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Festival coverage

DOC NYC

8 November – 16 November 2023

The 14th annual festival will run from November 8 to 16 in person and then online in the US. This page is currently a work in progress as we input titles, so please check back.

Other years (12)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Merchant Ivory
    Review preview for Merchant Ivory

    Whether you’re a fan of the company’s work specifically or simply interested in the history of cinema, this portrait of its longest-lasting partnership will delight and entertain you.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    The story of cinema's longest lasting partnership.
  • The Contestant
    Review preview for The Contestant

    An intriguing piece of work which probes the psychology of contestant, producers and viewers alike.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    The story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing.
  • In The Rearview
    Review preview for In The Rearview

    Beyond the stories that unfold within the vehicle, the tension of these journeys, often on dirt tracks in rural areas, is brought home.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    This fly-on-the-wall film captures Ukrainians as they are forced to leave their homes and drive into the unknown.
  • The Home Game
    Review preview for The Home Game

    Even non-football fans are likely to find themselves won over almost immediately by this tale of one team’s determination against the odds.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A man becomes determined to realise his dad's dream of taking their small-town football club to the Icelandic FA Cup and playing a home game.
  • American Symphony
    Review preview for American Symphony

    Batiste and Jaouad are intensely grounded – they have to be – and as such, their humour and their joy have greater weight.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    In 2022, musician Jon Batiste finds himself the most celebrated artist of the year and embarks on composing an original symphony. The year grows more complicated when his life partner, best-selling author Suleika Jaouad, learns that her long-dormant cancer has returned.
  • Four Daughters
    Review preview for Four Daughters

    The exposure of the film’s underlying structures...invites audiences to think about the processes of storytelling and interpretation, which is important, because it’s a story which took the missing women away.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A creative documentary following ten years in the life of a fortysomething Tunisian mother, a cleaning lady from a poor environment, who sees her two teenage daughters become radicalised, run away and join the terrorist organisation Daesh in Libya.
  • The Barber Of Little Rock
    Review preview for The Barber Of Little Rock

    He’s not the first African American person to think like this, of course, and though the film does not elaborate on the history of such efforts, it makes room for him to express his concerns.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    The story of the racial wealth gap in the US, and one man's efforts to bring about change.
  • 20 Days In Mariupol
    Review preview for 20 Days In Mariupol

    Oscar shortlisted for Best International Feature and Best Documentary, this is an intense film with little respite even when no bullets are being fired.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war’s atrocities.
  • Apolonia, Apolonia
    Review preview for Apolonia, Apolonia

    Glob confesses that she initially thought of Apolonia’s life as a fairy tale, something more like fiction than reality, but over the course of 13 long years she comes to recognise not only the humanity of her subject, but her own.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Portrait of larger-than-life visual artist Apolonia Sokol.
  • The Mother Of All Lies
    Review preview for The Mother Of All Lies

    Everything about El Moudir’s film is unusual, from the structure to the mood.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    The filmmaker doesn’t have any pictures of herself as a child. This is the starting point of a documentary investigation that unfolds the secrets of a Casablanca family.

A–Z of DOC NYC 2023 reviews

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