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DOC NYC · 2025

DOC NYC 2025

Short List: Features

Programme

15 films · 10 reviews

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2000 Meters To Andriivka

Review preview for 2000 Meters To Andriivka

The smoke, the blasts, the spinning of ejecting shell casings, yells that become cries, the front-line as it becomes frantic.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realise that this war may never end.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2025; Director: Mstyslav Chernov)

Full review

Apocalypse In The Tropics

Examination of the rise of the far right in Brazil.

(Country: Brazil, US, Denmark; Year: 2024; Director: Petra Costa, Moara Passoni; Writer: Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, David Barker, Nels Bangerter, Tina Baz, Moara Passoni; Stars: Petra Costa, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Jair Bolsonaro, Silas Malafaia, Michelle Bolsonaro, Elizete Malafaia, Oscar Niemeyer)

Coexistence, My Ass!

Review preview for Coexistence, My Ass!

Successfully finds insight and social commentary

Jeremy Mathews · 3.5 out of 5
Comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi creates a personal and political one-woman show about the struggle for equality in Israel/Palestine. When the elusive coexistence she’s spent her life working toward starts sounding like a bad joke, she challenges her audiences with hard truths that are no laughing matter.

(Country: US, France; Year: 2025; Director: Amber Fares; Writer: Rachel Leah Jones, Rabab Haj Yahya; Stars: Noam Shuster-Eliassi)

Full review

Come See Me In The Good Light

Review preview for Come See Me In The Good Light

Gibson’s modesty about language is among the film’s most moving qualities

Edin Custo · 4.5 out of 5
Two poets, one incurable cancer diagnosis. Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley go on an unexpectedly funny and poignant journey through love, life, and mortality.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Ryan White; Stars: Andrea Gibson, Megan Falley)

Full review

Cover-Up

A documentary about the life and work of the journalist Seymour Hersh.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus; Stars: Seymour Hersh)

Cutting Through Rocks

Review preview for Cutting Through Rocks

The idea of her as a lone voice is emphasised by striking cinematography, often of her riding her bike across the landscape, which has the wide-open quality of a western.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
As the first elected councilwoman of her Iranian village, Sara Shahverdi aims to break long-held patriarchal traditions by training teenage girls to ride motorcycles and stopping child marriages. When accusations arise questioning Sara’s intentions to empower the girls, her identity is put in turmoil.

(Country: Qatar, Chile, Iran, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, US; Year: 2025; Director: Mohammad Reza Eyni, Sara Khaki)

Full review See: Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki on the challenges of shooting and distributing Cutting Through Rocks

Heightened Scrutiny

Amid the surge in anti-trans legislation that Chase Strangio battles in the courtroom, he must also fight against media bias, exposing how the narratives in the press influence public perception and the fight for transgender rights.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Sam Feder; Stars: Chase Strangio)

Mistress Dispeller

Review preview for Mistress Dispeller

A film that is built upon patience and which takes a philosophical rather than judgmental stance.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband's affair.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Elizabeth Lo; Writer: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen, Elizabeth Lo)

Full review

Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Review preview for Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Despite the depressing nature of what’s happening at the school, Talankin’s affection for his students and his resilient sense of humour ensure that the film is always engaging.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
As Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, primary schools across Russia’s hinterlands are transformed into recruitment stages for the war. Facing the ethical dilemma of working in a system defined by propaganda and violence, a brave teacher goes undercover to film what’s really happening in his own school.

(Country: Czechia, Denmark; Year: 2025; Director: David Borenstein, Pavel Ilyich Talankin; Writer: David Borenstein)

Full review

My Mom Jayne

Mariska Hargitay was three years old when her mother, Jayne Mansfield, tragically died in a car accident at the age of 34, now the Law & Order: SVU actress considers her mothers public and private legacy.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Mariska Hargitay; Stars: Mariska Hargitay, Jayne Mansfield, Zoltan Hargitay, Mickey Hargitay Jr., Ellen Hargitay, Rusty Strait)

Orwell: 2+2=5

Review preview for Orwell: 2+2=5

Offers food for thought in the realm of a slightly ungainly and sprawling all-you-can-eat buffet rather than a satisfying sit-down feast.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Delves deep into Orwell’s final months and visionary works to explore the roots of the vital and troubling concepts he revealed to the world in his dystopian masterpiece… Doublethink, Thoughtcrime, Newspeak, the omnipresent spectre of Big Brother… disturbing socio-political truths which resonate ever-more powerfully today.

(Country: France, US; Year: 2025; Director: Raoul Peck; Stars: Narrated by, Damien Lewis)

Full review

The Perfect Neighbor

Review preview for The Perfect Neighbor

The film is a triumph of editing by Viridiana Lieberman, in terms of storytelling

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A seemingly minor neighbourhood dispute in Florida escalates into deadly violence. Police bodycam footage and investigative interviews expose the consequences of Florida’s 'stand your ground' laws.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Geeta Gandbhir)

Full review

Predators

To Catch A Predator was a popular television show designed to hunt down child predators and lure them to a film set, where they would be interviewed and eventually arrested. An exploration of the scintillating rise and staggering fall of the show and the world it helped create.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: David Osit)

Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk

Review preview for Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk

The film doesn’t answer every common question that people have in this situation, but it does provide some context.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A glimpse of everyday reality for people living in Gaza in 2024.

(Country: Iran, France, Palestine; Year: 2025; Director: Sepideh Farsi)

Full review

The Tale Of Silyan

Review preview for The Tale Of Silyan

Kotevska leans into the metaphor with the full force of a Disney film – but it is hardly inappropriate given the state of many modern farming communities who find their livelihoods dwindling and their younger family members forced to fly the nest in a bid to provide for their own children.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A farmer's bond with a white stork intertwines with North Macedonian folklore.

(Country: Macedonia; Year: 2025; Director: Tamara Kotevska)

Full review