DOC FORTNIGHT 2018: 17TH ANNUAL MOMA INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF NONFICTION FILM AND MEDIA - MOMA PRESS
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Doc Fortnight 2018: 17th Annual MoMA International Festival of
Nonfiction Film and Media
February 15-26, 2018
The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, The Celeste Bartos Theater
Screening Schedule
Habaneros
Opening night | US premiere
2017. Great Britain/Cuba. Directed by Julien Temple. 126 min.
Acclaimed filmmaker Julien Temple celebrates the rich history of Cuba and its people in this
homage to Havana. Weaving together archival footage, animations, movie excerpts, and
interviews, and featuring a vibrant soundtrack of salsa, jazz, rumba, mambo, and hip hop, the
film presents key moments in the city’s recent history—from the abolition of slavery at the end
of the 19th century to the revolution of Fidel Castro—up to the current moment, with Havana
on the brink of an exciting new global presence. In Spanish; English subtitles
Post-screening discussion with Temple
Thursday, February 15, 7:30 p.m. T1
The Silent Teacher
US premiere
2017. Taiwan. Directed by Maso Chen. 73 min.
Inside the morgue at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei, a man brushes his late wife’s hair
while telling her about his day. Referring to the name given to bodies donated for medical
research, The Silent Teacher tells the dual story of the Lin family’s grief over their lost
matriarch, and the students who will learn how to be better doctors thanks to her selfless
donation. Maso Chen’s thoughtful film seeks out the connection between the physical body
and the soul within. In Mandarin, Taiwanese; English subtitles
Preceded by Julius Caesar Was Buried in a Pet Cemetery
New York premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Sam Green. 3 min.
A short documentary about the final resting place of some legendary pets.
Post-screening discussion with Chen and Green
Friday, February 16, 4:00 p.m. T2
Mr. Gay Syria
New York premiere
2017. Turkey/France/Germany. Directed by Ayşe Toprak. 84 min.
Husein is an Istanbul barber yearning to escape to Europe. Mahmoud is a gay rights advocate
who helps asylum seekers. What brings them together is a single dream: participating in Mr.
Gay World and representing the LGBT community across the Muslim world. Turkish filmmaker
Ayşe Toprak weaves a narrative about the challenges of being gay in the Middle East, thedevastating realities of refugees, and the hope that comes with surviving it all. In Arabic;
English subtitles
Preceded by One Day in Aleppo
US premiere
2017. Syria/Sweden. Directed by Ali Alibrahim. 24 min.
Among the ruins of Aleppo, Syrian journalist and filmmaker Ali Alibrahim focuses his lens on
the lives of civilians trying to survive in a city ravaged by civil war.
Post-screening discussion with producer Ekin Çalışir
Friday, February 16, 4:30 p.m. T1
Instructions on Parting
World Premiere
2018. USA. Directed by Amy Jenkins. 93 min.
Using personal home videos, visual artist Jenkins presents an intimate cinéma vérité portrait
of the cyclical nature of life and death. As she navigates the emotional transition into
motherhood, she must also make sense of the untimely passing of several members from her
immediate family.
Preceded by KCLOC
2017. USA/India. Directed by Ninaad Kulkarni. 2 min.
A 3-D animated documentary on the concept of time and people’s reactions to a single
question: “What does time mean to you?”
Post-screening discussion with Jenkins and Kulkarni
Friday, February 16, 7:00 p.m. T2
The Rest I Make Up
World premiere
2017. USA/Cuba. Directed by Michelle Memran. 75 min. Maria Irene Fornes is recognized as
one of America’s most influential playwrights and teachers, even if she is not among the most
well known. Though she gradually stopped writing due to dementia, a chance encounter with
filmmaker Michelle Memran reignited her spontaneous creative spirit and triggered a decade-
long collaboration that picked up “where the pen left off.” The duo travel from NY to Havana,
Miami to Seattle, exploring Fornes’s remembered past and their shared present. Theater
luminaries such as Edward Albee, Ellen Stewart, Lanford Wilson, and others weigh in on
Fornes’s important contributions. The film is ultimately a story of love, connection, and
creativity that persists even in the face of forgetting. In English, Spanish; English subtitles
Preceded by Victor and Isolina
2017. USA. Directed by William D. Caballero. 6 min.
Using hybrid animation, the filmmaker interviews his elderly grandparents about their lifelong,
complex, and arduous relationship. In English, Spanish; English subtitles
Post-screening discussion with Memran and Caballero
Friday, February 16, 7:30 p.m. T1
Liyana
New York premiere
2017. Swaziland/USA/Qatar. Directed by Aaron Kopp, Amanda Kopp. 77 min.
Under the guidance of acclaimed South African storyteller Gcina Mhlophe, five orphaned
children from Swaziland craft the fairytale story of Liyana, a Swazi girl who embarks on a
dangerous quest to save her young twin brothers. As their fairytale is brought to life with
colorful animation, observational documentary scenes and intimate accounts of the children’s
daily lives echo into Liyana’s fictional adventure and provide an unparalleled perspective of
one of the world’s most vulnerable populations. In Swazi; English subtitles
Preceded by Jesser and the Sugarcane (Jesser en het Suikerriet)
2New York premiere
2016. The Netherlands. Directed by Godelieve Eijsink. 15 min.
A young boy dreams of a life far from the sugar cane fields that have dictated his family’s life.
Post-screening discussion with Kopp, Kopp, and Eijsink
Saturday, February 17, 1:00 p.m. T1
Señorita Maria, la falda de la montaña (Miss Maria, Skirting the Mountain)
US premiere
2017. Colombia. Directed by Rubén Mendoza. 90 min.
Maria Luisa lives in a conservative Catholic village in rural Colombia. Designated male at birth
and shunned by her family, she has found enough love in her God and in herself to keep her
going despite it all. In Spanish; English subtitles
Preceded by Where We Are Now
New York premiere
2017. Great Britain. Directed by Lucie Rachel. 9 min.
A look into the changing relationship between a transgender parent and her daughter.
Post-screening discussion with Mendoza
Saturday, February 17, 1:30 p.m. T2
Paternal Rites
World premiere
2018 . USA. Directed by Jules Rosskam. 82 min.
This first-person essay film examines the aftereffects of physical and sexual abuse in a
contemporary Jewish American family. With the filmmaker’s queer and transgender identity at
its core, the film delves into the nature of trauma—and even memory itself—and the role of
film and filmmaking in the process of healing.
Preceded by The Talk: True Stories about the Birds & the Bees
2016. Canada. Directed by Alain Delannoy. 9 min.
Using a crafted blend of animation techniques, Delannoy depicts the universally awkward
experiences of parents explaining sex to their children.
Post-screening discussion with Rosskam and Delannoy
Saturday, February 17, 4:00 p.m. T1
Sans bruit, les figurants du désert (Noiseless, Desert Extras)
US premiere
2017. Poland/France/Morocco. Directed by Gilles Lepore, Michal Madracki, Maciej Madracki.
64 min.
For quite some time now, the city of Ouarzazate, Morocco, has been a resource for the film
industry, a location where everything can be reinvented. In this film about filmmaking, the
directors take us behind the scenes of a location that is a stand-in for any sandy desert, where
the locals most often appear as extras—terrorists, nameless disciples, etc. Here the line
between fiction and reality is blurred, and yet the lives of these extras, many of whom make a
career from this work, are very real indeed. In Arabic, Berber, French; English subtitles
Preceded by Silica
2017. Australia/Great Britain. Directed by Pia Borg. 22 min.
Following the journey of a film location scout in search of otherworldly landscapes, Silica
explores the boundaries between the real and the mediated in the Australian desert.
Post-screening discussion with Lepore, Madracki, and Madracki
Saturday, February 17, 4:30 p.m. T2
Devil’s Freedom (La Libertad del Diablo)
New York premiere
32017. Mexico. Directed by Everardo González. 74 min.
Hidden behind matching beige masks, victims and perpetrators of violence in Mexico reflect
on the gruesome events that have come to shape their everyday lives. Stripped of names and
faces, individuals are separated by their emotional response and stitched together by their
shared fears. In Spanish; English subtitles
Preceded by Best of Luck with the Wall
2017. USA. Directed by Josh Begley. 6 min.
Brooklyn-based data artist and app developer Josh Begley converts 200,000 satellite images
of the US-Mexico border into an emotional reflection on a divisive issue.
Post-screening discussion with González and Begley
Saturday, February 17, 7:00 p.m. T1
Shorts Program: The Presence of Place
Twin, Tastes and Tongues
World premiere
2017. Spain/China. Directed by Antoni Miralda. 15 min.
Split-screen footage of daily goings-on in Shanghai and Barcelona captures the blurred
cultural lines of our global present.
UNTITLED (Pow Wow)
2017. USA. Directed by Mary Lucier. 9 min.
In an initiative supported by the Rauschenberg Foundation, Lucier was among artists who
created work in collaboration with the Spirit Lake Dakota Sioux reservation. Here she
responds to the music, dance, costume, and decoration of tribal activities in which individuals
and groups embody an ancient culture.
...the thing itself
World premiere
2018. Romania/USA. Directed by Edin Velez. 5 min.
An intimate space carved out of a quiet late summer day. Extreme close-ups of domestic life
bathed in a ripe light slowly open up into wider landscapes of less forgiving time. This is a
morning in Transylvania.
Abbeville
International premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Juan Mejia. 7 min.
In 1916, a black farmer named Anthony Crawford was brutally lynched in Abbeville, South
Carolina. One hundred years later, the Crawford family returns to the town square to
acknowledge the racial violence that once drove them away.
Attachment
International premiere
2017. Great Britain. Directed by Naomi Bowey. 3 min.
Navigating through the corridors of a self-storage facility, this short work delves into the
peculiar bonds we have with our possessions.
Spirit Lake
2017. Egypt/USA. Directed by Rena Effendi. 20 min.
This haunting portrait of North Dakota’s Spirit Lake reservation portrays inhabitants’ lives,
from trauma to spiritual practice.
Find Fix Finish
US premiere
2017. Germany. Directed by Sylvain Cruiziat, Mila Zhluktenko. 17 min.
In this short, comprised entirely of drone footage, three military drone pilots share their
experiences and how they deal with the ability to kill with the push of a button.
Dérive Veneziane
US premiere
42015. Spain/Venice/USA. Directed by Antoni Muntadas. 38 min.
An homage to the city of Venice—a nighttime boat ride through the hidden, the unknown, the
mysterious—inspired by the Situationists’ theory of the dérive.
Post-screening discussion with Lucier and Velez
Saturday, February 17, 7:30 p.m. T2
Becoming Who I Was
NYC premiere
2017. South Korea. Directed by Chang-Yong Moon, Jin Jeon. 95 min.
Filmed over the course of eight years, Becoming Who I Was follows the daily life of Padma
Angdu, a young Ladakhi boy who has been identified as the reincarnation of a high-ranking
Tibetan Buddhist monk. On his quest to be reunited with his predecessor’s monastic order, he
must overcome great obstacles to fulfill his chosen destiny. In Ladakhi, Tibetan, Hindi; English
subtitles
Preceded by Shivani
New York premiere
2017 . USA. Directed by Jamie Dobie. 21 min.
India’s future Olympic archery medalist may only be three years old, but her parents believe
her to be the reincarnation of their son Lenin, an archery champion who was killed at 26.
InTelugu ; English subtitles
Post-screening discussion with Moon and Dobie
Sunday, February 18, 1:00 p.m. T1
Mama Colonel (Maman Colonelle)
2017. Democratic Republic of the Congo/France. Directed by Dieudo Hamadi. 72 min.
Mama Colonel documents the daily work of Honorine Munyole, the head of a Congolese police
unit, whose new post in a big city puts her career to the test. In a country mired in corruption
since the days of civil war, Munyole hopes to put an end to sexual abuse and the exploitation
of minors. In Lingala, Swahili, French; English subtitles
Preceded by Umva (Rewind)
2017. South Africa. Directed by Jessie Zinn. 5 min.
An experimental essay on “freedom” and post-democratic disillusionment in South Africa, as
told by three young women of the Born Free generation.
Post-screening discussion with Zinn
Sunday, February 18, 1:30 p.m. T2
The Long Season
US premiere
2017. The Netherlands/Lebanon. Directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich. 90 min.
Award-winning vérité director Helmrich documents the lives of displaced Syrians living in a
camp on the Lebanon border. As the inhabitants continuously wait for goods and news from
Raqqa, they also try to make the best of a broken situation. In Arabic; English subtitles
Preceded by Five Years After the War
US premiere
2017. France. Directed by Samuel Albaric, Martin Wiklund, Ulysse Lefort. 17 min.
Filmmaker Samuel Albaric tells the story of his cousin Tim—a man born to a Jewish mother
and an Arab father, the latter of whom he knew little about. In French; English subtitles
Post-screening discussion with The Long Season producer Pieter van Huijstee
Sunday, February 18, 4:00 p.m. T1
Collective Intelligence: An Evening of Emergent Documentary Storytelling
Sarah Wolozin and Katerina Cizek, executive producers of the new Co-Creation Studio at MIT
5Open Documentary Lab, showcase cutting-edge, collaborative nonfiction across innovative
platforms and technologies, tracing how documentarians are collaborating with citizens,
communities, and scholars across disciplines—and now using algorithms.
Sunday, February 18, 4:30 p.m. T2
Moving Stories
World premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Rob Fruchtman. 83 min.
Six dancers from New York’s Battery Dance Company travel across the world teaching some
of the most vulnerable youth about expressing themselves through movement and creativity.
Addressing issues from gender violence and poverty to persecution and prejudice, these
students respond in extraordinary ways as they prepare to perform in their communities after
only a week of practice. In English, Hindi, Romanian, Korean; English subtitles
Preceded by While I Yet Live
North American premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Maris Curran. 14 min.
Five acclaimed African American quilters from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, talk about love, religion,
and the fight for civil rights as they continue the tradition of quilting that originally brought
them together.
Post-screening discussion with Fruchtman, members of the Battery Dance Company, and
Curran
Sunday, February 18, 7:00 p.m. T1
13, A ludodrama about Walter Benjamin
US premiere
2017. Canada. Directed by Carlos Ferrand. 78 min.
From 1933 until his suicide in 1940, the German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, and
essayist Walter Benjamin was on the run from the Nazis and lived in exile in Paris. Combining
archival footage, contemporary scenes, animated sequences, and puppetry, this 13-chapter
composite essay takes us back to that period in Benjamin’s life, reflecting on the many facets
of his work, his world, and his personality, retelling the story of a man whose life resonates
powerfully today.
Preceded by Western Wild...or how I found wanderlust and met Old Shatterhand
North American premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Martha Colburn. 9 min.
This densely textured mixture of stop-motion animation, found footage, and interviews, about
a filmmaker making a film about the German author Karl May, is enough to generate sensory
wanderlust.
Post-screening discussion with Ferrand and Colburn
Sunday, February 18, 7:30 p.m. T2
Black Memorabilia
World premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Chico Colvard. 62 min.
From industrial China to the rural American South to contemporary Brooklyn, Black
Memorabilia traces the propagation of negative representations of African Americans through
the production and purchase of racialized objects and figurines. As this history unravels, the
filmmaker questions who gets to tell what stories about black history, and why, exposing the
ever-present traumas of racism. In English, Mandarin; English subtitles
Preceded by ’63 Boycott
New York premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Rachel Dickson, Tracye A. Matthews, Gordon Quinn. 30 min.
6On October 22, 1963, more than 250,000 students boycotted Chicago’s public schools to
protest racial segregation. Using archival footage shot by the director himself, ’ 63 Boycott
connects past and present issues surrounding race and the education system.
Post-screening discussion with Colvard, Quinn, and ’63 Boycott producers Rachel Dickson
and Tracye A. Matthews
Monday, February 19, 1:00 p.m. T2
Rio Verde: El tiempo de los Yakurunas (Green River: The Time of the Yakurunas)
US premiere
2017. Peru. Directed by Alvaro Sarmiento, Diego Sarmiento. 89 min.
This poetic journey into the depths of the Peruvian Amazon explores the perception of time in
three small villages that live in close symbiosis with the river, a landscape inhabited by
shamans and indigenous cultures that have been ravaged by the rubber industry. In Spanish;
English subtitles
Post-screening discussion with Diego Sarmiento
Monday, February 19, 4:00 p.m. T3
Calabria
US premiere
2016. Switzerland. Directed by Pierre-François Sauter. 117 min.
Following the death of a Calabrian emigrant working in Switzerland, two undertakers embark
on a mission across Italy to bring him home. In French, Serbian, Portuguese, Italian; English
subtitles
Post-screening discussion with Sauter
Monday, February 19, 4:30 p.m. T2
Híbridos, the Spirits of Brazil
Modern Mondays
2017. Brazil/France. Directed by Vincent Moon, Priscilla Telmon. Live performance.
This multi-platform project explores various forms of cinema, as well as various forms of
spiritual practices and trance forms around Brazil. Híbridos comprises three components: a
feature-length film, a comprehensive open-source website, and a live cinema experience,
where the artists reconstruct the project from the source material in a dynamic presentation.
Each form completes the other, in an attempt to question our relationship to images and to
build an immersive, sensorial experience that evokes the trance state.
Live performance and presentation by Vincent Moon and Priscilla Telmon
Monday, February 19, 7:00 p.m. T1
Two Week-long Screenings
George
World premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Jeffrey Perkins. 120 min.
In 1961 Lithuanian American artist and impresario George Maciunas established the avant-
garde art movement Fluxus. George details the rise of Fluxus following a sensationalized tour
of “concerts” in Europe in 1962, and continuing in New York for most of the 1960s and ’70s.
During this time Maciunas was converting the dying industrial buildings of Soho into a network
of artists’ lofts, creating one of the first official real estate co-ops of artist-owned buildings.
Maciunas’s life and legacy—as recounted by artists of his generation, including Yoko Ono and
Jonas Mekas—ignited debates that remain pivotal to artists working today.
Preceded by Carolee, Barbara, and Gunvor
7World premiere
2018. USA. Directed by Lynne Sachs. 9 min.
From 2015 to 2017, Sachs visited with three multifaceted artists who have embraced the
moving image throughout their lives. From Carolee Schneemann’s 18th-century house in the
Hudson Valley to Barbara Hammer’s West Village studio to Gunvor Nelson’s childhood village
in Sweden, Sachs captures each woman in the place where she finds grounding and
inspiration.
Post-screening discussion with Perkins, Sachs and other guests TBA
February 20-26, various times T1, T2, T3
Out of My Head
World premiere
2017. USA. Directed by Susanna Styron. 78 min.
Nearly a billion people worldwide live with the debilitating effects of migraine, a neurological
disorder that produces effects far more severe than the common headache. Its sufferers
come from all walks of life, from infants and veterans to Sigmund Freud and Joan Didion.
Featuring interviews from doctors, neuroscientists, activists, and sufferers, the film explores
migraine and the bizarre yet seldom recognized toll it takes on daily life.
Post-screening discussion with Styron and Ochs and other guests TBA
February 20-26, various times. T1, T2, T3
Jonathan Demme Retrospective
Doc Fortnight honors the memory of the influential filmmaker Jonathan Demme, who passed
away in 2017. While perhaps better known for his narrative features (including the Academy
Award–winning The Silence of the Lambs), he made documentaries throughout his career.
This program celebrates the scope of that work in a retrospective tribute.
Stop Making Sense
1984. USA. Directed by Jonathan Demme. 100 min.
Considered one of the greatest concert films, Stop Making Sense captures Talking Heads
during their Speaking in Tongues tour. Lead singer David Byrne, featured here in his iconic
“big suit,” worked behind the scenes with Demme on the concept for the film.
Friday, February 23, 7:30 p.m. T1
Haiti: Dreams of Democracy
1988. USA/Great Britain/Haiti. Directed by Jonathan Demme, Jo Menell. 52 min.
Demme had a lifelong love for the people and culture of Haiti, and this film captures a key
moment in the country’s history, as its people celebrate the ousting of the authoritarian
Duvalier regime. Music is central to the film, with performances from street drummers and
politically engaged artists interwoven throughout, capturing the hearts and hopes of the
Haitian people.
Post-screening discussion with Michele Montas, Haitian broadcast journalist and human
rights advocate
Saturday, February 24, 4:30 p.m. T1
Neil Young Journeys
2011. USA. Directed by Jonathan Demme. 87 min.
In his third documentary about Neil Young, Demme takes a road trip with the musician.
Visiting Young’s childhood home in Ontario, they hit his old old haunts and he tells stories of
people from his past. The journey concludes at downtown Toronto's iconic Massey Hall,
8where Young performed the final, intimate nights of his solo world tour.
Saturday, February 24, 7:30 p.m. T1
I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful
2011. USA. Directed by Jonathan Demme. 91 min.
Demme captures the inspiring story of Carolyn Parker, who was the last to leave her
neighborhood when Hurricane Katrina approached New Orleans. After the floodwaters
subsided, she was the first resident to return to her devastated community, where she
undertook the “impossible dream” of bringing her ruined home back to life.
Post-screening discussion with producer Daniel Wolff
Sunday, February 25, 4:00 p.m. T1
Swimming to Cambodia
1987. USA. Directed by Jonathan Demme. 85 min.
Spalding Gray’s titular monologue is translated into a filmic performance, condensed by
Demme, in which Gray discusses his participation in the film The Killing Fields (1984) and the
troubled history of Cambodia, all while searching for “the perfect moment.”
Post-screening discussion with Laurie Anderson
Sunday, February 25, 7:30 p.m. T1
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