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DOC NYC · 2023

DOC NYC 2023

Short List: Features

Programme

14 films · 8 reviews

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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.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2023; Director: Mstyslav Chernov)

Full review

Bobi Wine: The People's President

Review preview for Bobi Wine: The People's President

Though we spend a good part of the film inside offices or private homes, there is also a lot of footage from the streets, where passions run high.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary about how Ugandan opposition leader, activist and musical star Bobi Wine took on the regime led by Yoweri Museveni, the person who led the country for 35 years.

(Country: UK, Uganda, US; Year: 2022; Director: Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp; Stars: Bobi Wine, Barbie Kyagulanyi)

Full review

The Disappearance Of Shere Hite

Review preview for The Disappearance Of Shere Hite

This meticulously constructed film will leave you reflecting on the scale of that loss.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Shere Hite’s 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings rocked the American establishment and presaged current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy. So how did Shere Hite disappear?

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Nicole Newnham)

Full review

Every Body

Three intersex people challenge a heteronormative system of secrecy and non-consensual surgery in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Julie Cohen)

Four Daughters (Les Filles D'Olfa)

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.

(Country: Tunisia, France; Year: 2021; Director: Kaouther Ben Hania; Stars: Olfa Hamrouni, Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui, Nour Karoui, Ichrak Matar, Majd Mastoura, Hind Sabri)

Full review See: Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on Tunisia’s Oscar shortlisted Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa), three natural-born storytellers, loving clichés and colours , Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on Tunisia’s Oscar submission Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa)

Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project

Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson)

Lakota Nation Vs United States

Poet Layli Long Soldier crafts a searing portrait of her Oyate’s connection to the Black Hills, through first contact and broken treaties to the promise of the Land Back movement.

(Country: United States; Year: 2022; Director: Jesse Short Bull, Laura Tomaselli; Writer: Layli Long Soldier; Stars: Nick Tilsen, Phyllis Young, Henry Red Cloud, Krystal Two Bulls, Nick Estes, Candi Brings Plenty)

Little Richard: I Am Everything

Review preview for Little Richard: I Am Everything

For all the debt owed to Sister Rosetta Tharpe the essence here is not translation uncovered but transgression buried. That makes the decision not to further explore these hidden histories all the more surprising.

Andrew Robertson · 2.5 out of 5
This celebration of Little Richard reveals the Black queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, finally exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Lisa Cortés)

Full review

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.

(Country: Morocco, France, Qatar; Year: 2023; Director: Asmae El Moudir)

Full review

The Pigeon Tunnel

This documentary spans six decades as le Carré gives his final and most personal interview, interrupted with rare archival footage and dramatic anecdotes. It is set against the stormy Cold War backdrop that extends into the present day.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Errol Morris; Stars: John le Carré, Douglas Rankine)

Silver Dollar Road

A Black family in North Carolina has been harassed for decades by land developers attempting to take their waterfront property.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Raoul Peck; Writer: Raoul Peck)

Stamped From The Beginning

An exploration of the roots and evolution of racist concepts in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Roger Ross Williams; Writer: Mara Brock Akil, Ibram X Kendi; Stars: Alexa Rachelle Jennings, John Gazzale)

While We Watched

Review preview for While We Watched

In addition to attacks from the outside, Shukla shows the erosion from within.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A turbulent newsroom drama which intimately chronicles the working days of broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation.

(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Vinay Shukla; Writer: Reshma Ramachandran, Amaan Shaikh, Vinay Shukla; Stars: Ravish Kumar)

Full review