Exclusive: American Film Showcase Announces 2025 Film Slate
Director Jeremy Workman (R) and protagonist Lily Hevesh (L) in South Korea for an AFS screening of Lily Topples the World. Courtesy of AFS
Today, the U.S. Department of State’s flagship American Film Showcase (AFS) announces its 2025 film slate of 43 documentaries. This “film diplomacy” program showcases new award-winning American documentaries in a year-round screening program organized by U.S. Embassies in dozens of countries.
“AFS’s screening program is a global film festival offering international audiences a nuanced view of American life and creating space for cross-cultural dialogue,” said Rachel Gandin Mark, AFS Program Director, in a prepared statement. “We are incredibly proud of this year’s wide-ranging collection of American films and can’t wait to share these stories with new audiences.”
“The stories explored in this year’s collection of 43 films reflect the diversity of the American experience from St. Lawrence Island in Alaska to the Florida Everglades,” said Ben Chance, AFS Head of Film. Chance further pointed out the prominence of celebrity bio-docs like Matthew Heinman’s American Symphony, on Jon Batiste, as well as Sundance darlings Going Varsity in Mariachi and Bad Press.
While Oscar-winner The Last Repair Shop and nominees like The Barber of Little Rock and Nai Nai & Wài Pó are highlighted in the AFS press release, the 2025 slate also includes a number of independently released films and a large number of emerging or first-time feature directors.
Since 2012, AFS has screened over 500 nonfiction titles at 5,000 screenings in 135 countries. U.S. Embassies often travel directors to lead Q&A discussions of their films with local audiences at overseas screenings of their films. AFS is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and is implemented by USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.
The full list of AFS 2025 documentaries follows.
1. American Symphony (Netflix) - Matthew Heineman
2. Angel City (Warner Bros. Discovery) - Arlene Nelson
3. Audible (Netflix) - Matt Ogens
4. Bad Press (Independent) - Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
5. The Barber of Little Rock (The New Yorker) - John Hoffman, Christine Turner
6. Between Earth & Sky (POV Shorts) - Andrew Nadkarni
7. Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games (ESPN) - Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
8. Black Godfather of Scuba (Independent) - Matt Kay
9. Breaking Silence (Independent Lens) - Amy Bench, Annie Silverstein
10. Candace Parker: Unapologetic (ESPN) - Joie Jacoby
11. Coldwater Kitchen (Independent) - Brian Kaufman, Mark Kurlyandchik
12. Confessions of a Good Samaritan (Independent) - Penny Lane
13. The Dads (Netflix) - Luchina Fisher
14. Erased: WW2's Heroes of Color (National Geographic) - Dan Dewsbury, George Amponsah, Shianne Brown, Alex Thomas
15. Fight or Flight (Independent) - Lindsey Hagen
16. Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely (American Masters) - Yael Melamede
17. For The Record (Independent) - Heather Courtney
18. Forgiving Johnny (Breakwater Studios, Time Studios) - Ben Proudfoot
19. Going Varsity in Mariachi - Sam Osborn, Alejandra Vasquez
20. High on the Hog: Season 2 (Netflix) - Roger Ross Williams, Geoff Martz, Fabienne Toback, Karis Jagger, Michele Barnwell
21. JessZilla (Independent) - Emily Sheskin
22. Join or Die (Independent) - Pete Davis, Rebecca Davis
23. The Last Repair Shop (Breakwater Studios, Searchlight Pictures, L.A. Times Short Docs) - Ben Proudfoot
24. Liquor Store Dreams (POV) - So Yun Um
25. Little Richard: I Am Everything (Magnolia Pictures) - Lisa Cortés
26. Nai Nai & Wài Pó (Disney) - Sean Wang
27. Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer (PBS) - Jonathan Cipiti, Megan Harrington
28. No Legs. All Heart. (Independent) - Pablo Durana
29. One with the Whale (Independent Lens) - Pete Chelkowski, Jim Wickens
30. The Orchestra Chuck Built (Independent) - Christopher Stoudt
31. Parker (The New Yorker) - Catherine Hoffman, Sharon Liese
32. Path of the Panther (National Geographic) - Eric Bendick
33. The Promise of Spring (Independent) - Anna Andersen
34. The Queen of Code (ESPN) - Gillian Jacobs
35. Roberta (American Masters) - Antonino D'Ambrosio
36. Secrets of the Elephants (National Geographic) - Fleur Bone, Jonathan Frisby, Joshua Helliker, Nicola Tremain
37. Soundscape (Independent) - Timmy O'Neill
38. The Space Race (National Geographic) - Lisa Cortés, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza
40. Stan Lee (Disney) - David Gelb
41. They Came From All Over (Meta) - Rayka Zehtabchi
42. Who Is Stan Smith? (Independent) - Danny Lee
43. Working: What We Do All Day (Netflix) - Caroline Suh