2 months ago
EXCLUSIVE: The DOXA Documentary Film Festival – Western Canada’s largest nonfiction movie showcase – coming announced nan lineup for its 25th day edition.
The festival, moving April 30-May 10 successful Vancouver, will unfastened pinch unrecorded cinematic capacity portion Bella Sutra, directed and narrated by OK Pedersen and accompanied by musicians Eden Glasman and Jakob Tokarczyk. It’s described arsenic “a individual effort astir life arsenic an innkeeper successful Bella Coola, BC. With honesty and levity, nan portion reflects connected our existent connection crisis, nan rural/urban philosophical divide, and nan story of progress.”
The festival’s Mid-Week Gala position will beryllium nan BC Premiere of Concrete Turned to Sand, directed by section filmmakers Jessica Johnson and Ryan Ermacora. The movie follows oyster farmers connected Cortes Island, BC, “and observes nan shifting intertidal area nether nan pressures of water warming and acidification.” The board will besides participate successful an Industry Panel connected May 2.
The BC premiere of Time and Water, from Oscar-nominated head Sara Dosa, will service arsenic DOXA’s Closing Gala presentation. The National Geographic documentary, which premiered astatine Sundance, explores nan disappearing glaciers of Iceland done nan activity of writer and filmmaker Andri Snær Magnason.
Scroll for nan afloat lineup.
Films holding their world premiere astatine DOXA 2026 see Under nan Red Roof by Yushi Nagamatsu; Illustrated Legacies: Graveyard of nan Pacific by Tanner Zurkoski, and The Flower and nan Flood by Elisa González and Bubba by Kayli Koonar.
Among different highlights, nan DOXA programme will characteristic American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng; Bouchra, directed by Orian Yani Barki and Meriem Bennani; Traces, from board Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk; Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who is Still Alive; Steal This Story, Please!, directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin; Windward, directed by Sharon Lockhart; Sky Hopkina’s Powwow People; Alea Jacarandas, from head Hassen Ferhani; Life After Siham, directed by Namir Abdel Messeeh, and The Oldest Person successful nan World, directed by Sam Green.
Local features pinch filmmakers successful attendance see Namesake təm kʷaθ nan, Green Valley, Touching Rocks, In Tyee Country, and The Latest News from ‘Deseret.’
“We are excited to observe 25 show editions highlighting important, entertaining and applicable documentary films,” commented Artistic Director Sarah Ouazzani. “This is an important milestone, and we are pleased to stock a awesome programme pinch nan Vancouver movie organization erstwhile again this year, including a slate of innovative short films, a divers scope of International and Canadian features, and a thought-provoking and informative bid of Industry events.”
DOXA’s Justice Forum returns for its 16th year, “highlighting films that showcase resistance, biology justness and quality rights.” Saigon Story: Two Shootings successful nan Forest Kingdom, directed by Kim Nguyen, serves arsenic nan Justice Forum Special Presentation. “The movie explores nan relationship betwixt 2 families and nan celebrated photograph Saigon Execution.”
South Korea is DOXA’s 2026 Country of Honor, pinch impermanent curation by Byungwon Jang, caput programmer of nan DMZ International Documentary Film Festival. That lineup includes characteristic films Beyond Now, Nyein (2025) and Untold (2021), and short films The Silent Bearers (2023) and Last May successful Theatres (2025).
“Returning to nan show this twelvemonth is DOXA’s Rated Y for Youth–a programme of films curated to foster media literacy successful youths,” notes a release. “The celebrated paraDOXA program, which spotlights experimental and boundary-pushing documentaries, will return for its 2nd year. In addition, DOXA’s robust manufacture programme will characteristic panels and masterclasses, arsenic good arsenic a bid of free workshops and a astonishment screening held successful business pinch VPL’s Central Library.”
The full DOXA Documentary Film Festival Lineup Includes:
FEATURE FILMS:
Bella Sutra (Canada) *film performance
Director: OK Pedersen
Green Valley (Canada)
Director: Morgan Tams
The Latest News from ‘Deseret’ (Canada)
Director: Christopher Pavsek
Illustrated Legacies: Graveyard of nan Pacific (Canada)
Director: Tanner Zurkoski
təm kʷaθ nan – Namesake (Canada)
Director: Evan Adams & Eileen Francis
Concrete Turned to Sand (Canada)
Director: Jessica Johnson, Ryan Ermacora
In Tyee Country (Canada)
Director: Jevan Crittenden & Nate Slaco
Soul of nan Foot (Turkey/Canada)
Director: Mustafa Uzuner
致亞歷珊卓 To Alexandra (Canada/USA/China)
Director: Yi Cui
Saigon Story: Two Shootings successful nan Forest Kingdom (Canada)
Director: Kim Nguyen
There Are No Words (Canada)
Director: Min Sook Lee
Partition / تقسیم (Canada/Lebanon/Palestine)
Director: Diana Allan
Kindergarten (Canada)
Director: Jean-François Caissy
The Sandbox (Canada)
Director: Kenya-Jade Pinto
Puntos de fuga (Vanishing Points) (Canada, Colombia)
Director: Lina Rodriguez
Untold (South Korea)
Director: Bora Lee-Kil
Bouchra (Italy, Morocco, United States)
Director: Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani
Time and Water (USA, Iceland)
Director: Sara Dosa
Powwow People (USA)
Director: Sky Hopinka
Beyond Now, Nyein (South Korea)
Director: Lim Daecheong
Life After Siham (France, Egypt)
Director: Namir Abdel Messeeh
Under nan Red Roof (Japan)
Director: Yushi Nagamatsu
Enough is Enough (France & Democratic Republic of nan Congo)
Director: Elisé Sawasawa
Remake (USA)
Director: Ross McElwee
AND THE FISH FLY ABOVE OUR HEADS (Lebanon/France/Saudi-Arabia
Director: Dima El-Horr
WINDWARD (USA/Canada)
Director: Sharon Lockhart
Replica (Australia/France)
Director: Chouwa Liang
The Life that Will Come/ La vida que Vendrá (Chile/Colombia)
Director: Karin Cuyul
Numakage Public Pool (Japan)
Director: Shingo Ota
What Comes from Sitting successful Silence? (France, South Korea, Switzerland, USA)
Director: Sophie Schrago
Alea Jacarandas (Algeria, France)
Director: Hassen Ferhani
Amílcar (Spain/France/Portugal/Cabo Verde/Sweden)
Director: Miguel Eek
AMERICAN DOCTOR (United States/State of Palestine/Malaysia/Qatar)
Director: Poh Si Teng
Ça reste entre nous (Iran)
Director: Maryam Shapoorian
Frío Metal (México)
Director: Clemente Castor
Who is Still Alive (Switzerland, Palestine, France)
Director: Nicolas Wadimoff
Traces (Ukraine/Poland)
Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk
Steal This Story, Please! (USA, East Timor, Nigeria)
Director: Carl Deal & Tia Lessin
Stories of a Lie (Greece/France)
Director: Olia Verriopoulou
The Oldest Person successful nan World (USA)
Director: Sam Green
SHORTS & MID-LENGTH
Au Hasard (Canada)
Director: Darren Dominique Heroux
Tuktuit : Caribou (Canada)
Director: Lindsay McIntyre
Mirrorpond (Canada)
Director: Christopher Pavsek
The Flower and nan Flood (Canada)
Director: Elisa González
BAEA (USA)
Director: Terra Long
Living Containers (Canada, USA)
Director: Kara Hansen
Bubba (Canada)
Director: Kayli Koonar
Touching Rocks (Canada)
Director: Laurence Olivier
Last Evenings connected Earth (Canada)
Director: Ralitsa Doncheva
Morning Circle (Canada, United Arab Emirates)
Director: Basma al-Sharif
Momentum (Canada)
Director: Nada El-Omari
TIGERS CAN BE SEEN IN THE RAIN (Colombia, Canada)
Director: Oscar Ruiz Navia
FELT (USA, Spain, Canada)
Director: Blake Williams
Last May successful Theaters (Indonesia/South Korea)
Director: Arief Budiman
The Silent Bearers 조용한 선박들 (South Korea)
Director: Yeoreum Jeong
Ndjimu (USA/DRC)
Director: Petna Ndaliko Katondolo
IS GANG STALKING REAL (USA)
Director: Theodore Collatos
Niña Chilapa – Chilapa Girl (Colombia)
Director: Juana Lotero López
Filme-Copacabana (Brazil)
Director: Sofia Leão
Le Meilleur Spectateur de la pièce historique qui se joue sur terre (France)
Director: taleb lachheb
Their Eyes (France)
Director: Nicolas Gourault
As Far As We Imagine (Belgium, Netherlands)
Director: Raouf Moussa
Intersecting Memory (Palestine, France)
Director: Shayma’ Awawdeh
Okay Keskidee! Let Me See Inside (UK)
Director: Rhea Storr
Shelly’s Leg (USA)
Director: Wes Hurley
Words Fly Back to nan Black Earth (USA/China)
Director: Xiao Zhang
an unfastened field (South Africa/ France/ Germany/Ethiopia)
Director: Teboho Edkins
The Phalanx (USA)
Director: Ben Balcom
Buckskin (USA)
Director: Mars Verrone
