DOC NYC, America’s largest festival for documentaries, celebrates its 16th edition beginning Wednesday, with screenings held at venues in New York City through Nov. 20, and continuing online through Nov. 30 on demand. The festival offers more than 115 feature-length documentaries — many making their world, U.S. or New York City premieres — as well as short films. Films span a wide range of topics: immigration, family histories, dating, gun rights, the arts, cryptocurrency, the environment, fighting for the American Dream, and more. Subjects include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump litigant E. Jean Carroll, actors Oscar Isaac and Alec Baldwin, Julian Assange, and Elon Musk’s Space X. There’s even an inside look at the industry of selling Christmas trees. The festival also hosts the DOC NYC Pro Conference, examining storytelling, filmmaking techniques, funding, distribution and publicity.Gala presentationsWednesday’s opening night film is “Whistle,” which is set in one of the quirkiest of public competitions: the Masters of Musical Whistling festival in Hollywood. The closing night film is “Ask E. Jean,” a portrait of the writer and talk show host E. Jean Carroll, whose lawsuits against Donald Trump led to one of the most highly-charged outcomes of the #MeToo movement.The centerpiece films are “The Merchants of Joy,” a look at the competition that arises among sellers of Christmas trees on New York street corners; and “Steal This Story, Please!,” about the indefatigable independent journalist Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now!”Other special presentations include Rory Kennedy’s “The Trial of Alec Baldwin,” about the prosecution of the actor over the on-set shooting death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins; “Benita”, a tribute to experimental documentary filmmaker Benita Raphan, who died by suicide during the pandemic lockdown; and “Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story,” which honors the photographer, artist and activist.The social history of the Jewish community in the resorts of New York’s Catskills is remembered in the nostalgic “We Met at Grossinger’s.”Check out more of the featured offerings below.Screenings will be held at the IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika cinemas in Manhattan. Click on the links to individual films to find out about attending screenings, or to buy tickets to stream online. General ticket and pass information may be found here.U.S. competitionAmong the festival’s world premieres are “Santacon,” about a raucous annual celebration of St. Nick. In “Sons of Detroit,” filmmaker Jeremy Xido reunites with his past in Motor City, and with the African-American family that “adopted” him and his family years earlier. “Thoughts & Prayers” reflects on the sadly familiar reaction to school shootings. “The Voyage Out” follows a hunter, a tech entrepreneur and a survival expert on an expedition into the remote wilderness in search of elk.Filmmaker Khoa Ha excavates the career and legacy of her grandfather, Vietnamese musician Y Vân, in “Y Vãn: The Lost Sounds of Saigon.” Colette Ghunim examines generational trauma deriving from the immigrant experiences of her Mexican mother and Palestinian father in “Traces of Home.” In “Wayumi,” a young man reconnects with his mother, who left him when he was a child in order to return home – to an Amazonian tribe. Also showing is the North American premiere of “Mata Hari,” about the production of David Carradine’s unfinished film based on the life of the legendary spy, in which he cast his own teenage daughter, Calista, and shot over the span of 15 years.More American storiesIn “The A List: 15 Stories From Asian and Pacific Diasporas,” Connie Chung, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Kumail Nanjiani, Amanda Nguyen, Sandra Oh, and others reflect on identity in America amid rising racism. Resistance to authorities over women’s reproductive rights and autonomy comes from an unexpected source — the Amish and Mennonite communities of upstate New York — in “Arrest the Midwife.” In “Beyond,” incarcerated men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York engage in the Beyond the Block public speaking symposium, to examine ideas, dreams and hopes. Creede, a small historic mining town in Colorado, becomes a manifestation of liberal and conservative cultural clashes in “Creede U.S.A.”In “Saving Etting Street,” an innovative program to rehabilitate rowhouses in a depressed Baltimore neighborhood teaches construction skills and provides self-actualization for women to revitalize their community. The grassroots organization Black Votes Matter mobilizes ahead of the 2020 election in “Love, Joy & Power: Tools For Liberation.”Director Tadashi Nakamura looks back on the life of his father, filmmaker and activist Robert A. Nakamura, and the legacy he left his family, in “Third Act.” In “What We Inherit,” Kacim Steets Azouz, an Algerian-American filmmaker raised in Canada, explores his personal history when he discoveries his ancestors owned enslaved people, and meets the descendants of those held captive.Will the American team take top prize at the Mondial du Fromage cheesemongering competition in France? “The Big Cheese” captures the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.International stories”Zelensky,” by Yves Jeuland and Lisa Vapné, examines the life of the Ukrainian TV personality who became president and a defender of freedom against Russian aggression. A Mexican insurance adjuster trying to navigate a corrupt world seeks refuge in the art world, and is disillusioned by what he finds, in “Loss Adjustment.” To support her family, a Georgian mother turns to surrogacy in “9-Month Contract.” An activist seeks to organize poppy farmers in eastern Rajasthan in “I, Poppy.” Acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel stages a performance of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” featuring a choir of deaf Venezuelan performers, in “El Canto de las Manos.”Brazilian director João Vieira Torres traces a history of violence against the women in his family in “Aurora.” Chechens form a community-in-exile in nearby Georgia in “Imago.” Globalization and assimilation threaten the traditions of northern Nepal in “The Lama’s Son.””Fight the Power””Fight the Power” is a sidebar devoted to stories of activism. Among them: “The Age of Water,” in which women in Mexico fight for justice after radioactive materials are found in their water supply. Suporters of the American Indian Movement activist convicted of murder seek his release in “Free Leonard Peltier.” “Misan Harriman: Shoot the People” profiles a photographer of street protests. Radical female filmmakers question cinematic violence and the art form’s depiction of women in “No Mercy.” In “The Six Billion Dollar Man,” director Eugene Jarecki (“Why We Fight”) chronicles the odyssey of Julian Assange, from the birth of Wikileaks, to Assange’s confinement and release. “True North” examines anti-Black racism in Canada as it documents a 1969 student uprising at Concordia University in Montreal.”WTO/99″ uses archival footage to capture the anti-globalization sentiments in 1999, as myriad interests — from labor groups, environmentalists and human rights organizations to anarchists — were brought together to the Seattle site of a World Trade Organization conference, pitting 40,000 protesters against the National Guard.Stories of resilienceAs climate change affects Louisiana’s rapidly-vanishing Isle de Jean Charles, two teenagers and their uncle face forced government resettlement, in “Lowland Kids.” “Flophouse America” examines the struggles of a young boy’s family reduced by poverty to living in a low-rent motel. Manizha Bakhtari, Afghanistan’s female ambassador to Austria, confronts a moral dilemma when the Taliban comes to power in “The Last Ambassador.” An Iraqi family returning to Mosul sifts through the ruins of their ancestral home destroyed by ISIS in “The Lions By the River Tigris.” Six Palestinian comedians build a stand-up comedy scene in the midst of occupation and violence in “Palestine Comedy Club.”Central American mothers search for their disappeared children in “A Place of Absence.” A Zimbabwean immigrant in Botswana confronts generational trauma and historical violence in “Matabeleland.”ExposésFilms that document investigations into some of the most challenging stories of our time include Ben McKenzie’s “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money,” about the Wild West world of crypto. “The Pink Pill: Sex, Drugs & Who Has Control” examines double standards in the medical world when it comes to pharmaceuticals geared towards female sexual health. “Nuns vs. the Vatican” details the efforts of survivors of abuse and their advocates to expose what they deem the Catholic Church’s betrayal. Bao Nguyen’s “The Stringer” raises questions about the authorship of one of the most harrowing and consequential images ever taken, of a little girl burned by napalm during the Vietnam War.”The Secrets We Bury” explores the 1960s disappearance of a Long Island man and its effect on his children. In “I Dreamed His Name,” Columbian filmmaker Ángela Carabalí investigates the disappearance of her father, a farmer and activist, when she was a child. New York-centricNew York City is the subject of a selection of films celebrating the Big Apple’s history, culture and communities. The works of the ’70s avant-garde theatrical troupe Theater of the Ridiculous are recaptured in “Museum of the Night.” Latina trailblazing actress, Emmy-winning writer and Bronx native Sonia Manzano (who played Maria on “Sesame Street”) shares her journey in “Street Smart: Lessons From a TV Icon.”When COVID-19 lockdowns cancelled Lincoln Center’s production of “The Nutcracker,” unemployed New York City Ballet artists put on their own pandemic-friendly show in the Hudson Valley. “The Nutcracker at Wethersfield” documents their innovative solution to lighting a dark time.The intimate “King Hamlet” follows a year in the life of actor Oscar Isaac, who experiences tectonic shifts in his family life all while preparing for a stage production of Hamlet.” Directed by Isaac’s partner Elvira Lind.In the 1950s three female artists banded together and bought a house in New York City. “Artists in Residence” reflects on their pursuit of art outside traditional female social bounds. “My Sunnyside” is a portrait of the relationship between a trans man and a trans woman, whose plans for marriage and children flip gender expectations. The festival will also feature a 20th-anniversary screening of the classic 2005 documentary “Mad Hot Ballroom,” in which New York City fifth-graders competed in ballroom dancing.PortraitsAvant-garde stage director Dimitris Papaioannou is the focus of “Bull’s Heart.” “Cast of Shadows” looks at the legacy of pioneering documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty (“Nanook of the North”) and the overlooked contributions of his wife, Frances Flaherty. The dancer Farruquito and his family have raised the art of traditional flamenco in “Farruquito: A Flamenco Dynasty” Afro-Cuban musician Pablo Milanés is the subject of “Para Vivir: The Implacable Time of Pablo Milanés,” while “Pretty Dirty” chronicles the trailblazing feminist artist Marilyn Minter. “TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing” is a distillation of author, editor and activist Toni Cade Bambara.In the years when Ghana emerged from under British colonial rule, filmmaker Chris Hesse served as the personal cinematographer of Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah and the country’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah. He explores his archive of the young nation’s history in “The Eyes of Ghana.”Stories of strivingIn the aftermath of China’s one-child policy, dating coaches help men of marriage age eager to find mates despite a shortage of eligible females in “The Dating Game.” In “Paul,” the film’s subject has less difficulty finding dominant mistresses as he channels his mental health struggles into domestic service. Filmmaker Nadia Louis-Desmarchais, the daughter of a Haitian mother and adopted by a White family in Quebec, explores race and identity in “A Thousand Colors.””Always” is a portrait of an aspiring young poet in China, while “The Gas Station Attendant” is filmmaker Karla Murthy’s memorial to her father, an immigrant who pursued the American Dream. “Siren: The Voices of Shelley Beattie” is a portrait of the deaf bodybuilder and her battle against trauma and alienation.MusicThe festival “Sonic Cinema” sidebar features several world premieres. In “A Free Daughter of Free Kyrgyzstan,” a young singer, Zere Asylbek, defies death threats as she promotes her provocative music videos in a traditionally patriarchal society. “Fugs Film!” looks back at the ’60s New York City underground rock band, while the world of children’s music is celebrated in “Happy and You Know It.”The Sunset Marquis was, in the 1970s and ’80s, the epicenter for rock ‘n’ roll icons in L.A. Many of them, from Ringo Starr, Cyndi Lauper and Sharon Osbourne to Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen, pay tribute in “If These Walls Could Rock.”Composer and virtuoso clarinetist Kinan Azmeh talks about displacement from his native Syria and the role of art in a world divided by war in “Half Moon.” The environmentJohn Lipscomb, a steward of the Hudson River, reflects on a life fighting pollution on the New York waterway in “The Keeper.” Access to nature and right-of-way in the United Kingdom is the fight maintained between activists and landowners in “Our Land.” Solar geoengineering — a hot topic in the quest to cool a heating planet — is the theme of “Plan C for Civilization,” while “The Garden of Maria” chronicles the spiritual journey of an Indigenous woman who reclaims her ancestral land in Brazil and transforms it into a forest. SportsIn “Kings of Venice,” paddle tennis players try to defend their Venice Beach turf from an invasion of pickleball players. Jamaica’s soccer team, with their sights set on the 2023 Women’s World Cup, are the underdogs in “Reggae Girlz.” “The Balloonists” follows the 1999 attempt by Swiss adventurer Bvertrand Piccard and British navigator Brian Jones to become the first to circumnavigate the globe in a hot-air balloon, while in “3,000KM By Bike,” BMX champion Iñaki Mazza traverses a route from Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego. KaleidoscopeA competition category celebrating “new documentary visions” features “The Foul-Mouthed Granny,” a humorous portrait of filmmaker Seung-pyo Hong’s sharp-tongued mother; “Lost for Words,” about the connection between language and imagination; “Omega Wants to Dance” speculates about an AI system seeking self-expression through art as it studies humanity’s timeless passion for dance; “Shifting Baselines,” about how the Texas town of Boca Chica has been upended by the expansion of Elon Musk’s Space X; and “Unanimal,” about the relationship between humans and animals. DOC NYC runs from Nov. 12-20 in theaters, and through Nov. 30 online.
