NYC PREMIERE A village in Japan populates its empty town with scarecrows to keep its aging inhabitants company. A quiet look into how a community lives, dies, and must ultimately adapt to changing times. – Elyse Wang This screening will be followed by a Q&A with Director Dan Hodgson and Producer Julia Alcamo. This film is […]
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 […]
NYC PREMIERE From belly dancing to synchronized swimming and golf: everything that a pensioner’s heart desires is offered at The Villages, the world’s largest retirement community. Valerie Blankenbyl’s enthralling and amusing portrait of the fastest growing “town” in the US—soon to be four times the size of Manhattan—explores its complexities and contradictions while shedding light […]
NYC PREMIERE Chock- full of rich archival footage of old Philadelphia and NYC, this everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-automats film is a lighthearted trip through the history of Horn & Hardart’s iconic and innovative eateries. Led by the irrepressible Mel Brooks, the film also features an impressive roster of celebrities (Colin Powell, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Carl Reiner, to name […]
US PREMIERE A peek into the vibrant lives of an assortment of centenarians from across the globe—an antique seller, a practicing physician, a former comedian, a drummer, a farmer, and a sex therapist. Filmmaker Heddy Honigmann shares the stories, histories, and life philosophies of these delightful, active, sharp-minded elders. In our youth-obsessed culture, this engaging […]
Filmmaker Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson, DOC NYC 2016) creates an inventive and emotional portrait of her widowed father, Dick, an 86-year-old psychiatrist. When he shows early signs of losing memory, Kirsten enlists him in a playful project to confront his mortality with a sense of humor. They stage fictional scenarios with a macabre sense of humor […]
In the lush pastoral hills of Eastern Bosnia, two old women share solitude. The care they have for each other is not composed of words, but rather their daily conduct. They are in a conversation with the land, welcoming the voices of nature, and the songs of a memory that is dying out. This […]
Presented in three programs, DOC NYC’s Short List for Shorts highlights 12 documentary shorts that impress us as the year’s leading awards contenders. Now Is the Time | Director: Christopher Auchter On the 50th anniversary of the first new totem pole raising on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter […]
In Chile, private investigator Romulo is hired to investigate the possible mistreatment of a resident in a retirement home. His secret weapon: Sergio, an 83-year-old who infiltrates the home as a new resident and undercover spy. As Sergio tries to learn the tricks of the espionage trade to fulfill his mission, he becomes increasingly involved […]
The white Alba truffle is the most expensive–and elusive–ingredient in the world. Found only in the forests of Northern Italy, its secrets have been guarded for generations by a select group of older Italian men and their canine companions: the truffle hunters. Filmmakers Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw enter their singular world, discovering truly one-of-a-kind […]