaving him behind in Italy, she returns to her native Poland, reunites with old friends, and begins to live life for herself—going to the beach, taking singing lessons, and attending a Latin dance class. There, she […]
WORLD PREMIERE | Director Noah Hutton embarks on a 10-year project following a visionary neuroscientist’s quest to build a computer simulation of a brain. With unprecedented access to the inner workings of a multimillion-dollar scientific project led by Henry Markram and a roster of characters that involves the who’s who of neuroscience, the audience is led […]
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky (Winter on Fire, DOC NYC 2015) looks at the pressing challenges of the 21st century through the eyes of Pope Francis. Born in Argentina, Francis is the first leader of the Catholic Church to come from the Americas and the Jesuit order. His teachings bring a progressive take on issues like […]
Runner Up: Audience Award DOC NYC 2020 WORLD PREMIERE | After stints as a contributor to CNN and MTV, Sian-Pierre Regis makes his directing debut with this poignant story about his immigrant mother, Rebecca Danigelis. At the age of 75, she’s fired from her lifelong job as a hotel housekeeper. She has scant savings after supporting two […]
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE Chilean-born performer and writer Iván Monalisa fully embraces his dual selves: scrappy, masculine Iván as well as diva, transvestite sex-worker Monalisa. A reunion with filmmaker Nicole Costa, Iván’s former college classmate, provides the opportunity for a journey through this undocumented transgender immigrant’s daily life of sex, drugs and poetry—as well as a quest for […]
NYC PREMIEREAward-winning filmmaker Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze) profiles the legendary Middle East journalist Robert Fisk, known for his books Pity the Nation and The Great War for Civilization. Now in his 70s, Fisk remains vital and intrepid. The film follows him on contemporary reporting missions from Syria to Bosnia, while also looking back on […]
NYC PREMIERE Mo Scarpelli’s creative documentary focuses on a lonely, imaginative Ethiopian boy named Asalif. Displaced by condo developments, Asalif and his mother struggle to make ends meet. With sweeping camera work and light-filled frames, the film gently probes the young boy’s interior world as he processes isolation and displacement. Creating an alternative identity as a […]
NYC PREMIERE Karen Marshall is a respected therapist who specializes in the treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder, a condition formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, often linked to a history of childhood abuse. Karen has a unique perspective on the disorder, as she juggles 17 personalities of her own. Director Olga Lvoff sensitively explores the […]