Ava DuVernay (Selma, Queen Sugar) explores troubling links between race and incarceration in America. The film’s title refers to the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery in 1865, but with the loophole clause ‘except as a punishment for crime.’ In lively interviews across the political spectrum – including Michelle Alexander, Angela Davis, […]
Director Dawn Porter made the 2013 Short List with her film Gideon’s Army. This year, she’s back at DOC NYC to receive the Robert and Anne Drew Award at the Visionaries Tribute. Her latest film Trapped focuses on two Southern reproductive-health clinics struggling to stay open against a wave of anti-choice legislation. One is Whole Woman’s […]
James Baldwin left behind notes for an unfinished book about three martyrs of civil rights: Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Medgar Evers. Now filmmaker Raoul Peck (Lumumba) draws upon Baldwin’s unseen text and his other writings to craft this stunning film essay that connects their crusades to today. The poetry and precision of […]
Winner of the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear, Fire at Sea takes an observational look at the waves of refugees landing on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa. Renowned filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi has long been celebrated in Europe (winning the Venice Film Festival for his film Sacro GRA) and his reputation is […]
US PREMIERE Together, Anoosh and Arash are Blade & Beard, a pair of techno DJs known for throwing raves in the desert. But they live in Iran, so their scene is underground, their events are secret and they have to stay one step ahead of their repressive country’s morality police or risk imprisonment. Just as […]
NYC PREMIERE After a two-year period during which numerous women were reported missing in Cleveland’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood, a reported rape leads police to a grisly discovery: a serial killer, operating virtually in plain sight. Why had police failed to investigate the missing-persons cases? Why did neighbors turn a blind eye to the killer’s activities? […]
NYC PREMIERE As part of a $586 billion infrastructure development plan, the Chinese government begins building the massive Xu-Huai Highway. Director Zhang Zanbo provides an in-depth look at the impact of the corruption-filled project in rural Hunan province. Representing the subcontracted construction company, professional problem solver Mr. Meng must contend with the complaints of displaced […]
10th Anniversary screening. In the enthralling, and often surprisingly funny, Cannes award-winning Sisters in Law, two fierce and feisty women challenge tradition to make a difference in Cameroon law. Prosecutor Vera Ngassa and judge Beatrice Ntuba give long-silenced women their day in court, empowering them to cast off the roles of victims and demand justice. […]
Having previously investigated rape in the military in the Oscar-nominated The Invisible War, Kirby Dick turns his attention to another insidious bastion of sexual assaults: the college campus. While 20 percent of female college students experience sexual violence, few report the crime, and their perpetrators typically suffer no consequences. The Hunting Ground lays bare the […]
Malala Yousafzai gained world attention at age 15 when she spoke out for girls’ education from her home in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and survived being shot in the head by Taliban militants. Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) gives a close-up portrait of this strong-willed teenager and her family. The title’s “he” refers to […]