DOC NYC 2022: French Selections
Festival
Still from Casa Susanna by Sébastien Lifshitz
November 8, 2022 → November 18, 2022
DOC NYC is an annual event based in Manhattan. This year, New York’s documentary festival will take place from November 8 to November 18, 2022.
Highlights of this year’s selection include Casa Susanna by director Sébastien Lifshitz, as well as multiple French productions and co-productions:
US PREMIERE In the sexually repressive atmosphere of the 1950s and early ’60s, a Latino broadcaster and his wig-making wife create a clandestine haven for cross-dressers in a small Catskills resort. With only old photographs and the oral histories of two of the last surviving members of this early chapter of trans identity, filmmaker Sébastien Lifshitz rescues a fascinating history from obscurity. – Jaie Laplante
Director: Sébastien Lifshitz
Executive Producer: Cameo George
Producer: Muriel Meynard
Cinematographer: Paul Guilhaume (A.F.C.)
Editor: Tina Baz
Language: English
Country: France, United States of America
Year: 2022
Publicist: Susan Norget Film Promotion
US Distributor: PBS Distribution
Sales Agent: PBS Distribution
In-Person Date: Friday, November 11, 2022 6:45 PM | SVA Theatre. Tickets here
The in-person screening will be followed by a Conversation/Q&A with Sébastien Lifshitz, moderated by Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, author of the play CASA VALENTINA.
Online Screening: Sunday, November 13 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Three children from the impoverished Venezuelan district of Las Brisas channel their pain and joy into music as part of a unique, government-sponsored orchestral music program, El Sistema. For ten years, as her native Venezuela gradually collapsed in the background, director Marianela Maldonado followed the students, developing an intimacy that gives their story so much heart. Uplifting, poignant, and filled with gorgeous classical music, this film is a testament to the power of music to change and enrich lives. – Karen McMullen
Director: Marianela Maldonado
Executive Producer: Luisa De La Ville, Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Sandie Viquez Pedlow
Producer: Luisa De La Ville; Co-Producer: Luc Martin Gousset, Andy Glynne
Cinematographer: Robin Todd
Editor: Ricardo Acosta (C.C.E.), Mike Magidson
Language: Spanish
Country: Venezuela, United States of America, France, United Kingdom
Year: 2022
In-Person Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2022 10:45 AM | Cinépolis Chelsea. Tickets here
The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with Marianela Maldonado, Luisa De La Ville, cinematographer Robin Todd, editor Ricardo Acosta, subject Wully Arteaga
Online Screening: Saturday, November 12 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
NYC PREMIERE Oscar-nominated director Dror Moreh (The Gatekeepers) returns with an examination of genocide and US foreign policy in this striking documentary filled with the insights of politicians and diplomats from the past 40 years. With affecting archival footage and extensive interviews, the film centers around former UN Ambassador Samantha Power’s haunting question: Why do American leaders who vow “never again” repeatedly fail to stop genocide? – Ruth Somalo
Director: Dror Moreh
Executive Producer: Vinnie Malhotra
Producer: Dror Moreh, Sol Goodman, Estelle Fialon, Vanessa Ciscewski; Co-Producer Michael Reuter
Cinematographer: Kobi Zaig
Editor: Oron Adar, Stephan Krumbiegel
Language: English
Country: United States of America, France, Israel, Germany
Year: 2022
In-Person Date:
Friday, November 11, 2022 6:30 PM | Cinépolis Chelsea.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Dror Moreh. Tickets here.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022 1:45 PM | IFC Center. Tickets here
Online Screening: Saturday, November 12 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
US PREMIERE As a suicidal 16-year-old Marusya Syroechkovskaya falls in love with a humorous grunge kid named Kimi. Fueled by drugs and music, the inseparable couple films the euphoria, anxiety and misery of their precarious existence under the shadow of their oppressive government. Captured over 12 years, this raw, exuberant, and moving love story, provides insight into a silenced generation of rebellious youths struggling to survive in Putin’s Russia. – Ruth Somalo
Director: Marusya Syroechkovskaya
Producer: Ksenia Gapchenko, Mario Adamson, Co-Producers Anita Norfolk, Alexandre Cornu
Cinematographer: Kimi Morev and Marusya Syroechkovskaya
Editor: Qutaiba Barhamji
Language: Russian
Country: Sweden, Norway, France, Germany
Year: 2022
Sales Agent: Lightdox
In-Person Date: Friday, November 11, 2022 8:45 PM | Cinépolis Chelsea. Tickets here
The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with Marusya Syroechkovskaya, co-producer Anita Norfolk
Online Screening: Saturday, November 12 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE An extraordinary and necessary essay film constructed entirely out of a vast archive of news footage from the ‘80s and ‘90s, OUR MOVIE (NUESTRA PELICULA) is a response to the violent history that imprinted itself on the director in her formative years in Colombia. Images of blood spatters, bullet holes, coffins, and Colombians marching in the streets become an abstract net of quotidian sorrow. – Ruth Somalo
Director: DIANA BUSTAMANTE
Editor: SEBASTIAN HERNANDEZ
Language: Spanish
Country: Colombia, France
Year: 2022
In-Person Date: Friday, November 11, 2022 6:45 PM | Cinépolis Chelsea. Tickets here
The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with Diana Bustamante
Online Screening: Saturday, November 12 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE Jorge leaves his family and his moto-taxi business in the outskirts of Lima to try his luck in the most dangerous Andean gold mine in Peru. The precarious nature of life and labor ground this documentary-infused drama set in a frontier town where the flow of gold requires human sacrifice. Captured with exquisite black-and-white cinematography, the boundaries between reality, magic and folklore merge in this extraordinary fable of neoliberalism. – Ruth Somalo
Director: Matteo Tortone
Producer: Alexis Taillant, Nadège Labé, Margot Mecca, Benjamin Poumey
Cinematographer: PATRICK TRESCH S.C.S
Editor: ENRICO GIOVANNONE
Language: Spanish
Country: France, Italy, Switzerland
Year: 2021
Sales Agent: Intramovies
In-Person Date: Wednesday, November 09, 2022 7:00 PM | Cinépolis Chelsea. Tickets here
Online Screening: Thursday, November 10 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
THE FIRE WITHIN: REQUIEM FOR KATIA AND MAURICE KRAFFT
PRE-FESTIVAL PREMIERE Werner Herzog’s 2016 documentary meditation on volcanoes Into the Inferno contained a segment about the French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft that introduced them to many viewers for the first time. Now Herzog devotes a full film to their lives in THE FIRE WITHIN paying tribute to their risk taking and image making. This year’s DOC NYC contains another film about the Kraffts, Fire of Love, but Herzog’s take is wholly unique, filtered through his distinct vision. – Thom Powers
Director: Werner Herzog
Executive Producer: JULIEN DUMONT, MANDY LEITH, ALEXANDRE SOULLIER
Cinematographer: KATIA AND MAURICE KRAFFT, HENNING BRÜMMER
Editor: MARCO CAPALBO
Language: French, English
Country: France, United Kingdom, Switzerland
Year: 2022
US Distributor: Abacus Media Rights
Sales Agent: Abacus Media Rights
In-Person Date:
Tuesday, November 08, 2022 7:00 PM | IFC Center.
The first screening will be followed by a Q&A with Werner Herzog. Tickets here
Thursday, November 10, 2022 2:00 PM | IFC Center. Tickets here
SHORT FILMS SELECTION
MTPFF PROGRAM: SEEKING REFUGE, FINDING HOME
Kivu, Hong Kong, Milwaukee — seeking shelter from violence and oppression, people move across the globe to find safety and build a home, sometimes losing their families in the process. These films are stories of migrants from the Balkans, Iraq, China and Congo, as they resettle in cities around the world. (Total Running Time: 62 MIN)
Freedom Swimmer | Director: Olivia Martin-McGuire
A grandfather’s perilous swim from China to Hong Kong parallels his granddaughter’s participation in protests as she faces pressure to escape Hong Kong. (AUSTRALIA, FRANCE, UNITED KINGDOM, HONG KONG, 15 MIN)
In-Person Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2022 4:15 PM | Cinépolis Chelsea. Tickets here
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with members of the filmmaking team.
Online Screening: Wednesday, November 09 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
Whether by nature or necessity, we find solace and support in our communities. (Total Running Time: 86 MIN)
Motorrodillo | Director: Alba Jaramillo
In the jungles of Colombia, abandoned train tracks are a crucial means of local travel; meet the community fighting to keep them public. (COLOMBIA, FRANCE, 30 MIN)
In-Person Date: Wednesday, November 09, 2022 7:15 PM | Cinépolis Chelsea. Tickets here
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with members of the filmmaking team.
Online Screening: Wednesday, November 09 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
Women in front of and behind the camera share their stories with the world. (Total Running Time: 94 MIN)
Her Scents of Pu Er | Director: Anna-Claria Ostasenko Bogdanoff
Master Tseng, the first female Master of Tea in Chinese history, invites you into a delicate sensory realm of the scent of tea. (FRANCE, 17 MIN)
In-Person Date: Monday, November 14, 2022 9:05 PM | Cinépolis Chelsea. Tickets here
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with members of the filmmaking team.
Online Screening: Wednesday, November 09 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
Whether never told before or broadcasted widely, these hidden gems of history are a must watch. (Total Running Time: 92 MIN)
Granny’s Sexual Life | Directors: Urška Djukic, Émilie Pigeard
The romantic dalliances between men and women in old world Slovenia are remembered through grandmother Vera in this sexually frank and wildly comic animated tale. (FRANCE, SLOVENIA, 13 MIN)
In-Person Date: Thursday, November 10, 2022 6:45 PM | Cinépolis Chelsea. Tickets here
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with members of the filmmaking team.
Online Screening: Wednesday, November 09 – Sunday, November 27, 2022. Tickets here
Discover the full program here
