NYC PREMIERE It began with a botched circumcision: Acclaimed author Gary Shteyngart tells his story of immigration, manhood, and seeking treatment for his physical trauma. – Anita Raswant Both screenings will be followed by a Q&A with filmmakers and special guests. All in-person screening venues provide sound amplification headphones upon request with venue management. IFC Center […]
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE A young ultra-Orthodox woman documents her family’s struggle to secure support for their beloved autistic son. Henya Brodbeker takes us inside her world with an arresting vulnerability as she finds herself questioning her partnership with her husband, her relationship to her faith, and her place in the world. Henya and her husband’s determination […]
NYC PREMIERE As each generation ages, the need to record family history before it is forever lost increases in urgency. Filmmaker Beth Lane’s maternal family tree held a truly extraordinary story of an entire family of seven siblings who escaped Nazi Germany and managed to stay together until reaching safety in America. Told with wit, […]
NYC PREMIERE At the age of 19, Jewish soldier Nathan Hilu was assigned to guard Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. He went on to channel his memories into compellingly manic, childlike art, aka “Nathan-ism,” which this film brings to life through vivid animations. Now in his 90s and living in NYC, Hilu is […]
WORLD PREMIERE Norman Mailer, a towering figure in American literature, had a life that was certainly stranger than fiction. From his formative years in Brooklyn, through his career as a preeminent cultural voice, we follow Mailer’s life through 6 marriages, 9 children, 11 bestselling books and 2 Pulitzer Prizes as he solidifies his place in the […]
Filmmaker Ondi Timoner has won two grand prizes at Sundance (for Dig! and We Live in Public) and this year receives DOC NYC’s Robert and Anne Drew Award for observational filmmaking. Her latest film is deeply personal chronicling the final days of her 92-year-old father, Eli, as he chooses to end his own life (legally, […]
WORLD PREMIERE: Beloved Tony Award®-winning actress and singer Idina Menzel’s many triumphs include iconic Broadway roles in productions of “Rent” and “Wicked” as well as the legendary voice of Elsa in Disney’s “Frozen.” Yet one dream goal has evaded her grasp: to headline a concert at the world-famous Madison Square Garden in her hometown of […]
WORLD PREMIERE Far from the unfavorable images often espoused in pop culture, today’s teens are some of the most engaged, thoughtful, creative, courageous, and self-aware of any era. Filmmaker and middle-school educator Alexis Neophytides gifts us this survey of thirteen-year-olds from across the globe as they navigate the joys and complexities of that seminal age. […]
WORLD PREMIERE Chelly Wilson was a Christmas-celebrating Jewish grandma, a lesbian who married men, and a proud owner of porn theaters in 1970s NYC. Through audio recordings, Chelly recounts her pre-war escape from Greece up through her unlikely motherhood and rise to wealth as a shrewd businesswoman on “The Deuce,” aka New York’s infamous 42nd […]
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE With every outbreak in the epidemic of gun violence we are left to wonder: what would we do if a mass shooting breaks out where we are? Filmmaker Tal Inbar helps us imagine the unthinkable by skillfully weaving together raw footage from closed-circuit cameras at the infamous 2016 terrorist attack in Tel […]