The 15th edition of DOC NYC begins November 13, bringing over 200 documentaries from around the world to audiences in New York through December 1. From this year’s lineup, we have identified the festival’s 18 science or technology-themed documentary features to look out for, with descriptions quoted from the festival. DOC NYC continues to embrace a hybrid format, with screenings taking place in venues throughout Manhattan and online. For readers unable to attend the festival in-person, we’ve denoted the titles available to screen online with an asterisk.
Highlights include the New York City premiere of Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, and Pedro Kos’ THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT on November 18. The Sloan-supported documentary is one of two features at the festival for Cohen and Shenk, whose film IN WAVES AND WAR will celebrate its New York premiere three days later.
Three of the titles below have garnered additional prestige from festival: Benjamin Ree’s THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN has made the DOC NYC Short List, inclusion in which is meant to signify strong awards potential. Conversely, the Winner’s Circle section of the festival consists of titles arriving at DOC NYC with pre-existing awards pedigree, such as Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s NOCTURNES and Sue Kim’s THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN.
ARCHITECTON. Dir. Victor Kossakovsky . NYC Premiere. “A visually stunning documentary that explores humanity’s relationship with architecture and the environment [. . .] Through mesmerizing imagery of ancient ruins, modern cityscapes, and natural quarries, the film invites viewers to question the ecological impact of architecture on the world, without imposing definitive answers.”
Still from ARCHITECTON. Courtesy of DOC NYC.
*THE BATTLE FOR LAIKIPIA. Dirs. Daphne Matziaraki, Pete Murimi. NYC Premiere. “A prescient and urgent documentary that shows how climate change can directly lead to conflict; when resources dwindle, battles arise. In Laikipia, Kenya, the ranchers, mostly white descendants of British colonizers, and local nomadic pastoralists find themselves adrift when drought hits the land they share. . .”
*ETERNAL YOU. Dirs. Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck. NYC Premiere. “When the AI tool Project December opened to the public, writer Joshua Barbeau pursued a bold and morally questionable goal: using the application to ‘speak’ with his fiancée who had died 8 years before [. . .] As the proliferation of AI models and sophisticated avatar programs forges onward, tech leaders, programmers, psychologists and everyday consumers confront the ethical concerns of this revolutionary technology.
*THE FABULOUS GOLD HARVESTING MACHINE. Dir. Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza. U.S. Premiere. “In the harsh climate of the Chilean Tierra Del Fuego, Toto has labored for 40 years in the gold mines [. . .] With his father’s health and financial future at risk, his cowboy son, Jorge, devises an ingenious machine to free his father from his labors.”
THE FALLING SKY. Dirs. Eryk Rocha, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha. NY Premiere. “An immersive and poetic film centered on iconic shaman Davi Kopenawa and the Yanomami community of Watoriki in the Brazilian rainforest. Based on the book co-authored by Davi Kopenawa and anthropologist Bruce Albert, the film invites us to participate in the sacred ritual of Reahu, and challenges all of us existing in a capitalist system who exploit nature for financial gain . . .”
*IN WAVES AND WAR. Dirs. Jon Shenk, Bonni Cohen. NY Premiere. “The extreme mental and physical rigor required of US Navy SEALs takes its toll post-service. This film follows a cohort of veterans, skilled at navigating the danger and adrenaline of deployment, but struggling in civilian life. Plagued by PTSD, survivor’s guilt, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, and depression, the men try an experimental, hallucinogenic drug treatment. . .”
THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN. Dir. Sue Kim. “Off the coast of South Korea’s Jeju Island, a community of fisherwomen known as haenyeo have been harvesting seafood for centuries. They are like mermaids, trained to free dive by holding their breath for up to two minutes. THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN explores how their tradition is at risk due to generational changes and increasing pollution. . .”
*LIGHT DARKNESS LIGHT. Dir. Landon Van Soest. North American Premiere. “After living in darkness for nearly 40 years, Ian Nichols, a blind Anglican priest, becomes one of the first people in the world to receive an experimental bionic eye implant. At 76 years old, Nichols grapples with the profound change, as the groundbreaking scientific advancement offers hope alongside perplexing technical limitations . . .”
*MOSES – 13 STEPS. Dir. Michael Welch. NYC Premiere. “For nine years, nine months and nine days, track superstar Edwin Moses went unbeaten in the notoriously difficult 400-meter hurdles. The Olympic champion devised his method while a physics major at Morehouse College, calculating the appropriate steps needed to dominate the event . . .”
Still from MOSES – 13 STEPS. Courtesy of DOC NYC.
NOCTURNES. Dirs. Anirban Dutta, Anupama Srinivasan. “An ecologist and her assistant from the indigenous Bugun community in the eastern Himalayas work at night to research the vibrant, colorful world of moths. As they study the changes in behavior of these vibrant, spellbinding creatures, their findings have implications for other species in the region, as irreversible climate change patterns begin to show their effects. . .”
*OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT. Dirs. Daniel Straub, Rosanna Xia. World Premiere. “What if you lived in a coastal city never knowing that the ocean hid a deadly poison? That’s exactly what LA residents did for decades, until a scientist alerted LA Times journalist Rosanna Xia to a problem ignored by officials for years. They discover that as many as half a million barrels of DDT waste had been dumped into the ocean, and are finally able to connect the dots between sick sea lions, a poisoned ecosystem, and the legacy of health issues in all who’ve been exposed.”
Still from OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT. Courtesy of DOC NYC.
THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN. Dir. Benjamin Ree. “Confined to a wheelchair and suffering from a degenerative muscular disease, a young Norwegian man was believed to be living in relative isolation in a physically limited world. Yet as Ibelin, his alter-ego inside the World of Warcraft online game, Mats Steen created a full universe for himself, where he lived, loved, strove and hoped to the greatest extent his soul could muster . . .”
*SPACEWOMAN. Dir. Hannah Berryman. World Premiere. “Astronaut Eileen Collins is the first woman to pilot and command the space shuttle. From her small-town beginnings, she went on to smash many glass ceilings at NASA in her career, culminating in four dramatic and dangerous space shuttle missions. Through sensational archival materials and intimate interviews, Hannah Berryman’s nail-biting film considers the emotional drama Eileen’s family experienced, and a philosophical question about what level of risk is acceptable in human endeavor.”
*SURVEILLED. Dirs. Matthew O'Neill, Perri Peltz. World Premiere. “Produced by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, the film uncovers the insidious ways in which our daily lives are being surveilled by the state. In a gripping chase, Farrow travels across the world following breadcrumbs and finally exposing a dark world of spywares, hacking, and peddling of private information, where activists and journalists are persecuted, and no one is protected from the watchful and vicious eyes of authoritarianism.”
*TURTLE WALKER. Dir. Taira Malaney. World Premiere. “In the 1970s, Satish Bhaskar became a turtle walker: He walked nearly the entire coastline of India and the spectacular Andaman and Nicobar Islands in search of sea turtles. Carrying a camera and a notepad, he documented turtles’ nesting areas and tried to save them from extinction. Then the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami struck, putting all his work and the creatures he loved in peril.”
Still from TURTLE WALKER. Courtesy of DOC NYC.
*WELCOME INTERPLANETARY AND SIDEREAL SPACE CONQUERORS. Dir. Andrés Jurado. NYC Premiere. “A constellation of archival footage, historical documents, and sound recordings presents a fascinating counter history of Colombia’s role in space exploration. Among the rare scenes, we witness fascinating Cold-War era footage of a NASA boot camp built in the jungle to teach astronauts how to survive in a hostile environment. Constructed through artful editing and manipulation of the fragmented reality, this playful, spectral narrative raises critical questions about colonization and extractivism.”
*WHAT’S NEXT? Dir. Taylor Taglianetti. NYC Premiere. “At 100 years old, Dr. Howard Tucker has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest practicing doctor. Told through the eyes of his loving grandson, the film follows the spirited, curious, elegant, and quirky neurologist as he begins to slow down and grapple with aging, social media, and computer technology for the first time. . .”
*THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT. Dirs. Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, Pedro Kos. NYC Premiere. “As we face the climate crisis, the filmmakers look back to a hopeful period when leading scientists, government officials, heads of international conglomerates and, most importantly, the American people agreed there was a problem at hand. Spanning the presidential administrations of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, the film uses archival material to reveal how our shared understanding of humanity’s effect on the climate tragically became a partisan issue.”
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