WASHINGTON, DC — The American Film Institute has revealed its full slate of films being presented online for the AFI DOCS 2020 festival. The lineup features 59 films from 11 countries and 12 virtual World Premieres, with 61% of the films directed by women, 25% by POC directors, and 14% by LGBTQ directors. AT&T returns as Presenting Sponsor of AFI’s five-day documentary celebration.
The 18th edition of the festival will present films in the following sections: Special Presentations, Feature Films, Cinema’s Legacy, Episodic and Short Film sections. AFI DOCS 2020 runs June 17–21, with films available to view on DOCS.AFI.com. The Washington Post and Meet the Press return as the Primary Media Partners.
AFI DOCS’ program of Special Presentations includes the previously announced Opening Night film Boys State and Closing Night film Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President, as well as the Centerpiece Screening of The Fight. Additional titles include Portraits and Dreams and Ron Howard’s Rebuilding Paradise.
This year’s diverse Features section explores themes and subjects ranging from the intersectionality of race, gender and violence in the Minneapolis police department (Women in Blue); the devastating effects of immigration policies under the current administration (Blood on the Wall); the importance of reclaiming female sexuality (Dilemma of Desire); and Asian Americans’ experience gaining full participation in the American political process (First Vote).
Academy Award®-winners Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar return to AFI DOCS with their newest film, 9TO5: The Story of a Movement, which chronicles the 1970s movement for gender equality in the workplace.
Now in its second year at AFI DOCS, the Cinema’s Legacy program showcases three classic documentaries focusing on the fight for full participation and access to our country’s political system, and the importance of making sure all voices are heard. This year’s Cinema’s Legacy selections include Freedom of My Mind (1994), Nationtime – Gary (1972), and Sisters of ’77 (2005).
The Episodic section features multi-part documentaries following the past, present, and future of US politics, particularly women’s importance in it, from the Women’s Suffrage Movement of the early 20th century to the recent historic rise of women of color running for office, including And She Could Be Next, City So Real, and The Vote.
The 2020 Guggenheim Symposium will honor Academy Award®-winning actor and filmmaker Lee Grant. Each year, the AFI DOCS Charles Guggenheim Symposium honors a master of the nonfiction art form. This year’s virtual Symposium will include a screening of Grant’s Academy Award®-winning documentary film Down and Out in America (1986) and an in-depth conversation with Grant on June 19, 2020, moderated by author and Washington Post chief film critic Ann Hornaday.
Passes to AFI DOCS 2020 are now available to AFI members and the public at docs.afi.com/passes. Tickets will be available on June 10. To become an AFI member, visit AFI.com/join.
AFI DOCS 2020 PROGRAM
OPENING NIGHT SCREENING – Wednesday, June 17
Boys State: DIRS Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine. PRODS Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss. USA.
Each year the American Legion hosts a “civics camp” for high school students (separated by gender) in states across the country, where attendees are tasked with creating a mock government and spend the week campaigning for leadership and party platforms.
Winner of the Sundance U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize.
CLOSING NIGHT SCREENING – Sunday, June 21
Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President: DIR Mary Wharton. PRODS Chris Farrell and Dave Kirkpatrick. USA.
This fascinating documentary charts the mostly forgotten story of how Carter, a lover of all types of music, forged a tight bond with musicians Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton and others, and who this artist helped gave him a crucial boost in the Democratic primaries.
CENTERPIECE SCREENING – Friday, June 19
The Fright: DIRS Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman and Eli Despres. PRODS Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Eli Despres, Maya Seidler, Peggy Wexler and Kerry Washington. USA.
Celebrating 100 years of the ACLU, THE FIGHT shows how this group of committed lawyers has made a huge difference in protecting our rights and in the daily lives of countless Americans. Winner of the Sundance U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking.
Rebuiliding Paradise: DIR Ron Howard. PRODS Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Xan Parker, Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes. USA.
In the aftermath of The Camp Fire, California’s deadliest and most destructive fire in history, displaced over 50,000 residents, Ron Howard’s documentary follows a group of residents as they struggle and work together to rebuild their lives and community.
2020 GUGGENHEIM SYMPOSIUM
HONORING LEE GRANT
For the 2020 Guggenheim Symposium, Academy Award®-winning actor and documentary director Lee Grant (Down and Out in America and Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America) will be featured in an in-depth conversation with Washington Post Chief Film Critic Ann Hornaday.
FEATURE FILMS
Among the 18 diverse documentary films being featured in this festival, are three films of great interest to us.
Blood on the Wall: DIRS Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested. PRODS Sebastian Junger, Nick Quested and Peter Goetz. USA.
Immigration under the current administration is indelibly marked by powerful media images of migrant caravans, thousands of Central American families walking hundreds of miles through Mexico desperate to attain asylum in the United States. Acclaimed filmmaker Sebastian Junger (Academy Award®-nominated RESTREPO and KORENGAL) reteams with Nick Quested (Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS) and National Geographic to chronicle the course of events that would transform Acapulco from tourist destination to murder capital in less than a decade.
Mirachle Fishing: DIR Miles Hargrove CODIR Christopher Birge. PRODS Miles Hargrove, Christopher Birge and Eric F. Martin. USA.
So, your dad has been kidnapped by a rebel group and you are forced to negotiate for his release… what do you do? Well, if you’re Miles Hargrove, you make a video diary. Twenty-five years later, with the gift of hindsight, he returned to these diaries to tell this incredible story. In 1994, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) kidnapped journalist Tom Hargrove from the family home in Cali, Columbia, leaving his wife and two sons to pay the ransom. With the help of their friends, including a hostage negotiator, FBI agent, and their 18-year-old neighbor, the group navigated conditions for his expected release. Their story, impeccably captured by a then state-of-the-art Video8 camcorder, shows a family in crisis, yearning for normalcy and finding moments of hope and kindness amidst the horror.
A Thousand Cuts: DIR Ramona S. Diaz. PRODS Ramona S. Diaz, Leah Marino, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Carolyn Hepburn. USA.
Upon taking power in 2016, the newly elected populist president Rodrigo Duterte promised a relentless war on drugs. Brushing aside the rule of law and due process, his campaign resulted in thousands of deaths. Another constitutional casualty of Duterte’s rule has been freedom of the press.
Co-founded by journalist Maria Ressa in 2012, the online site Rappler is one of the Philippine’s most popular news outlets and a thorn in Duterte’s side. The stakes are raised when Rappler is cited as a fake news outlet and targeted for possible closure, followed by Ressa’s arrest on specious charges.
Set against the backdrop of the country’s 2019 midterm elections, this stirring documentary shows what happens when a strongman president threatens democratic norms. But Ressa, part of a group honored as Time’s Person of the Year 2018, is not backing down: “We, at Rappler, we will not duck. We will not hide. We will hold the line.”
Along with our films of interest, is a complete list of the featured festival films. For full summary and further information of films, please visit DOCS.AFI.com
9To5: The Story of a Movement: DIRS Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar. PRODS Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar. USA.
Bully. Coward. Victom. The Story of Roy Cohn: DIR Ivy Meeropol. PRODS Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements and Ivy Meerpool. USA.
Coded Bias: DIR Shalini Kantayya. PROD Shalini Kantayya. USA, UK, China.
Dads: DIR Bryce Dallas Howard. PRODS: Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Michael Rosenberg, Justin Wilkes, Bryce Dallas Howard and Walter Matteson. USA.
Dilema of Desire: DIR Maria Finitzo. PRODS Maria Finitzo, Cynthia Kane and Diane Quon. USA.
Down and Out in America (1986): DIR Lee Grant. PRODS Milton Justice and Joseph Feury. USA.
First Vote: DIR Yi Chen. PROD Yi Chen. USA.
Freedia Got a Gun: DIR Chris McKim. PRODS Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato and Chris McKim. USA.
The Letter: DIRS Maia Lekow and Christopher King. PRODS Maia Lekow and Christopher King. Kenya.
One Life: DIR Josh Turnbow. PRODS Akshay M. Shah and Robert Dvoran. USA.
The Reason I Jump: DIR Jerry Rothwell. PRODS Al Morrow, Stevie Lee and Jeremy Dear. UK.
Saudi Runaway: DIR Susanne Regina Meures. PROD Christian Frei. Switzerland.
Sine Me a Song: DIR Thomas Balmès. PROD Thomas Balmès. France, Germany, Switzerland.
Stockon on My Mind: DIR Marc Levin. PRODS Cassius Michael Kim and Mike Marangu. USA.
Through the Night: DIR Loira Limbal. PRODS Jameka Autry and Loira Limbal. USA.
