The schedule for the 2018 Full Frame Doc Film Fest is in and the subject of its opening night film, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, would be very proud of its representation of women. Women directed or co-directed 49 percent of the films included in Full Frame’s main two lineups. Twenty of the 43 New Doc films, or 47 percent, are from female directors, as are 12 of the 22 Invited Program pics, or about 55 percent.
Full Frame 2018’s opening film will be “RBG,” Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s portrait of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The doc covers Ginsburg’s life from “the early years when she pushed past outrageous sexism to become the top lawyer fighting for women’s rights, to the present when she does 20 push-ups as easily as she writes blistering dissents,” the directors explained in an interview with Women and Hollywood earlier this year. “RBG” is part of the fest’s Invited Program offerings.
Another Invited Program doc is Nancy Buirski’s “The Rape of Recy Taylor.” Its subject, a black woman from the Jim Crow South, showed incredible courage when she spoke out against her six white rapists. “This is a film about women’s crusade to protect their bodies and their dignity — no different from today — and in doing so becoming the very foundation of the Civil Rights Movement,” Buirski has said.
Among the New Docs are Alexandra Shiva’s “This Is Home” and Anne Scheschonk’s “Girl-Hearted.” The former follows four Syrian refugee families settling in Baltimore and took home The Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary at Sundance this year. The latter centers on a young trans girl, Nori, and her mother, Josephin.
Full Frame will also pay special tribute to Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Jehane Noujaim this year. It will screen four of her films including “Control Room,” which documents Al Jazeera journalists’ coverage of the United States’ 2003 invasion of Iraq, and “The Square,” about the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
“We are enormously proud of the women represented in this year’s lineup. From Recy Taylor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, these films portray a remarkable range of inspiring female protagonists — doctors, lawyers, judges, activists, even young scientists aspiring to change the world,” said Sadie Tillery, Full Frame’s Director of Programming. “We are equally proud of the women behind the lens who are sharing their work with us this year. It’s powerful to see the experiences of women reflected in film. These stories deserve a theatrical showcase.”
The Full Frame Doc Film Fest will be held April 5–8, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina.
All of the women directed and co-directed films screening are listed below, courtesy of the fest. Go to Full Frame’s website for the full lineup or to purchase tickets.
NEW DOCS
306 Hollywood (Directors: Elan Bogarin, Jonathan Bogarin)
When their beloved grandmother dies, two siblings embark on an imaginative exploration of her home, sifting through her belongings, and their own cherished memories, to discover her essence.
Bending Lines: The Sculpture of Robert Wiggs (Directors: Peter DeHart, Allison Bohl DeHart)
Inspired by the geometry of nature — from the cracks in dried mud to the structure of pine cones to the scales on armadillos — Wiggs’s artistic process reveals the intriguing interplay between mathematics and art. World Premiere
Cielo (Director: Alison McAlpine)
Enter a wondrous exploration of the meeting of heaven and Earth in this dynamic exchange between humans and the starry skies of Chile’s Atacama Desert.
David. The Return to Land (David. El regreso a la tierra) (Director: Anaïs Huerta)
Haitian, French, and adopted by Jewish parents, 34-year-old David embarks on a mission to better understand who he is in this beautifully nuanced observation of self-discovery. North American Premiere
Girl-Hearted (Director: Anne Scheschonk)
Gracefully, and with open hearts, seven-year-old Nori and her mother, Josephin, reflect on their life together; Nori, who was born a boy, is actually a girl.
The Good Struggle (Director: Celia Peterson)
Although few words are spoken between themselves, monks at a Greek Orthodox monastery in Lebanon provide voiceovers to their daily routines — their devout thoughts echo the beauty of their solitude. World Premiere
I Am Bisha (انا بشة ) (Director: Roopa Gogineni)
As an act of pure creative resilience, Ganja and his friends film a humorous and satirical web series, Bisha TV, starring puppets to combat the violent, genocidal regime of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. World Premiere
Inventing Tomorrow (Director: Laura Nix)
Six young scientists from around the globe compete in the largest international high school science fair — with their ingenious solutions to environmental problems, they don’t just aim to bring home the top prize, they hope to change the world.
Lovers of the Night (Director: Anna Frances Ewert)
Seven elderly monks at a Cistercian abbey in Ireland humorously muse on their spiritual experiences, way of life, and the inevitable end to it all.
PATRIMONIO (Directors: Lisa F. Jackson, Sarah Teale)
When a multinational corporation attempts to covertly develop plans to build a resort on the fishermen’s coast in Todos Santos, Mexico, the locals unite for a momentous and riveting fight for their resources and their heritage — their patrimonio. North American Premiere
The Providers (Directors: Laura Green, Anna Moot-Levin)
The El Centro Family Health system in northern New Mexico covers 22,000 square miles and suffers from a chronic shortage of health care providers. This film follows three dedicated practitioners in their daily work and private lives. World Premiere
The Pushouts (Director: Katie Galloway; Co-director: Dawn Valadez)
This inspiring film follows the transformative work of Dr. Victor Rios, a former gang member and high school dropout, as he works to support students, through tools for self-reflection and expression, in an educational system that is failing to reach them. World Premiere
Rebuilding in Miniature (Director: Veena Rao)
In this short, miniaturist Ali Alamedy, an Iraqi refugee, painstakingly creates exquisitely detailed dioramas of places he’s never been in an attempt to heal his disrupted relationship to home.
The Rescue List (Directors: Alyssa Fedele, Zachary Fink)
In a Ghanaian safe house, a team works to rehabilitate two boys who were trafficked into slavery to fisherman on Lake Volta. As it moves from rescue operation to healing process, this riveting film follows the boys through their recovery and reveals the extraordinary dedication of their rescuer.
Shirkers (Director: Sandi Tan)
A film lover’s dream quickly turns to nightmare: Sandi Tan recounts making her first film in Singapore in 1992 and how she loses everything when her mentor, Georges Carandos, steals the footage. This unique diary is a bright ode to cinema, and a moving story of friendship, betrayal, and failure.
A Singular Garden (Um Jardim Singular) (Director: Monica Klemz)
This experimental documentary blends old and new images of the garden next to the presidential palace in Rio de Janeiro and incorporates natural sound as a way to connect past and present. World Premiere
Sky and Ground (Directors: Talya Tibbon, Joshua Bennett)
Incorporating a refugee family’s own footage, Sky and Ground follows a Syrian-Kurdish refugee family as they flee from a holding camp at the Greece-Macedonia border and take their chances at reaching asylum by foot on a perilous one-way trip to Berlin.
Tempting Promises (Le allettanti promesse) (Directors: Chiara Campara, Lorenzo Faggi)
A small town tucked quietly away in the Italian Alps is chosen to host the 2016 Wikimania conference — an annual meeting of international Wikipedia contributors — and the townspeople unite to welcome the newcomers and the new technological age. North American Premiere
This Is Home (Director: Alexandra Shiva)
Through brilliant observational filmmaking, This Is Home tells the story of four Syrian families on the path to self-sufficiency, and success, in a resettlement program in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Unafraid (Directors: Anayansi Prado, Heather Courtney)
The gripping and vital stories of three DACA students unfold as they work for immigrant rights, and the future of their families, after being banned from attending Georgia’s top universities or receiving in-state tuition. World Premiere
INVITED PROGRAM
Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (Director: Sara Driver)
This portrait of the pop culture icon revisits the years before he took the art world by storm. Archival footage and intimate stories from a circle of friends, lovers, and neighbors recall both a singular talent and the New York City scene that influenced his career.
Capturing The Flag (Director: Anne de Mare)
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, three friends travel to North Carolina to do voter protection work at the polls. This on-the-ground look at their efforts to help potential voters navigate the new laws and requirements that may prevent their vote reveals shocking accounts of voter suppression in play. World Premiere
Dark Money (Director: Kimberly Reed)
This modern-day political thriller follows investigative reporter John Adams into Montana’s fight against corrupt campaign financing, a struggle that could alter the devastating effects of unlimited anonymous funding on elections nationwide.
Generation Wealth (Director: Lauren Greenfield)
For 25 years, Lauren Greenfield has documented affluence around the world. In this fascinating overview of her immense body of work, the photographer reconnects with subjects of her images to consider their relationships to money, then and now, and her own fascination with the topic.
Hal (Director: Amy Scott)
Hal Ashby’s controversial films about race, sex, politics, and unconventional love made him a Hollywood rarity in the 1970s — a director who made films outside studio control. This loving remembrance by his peers celebrates the iconoclastic filmmaker.
The Judge (Director: Erika Cohn)
Devoted to the law and unwilling to mince words, Kholoud Al-Faqih, the West Bank’s first female judge, navigates Palestine’s family court system, providing a rare glimpse into Islamic courts and gendered justice.
Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story (Director: Tiffany Bartok)
In the 1980s, Kevyn Aucoin redefined the role of the makeup artist. Home movies and recollections from family, friends, and an impressive roster of famous clients retrace his meteoric rise and his lasting impact.
A Murder in Mansfield (Director: Barbara Kopple)
Twelve-year old Collier Boyle’s testimony put his father in jail for the 1989 murder of his mother. Still imprisoned more than 25 years later, the father maintains his innocence, and Boyle returns to his Ohio hometown, in this sensitive examination of reconciling with the past.
On Her Shoulders (Director: Alexandria Bombach)
When ISIS devastates her Yazidi community, survivor Nadia Murad becomes the predominant voice for her people. Following Murad as she recounts her harrowing experience time and again, this film intimately details the burden of imploring the world to intervene.
RBG (Directors: Betsy West, Julie Cohen)
This triumphant look at the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revisits landmark cases and decisions, but also reveals the woman behind the robe and the personal experiences that continue to shape her legacy.
The Rape of Recy Taylor (Director: Nancy Buirski)
In 1944, Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black woman, was abducted and raped by six white men in Alabama. The film centers on her unprecedented response — a fight for justice, with the aid of Rosa Parks and other black activists — whose profound influence on the civil rights movement still reverberates today.
Solitary Land (Tierra Sola) (Director: Tiziana Panizza)
This innovative meditation on Easter Island and its indigenous inhabitants uses historical and present-day footage to illustrate the legacy of colonial exploitation in one of the world’s most remote inhabited locales — a place of beauty, isolation, and tradition. North American Premiere
FULL FRAME TRIBUTE — Jehane Noujaim
Control Room (Director: Jehane Noujaim)
It’s 2003, and the United States is on the brink of war with Iraq. Control Room follows journalists of the Al Jazeera satellite channel — broadcasting news to some 40 million Arab viewers — as they try to cut through American rhetoric and awaken the viewers to the realities on the ground.
Rafea: Solar Mama (Directors: Mona Eldaeif, Jehane Noujaim)
In this resounding global testament to the power and necessity of equal access to education, Rafea attends Barefoot College in India to become a solar engineer, learning with other women from developing areas how to create sustainable futures for their hometowns.
The Square (Director: Jehane Noujaim)
After the 2011 Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square, citizens realize that former president Mubarak’s corrupt regime is still in power; they return to the streets to bring an end to the government, combatting controlled international media coverage, enduring violence, and navigating fragile relationships.
Startup.com (Directors: Chris Hegedus, Jehane Noujaim)
In the late 1990s, two high school friends attempt to turn the spark of an idea into a multimillion-dollar company. But when passion leads to tension, and the dot-com rush gives way to the dot-com bust, will they be able to deliver on their dream?
THEMATIC PROGRAM — Crime and Punishment
Curated by Joe Berlinger
The Farm: Angola, USA (Directors: Liz Garbus, Jonathan Stack)
In The Farm, life at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, is seen through the eyes of both its wardens and its prisoners — many of whom will die there — with disturbing parallels to plantation life.
Scenes of a Crime (Directors: Grover Babcock, Blue Hadaegh)
When a four-month-old boy dies, officers are convinced he was killed by his father, who after more than ten hours of questioning, confesses to the crime. Medical experts, police officers, and lawyers offer their opinions on this controversial admission of guilt, but the film’s focal point is the videotaped interrogation itself.
