DC/DOX 2026 kicks off today, marking the festival’s fourth celebration of bold non-fiction cinema across Washington, D.C. through June 14th. In addition to showcasing over 100 new films, filmmakers and audiences alike will gather to discuss the craft of documentary and the myriad of urgent topics illuminated by the festival’s ambition slate. From this year’s lineup, we have identified the festival’s science or technology-themed documentary features to look out for, with descriptions quoted from the festival.
Highlights include LOVE APPTUALLY, the latest from Sloan grantee Shalini Kantayya (CODED BIAS) and 2026 First Look selection JOYBUBBLES, directed by Rachael J. Morrison.
AI: PROBABLY NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. Dir. Nick Holt. International Premiere. “As artificial intelligence accelerates a new technological arms race, the scientist whose breakthrough made it possible begins to question what he has unleashed. AI: PROBABLY NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT is a gripping look at the race to build thinking machines — and the growing fear that they may outpace us all.”
AMAZING LIVE SEA MONKEYS. Dirs. Mark Becker, Aaron Schock. “From her crumbling estate on the Potomac River, Yolanda Signorelli battles to wrest control of her late husband Harold’s iconic toy, AMAZING LIVE SEA-MONKEYS!, from the corporate men she insists stole it from her — and to rescue it from the stain of her husband’s dark legacy.”
BUCKS HARBOR. Dir. Pete Muller. “In Downeast Maine, boys are shaped by brutal winters, the harvesting of the ocean’s bounty, and the rigid codes of their fathers. BUCKS HARBOR explores what it means to grow up in a community where a man’s worth is measured by the strength of his back.”
DAUGHTERS OF THE FOREST. Dir. Otilia Portillo Padua. “Deep in Mexico’s forests, two Indigenous mycologists seek to reconcile the past and present while reimagining the future for themselves and a changing world.”
EARTH TO MICHAEL. Dirs. Nico López-Alegría, ZZ. “Before an astronaut leaves Earth to usher in a new era of spaceflight, his son asks him to confront the unresolved space between them—revisiting a past shaped by distance in the hope of a more connected future.”
Still from EARTH TO MICHAEL. Courtesy of DC/DOX.
THE ENDLESS FRONTIER. Dir. Marilyn Ness. World Premiere. “An urgent portrait of three scientists confronting some of the most pressing challenges of our time, revealing the growing threat to the American research ecosystem—and what is at stake if it begins to falter.”
FREEFALL: A RECKONING FOR BOEING. Dir. Rory Kennedy. World Premiere. “Following the highly publicized death of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, Rory Kennedy’s FREEFALL: A RECKONING FOR BOEING continues the investigation into the once-iconic aviation giant, uncovering startling new revelations and insider accounts in the wake of a deepening corporate crisis.”
JOYBUBBLES. Dir. Rachael J. Morrison. “A boy discovers he can control the global telephone system by whistling a magic tone. Born blind and yearning for connection, his obsession sparks a subculture that helps shape the future of hacking and technology.”
THE LAKE. Dir. Abby Ellis. “An environmental nuclear bomb looms in Utah. Two intrepid scientists and a political insider race against the clock to save their home from unprecedented catastrophe.”
LOVE APPTUALLY. Dir. Shalini Kantayya. US Premiere. “Following a French journalist’s journey from an early fascination with Tinder to an investigation of the deeper truths embedded in its algorithm, LOVE APPTUALLY explores how a multibillion-dollar tech industry is quietly reshaping desire, intimacy, and the most fundamental of human pursuits: love.”
Still from LOVE APPTUALLY. Courtesy of DC/DOX.
MISS REPRESENTATION: RISE UP. Dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “In this timely follow-up to the lauded MISS REPRESENTATION, Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s RISE UP explores the ongoing cultural backlash against women’s mental health, agency, and political power, revealing how technology amplifies sexism and misogyny."
PHENOMENA: Dir. Josef Gatti. “A psychedelic odyssey into the fabric of the universe, where immersive practical experiments yield striking, otherworldly imagery that unfolds into a hypnotic audiovisual experience of awe and human connection to the natural world.”
THE SANDBOX. Dir. Kenya-Jade Pinto. US Premiere. “Through meditative, cinematic landscapes, THE SANDBOX explores global borders where surveillance and AI shape who lives and who dies. From the Arizona desert to the Mediterranean Sea, suffering is clinically managed while control is packaged as security. If there is no opting out, who is The Sandbox really protecting?’
SUPER NATURE. Dir. Ed Sayers. US Premiere. “A global love letter to nature, filmed entirely on Super 8, invites us into a spellbinding journey of togetherness with our fellow dwellers on Earth—human and nonhuman—as people embrace beauty, abundance, and loss.”
TIME AND WATER. Dir. Sara Dosa. “Facing the loss of his country’s glaciers and the impending death of his beloved grandparents, Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason turns his archives into a time capsule to hold what is slipping away—family, memory, time, and water.”
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