One of the best film festivals of any film year DOC NYC opens on Wednesday, and we are better for it. The festival is both in person and online making the glorious selection of films available to everyone.
I have been covering the festival since its second year (I
found out about the first fest the day after it ended) and I have been wading
deeply into its goodies every year. How deeply? There have been years when we
covered almost every film that played. Why? Because the curating of the
festival is so good that I will try any and all films playing the festival
simple because they are playing the festival. The programmers know their stuff
and there have been, perhaps, maybe two films in sixteen years where I had no
idea why the film was programmed. This goes for shorts and features.
The festival is both a great place to see new films, it is full of dozens of premieres, all of which are destined to be talked about; and it is also a great place to catch films you may have missed. The festival scoops up the best of other fests and brings them to New York to be screened. Before the festival started I had seen between 20 and 30 of the films playing (links to the ones I reviewed below). The festival also has a selection of the films they think will be in the Oscar race and it screens them. Their choices tend to cover most, if not all, of the Oscar documentary short list.
I love the festival, and I can’t wait to get on the ground to
cover the films. Though, I think this year there won't be quite as many films covered as in previous years simple because life happens. (And if you sent me a film for coverage know I will cover it- though because of the sheer number of films I will be covering and because I can not post 8 or 10 reviews at the same time without them getting lost, some reviews will run later than their screenings.)
I can go on for hours waxing poetic, but you don’t need to
hear that. What you need are the annual DOC NYC lists.
First up are the list of films that we covered before (Click on the titles to go to the review)
PUT YOUR SOUL OIN YOUR HAND AND WALK
APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS- I have not posted a review of this yet. It's tied up with another project- however it's a truly frightening film about the far right in Brazil and the damage they caused.
Secondly, and most importantly is the list of absolute must sees. While I recommend every film playing the festival, these are the ones you should move heaven and earth to see.
FLOPHOUSE AMERICA -easily one of the best films of 2025. This is a look at a young man over several year as he lives in a low rent hotel with his parents. The equal of last year's INHERITENCE this is a must see.
BEYOND- this is a look at a TED talk type of lecture given by inmates at the Sing Sing prison. This is awesome - and it is a brother to last year's award wing drama SING SING by one its stars.
NO MERCY- Do women make harsher films then men? The greatest female filmmakers in the world discuss that and other questions in one of the best films on film I've seen.
IMAGES FROIM TUVALU is a deeply disturbing look at climate change and how we will never care enough to fix it.
MATA HARI is what happened when David Carradine decided to make a film about Mata Hari over several year with his daughter in the lead. It will haunt you.
SUNSET AND THE MOCKINGBIRD - a jazz musician goes into that good night with love and music
SONS OF DETROIT- a man returns to Detroit to reconnect with the place and people he left years before. A personal journey that is one part diary and one part love letter to the city and people who raised him. Bring tissues (for happy tears)
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL: THE KWAME BRAITHWAITE STORY The is a portarit of a photographer who changed the world. Just WOW.
IFTHESE WALLS COULD ROCK may not be the best film at DOC NYC but its endless parade of stories about rock star bad behavior is a blast.
THE SPIRITUAL ADVISOR- quiet gut punch portrait of Dr Reverand Jeff Hood who has acted as the spirtual advisor to people on death row. Be prepared to sit in stunned silence at the end.
And with that it’s time for me to go back to watching films. If you want more information on the films and both the in person and on-line portions of the festival- go here.
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