Spring 2023

Documentary’s Spring 2023 issue launches as the more industrial sides of our field continue to crater. This issue doesn’t offer clear solutions but spotlights some exemplary filmmakers, films, and projects that are intervening in how even the independent sectors of our field are sliding backwards. In addition, this issue features the launch of a new column, “The Preview,” which includes short blurbs giving more context about exciting new documentaries that might be otherwise overlooked amid all the commercial candy of murder, music, and celebrity-themed content—and will always open with a short narrative of the film festival's recent history, organizational structure and priorities, and programming reputation.

Spring 2023

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Features

Still from 'Mãri Hi' showing a group of Yanomami walking through a dense forest.

“We Can Dream Really Far Away”: Morzaniel Ɨramari Discusses ‘Mãri Hi - The Tree of Dream’

Morzaniel Ɨramari, an Indigenous documentary-maker...

ByAronPenczu

Still from 'Users,' depicting an owl staring in the darkness. Courtesy of Icarus Films

Documentary Plays With Our Blind Spots: The Transcendent Cinema of Natalia Almada

An Interview With Natalia Almada: For over two...

ByMariana Sanson

A man sits in a beige button up in a chair in front of greenery. In front of him hands and arms clasping, as if they are slating on a movie set.

Between Silences and Memory: Spotlighting Three Central American Documentary Directors

Attending the Getting Real conference last year, I...

ByLauraBermúdez

Still is from DC/DOX's Closing Night film 'The Space Race.' A Black man wearing glasses and a blue space suit with the American flag patch on the left arm, stands in front of a console on a space craft.

“We Are Grounded Here”: DC/DOX’s Inaugural Edition Goes Live

A Conversation With Jamie Shor and Sky Sitney...

ByColeyGray

Screen of a welcome sign for Visions du Réel. Two men standing in front of the screen, one on left is 'Pianoforte' director, Jakub Piatek.

Visions du Réel 2023: Centering Creative Risks

A chance conversation with a friend in London...

ByCarolNahra

A 1943 NYWTS photo of Frank Sinatra mobbed by fans, found in the Library of Congress. The photo's cutline reads: "It took all these Pasadena, Calif., policemen, if you can believe the story, to rescue singer Frank Sinatra from the hordes of fans that beseiged him when he got off his train at Pasadena. Looks like that old black magic is really taking hold in California."

How to Discover Rights-Free Materials For Your Film: Two Examples

We who live in the Washington DC area have access...

ByBonnieRowan

Still from 'Searching for Onoda.' Ricardo Nunez, from the farming town of Burol, who survived an Onoda attack but came away from it with a permanent limp. Photo credit: Mia Stewart.

Domitable Myth: Three Depictions of Japanese Holdout Soldier Hiroo Onoda

Mia Stewart’s upcoming 15-plus-years-in-the-making...

ByA.E.Hunt

Still image from 'Pure Unknown,' depicting a pair of gloved hands cradling and gently wiping the hand of someone who is deceased.

Right to a Name: Valentina Cicogna, Mattia Colombo, and Protagonist Cristina Cattaneo Discuss ‘Pure Unknown’

The new documentary by Italian directors Valentina...

ByVladanPetković

Photo courtesy of CPH:DOX. Still from 'Theatre of Violence.' A person with dark skin, wearing a brown rimmed hat and a blue coat, holding a cellphone, stands in a green field with a dirt path.

Reinscribing Violence: Emil Langballe and Lukasz Konopa’s ‘Theatre of Violence’

The new Danish-German production Theatre of...

ByVladanPetković

MoMI Curator of Film Eric Hynes introduces a Working on It session at First Look 2023. Photo credit: Thanassi Karageorgiou

First Look 2023: The Ties That Bind

First Look, the Museum of the Moving Image’s (MoMI...

BySevaraPan

Still from "The Tuba Thieves," directed by Alison O'Daniel, showing Nyke's hands in the moment right before she signs the film's title.

Compensation and Transfiguration: Alison O’Daniel’s 'The Tuba Thieves'

A caption in Alison O’Daniel’s film The Tuba...

ByJordanLord

Still from "On the Edge," directed by Nicolas Peduzzi. From overhead, a man in a white doctor's coat descends down a series of stairs.

CPH:DOX 2023: Finding a Way Forward in Crisis

Responding to the “permacrisis”—a 2022 “word of...

ByAnthonyKaufman

Conference room with yellow chairs, camera equipment and two people in the background wearing dark blue tops and gray bottoms. Sign on glass door in foreground with Conference Room schedule.

Sustenance Without Sacrifices: Towards Equitable Workplaces

Last year, after a string of short-term contracts...

ByWinnieWang

Columns

Letter from the Editor, June 2023

By AbbySun

The Preview: Seven Documentaries to Catch at Sheffield DocFest 2023

By AbbySun

The Preview: Nine Documentaries to Catch at Tribeca 2023

By AbbySun

The Feedback: Chuck Schultz and Judah-Lev Dickstein’s ‘When My Sleeping Dragon Woke’

By GabriellaOrtega Ricketts

'The Female Gaze in Documentary Film' is Expansive and International

By Arshia