Skip to main content

DOC NYC · 2021

DOC NYC 2021

Short List: Features

Programme

15 films · 9 reviews

Jump to a film

Ascension

Review preview for Ascension

From the first shot of a uniformed member of a cleaning team walking the tiled lip of a rooftop infinity pool this is the edge of image, the thing unseen.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Documentary portrait of the "Chinese Dream" - a contemporary vision of a China that prioritises productivity and innovation above all

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Jessica Kingdon)

Full review

Attica

Consideration of the largest prison uprising in US history, at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York in 1971.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Traci Curry, Stanley Nelson; Writer: Stanley Nelson)

Becoming Cousteau

Review preview for Becoming Cousteau

The clothes they wear make you swoon and the colourised underwater images do the rest to transport us into a magical world.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Profile of the undersea explorer.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Liz Garbus; Writer: Mark Monroe, Pax Wassermann; Stars: Jacques-Yves Cousteau)

Full review

Bring Your Own Brigade

A character-driven verité and revelatory investigation takes us on a journey embedded with firefighters and residents on a mission to understand the causes of historically large wildfires and how to survive them, discovering that the solution has been here all along.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Lucy Walker; Writer: Lucy Walker)

Faya Dayi

Review preview for Faya Dayi

Beshir keeps an eye on the natural environment as well as the sociopolitics, including the oppression of the Oromo people, while allowing a mythic element concerning the hunt for the water of life to flow alongside.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A spiritual journey into the highlands of Harar, immersed in the rituals of khat, a leaf Sufi Muslims chewed for centuries for religious meditations – and Ethiopia’s most lucrative cash crop today. A tapestry of intimate stories offers a window into the dreams of youth under a repressive regime.

(Country: Ethiopia, US; Year: 2021; Director: Jessica Beshir; Writer: Jessica Beshir)

Full review See: Interview with Jessica Bashir about Faya Dayi

Flee

Review preview for Flee

By animating the whole movie, Rasmussen makes the story feel more immersive and of a whole piece.

Jeremy Mathews · 3.5 out of 5
Amin arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Denmark from Afghanistan. Today, he is a successful academic and is getting married to his long-time boyfriend. A secret he has been hiding for 20 years threatens to ruin the life he has built.

(Country: Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway; Year: 2021; Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen; Writer: Jonas Poher Rasmussen)

Full review

Homeroom

Following the class of 2020 at Oakland High School in a year marked by seismic change, exploring the emotional world of teenagers coming of age against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Peter Nicks)

Introducing, Selma Blair

A portrait of the actress after she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and tries to try to slow the progression of her disease.

(Year: 2021; Director: Rachel Fleit)

In The Same Breath

Review preview for In The Same Breath

This isn’t just a tale of Chinese manipulation, however, as Wang goes on to show how America, too, played down the story initially, in ways that chillingly mirror what happened in Wuhan.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
How did the Chinese government turn pandemic cover-ups in Wuhan into a triumph for the Communist party? An essential narrative of first-hand accounts of the coronavirus, and a revelatory examination of how propaganda and patriotism shaped the outbreak’s course – both in China and in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Nanfu Wang)

Full review

Julia

Review preview for Julia

Julia is a film about food and about the change in attitude towards cooking one woman could spark.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
Documentary portrait of the influential TV chef.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Julie Cohen, Betsy West; Stars: José Andrés, Julia Child, André Cointreau, Susy Davidson, Barbara Fairchild, Jane Friedman, Ina Garten, Charles Gibson, Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch, Russell Morash, Sara Moulton, Jacques Pepin, Alex Pirie, Alex Prud'homme, Ruth Reichl)

Full review See: Julie Cohen in conversation on Julia, Julia Child and food preparation

Procession

Review preview for Procession

Procession gives outsiders an intimate view of the damage done by abuse. It gives survivors a chance to see that there is hope: that the pain and the panic and other debilitating symptoms can recede, and there can be a life afterwards.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A drama-therapy project working with six men in Kansas City, Missouri, who were abused by Catholic priests as children.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Robert Greene; Stars: Joe Eldred, Mike Foreman, Ed Gavagan, Dan Laurine, Michael Sandridge, Tom Viviano)

Full review

The Rescue

Documentary about the rescue of 12 young football players and their coach from a flooded cave in Thailand.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2021; Director: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; Stars: Thanet Natisri, Jim Warny, John Volanthen, Derek Anderson, Rick Stanton, Mikko Paasi, Mitch Torrel, Richard Harris, Vern Unsworth, Ruengrit Changkwanyuen, Anan Surawan, Tiger Hirankrit, Fiona Harris, Connor Roe, Jason Mallinson)

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Documentary about the chef and travel documentarian.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Morgan Neville)

Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Review preview for Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

There’s a difference between talking about something you remember and talking about something you have just watched – something to think about when you watch yet another documentary about another old white guy who has already had 15 films made about him

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America’s history lost – until now.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Questlove; Stars: Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Nina Simone, Moms Mabley, Mavis Staples, Abbey Lincoln, Mahalia Jackson, Jesse Jackson, David Ruffin, Sly and Stone the Family, Cal Tjader, Max Roach, Brothers The Chambers, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Hugh Masekela)

Full review

The Velvet Underground

Review preview for The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground will restore your belief in documentaries!

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Cinematic collage that is as much about New York of the period as it is about the rise and fall of the seminal band.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Todd Haynes; Writer: Todd Haynes; Stars: Lou Reed, John Cale, Maureen Tucker, Sterling Morrison)

Full review See: Interview with Ed Lachman about Todd Haynes, Christine Vachon, and shooting the interviews for The Velvet Underground , Ed Lachman in conversation on Songs For Drella, Lou Reed, John Cale, and The Velvet Underground