52% were directed by women; 40% by BIPOC helmers; 18% by LGBTQ filmmakers
The American Film Institute has revealed its full slate of films being presented for the hybrid AFI Docs 2021 festival. The lineup features 77 films from 23 countries and 4 world premieres, with 52% of the films directed by women, 40% by BIPOC directors and 18% by LGBTQ directors.
The 19th edition of the festival will present films in the following sections: Special Presentations, Guggenheim Symposium, Feature Films, Series, Cinema’s Legacy, Short Film Competition and Spotlight on the Hindsight Project. AFI Docs 2021 runs June 22–27, with films available to view on DOCS.AFI.com as well as in-person screenings at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD, and select films will be available with closed captioning and descriptive audio.
“We are living in the Golden Age of documentary film,” said Sarah Harris, AFI Festivals director of programming. “At AFI Docs, we are proud to celebrate excellence in the films of 2021–connecting audiences across the nation, engaging them in lively conversation and inspiring them with both the unprecedented challenges and the breathtaking beauty of the world around us.”
AFI Docs’ program of Special Presentations includes the previously announced Opening Night world premiere of Naomi Osaka and Closing Night film Cusp, as well as the Centerpiece Screening of Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.
This year, the Features section explores a diverse range of subjects including the growing movement in the medical community to push back against big pharma (White Coat Rebels); an examination of law enforcement’s relationship with the community through the lens of a corruption scandal in the Baltimore police department (The Slow Hustle); the emotional complexities of family court trials (Courtroom 3H); and Syrian artists working in exile in Europe (The Story Won’t Die).
The Cinema’s Legacy program, now in its third year at AFI Docs, presents historically notable nonfiction films that employ the personal documentary form: In Search Of Our Fathers (1992), Sink Or Swim (1990) and Stevie (2002).
This year’s Series section features multi-part documentaries that investigate pivotal moments in history and culture, from an exploration of the sound creation in modern music in Watch The Sound With Mark Ronson, to an in-depth look at a day that changed our country forever with 9/11: One Day In America. The Series section will also feature the world premiere of Obama: In Pursuit Of A More Perfect Union.
The Short Film Competition will be presented in six programs, with stories from across the globe and close to home, and are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize.
Special to AFI Docs this year is the Spotlight on the Hindsight Project, sponsored by CPB. The section presents the world premiere of six short films, which chronicle the experiences of BIPOC communities in the American South and U.S. Territories during the unprecedented events of 2020. The project is produced in partnership by Firelight Media, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and Reel South.
As previously announced, this year’s Charles Guggenheim Symposium will feature a discussion with filmmaker Dawn Porter and a free screening of her new film Rise Again: Tulsa And The Red Summer.
Audience Awards will be given to a feature and a short film based on votes cast by attendees throughout the festival. The winners of the Audience Awards for Best Feature and Best Short will be announced on Monday, June 28. For the second year, the AFI Docs Short Film Competition Grand Jury Prize is a qualifying award for Academy Award® eligibility.
AFI DOCS 2021 PROGRAM
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Featuring our Opening, Centerpiece and Closing films, this section spotlights the highest-profile and most anticipated films of the festival.
OPENING NIGHT SCREENING – Tuesday, June 22
NAOMI OSAKA: DIR Garrett Bradley. PRODS Lauren Cioffi, Katy Murakami and Sally Rosen. USA.
What does it feel like to be one of the best tennis players in the world? An intimate look inside the life of one of the most gifted and complex athletes of her generation offers insight into the tough decisions and ecstatic triumphs that shape Naomi Osaka as both an elite global superstar and a young woman navigating a pressure-filled world. World Premiere.
CLOSING NIGHT SCREENING – Sunday, June 27
CUSP: DIRS Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt. PROD Zachary Luke Kislevitz. USA.
This coming-of-age documentary follows three teenage girls for one wild, life-changing summer in their small Texas town as they grapple with what becoming an adult means, especially for young women.
CENTERPIECE SCREENING – Friday, June 25
ROADRUNNER: A FILM ABOUT ANTHONY BOURDAIN: DIR Morgan Neville. PRODS Caitrin Rogers and Morgan Neville. USA.
A documentary about the uncommon life of the late storyteller, explorer and chef, Anthony Bourdain.
2021 CHARLES GUGGENHEIM SYMPOSIUM
GUGGENHEIM SYMPOSIUM WITH DAWN PORTER – Wednesday, June 23
Honoring a master of the nonfiction art form, this year’s Guggenheim Symposium will include an in-depth conversation with celebrated filmmaker Dawn Porter hosted by Variety’s Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis, featuring clips from her acclaimed work and a free screening of her most recent project.
RISE AGAIN: TULSA AND THE RED SUMMER: DIR Dawn Porter. PROD Dawn Porter. USA.
One hundred years after the two-day Tulsa Massacre, one of America’s most violent racial conflicts, this documentary explores the role of media during these early 20th century events and today’s revived call for justice and anti-racism. Free Screening.
FEATURE FILMS
This year’s diverse features section is a collection of original, enlightening and daring explorations of the people and world around us.
COURTROOM 3H: DIR Antonio Mรฉndez Esparza. PRODS Pedro Hernandez Santos, Rebeca Villar Rodriguez and Ana Castanosa Bielsa. Spain.
Inside Tallahassee’s Courtroom 3H, staggeringly emotional hearings and trials hint at the complexities of family histories, calling into question a justice system with the power to decide who is suitable to be a parent. North American Premiere.
DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD: DIR Brooke Pepion Swaney. PRODS Jeri Rafter, Kendra Mylnechuk and Brooke Pepion Swaney. USA.
Kendra grew up in white suburbia knowing little of her Native American heritage. The search for her birth mother leads her to face a legacy of family trauma and joy.
DELPHINE’S PRAYERS (LES PRIรRES DE DELPHINE): DIR Rosine Mbakam. PROD Geoffroy Cemaix. Belgium, Cameroon.
Delphine, a 30-year-old Cameroonian woman, sits casually on a mattress. With filmmaker Rosine Mbakam, she will “just talk as usual,” describing what led her to this brightly lit room in a Brussels apartment.
FATHOM: DIR Drew Xanthopoulos. PROD Megan Gilbride. USA.
Have you ever wanted to introduce yourself to a whale? FATHOM follows women in the field of cetacean research trying to do just that and takes a deep dive into whale culture and our own.
THE FIRST STEP: DIR Brandon Kramer. PROD Lance Kramer. USA.
Brilliantly plotted and politically nuanced, THE FIRST STEP follows CNN commentator Van Jones’ trip down the rabbit hole as he forms an unholy alliance with Jared Kushner to effectuate prison reform legislation.
LFG: DIRS Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine. PRODS Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine and Abby Greensfelder. USA.
LFG is an inspiring and intimate documentary following the U.S. women’s national soccer team as it files a class-action, gender discrimination lawsuit against the team’s employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation.
THE LOST LEONARDO: DIR Andreas Koefoed. PRODS Christoph Jรถrg and Andreas Dalsgaard. Denmark, France, Sweden.
This intriguing thriller follows the story behind the Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting ever sold ($450 million) after it is claimed to be a long-lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci.
LUCHADORAS: DIRS Paola Calvo and Patrick Jasim. PROD Phillip Kaminiak. Germany, Mexico.
Three courageous female wrestlers, Luchadoras, confront crises in their personal lives and present strength in their community of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where women are all too often abused, kidnapped or murdered.
MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY: DIRS Julie Cohen and Betsy West. PROD Talleah Bridges McMahon. USA.
Academy Award® nominees Betsy West and Julie Cohen (RBG) profile the remarkable Pauli Murray, whose legacy as one of the 20th Century’s great human rights activists and legal scholars finally gets the attention it deserves.
THE NEUTRAL GROUND: DIR CJ Hunt. PROD Darcy McKinnon. USA.
Comedian and satirist CJ Hunt (THE DAILY SHOW) is asking difficult questions about this country’s Confederate monuments. In THE NEUTRAL GROUND, he hopes to discover some clarity, by diving into history.
NO STRAIGHT LINES: DIR Vivian Kleiman. PRODS Vivian Kleiman and Justin Hall. USA.
This wonderfully immersive look at the history of queer comics celebrates the queer artists who carved out a space in the culture where they could see themselves and be seen by others.
NORTH BY CURRENT: DIR Angelo Madsen Minax. PROD Felix Endara. USA.
After the death of his young niece and accusations that the family might somehow have been involved, filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax has many questions that won’t have clear or easy answers.
THE ONE AND ONLY DICK GREGORY: DIR Andre Gaines. PRODS Andre Gaines and Valerie Edwards. USA.
In this affectionate tribute guided by other entertainers, the iconic comedian and activist Dick Gregory finds humor again after losing it in anger.
PRAY AWAY: DIR Kristine Stolakis. PRODS Jessica Devaney, Anya Rous and Kristine Stolakis. USA.
Former leaders of the “pray away the gay” movement contend with the aftermath unleashed by their actions, while a survivor seeks healing and acceptance from more than a decade of trauma.
PRESIDENT: DIR Camilla Nielsson. PRODS Signe Byrge Sรธrensen and Joslyn Barnes. Denmark, USA, Norway.
Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe has been ousted, but the corrupt ruling party has already thrown their power behind a new candidate and, with democracy at stake, challenger Nelson Chamisa faces an impossible battle.
RADIOGRAPH OF A FAMILY: DIR Firouzeh Khosrovani. PRODS Bรฅrd Kjรธge Rรธnning and Fabien Greenberg. Iran, Switzerland, Norway.
Filmmaker Firouzeh Khosrovani excavates and examines her parents’ marriage, which reflects the divide between traditionalism and modernization in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution.
REBEL HEARTS: DIR Pedro Kos. PRODS Kira Carstensen, Shawnee Isaac-Smith and Judy Korin. USA.
In Los Angeles in the 1960s, the courageous Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary challenged the Roman Catholic Church in an effort to reform its engrained patriarchal strictures – but at a considerable cost.
SEARCHERS: DIR Pacho Velez. PRODS Pacho Velez, Joe Poletto, Sam Roseme and Cathy Tankosic. USA.
Swipe right or swipe left? Such love-life-altering decisions are explored in Pacho Velez’s enchanting, poignant exploration of online dating apps and those searching for love in all the digital places.
THE SLOW HUSTLE: DIR Sonja Sohn. PRODS Marc Levin, Daphne Pinkerson and Mahrya MacIntire. USA.
After Baltimore Police Detective Sean Suiter is shot and found dead while on duty, the tragedy soon becomes enmeshed in a widening corruption scandal that threatens to unravel the public’s already strained relationship with law enforcement. World Premiere.
STORM LAKE: DIRS Jerry Risius and Beth Levison. PROD Beth Levison. USA.
For 30 years, in Storm Lake, Iowa, Art Cullen and his family have been publishing a Pulitzer Prize-winning local newspaper. But, with newspapers everywhere going extinct, how long can they keep it up?
THE STORY WON’T DIE: DIR David Henry Gerson. PROD Odessa Rae, Abdalaziz Alhamza and Martin Marquet. USA, Germany, Denmark.
In their homeland of Syria, artists are routinely tortured, kidnapped, imprisoned and killed. While in exile in Europe, their talents speak truth to power, help them heal and find joy. US Premiere.
SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED): DIR Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. PRODS Joseph Patel; Robert Fyvolent; and David Dinerstein. USA.
In 1969, the same summer as Woodstock, another epic music festival — celebrating American music and African American history — took place in Harlem, New York.
TOM PETTY, SOMEWHERE YOU FEEL FREE: DIR Mary Wharton. PROD Peter Afterman. USA.
Newly discovered archival 16mm footage is weaved with intimate interviews to create a love letter to Tom Petty’s touchstone album “Wildflowers” and an artist’s story of his struggle to feel free.
TRY HARDER!: DIR Debbie Lum. PRODS Nico Opper, Lou Nakasako and Debbie Lum. USA.
Welcome to the high-pressure world of the college application process. TRY HARDER! features a wonderful cast of stressed-out high school seniors pulling out all the stops to make their college dreams a reality.
WE: DIR Alice Diop. PROD Sophie Salbot. France.
In this fascinating slice-of-life portrait of Paris and its outskirts, filmmaker Alice Diop turns her camera on the “ordinary” people living in the shadow of the RER B train that traverses the city.
WHITE COAT REBELS: DIR Greg Barker. PRODS. Diane Becker, Greg Barker, Christopher Buchanan, Dr. Harriet Fraser. USA.
In this probing look inside the medical profession, filmmaker Greg Barker examines the outsized influence of Big Pharma and the courageous “white coat rebels” who are pushing back against the powers that be. World Premiere.
SERIES
Go on a binge or take it one episode at a time, these multi-part documentaries explore pivotal moments in history and culture that connect us.
9/11: ONE DAY IN AMERICA: DIR Daniel Bogado. PROD Caroline Marsden. USA.
In official collaboration with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, this documentary series take viewers through harrowing moments of the historic morning of September 11, 2001. AFI DOCS will present the first three episodes.
OBAMA: IN PURSUIT OF A MORE PERFECT UNION: DIR Peter Kunhardt. PRODS George Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt, Maya Mumma and Matthew Henderson. USA.
This multi-part documentary explores the journey of Barack Obama from his early upbringing to the 44th U.S. President, set against the backdrop of the country’s unfolding racial history. World Premiere. AFI DOCS will present the first two episodes.
WATCH THE SOUND WITH MARK RONSON: DIRS Mark Monroe, Morgan Neville and Jason Zeldes. USA.
Hosted by renowned DJ and award-winning artist and producer Mark Ronson, this docuseries explores sound creation and the revolutionary technology shaping modern music. US Premiere. AFI DOCS will host three episodes of the new series.
CINEMA’S LEGACY
Presenting historically notable nonfiction films, this year’s edition of Cinema’s Legacy section focuses on important works employing the personal documentary form. Now over a year into an extended quarantine, personal documentary has acquired a renewed relevance, reflecting a global turn towards introspection. Cinema’s Legacy is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
IN SEARCH OF OUR FATHERS (1992): DIR Marco Williams. PRODS Michael Rubbo and Marco Williams. USA.
Marco Williams’ searing seven-year journey to track down the father he never knew. Thirty years on, the film remains a brilliant and powerful evocation of the personal documentary form.
SINK OR SWIM (1990): DIR Su Friedrich. USA.
In this canonical personal documentary, filmmaker Su Friedrich returns to a pivotal childhood memory – her father has thrown her into the deep end of the pool to teach her to swim.
STEVIE (2002): DIR Steve James. PRODS Steve James, Adam D. Singer and Gordon Quinn. USA.
Following HOOP DREAMS’ huge success, Steve James began a straightforward film about the man he had once mentored as a Big Brother. To James’ surprise, he would end up making his most complex and personal documentary.
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Curated from hundreds of entries, this year’s short films highlight unique voices from around the world – presented in six programs.
AUDIBLE: DIR Matt Ogens. PRODS Nyle DiMarco and Peter Berg. USA.
Athletes at the Maryland School for the Deaf defend their winning streak while dealing with the loss of a friend. They face pressures of entering the hearing world in this coming-of-age story.
THE BEAUTY PRESIDENT: DIR Whitney Skauge. PROD Caley Shannon. USA.
“If a bad actor can be president, why not a good drag queen?” In 1992, Joan Jett Blakk made a historic bid for the White House as the first openly queer write-in candidate. World Premiere.
THE BROTHER (LE FRรRE): DIR Jรฉrรฉmie Battaglia. PROD Amรฉlie Lambert Bouchard. Canada.
Suffering from an illness that causes body paralysis, Kais dreams he is the hero of his favorite anime, along with his brothers, Fehd the bodybuilder and Zaรฏd the ninja. US Premiere.
BUG FARM: DIR Lydia Cornett. PROD Brit Fryer. USA.
Four women in Central Florida establish a unique bond while working with crickets, superworms and roaches on an insect farm in the rural town of LaBelle.
CODED: DIR Ryan White. PRODS Christopher Leggett, Rafael Marmor, Conor Fetting-Smith, Jessica Hargrave and Marc Gilbar. USA.
The coded advertisements of legendary early-20th century gay illustrator J.C. Leyendecker quietly, but directly, acknowledged a community that was forced to live in the closet.
THE COMMUNION OF MY COUSIN ANDREA: DIR Brandรกn Cerviรฑo Abeledo. PRODS Brandรกn Cerviรฑo Abeledo and Sabrina Zimmermann. Spain.
Andrea’s First Communion ceremony lacks glamour. For Andrea, things without sparkles are meaningless. World Premiere.
EAGLES (รGUILAS): DIRS Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Maite Zubiaurre. PRODS Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Maite Zubiaurre. USA.
Once a month, along the scorching southern desert border in Arizona, one group of searchers, the Aguilas del Desierto, set out to recover missing loved ones.
THE GALLERY THAT DESTROYS ALL SHAME: DIRS Aurora Brachman and Jessie Zinn. PRODS Aurora Brachman and Jessie Zinn. USA.
One evening in L.A., a group of womxn gather to learn how to take back the speculum. World Premiere.
THE GAME: DIR Roman Hodel. PROD Franziska Sonder. Switzerland.
A whistle. The crowded stands of the stadium roar. Players protest angrily. Announcers follow the action on the field. In the middle of it all is the referee.
GOLDEN AGE KARATE: DIR Sindha Agha. PRODS Malcolm Pullinger and Rachel Serada Barth. USA.
Teen karate pro Jeff Wall teaches senior citizens self-defense at a local nursing home, giving them the tools to feel in control, connected and cared for.
THE HAIRDRESSER (LA COIFFEUSE): DIR Lorraine Price. PROD Lorraine Price. Canada.
At 83, Kathleen is still doing hair, though not how you might expect. Her work is special. World Premiere.
HALPATE: DIRS Adam Piron and Adam Khalil. PRODS Alexandra Lazarowich and Everett Osceola. USA.
Alligator wrestling, considered a staple of Florida tourism, is a dangerous spectacle that has been performed by members of the Seminole Tribe for over a century.
THE I AND S OF LIVES: DIR Kevin Jerome Everson. PRODS Madeleine Molyneaux and Kevin Jerome Everson. USA.
The smoothest area of resistance. The “I and S” of “Lives” is traced by a lone rollerskater on Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC, on a summer afternoon in 2020.
INTERNATIONAL DAWN CHORUS DAY: DIR John Greyson. PROD John Greyson. Canada.
On International Dawn Chorus Day (May 3, 2020), birds from six continents join a Zoom call, where they gossip about storms, cats, wires, dates and two Egyptian activists. US Premiere.
INVISIBLE MONSTERS AND TOMATO SOUP: DIRS Stevie Borrello, Marcie LaCerte and Meghan McDonough. USA.
A batch of mushy sourdough. Two radioactive lizards. Three cans of Campbell’s tomato soup. When COVID-19 lockdowns began in 2020, people around the world began reporting more vivid dreams.
MAMA: DIR Pablo de la Chica. PRODS David Torres, Pablo de la Chica, Kathleen McInnis, Miguel Gonzรกlez, Eduardo Jimรฉnez, Jordi Rubio, Diego Urruchi and Nรฉstor Lopez. Spain.
Deep in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, one of the most violent places in the world, Mama Zawadi and her baby chimpanzees find that unconditional love can heal the wounds of war. North American Premiere.
MISSION: HEBRON: DIR Rona Segal. PROD Idit Kliger. Israel.
Israeli soldiers are recruited at age 18 and, only months later, are already overseeing Palestinian civil life. Former soldiers describe their time in Hebron, the most troubled city in the West Bank. North American Premiere.
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA: DIR Sergei Loznitsa. PRODS Philippe Martin, Dimitri Krassoulia-Vronsky, Emmanuel Perreau and Louis Vaudeville. France.
Filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa revisits the Palais Garnier of the 1950s and 1960s, reviving the era when kings and queens, celebrities and heads of state ascended the stairs to worship the art of opera.
NSENENE: DIR Michelle Coomber. PROD Michelle Coomber. UK.
In this poetic portrait of a Ugandan tradition, Masaka’s grasshopper catchers light up the sky. World Premiere.
THE ONE WHO CROSSED THE SEA (DER รBERS MEER KAM): DIR Jonas Riemer. PRODS Jonas Riemer and Johannes Schubert. Germany.
In a makeshift boat, a GDR refugee escapes to West Germany. His newfound freedom is disorienting, and it is only later, with a growing nationalist movement, that he begins to feel at home.
PARTY LINE: DIR Lydia Cornett. PROD Lydia Cornett. USA.
At the early voting line in Ohio’s most populous county, civic duty is a public performance. World Premiere.
R.I.P. T-SHIRTS: DIRS Kate Davis and David Heilbroner. PRODS David Heilbroner, Grace Harry and Anwan Glover. USA.
A small custom T-shirt shop in Washington, DC, sees a generation of Black youth experience gun violence. World Premiere.
RED TAXI: DIR Anonymous. Hong Kong.
As protests in Hong Kong escalate, taxi drivers experience a city in upheaval driving the streets day and night. Anonymously filmed by locals.
S P A C E S (M E Z E R Y): DIR Nora ล trbovรก. Czech Republic.
A multi-textured animated exploration of memory as a container of identity, based on the personal story of the filmmaker and her brother who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. North American Premiere.
SCUM BOY: DIR Allison Swank. PROD Allison Swank. South Africa.
A look at the off-the-wall psyche of Gen Z by way of visionary 3D artist Scum Boy, a young South African, Jewish transgender man living his life with illuminating fearlessness.
SENIOR PROM: DIR Luisa Conlon. PRODS Jessica Chermayeff and Luisa Conlon. USA.
At an LGBTQ retirement home, the annual “senior” prom takes on a whole new meaning – a celebration of the lives and legacies of resistance of the eldest queer generation. World Premiere.
SHELTER: DIR Smriti Mundhra. PROD Maya Gnyp. USA.
A veritรฉ documentary that follows three young children and their families as they grapple with housing insecurity in Los Angeles. World Premiere.
SINCE YOU ARRIVED, MY HEART STOPPED BELONGING TO ME (DESDE QUE LLEGASTE MI CORAZรN DEJร DE PERTENECERME): DIR Erin Semine Kรถkdil. PROD Erin Semine Kรถkdil. USA.
Central American mothers journey by bus through Mexico, searching for their children who migrated north towards the United States but disappeared en route.
SOUVENIR SOUVENIR: DIR Bastien Dubois. PROD Amiel Tenenbaum. France.
An account of filmmaker Bastien Dubois’ multiple unsuccessful attempts to initiate a dialogue with his grandfather, who had been a soldier in the French-Algerian war.
TRADE CENTER: DIR Adam Baran. PRODS Adam Baran and Ethan Weinstock. USA.
The voices of gay men who cruised for sex at the World Trade Center in the 1980s and 1990s haunt the sanitized, commerce-driven landscape of the newly rebuilt Freedom Tower.
THE TRAIN STATION: DIR Lyana Patrick. PROD Jessica Hallenbeck. Canada.
In this beautifully animated documentary short, filmmaker Lyana Patrick narrates her family’s powerful story of love and survival at Lejac Indian Residential School. US Premiere.
UNDER THE LEMON TREE: DIR Noor Fawzi Alasswad. PROD Yassmine Hammoudi. Qatar, Palestine.
Under the shade of a lemon tree, a Palestinian woman, Khaldieh, prepares herself a humble breakfast, remembering her former life and lost homeland with an assemblage of simple elements. US Premiere.
UNFORGIVABLE (IMPERDONABLE): DIR Marlรฉn Viรฑayo. PRODS Marlรฉn Viรฑayo and Carlos Martรญnez. El Salvador.
Inside an evangelical Salvadoran prison, a ruthless 18th Street gang hitman is guilty, not only of his crimes, but of the unforgivable sin of being gay.
THE WAY WE WAIT: DIR Ji-Yoon Park. PROD Ji-Yoon Park. South Korea, UK.
The filmmaker has just moved into her 22nd house when she receives a phone call that her grandmother is in critical condition. Belatedly attempting to strengthen their relationship, she awaits the impending loss. North American Premiere.
WHEN WE WERE BULLIES: DIR Jay Rosenblatt. PROD Jay Rosenblatt. USA.
A mind-boggling “coincidence” leads a filmmaker to track down his fifth-grade class, to examine a memory of his own complicity in a bullying incident 50 years ago.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE HINDSIGHT PROJECT
Special to AFI DOCS this year is the Spotlight on the Hindsight Project, sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The section presents the world premiere of six short films, which chronicle the experiences of BIPOC communities in the American South and U.S. Territories during the unprecedented events of 2020. The project is produced in partnership by Firelight Media, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and Reel South.
FOOD FOR THE POOR (COMIDA PA’ LOS POBRES): DIR Arleen Cruz-Alicea. PRODS Arleen Cruz-Alicea. Puerto Rico (USA).
COMIDA PA’ LOS POBRES follows a young Puerto Rican activist as he confronts the island’s persistent crisis of food insecurity. World Premiere.
MISSING MAGIC: DIR Anissa Latham. PRODS Anissa Latham, Kelsey Harrison. USA.
MISSING MAGIC centers on a young poet and activist in Birmingham, Alabama, as he tries to write his way through the complex history of the city. World Premiere.
NOW LET US SING: DIR Dilsey Davis. USA.
An interfaith, interracial choir in Durham, North Carolina, is forced to take a new direction during the pandemic. World Premiere.
THIS BODY: DIR Zac Manuel. PRODS Lauren Cargo. USA.
As Sydney Hall participates in an experimental coronavirus vaccine trial in hopes of protecting her beloved New Orleans community, she and her loved ones confront the history of medical abuse and experimentation on Black bodies. World Premiere.
UDAAN (SOAR): DIR Amman Abbasi. PRODS Alex Nystrom. USA, Pakistan.
UDAAN (SOAR) follows a young Pakistani woman as she immigrates from Karachi, Pakistan, to a small town in Arkansas to begin her first year of college. World Premiere.
WE STAY IN THE HOUSE: DIR Kiyoko McCrae. PRODS Kiyoko McCrae, Eritria Pitts. USA.
A group of New Orleans mothers struggle to care for their families and themselves throughout the pandemic. Utilizing video diaries, it provides an intimate portrait of mothering during a time of crisis. World Premiere.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle โ a series of 10 plays โ to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More