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Spring 2023

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.

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Features
Still from 'Mãri Hi' showing a group of Yanomami walking through a dense forest.
Online Feature
“We Can Dream Really Far Away”: Morzaniel Ɨramari Discusses ‘Mãri Hi - The Tree of Dream’
By Aron Penczu
documentary magazineIndigenous MediaSouth American MediaInterview
Still from 'Users,' depicting an owl staring in the darkness. Courtesy of Icarus Films
Online Feature
Documentary Plays With Our Blind Spots: The Transcendent Cinema of Natalia Almada
By Mariana Sanson
InterviewLatinx MediaEthicsdocumentary magazine
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.
Online Feature
Between Silences and Memory: Spotlighting Three Central American Documentary Directors
By Laura Bermúdez
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.
Online Feature
“We Are Grounded Here”: DC/DOX’s Inaugural Edition Goes Live
By Coley Gray
documentary magazineInterviewFestivalsDistributionDC/DOX
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.
Online Feature
Visions du Réel 2023: Centering Creative Risks
By Carol Nahra
documentary magazineFestivalsVisions du ReelCreative Documentary
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."
Online Feature
How to Discover Rights-Free Materials For Your Film: Two Examples
By Bonnie Rowan
documentary magazineCopyrightArchives
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.
Online Feature
Domitable Myth: Three Depictions of Japanese Holdout Soldier Hiroo Onoda
By A.E. Hunt
documentary magazineWerner HerzogAsian MediaEthicsDocs about War
Still image from 'Pure Unknown,' depicting a pair of gloved hands cradling and gently wiping the hand of someone who is deceased.
Online Feature
Right to a Name: Valentina Cicogna, Mattia Colombo, and Protagonist Cristina Cattaneo Discuss ‘Pure Unknown’
By Vladan Petković
InterviewEuropean Media
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.
Online Feature
Reinscribing Violence: Emil Langballe and Lukasz Konopa’s ‘Theatre of Violence’
By Vladan Petković
EthicsAfrican MediaEuropean Media
MoMI Curator of Film Eric Hynes introduces a Working on It session at First Look 2023. Photo credit: Thanassi Karageorgiou
Online Feature
First Look 2023: The Ties That Bind
By Sevara Pan
Festivalsdocumentary magazinefirst look
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.
Online Feature | Winter 2023
Compensation and Transfiguration: Alison O’Daniel’s 'The Tuba Thieves'
By Jordan Lord
documentary magazineDeaf/DisabilityFestivals
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.
Online Feature
CPH:DOX 2023: Finding a Way Forward in Crisis
By Anthony Kaufman
Festivalsdocumentary magazineCPH:DOX
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.
Online Feature
Sustenance Without Sacrifices: Towards Equitable Workplaces
By Winnie Wang
documentary magazineGetting RealLabor Issues
Columns
A woman with black hair sits at the chair of a panel and is mid-speech.
Column
Letter from the Editor, June 2023
By Abby Sun
Letter from the Editor
Still from 'In the Rearview,' depicting a view of a road blockade from the inside of a van.
Column
The Preview: Seven Documentaries to Catch at Sheffield DocFest 2023
By Abby Sun
The PreviewSheffield DocFestFestivalsdocumentary magazine
Still from 'Q.' Eyes closed, Hiba's face is softly lit against a light background, with a tear streaming down her cheek.
Column
The Preview: Nine Documentaries to Catch at Tribeca 2023
By Abby Sun
documentary magazineTribecaFestivalsThe Preview
Still from "When My Sleeping Dragon Woke." Young, brown skin person looking through a key hole.
Column
The Feedback: Chuck Schultz and Judah-Lev Dickstein’s ‘When My Sleeping Dragon Woke’
By Gabriella Ortega Ricketts
Hybrid DocsFestivalsDocuClubThe Feedback
Purple book cover titled The Female Gaze in Documentary Film: An International Perspective. Features face of six people of different ethnic backgrounds.
Column
'The Female Gaze in Documentary Film' is Expansive and International
By Arshia
documentary magazineDocumentary HistoryReality Ink