Amid the thicket of awards season, it’s sometimes nice to pause and smell the nonfiction roses. Documentary film festival DOC NYC is America’s largest showcase of documentary films and this month comes to New York City from November 12-20, with another week of online screenings through November 30. (Take a look at the organization’s DOC NYC Shortlist of the best documentaries of the year, many of which are returning to theaters for the event.)
IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika will host screenings of more than 200 films and events, including 30 world premieres as well as many revivals of the year’s best in nonfiction filmmaking so far.
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The festival opens on November 12 (that’s tonight) at the SVA Theatre with the U.S. premiere of Christopher Nelius’s “Whistle,” which whimsically looks behind the curtain of the Masters of Musical Whistling festival, where the world’s top whistlers gather to connect. Closing out the festival on November 20, also at the SVA Theatre, will be the NYC premiere of Ivy Meerpol’s “Ask E. Jean,” an explosive look at writer and cultural icon E. Jean Carroll and her lawsuits against Donald Trump when he accused her of lying about charges of sexual assault she put against him.
Below, IndieWire rounds up 10 more films worth seeing.
‘Beyond’DOC NYC
“Beyond”
From the “Sing Sing” team of Oscar-nominated executive producer Clarence Maclin and JJ Velazquez, who was exonerated last year after more than two decades behind bars, “Beyond” takes a documentary look inside the walls of the historic upstate New York prison — and the incarcerated men who live there and tell its stories. Directed by Asia Johnson (herself previously incarcerated) and Michael Kleiman, the film follows a group of incarcerated men as they prepare for a TED-style public speaking symposium. The event is designed to allow men to explore their humanity and narratives in ways that transcend their circumstances, in front of an audience of policymakers, prison officials, and their loved ones.
“Flophouse America”
A world premiere earlier this year at CPH:DOX, Norwegian photographer-turned-filmmaker Monica Strømdahl brings a decidedly European lens to an American story: Of a family living in a rundown motel known as a flophouse. In the process, “Flophouse America” puts a telescopic lens on the overall housing crisis in the U.S., focused on 12-year-old Mikal, who lives in a constricted, inexpensive room with his hard-drinking parents and beloved cat, Smokey. This intimate documentary also doubles as a coming-of-age film, as Strømdahl tracked Mikal for more than three years, from childhood to young adulthood, and in often harrowing proximity to his parents.
“The Gas Station Attendant”
Filmmaker Karla Murthy’s immigrant portrait has been picking up buzz at other American festivals but makes its New York City premiere at DOC NYC. In “The Gas Station Attendant,” the South Asian-descended director reflects on her father’s life, when he ran away from home to leave the poverty of his Indian village. His life changed after meeting a Texan couple, received a sponsored visa, and arrived in the United States — but the American dream, for H.N. Shantha Murthy, was not easily won. The film weaves home videos, phone conversations, and more to create an intimate love letter addressed to the immigrant working class.
‘The Merchants of Joy’DOC NYC
“The Merchants of Joy”
Celia Aniskovich goes behind the curtain of a singular New York City holiday tradition: The Christmas tree trade, in which merchants set up shop across the five boroughs to sell firs on sidewalks. “The Merchants of Joy” follows five families hustling every winter to maintain the beloved tradition, and in a market rife with competition over tree sources as well as locations. New York City’s own seasonal stand workers add texture to a documentary that tries to parse how the proceeds from just five weeks circa the holidays can make for a sustainable yearlong living.
“No Mercy”
“Do women make harsher films, and what does harsh even mean?” That’s the question on filmmaker Isa Willinger’s (“Plastic Fantastic”) mind with the cinematic ode “No Mercy.” The documentary features talking heads Céline Sciamma, Virginie Despentes, Nina Menkes, Catherine Breillat, Apolline Traoré, Joey Soloway, and Ana Lily Amirpour to examine how women (and more presently nonbinary filmmakers) have told stories onscreen since the 1960s. “No Mercy” also interweaves clips from nearly 50 films ranging the narrative to the experimental as filmmakers, and Willinger, reflect on their careers and how they’ve depicted violence, trauma, and power throughout their careers.
“Pretty Dirty: The Life and Time of Marilyn Minter”
Filmmakers Jennifer Ash Rudick and Amanda Benchley chart four decades in “The Life and Time of Marilyn Minter,” a feminist provocateur who has been pushing against contemporary art’s borders for almost five decades. The film interweaves rare footage, studio archival materials, and more glimpses into her artistic practice to trace her arc as a rising New York art star who was not without controversy for her brazenly sexual work. Jane Fonda, Naomi Fry, Jeff Koons, Monica Lewinsky, Padma Lakshmi, Lizzo, Laurie Simmons, and more among the celebrities who make an appearance in this fast-paced and entertaining documentary.
‘The Six Billion Dollar Man’DOC NYC
“The Six Billion Dollar Man”
Pulled from Sundance due to significant developments in the story before ultimately premiering at Cannes, Eugene Jarecki’s Julian Assange portrait “The Six Billion Dollar Man” arrives at DOC NYC this week. The “Why We Fight” and “The House I Live In” documentary filmmaker turns the story of the WikiLeaks founder into a tense inquiry into truth, power, and freedom of the press. The film features never-before-seen footage and unprecedented access to Assange — including CCTV footage from his time in confinement.
“Sons of Detroit”
Filmmaker/actor Jeremy Xido returns to his home city of Detroit to untangle his complicated backstory as the white son of revolutionaries who then became “adopted” by an African American family in a mostly Black neighborhood. “Sons of Detroit” also charts a city shifting from its golden years as the epicenter of the automobile industry, circa Motor City and Motown days, to a city rattled by racism and violence and depleted industry. But it’s also a love letter to the city, beginning in the 1970s through the present day, wherein Xido turns the camera back on himself to reconnect with an estranged chosen family member to examine what pulled them apart.
“Thoughts & Prayers”
Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock’s gun violence documentary premieres at DOC NYC before heading to HBO later in November. Specifically, Canepari and Dimmock tackle the subject through the lens of school shootings and the increasing curricular preparation for them. They speak to teachers training with firearms who lead simulations of active shooter situations as well as students for whom preparing for a shooting is just part of the morning routine. Ultimately, the film takes a bird’s eye view of a multi-billion-dollar industry that markets school safety with innovations like bulletproof desks. Anything but actual, tangible gun reform.
‘WTO/99’DOC NYC
“WTO/99”
A decorated hit across multiple regional documentary festivals, Ian Bell chronicles the 1999 protest of the World Trade Organization, where 40,000 protests rallied against globalization beginning in Seattle and shared concerns about WTO’s environmental and labor impacts. Anarchists, environmentalists, labor unions, and even religious organizations and more came together hoping to turn minds against support of the WTO, which was founded in 1995. The protest lasted from November 30 to December 3, and this film builds off 1,000 hours of archival footage to form an immersive look at a moment in time: a moment when environmental collapse and the end of the middle class were top-of-mind fears. Sound familiar?
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