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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: 

 

CASA SUSANNA

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

 

CHILDREN OF LAS BRISAS

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 

 

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

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

 

HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND

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

 

OUR MOVIE (NUESTRA PELICULA)

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

 

MOTHER LODE

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

 

SHORTS: COMMUNITY

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

 

SHORTS: SHE STORIES (2022)

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

 

SHORTS: HIDDEN HISTORIES

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 

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