Hot Springs Doc Film Festival Announces Lineup For 32nd Edition – Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival introduced the lineup for the 32^nd version of North America’s longest-running all doc pageant, a slate that features a number of world premieres and a slew of Academy Award-contending movies. In addition, Hot Springs introduced Oscar-winning actress Mary Steenburgen, an Arkansas native, will function honorary chair of the occasion within the resort city situated within the scenic Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas.

Filmmaker, artist and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Sky Hopinka will obtain the HSDFF Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award at this 12 months’s pageant; Diane Becker and Shane Boris, two of the Oscar-winning producers of Navalny, will earn the Impact Award (their new documentary, King Coal, will display at Hot Springs on Oct. 10). The pageant runs from Oct. 6-14.

Among the world premieres taking place at HSDFF are A Song Film by Kishi Bashi: Omoiyari, directed by Justin Taylor Smith and Kaoru Ishibashi; Jack Lofton and Jeff Dailey’s The People v. Profits, and Li Lu’s documentary collection A Town Called Victoria. A Song Film by Kishi Bashi: Omoiyari “follows the musical journey of multi-talented musician Kishi Bashi as he explores the legacy of Japanese American incarceration during World War II.” Kishi Bashi (the skilled identify utilized by co-director Kaoru Ishibashi) will probably be in attendance on the movie pageant, HSDFF notes.

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, the Sundance-winning movie directed by Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster, will function the pageant’s closing night time movie. The movie in regards to the famend poet and activist was just lately acquired by HBO Documentary Films. (Black Girl’s Play: The Story of Hand Games, a brief movie directed by Stephenson and Brewster, additionally will play at Hot Springs). As beforehand introduced, the opening night time movie is Relentless Ride, directed by Adam Harbottle and Brian Hill. HSDFF’s Centerpiece Selection will probably be Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’s The Mission, the National Geographic documentary that premiered earlier this month at Telluride. Scroll for the total HSDFF lineup.

Steenburgen, who was born in Newport, Ark., will take part within the Southern Storytellers Screening and Panel, “one of a handful of special events and new initiatives featured at this year’s edition of the film festival,” HSDFF notes. “Other new initiatives include the previously announced Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)-funded Filmmaker Forum, The Natural State – a new section focused on the environment, outdoor adventure, athletic achievement and the stories and people of Arkansas, a new film series added to the lineup – The Wellness Series, True Stories: A Live Storytelling Event, and a Secret Screening.”

Festival govt director Ken Jacobson stated in a press release, “In our 32^nd year, we are underlining the high level of film programming that has made the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival such a beacon for the best and most innovative filmmakers working in the documentary form today. In addition, we are incorporating dynamic new programs and events to enrich the audience experience and support the documentary filmmaking community.”

Jacobson added, “Our goal is to embrace the rich tableau of nonfiction storytelling and forge deeper connections between filmmakers, the people and place of Hot Springs, Arkansas and the broader world. We are thrilled to be launching these efforts alongside this year’s Honorary Chair, the extraordinary and beloved Arkansan, the multi-talented Mary Steenburgen.”

The pageant is offered by Oaklawn. With the exception of the opening night time movie, which is able to display at Oaklawn’s Event Center, all pageant screenings will happen on the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa.

The 2023 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival official picks:

Opening Night

Relentless Ride

Director: Adam Harbottle, Brian Hill  

Country: USA; Running Time: 97 min

In their completely gripping documentary Relentless Ride, Arkansas-based filmmakers Adam Harbottle and Brian Hill comply with a various group of decided bike racers making an attempt to finish the 2021 Arkansas High Country Race, one of the crucial difficult rides within the U.S.

Centerpiece

The Mission 

Directors: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss

Country: USA; Running Time: 103 min

In this gripping cinematic exploration, Emmy-winning filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine (Boys State) revisit the story of John Chau, a younger American missionary who, in 2018, contacted one of many world’s most remoted Indigenous peoples with tragic penalties.

Closing Night

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project     

Directors: Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster            

Country: USA; Running Time:102 min

On the cusp of her eightieth birthday, celebrated American poet Nikki Giovanni displays on her life and the social actions influencing her fifty-year profession.

Special Presentation

A Song Film by Kishi Bashi: Omoiyari [world premiere]

Directors: Justin Taylor Smith, Kaoru Ishibashi           

Country: Japan; Running Time: 74 min

Crossing the American panorama searching for websites of former focus camps, multi-talented musician Kishi Bashi undertakes a musical journey to discover the legacy of Japanese American incarceration throughout World War II, in addition to his personal identification.

Additional Features

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture           

Director: Sharon Roggio         

Country: USA; Running Time: 92 min

Filmmaker Sharon “Rocky” Roggio explores the provocative thesis that when the phrase “homosexual” appeared within the 1946 Revised Standard Version of the Bible, it could have been a mistranslation of the unique textual content. Winner, Audience Award, DOC NYC and Outfest LA.

A Disturbance within the Force      

Directors: Jeremy Coon, Steve Kozak

Country: USA; Running Time: 87 min

“The Star Wars Holiday Special” is the variability present George Lucas needs by no means noticed the sunshine of day. This hilarious documentary exposes the making of the notorious Wookie-filled extravaganza.

A Thousand Pines        

Directors: Sebastian Diaz, Noam Osband       

Country: USA; Running Time: 77 min

Trees are in all places in Arkansas and so, too, are main tree planting operations. In this fascinating glimpse right into a largely hidden world, we meet a bunch of Mexican employees, who, yearly, uproot their lives to come back north within the hopes of bettering their lives.

All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars         

Director: Jennifer Rainsford    

Country: Japan; Running Time: 77 min

Weaving collectively ruminative pure historical past vignettes with hanging scenes of restoration, All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars is a meditation on humanity’s connection to loss after the 2011 Japanese tsunami.

Art For Everybody       

Director: Miranda Yousef        

Country: USA; Running Time: 99 min 

Thomas Kinkade’s panorama work made him the biggest-selling artist of his day. His idyllic photographs mirrored a public persona entrenched in religion and household. Yet, after his premature loss of life, a vault of personal work shatters his detailed façade, revealing a fancy man battling interior demons.

Bad Press        

Directors: Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler       

Country: USA; Running Time: 98 min 

When reporter Angel Ellis’ tribe, the Muscogee Nation, repeals free press safety of their media, she is spurred to motion to guard the tenets of journalism. 

Between Life & Death: Terri Schiavo’s Story   

Director: Nick Capote

Country: USA; Running Time: 89 min 

A piercing, considerate re-examination of the advanced story of Terri Schiavo, whose headline-grabbing right-to-die authorized saga and media circus within the early 2000s electrified the nation, forcing Americans to confront the tangled intersection of non-public religion and federal coverage.

Between the Rains      

Directors: Andrew H. Brown, Moses Thuranira          

Country: Kenya; Running Time: 82 min

Kole is a teenage shepherd in a area of Northern Kenya suffering from years of drought. Supported by beautiful panorama imagery, Between the Rains explores coming of age within the time of local weather change.

Black Barbie: A Documentary

Director: Lagueria Davis          

Country: USA; Running Time: 100 min

Released in 1980, Black Barbie was the primary time a black vogue doll was given the moniker Barbie. A rousing account of the untold story of how the doll got here to market and the varied voices behind the undertaking.

Brother Horse

Director: Marcel Barrena        

Country: Spain; Running Time: 73 min

Santi Serra is a horse whisperer, coaching his equine buddies to carry out in exhibits worldwide.  But with the pandemic halting public performances, one rescued gray stallion proves to be an surprising standout.

Confessions of a Good Samaritan       

Director: Penny Lane  

Country: USA; Running Time: 105 min

Acclaimed filmmaker Penny Lane (“Listening to Kenny G”, “Our Nixon”) captures her expertise as an “altruistic” donor — a residing one that donates a kidney to somebody they don’t know — to create an intimate portrait analyzing our donor system and the state of altruism in American society.

Dusty & Stones            

Director: Jesse Rudoy

Country: USA; Running Time: 83 min

Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi — cousins from the tiny African Kingdom of Eswatini (previously Swaziland) — fall in love with nation music, develop into a refined musical act, and find yourself making the journey all the best way to Nashville and Texas to pursue their unlikely desires.

Four Daughters           

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

Countries: France, Saudi Arabia, Germany; Running Time: 107 min

Winner of the L’Oeil D’or prize on the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, this fascinating hybrid weaves documentary and stylized fiction to discover the stunning story of a Tunisian matriarch whose two eldest daughters all of the sudden go lacking.

Going Varsity in Mariachi       

Director: Alejandra Vasquez & Sam Osborn   

Country: USA; Running Time: 104 min

The wonders of regional Mexican folk-music are celebrated by a staff of passionate highschool musicians in South Texas who rehearse year-round to battle it out on the planet of aggressive scholastic mariachi.

Hollywoodgate           

Director: Ibrahim Nash’at       

Country: USA; Running Time: 91 min

Filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at is granted terrifying entry to doc the high-ranking Taliban interior circle as they start to take over a former US navy base in Kabul on this chilling eye-witness account.

Hummingbirds

Directors: Silvia Del Carmen Castaños & Estefanía “Beba” Contreras           

Country: USA; Running Time: 78 min

Set in a sweltering Texan border city, two rebellious finest buddies, Beba and Silvia, battle passionately towards the programs working to regulate their lives, our bodies, and citizenship — all whereas having fun with the canine days of summer season.

It’s Only Life After All  

Director: Alexandria Bombach           

Country: USA  Running Time: 123 min

A heartwarming music doc celebrating the legacy of the Americana folks duo Indigo Girls. It’s Only Life After All intertwines forty years of residence films, interviews, and performances to craft an enthralling look into a bunch that feels extra like a motion than merely a band. 

JessZilla           

Director: Emily Sheskin           

Country: USA; Running Time: 90 min

Jesselyn “JessZilla” Silva, a three-time nationwide junior boxing champion, is on the cusp of constructing the U.S. Olympic staff. When life takes an unthinkable flip, she is compelled to redefine what it means to battle.

King Coal         

Director: Elaine McMillion Sheldon    

Country: USA; Running Time: 79 min

A delicate portrait of a group and tradition outlined by trade, King Coal showcases the great thing about the coal area of Appalachia via the eyes of an inquisitive baby. 

La Lucha                      

Director: Violeta Ayala

Country: Bolivia; Running Time: 89 min

Traversing the Andes on foot and in wheelchairs, a bunch of disabled activists make their approach throughout Bolivia, on a quest to garner assist from the federal government within the type of a pension.

Let the Canary Sing     

Director: Allison Ellwood        

Country: USA  Running Time: 96 min

When Cyndi Lauper exploded onto the pop music scene within the Nineteen Eighties, her distinctive voice and elegance turned immediately recognizable. But there may be a lot extra to the story. Alison Ellwood’s intimate portrait paints Lauper’s “true colors”.

Nathan-ism     

Director: Elan Golod   

Country: USA; Running Time: 79 min

For the previous 70 years, artist Nathan Hilu has illustrated his experiences guarding Nazi warfare criminals throughout the Nuremberg trials. Now 90, his urgency to share his story and solidify his legacy will increase, however can his waning recollections be trusted?

One With the Whale   

Directors: Peter Chelkowski, Jim Wickens      

Country: USA, United Kingdom, Portugal; Running Time: 83 min

In this hanging coming-of-age story, Chris Apassingok is a typical American teenager, besides in a technique: to feed his household and Indigenous Alaskan group, he should enterprise into the icy Bering Sea to hunt for whales.

Open Heart                 

Director: Jonathan Hock

Country: USA; Running Time: 75 min

New York Rangers’ star goalie Henrik Lundqvist had develop into so in style with New Yorkers that he was identified merely as King Henrik. But when the King is identified with a probably deadly coronary heart situation, he all of the sudden is compelled to face his personal mortality.

Q         

Director: Jude Chehab

Country: Lebanon; Running Time: 93 min

Lebanese American filmmaker Jude Chehab’s evocative debut boldly turns her digital camera on her personal mom — an enigmatic girl who has spent a long time fervently dedicated to a mysterious all-female non secular order.

Rather

Director: Frank Marshall         

Country: USA; Running Time: 95 min

The life, work and legacy of broadcast journalist and information anchor Dan Rather is chronicled on this stirring portrait charting his rise to nationwide prominence at CBS via to his beautiful public downfall and stunning come again.

Razing Liberty Square 

Director: Katja Esson   

Country: USA; Running Time: 86 min

When the results of local weather change threaten the prosperous Miami Beach space, builders spend money on Liberty City — a traditionally Black group outdoors the floodplains. Despite promising to convey the long-underserved group financial development, traders’ imaginative and prescient of progress could end in residents’ displacement and completely alter the town’s tradition.

Sex with Sue    

Director: Lisa Rideout

Country: Canada; Running Time: 90 min

Sex With Sue is a becoming tribute to trailblazing Canadian radio and TV character Sue Johanson, nurse turned intercourse educator. Her approachable persona and comedic angle have demystified intercourse for hundreds of thousands.

Silver Dollar Road       

Director: Raoul Peck   

Country: USA; Running Time: 100 min

In North Carolina, land builders exploit authorized loopholes to assert household properties handed down for generations with out a will. But when the Reels household refuses to relinquish the land, they’ve owned for over a century, it sparks a decades-long battle with a developer intent on buying their waterfront property. Silver Dollar Road, directed by Academy Award®-nominated director Raoul Peck (I’m Not Your Negro), is a biting exploration of a authorized system turning a blind eye to predatory practices which have contributed considerably to Black Americans’ fast land loss and the ensuing financial disparity.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood         

Director: Anna Hints   

Country: Estonia; Running Time: 89 min

An intimate glimpse into the washing rituals of a bunch of ladies in southern Estonia. Seeking refuge in a smoke sauna, the ladies can share their deepest secrets and techniques whereas discovering energy and security within the sanctity of feminine companionship.

Songs of Earth

Director: Margreth Olin          

Country: Norway; Running Time: 90 min

A movie as gorgeously made because the breathtaking Norwegian panorama that it depicts, filmmaker Margreth Olin embraces the inescapable actuality that the time she has left to spend together with her beloved, growing older dad and mom is quickly slipping away.

Stamped From the Beginning

Director: Roger Ross Williams

Country: USA; Running Time: 94 min

From Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams (“Music by Prudence, “Life Animated”), Stamped From the Beginning is a considerate and candid examination of the origin, evolution, and continued influence of racist anti-Black narratives on American coverage and tradition.

Story & Pictures By     

Director: Joanna Rudnick        

Country: USA; Running Time: 84 min

The colourful, luminous world of kids’s image books takes middle stage on this richly inventive take a look at the previous, current, and way forward for this uniquely particular and extremely important artwork type. 

Thank You Very Much

Director: Alex Braverman

Country: USA; Running Time: 99 min

Will the actual Andy Kaufman please step ahead? Peeling again the layers of this fascinating, sensible, and sometimes misunderstood comic, filmmaker Alex Braverman exhibits us another time why Andy Kaufman issues. Winner, Best Documentary, Venice International Film Festival.

The Disappearance of Shere Hite       

Director: Nicole Newnham     

Country: USA; Running Time: 116 min

Considered “a sexual revolution in 600 pages,” The Hite Report is without doubt one of the bestselling books in historical past. It spurred a cultural phenomenon upon launch, however what turned of its writer, Shere Hite?

The Echo          

Director: Tatiana Huezo          

Country: Mexico, Germany; Running Time: 103 min

Tucked away within the rolling hills and pastures of Mexico, three close-knit rural farming households seek for hope and take care of the land whereas residing in an enigmatic village mysteriously named “The Echo.” Winner, Berlinale Documentary Film Award.

The Gullspång Miracle            

Director: Maria Fredriksson    

Country: Sweden, Norway, Denmark; Running Time: 109 min

Two pious sisters start to unravel a long-held household secret when a divine signal leads them to buy an residence from a lady who seems equivalent to their deceased sister.

The Hidden Power of Purpose

Director: Elliot V. Kotek           

Country: USA; Running Time: 72 min

It is the uncommon documentary that presents compelling private tales and extremely practicable info. Elliot Kotek’s inspiring movie asks, “What does it mean to live a life driven by purpose?” Warning: it’s possible you’ll go away the screening with a renewed sense of function your self.

The People v. Profits [World Premiere]

Directors: Jack Lofton, Jeff Dailey

Country: USA; Running Time: 97 min

Arkansas filmmaker Jack Porter Lofton’s revelatory new documentary does one thing superb: it will get you all fired up about… tort legislation. Go behind-the-scenes with the hotshot legal professionals who’re taking over among the world’s largest firms and discover out what’s at stake for all of us.

The Pigeon Tunnel      

Director: Errol Morris

Country: United Kingdom; Running Time: 92 min

Academy Award® winner Errol Morris delves into the life and profession of former British spy David Cornwell — higher often called John le Carré — writer of such traditional espionage novels as “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”.

The Tuba Thieves        

Director: Allison O’Daniel       

Country: USA; Running Time: 93 min

This groundbreaking debut by d/Deaf filmmaker Alison O’Daniel follows an odd case of tubas being stolen from excessive colleges throughout Southern California. O’Daniel deploys an enchanting type of captioning such as you’ve by no means seen earlier than, reorienting the viewer to sound in an exciting new approach. 

Your Fat Friend            

Director: Jeanie Finlay

Country: USA; Running Time: 96 min

Don’t name her huge boned. Aubrey Gordon is a author, activist, and podcast host. And she’s fats. Aubrey began the Twitter account “Your Fat Friend” to convey consciousness to anti-fat biases and advocate for fairness. With its genuine and sometimes humorous tone, “Your Fat Friend” turns into a phenomenon for the ages.

Documentary Series

A Town Called Victoria [World Premiere]

Director: Li Lu  

Country: USA; Running Time: 164 min

After a mosque is burned to the bottom in a small Texas city, residents rally to assist the native Muslim group. But is that this an inspiring information story or one thing way more nuanced and complex? This intricately woven, fascinating 3-part docuseries tells the total story.

Short Films

Baseball Behind Barbed Wire [World Premiere]

Director: Yuriko Gamo Romer

Country: USA; Running Time: 32min 

Between Earth & Sky  

Director: Andrew Nadkarni     

Country: USA; Running Time: 25 min

Big Buffalo Golden Gals          

Director: Misty Langdon         

Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min

Black Ag          

Director: Andy Sarjahani         

Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min

Black Girl’s Play: The Story of Hand Games    

Directors: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson            

Country: USA; Running Time: 18 min

Boca Chica                  

Directors: Ái Vuong, Samuel Díaz Fernández

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

Breaking Silence          

Directors: Amy Bench, Annie Silverstein        

Country: USA; Running Time: 18 min

By Water         

Director: Iyabo E. Kwayana     

Country: Singapore; Running Time: 12 min

Camp Courage

Director: Max Lowe    

Country: USA; Running Time: 31 min

Cash Crop

Director: Lorenzo Dickerson

Country: USA; Running Time: 11 min

Chicken Stories            

Director: Jonathan Pickett      

Country: USA; Running Time: 17 min

Echoes of the Rio                    

Director: Jackie Barragan

Country: USA; Running Time: 8 min

For The Record            

Director: Heather Courtney    

Country: USA; Running Time: 35 min

Goodbye, Morganza   

Director: Devon Blackwell      

Country: USA; Running Time: 16 min

In Exile             

Director: Nathan Fitch

Country: USA; Running Time: 11 min

Joe Barry Carroll         

Director: Ethan Payne

Country: USA; Running Time: 9 min

Liturgy of anti-tank obstacles

Director: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk

Country: Ukraine; Running Time: 12 min

Love, Jamie     

Director: Karla Murthy            

Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min

Merman          

Director: Master Sterling        

Country: USA; Running Time: 10 min

Mothertown                

Director: Anthony Sneed

Country: USA; Running Time: 11 min

Myth and The Art of Maintenance     

Director: Ian Frank      

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma)      

Director: Sean Wang   

Country: USA; Running Time: 17 min

Nina & Irena   

Director: Daniel Lombroso     

Country: USA; Running Time: 22 min

Parker Sharon 

Directors: Liese Hohhman, Catherine Hoffman         

Country: USA; Running Time: 13 min

Puffling            

Director: Jessica Bishopp        

Countries: United Kingdom, Iceland; Running Time: 20 min

Quilted Education       

Director: Kayla Robinson        

Country: USA; Running Time: 10 min

Really Good Friends    

Director: Adam Sekuler          

Country: USA; Running Time: 10 min

SLICE   

Director: Zaire Love    

Country: USA; Running Time: 17 min

Slower Animals           

Director: John C Kelley            

Country: USA; Running Time: 7 min

Sunflower Siege Engine          

Director: Sky Hopinka

Country: USA; Running Time: 12 min

The Arkansas Accent Project   

Director: Ben Corbett

Country: USA; Running Time: 27 min

The Bear Coast            

Director: Andrew Ackerman   

Country: USA; Running Time: 17 min

The Crawfish Trap       

Director: Nathan Willis           

Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min

The Last Repair Shop  

Directors: Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers

Country: USA; Running Time: 39 min

The Right to Joy          

Directors: Jay Melena, Tim Kressin     

Country: USA; Running Time: 20 min

Under G-D       

Director: Paula Eiselt  

Country: USA; Running Time: 24 min

Waking Up In Silence  

Directors: Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi          

Countries: Germany, Ukraine; Running Time: 18 min

Well Worn Life with Dani Reyes-Acosta          

Director: Daniel Mitchell                    

Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min

Will You Look at Me    

Director: Shuli Huang  

Country: China; Running Time: 20 min

You Can’t Shrink Love  

Director: Veena Rao    

Country: USA; Running Time: 6 min