Bad Rap
With names like Jonathan "Dumbfoundead" Park, Nora "Awkwafina" Lum, David "Rekstizzy" Lee, and Richard "Lyricks" Lee, this documentary about four aspiring Asian-American rappers has got to be fresh. It's the feature debut from former news producer Salima Koroma. - Ryland Aldrich
Spotlight
My Scientology Movie
A sort of comic, surreal flipside to Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear, My Scientology Movie inscribes Hollywood into its very title, and this fact deeply informs its approach to trying to get inside this secretive, paranoid, extremely litigious, and allegedly abusive religion. Louis Theroux, a BBC documentarian and journalist – who could be described as the love child of Michael Moore and John Oliver – is our intrepid guide, who uses the infrastructure and materials of the Hollywood dream factory – actors, auditions, sets, reenactments – to not only report on this world, so alien to outsiders, but to give us a sense of what it might feel like to be a part of it. Things go down a much more disturbing path when the church gets wind of what Theroux is up to, and begins filming him as he’s filming them, attempting to make a phantom, shadow version of Theroux’s movie, leading viewers ever further down the rabbit hole of surveillance and counter-surveillance. - Christopher Bourne
Spotlight
Pistol Shrimps
Brent Hodge's latest docu is the story of the all-women's basketball rec league in LA that's made up of a bevy of comedians and actresses including Aubrey Plaza and Angela Trimbur.- Ryland Aldrich
Spotlight
The Bomb
In 1966 filmmaker Peter Watkins used documentary technique to imagine what surviving an atomic blast would be like. The War Game was banned for broadcast by the BBC and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary even though it was fiction. In 2016 Smriti Keshari, Kevin Ford and author Eric Schlosser have created what looks to be the next generation of anti-nuclear movies with The Bomb, a 55-minute multimedia immersion event that puts the audience directly inside a nuclear explosion thanks to state-of-the-art floor-to-ceiling screens. This one closes the fest. It should be a blast. ahem - Ben Umstead
Gala
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
This docu about superstar DJ Steve Aoki is directed by Justin Krook and produced by Jiro Dreams of Sushi's David Gelb. Friday's premiere screening will be followed by a performance by Aoki. - Ryland Aldrich
Special Screenings
All This Panic
Fine Art Photographers Jenny Gage and Tom Betterton turn their cameras on two teenage sisters as they grow up across the Five Burroughs. Gage and Betterton's beautiful short form work suggests this will be an intimate, lyrical and dynamic doc on growing up. - Ben Umstead
Documentary Competition
Bugs
What's the latest trend in haute cuisine? Director Andreas Johnsen will tell you it's the titular creepy crawly creatures at the center of this documentary. - Ryland Aldrich
Documentary Competition
Strike a Pose
In 1990, pop superstar Madonna embarked on a massive world tour, which also resulted in the notorious tour documentary Truth or Dare. But this new documentary isn't really about her; it's about her backup dancers, who were simultaneously beneficiaries and victims of Madonna's bold and outrageously provocative stage and multimedia act. Beautifully shot, and often surprisingly somber for such a potentially frivolous subject, Strike a Pose shows that it's one thing to fearlessly express oneself when you're a famous pop star; it's quite another when you're not nearly as rich and famous, and when fully revealing one's true self has real and serious consequences. - Christopher Bourne
Spotlight
Check It
LGBTQ youth fight back in this docu about a DC area gang. The film is directed by The Nine Lives of Marion Barry directors Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer. - Ryland Aldrich
Spotlight
Tickling Giants
The Daily Show producer Sara Taksler goes around the Arab world with Bassem Youssef, the journalist/comedian/provocateur known as "the Jon Stewart of Egypt." - Ryland Aldrich
Documentary Competition
Haveababy
If the title is any indication then Amanda Micheli's doc on the fertility industry is going to be a bit wacky. Oh, the film opens with the story of a Youtube contest where the prize is vitro fertilization? All right then! Let the Pregger Games begin! - Ben Umstead
Viewpoints
Contemporary Color
Bill and Turner Ross (45365, Tchoupitoulas, Western) return with this music documentary about David Byrne's star-studded tribute to Color Guards. - Ryland Aldrich
Documentary Competition
The Banksy Job
Music Video/Commerical directors Ian Roderick Gray and Dylan Harvey make their feature docu debut with this story of a man who sets out to be the villain of Banksy's made up tale. - Ryland Aldrich
Spotlight
The Last Laugh
This documentary, through the lens of the enduring legacies of the Holocaust, examines whether there are any subjects that are off limits for humor, or any third rails which comedians venture to touch only at their great peril, whether it be the Holocaust, 9/11, racism, slavery, or any number of sensitive subjects. If The Last Laugh ultimately raises more issues and questions than it is willing to take a clear stand on, it nevertheless opens up a space for fruitful discussions, and is well-packaged with both cannily chosen archival material and interesting interviews.- Christopher Bourne
Spotlight
LoveTrue
Bombay Beach director Alma Har'el returns with this poetic look at love in three corners of the USA. - Ryland Aldrich
Documentary Competition
Win!
Justin Webster latest docu takes us inside the formation of the NYCFC Major League Soccer franchise. Olé! - Ryland Aldrich
Spotlight
