NYC PREMIERE A casualty of the digital revolution, Polaroid instant film and cameras were meant to fade quietly into oblivion when the company stopped production in 2008. Following three enthusiasts bent on keeping the instant dream alive, director Willem Baptist takes viewers on a hallucinatory quest to discover the secret chemical formula for Polaroid film. […]
WORLD PREMIERE Acclaimed photographer Jay Maisel bought a six-story, 72-room building on the Bowery in 1966. Ever since, the site has served as his home, studio and repository for a breathtaking collection of items that inspires his photographic work. But now it must be emptied out following its sale in the largest private real estate […]
NYC PREMIERE Escaping the harsh winters of the Northeast for the perpetual sun of Florida, Miami Beach became a regular vacation destination for New York’s Jewish community after WWII. By the 1970s, many retired there, transforming Miami Beach into a veritable shtetl. The Last Resort revisits this sunburned paradise through the ambitious and captivating work […]
WORLD PREMIERE Nobody loved New York as much as Harold Feinstein, as evidenced through his extraordinary portraits of ordinary New Yorkers. Working in lush black-and-white 35mm film, Feinstein, a stellar yet under-recognized photographer, captures the beauty, joy and diversity of NYC’s greatest treasure, its people. With an emphasis on New Yorkers at play in his […]
WORLD PREMIERE Born to a family of celebrated fashion photographers, and with a terminal disease that gave him a fearless approach to life and art, Davide Sorrenti took 1990s New York City by storm. Possessed of natural talent and tuned in to youth culture, he landed magazine spreads in Interview while still a teen. As […]
This program presents two films appearing in our Short List: Shorts section recognizing some of the top documentary shorts films of the year. THE GIRL AND THE PICTURE DIR: Vanessa Roth 80 years ago, Xia Shuqin witnessed the murder of her family during the Nanjing Massacre. The Girl and the Picture uncovers how an American […]
NYC PREMIERE Romance traditionally has been the domain of humans. Silicone Soul, however, shows it is possible between men and the life-size dolls. Disarmingly candid interviews highlight the bonds formed between synthetic beings and lonely souls who have struggled to find the “one,” while other subjects profiled reveal unexpected attachments to eerily lifelike dolls. Melody […]
NYC PREMIERE Joel-Peter Witkin is a celebrated photographer, known for dark tableaux full of disturbing images. His identical twin brother Jerome is an equally acclaimed figurative painter, whose work explores sociohistorical themes. These two gifted artists rarely communicate with one another, maintaining separate lives despite their shared upbringing. Told almost entirely by the women in their […]
NYC PREMIERE Executive produced by Jesse Eisenberg and directed by DOC NYC alumnus Jeremy Workman (Magical Universe), The World Before Your Feet is at once a love letter to New York City and a reminder of the joy and wonder of discovery, as experienced by a man on a personal, if inexplicable, mission. For more than six […]
New York, NY. It’s a helluva town. The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi uses humor to tackle anti-Muslim sentiment in The Accidental Activist (USA, 7 min., Samia Khan). Footprint (USA, 18 min., Sara Newens) turns a contemplative lens on the World Trade Center memorial. Bob, The Sheriff of Goodtimes (USA, 13 min., Brad Hinkle) journeys through […]