DOC NYC Opens Its Third Annual Festival

As readers of this site will know the documentary world is full of women. The folks running DOC NYC sure know that as their program is full of women directed films. (Also check out the poster.)

The festival kicked off last night with a gala screening of Venus and Serena co-directed by Michelle Major. The film is a fascinating look at the career of the Williams sisters. It goes al lthe way back to the early years when Richard Williams had this grand plan to train champions on the courts of Compton, CA. The guy did it his way and had a sense of assurance that made other people in the tennis world crazy. It shows the works the sisters do on their road to success, the setbacks, the health issues and their grit and determination to remain champions.

There are lots of movies to see. Go if you can. you will not regret it. I am making my way through screeners and have seen a couple ahead of time including one of my favorites Wonder Women! The Untold Stories of American Superheroines which takes a look at the character of Wonder Woman in American history but goes a bit further and talks about the lack of strong female characters in film.

Here are the other women directed films:

GALAS

Can’t Stand Losing You — directed by Andy Grieve with Lauren Lazin

Sing Me the Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert for Kate McGarrigle — directed by Lian Lunson

The Central Park Five — directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon

VIEWFINDERS

Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin & The Farm Midwives — directed by Sara Lamm, Mary Wigmore — Ina May Gaskin has led a group of women midwives on “the farm” in Tennessee and remind us how natural having babies is when we are all so used to medical intervention. These women are dedicated to providing positive women centric births.

A Girl and a Gun — directed by Cathryne Czubek

Gypsy Davy — directed by Rachel Leah Jones

The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology — directed by Sophie Fiennes

Rafea: Solar Mama — directed by Mona Eldaief, Jehane Noujaim — In a country where women have limited rights and many family responsibilities Rafea who is illiterate is given the opportunity to be trained as a solar engineer so she can bring electricity to her village. She has to go to India for 6 months and it is a complicated process.

Shepard & Dark — directed by Treva Wurmfeld

Sweet Dreams — Directed by Rob Fructman, Lisa Fructman

METROPOLIS

Radioman — directed by Mary Kerr

Zipper — Amy Nicholson — read guest post by Amy

SONIC CINEMA

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me — directed by Drew Denicola, Olivia Mori

David Bromberg: Unsung Treasure — directed by Beth Toni Kruvant

Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation — directed by Laura Archibald

Musicwood — directed by Maxine Trump

AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

Betting the Farm — directed by Cecily Pingree, Jason Mann