LA Film Festival: Documentary Competition
Compelling, character-driven nonfiction films from the U.S. and around the world.
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10 titles
- DirectorArshad KhanUsing family archives and animation, Arshad Khan shares a deeply personal story of migration from Pakistan to Canada, self-discovery and familial reconciliation.
- DirectorJulia MeltzerIn 2012 Dalya and her mother Rudayna fled Aleppo for LA. Can they hold onto their Islamic traditions in a country that doesn't embrace them?
- DirectorAaron KoppAmanda KoppStarsGcina MhlopheFive children in Swaziland dive into their imaginations to create an original African tale about a girl on a dangerous quest.
- DirectorValerie Red-HorseStarsChris CarlssonMark Warren DowningMelissa GowerAn in-depth look at the life and work of Cherokee Nation chief, Wilma Mankiller.
- DirectorEma Ryan YamazakiStarsLouise BordenNat ScrimshawNick ScrimshawA documentary film exploring the extraordinary lives of Hans and Margret Rey, the authors of the beloved Curious George children's books.
- DirectorDavid FensterA film about conquistador turned shaman Cabeza de Vaca that explores cultural, personal and natural transformation.
- DirectorCiara LacyOUT OF STATE is the story of outcasts, of native Hawaiian prisoners shipped 3,000 miles across the ocean to a for-profit prison in the desert of Arizona. In this unlikely setting, these men discover their fierce indigenous dances, inspiring two students to fight to turn their lives around upon release.
- DirectorYatri N. NiehausStarsAngaangaq AngakkorsuaqNomi BaumgartlLaali LyberthThe history of the world has been settling on the Greenlandic ice sheet for millions of years. Massive glaciers constantly unearth long gone states of the planet. The Kalaallit people have been inseparably connected to the eternal ice for millennia. In just a few short years, colonialism dramatically transitioned their culture to a modern life style. Today, as the foundation of their traditions is literally melting beneath their feet, two photographers seek to imprint on their images a message from a vanishing world. "Stella Polaris Ulloriarsuaq" takes us on a cinematic meditation on the fast changes of our planet, constantly evolving around the Pole Star.
- DirectorSara LammDocumentary filmmaker Sara Lamm learned as an adult that she was conceived via sperm donor; it's taken eleven years, twelve DNA tests, five ancestry databases, one potential half sister, and 900 sixth-cousins to (maybe) find her biological father. THANK YOU FOR COMING is a genealogical detective story and a funny, bittersweet meditation on love, loss, and family.
- DirectorLeyla NedoroslevaThese kids are no stars. Not yet. These extremely tall teenagers come into the US from Haiti using basketball as means to get an education. Although some of them will become top players, we tell the story of the kids' quest to come back home - as much more capable persons.