WORLD PREMIERE In Clarkston, a small town in Georgia, a successful Kurdish doctor and a Muslim-hating white supremacist form an unlikely friendship. Against the backdrop of an exceptionally racially- diverse community, themes of xenophobia, Islamophobia, and forgiveness play out in an intimate and accessible way. Directors Din Blankenship and Erin Bernhard put the focus on […]
US PREMIERE Materna, Italy, where Pasolini filmed the recreation of the life of Jesus, is the location for an updated reenactment entitled The New Gospel, a film gracefully blending art and activism. “Jesus was a social revolutionary,” says award-winning documentarian Milo Rau. With Cameroonian political activist Yvan Sagnet cast as Jesus, the film takes us […]
US PREMIERE In the hopes of making it to the US, a group of Cuban migrants enters Colombia by way of the treacherous Darién Gap jungle to reach Panama, where they wait in the limbo of a makeshift camp, uncertain of deportation. Cuban director Marcel Beltrán intersperses his filmed visits with migrants’ own cell phone […]
This block explores grief and how we grapple with loss. (Total Running Time: 91 MIN) 3:07 | Director: Megan Miller A personal expression of transformation, as a mother turns her grief and silence around a stillbirth into an expression of remembrance. – Elyse Wang (UK, 12 MIN) The Final Touch | Director: Claire Maske A […]
The three-semester News and Documentary Graduate Program at NYU Journalism prepares students to be independent in the field and to shoot and edit a documentary on their own. We are a blend of rigorous journalism and film aesthetic. These three documentaries represent the variety of topics, approaches, and styles we encourage. The stories were shot […]
US PREMIERE Despite imprisonment, journalist Khadija Ismayilova courageously exposes the intricate corruption tactics of the families ruling Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. Their dictatorships violate multiple human rights and launder public funds. Ismayilova strips the regimes of their democratic veneers to reveal their use of “caviar diplomacy”—e.g. American pop stars, six-figure cash gifts, and five-star hotel […]
New York Film Academy Documentary Department students learn to make films by making films. Hands-on Conservatory and bicoastal MFA programs pair rigorous instruction with close mentoring by a distinguished faculty including Bob Eisenhardt (Free Solo), Claudia Raschke (RBG), and Randy Dottin (the Chicago TV franchise), who support both beginners and professionals from around the globe […]
The New School Documentary Media Studies program provides an opportunity to study the theory and practice of documentary filmmaking in a small, tightly focused program. The program culminates in an end-of-the year film festival, Truth Be Told, which is open to the public and features Q&As with student filmmakers and faculty. Graduates earn a certificate […]
NYC Premiere: For centuries, Dalits, deemed untouchable within Hinduism’s caste hierarchy, have been denied access to education. Amidst rising Hindu nationalism, Dalit women fight the double-edged sword of caste and patriarchy as they manage Khabar Lahariya, India’s only newspaper run by women. Described as a “rousing and inspirational tribute” by Variety, Writing with Fire traverses […]
US PREMIERE Museums continue to be guardians of the politics of colonization; whether by whitewashing the plunder of artefacts from the global south or from being sponsored by neocolonial corporations that continue to exploit human lives. Continuing in the vein of his earlier film Enjoy Poverty, Renzo Martens tries imagining a utopia where the subaltern […]