Camden Film Festival, a Key Stop on the Awards Circuit for Doc Contenders, Reveals 2023 Lineup (EXCLUSIVE)

The 19th edition of the Camden Intl. Film Festival, kicking off Sept. 14, will feature a handful of award-contending documentaries fresh off showings at Toronto, Sundance, South by Southwest, Berlin and Tribeca film festivals. The Maine-based film festival will unfold in a hybrid format, with both in-person events over a four-day period concluding Sept. 17, and online screenings available from Sept. 18 to Sept. 25 to audiences across the U.S.

This years CIFF highlights include the U.S. premiere of Oscar-winning director, Alex Gibneys In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon, a portrait docu about the songwriter; Oscar-nominated director Raoul Pecks Silver Dollar Road, a documentary about a Black familys decades-long fight to maintain waterfront land in North Carolina theyve rightfully owned for generations against corrupt developers; Errol Morris The Pigeon Tunnel, an inventive interview with spy novelist John le Carr and Oscar nominee Karim Amers Defiant, about Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other key figures in the administration who are fighting to save their country against Russias invasion. Each of the four documentaries will have made their world premieres before CIFF, at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival.

CIFF will also feature a sneak peek of Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaines The Mission about American missionary John Chau, who was killed by arrows while attempting to contact one of the worlds most isolated indigenous peoples. Additionally, the Maine-based fest will screen Eastern Front, an immersive portrait of the frontlines of the Ukraine-Russia war by auteur and exiled director, Vitaly Mansky. The docu premiered at the Berlin Intl. Film Festival in February.

Madeleine Gavins Beyond Utopia, which debuted in January at the Sundance Film Festival, will open CIFF. The film, about a high-stakes journey of families attempting to escape North Korea, garnered the Sundance Audience Award: U.S. Documentary.

Fellow Sundance 2023 favorite, Milisuthando Bongelas Milisuthando, will also screen at CIFF along with Dawn Porters The Lady Bird Diaries, which debuted at SXSW.

All told the 19th edition of CIFFF, which has become an Oscar campaign hotspot in recent years, will feature 33 features and 27 short docus from 28 different countries. Fifty percent of the entire program is directed or co-directed by BIPOC filmmakers; this is the seventh consecutive edition that the festival has reached gender parity within the program.

As the development and distribution of independent documentary films become increasingly more difficult, we believe this program is a reminder of the incredible value of documentary film as a singularly powerful art form and its extraordinary ability to resonate with audiences, says Ben Fowlie, executive and artistic director of the Points North Institute, and founder of the Camden Intl. Film Festival. Through 60 different film experiences, we explore the beautiful relationship between content and form, examining the power of the image, engaging with the potential of the archive, and immersing ourselves in the personal stories that help us to reflect, reimagine, and relate to one another. Cinema is a beacon, and we are grateful to the filmmakers who have made these works and shared these stories.

Martn Benchimols El Castillo, Paul B. Precadios Orlando, My Political Biography,Vlad Petris Between Revolutions, Boubacar Sangars A Golden Life, and Manskys Eastern Front are among the five Berlin Intl. Film Festival docus screening at CIFF.

Similar to prior years, the festival will run concurrently with Points North Artist Programs. CIFFs feature slate will include four alumni of Points Norths Artists Programs, all of which were supported through the Points North Fellowship, the organizations longest running development program. The four docus are: Sierra Urichs Joonam, which premiered at Sundance, Jude Chehabs Q which premiered at Tribeca and won the Albert Maysles Award for best new documentary director, Pedro de Filippiss Rejeito (Tailings), which premiered at Cinma du Rel in Paris, and Brian Becker, Marley McDonalds Time Bomb Y2K which will premiere on HBO later this year.

CIFFs Filmmaker Solidarity Fund ,established in 2020, will provide honoraria of approximately $300 to all feature and short filmmaking teams participating in the virtual festival. Over the course of four years, the fund will have distributed nearly $70,000 to participating CIFF filmmakers.

In total, close to seventy fellows will be on the ground at CIFF via partnerships with other artist fellowships and labs from Bay Area Video Coalition, Hot Docs, POV, Chicken Egg Pictures and the American Film Showcase.

The complete list of CIFFs features and short films can be found below.

Features:

APOLONIA, APOLONIA

Lea Glob | Denmark

When filmmaker Lea Glob met Apolonia Sokol, she knew there was a film there, but neither of them knew that it would take over 13 years to make. The intimate friendship that ensued rendered a powerful portrait of how an artist is born.

THE ARC OF OBLIVION

Ian Cheney | USA

THE ARC OF OBLIVION explores a quirk of humankind: in a universe that erases its tracks, we humans are hellbent on leaving a mark. Set against the backdrop of the filmmakers quixotic quest to build an ark in a field in Maine, the film heads far afield to illuminate the strange world of archives, record-keeping, and memory.

BETWEEN REVOLUTIONS

Vlad Petri | Romania, Croatia, Qatar Iran | US Premiere

In an epistolary exchange between Zohra (Tehran) and Maria (Bucharest), a space is created to read between the lines of their relationship, are they more than just friends? In parallel, the letters reveal a forgotten cultural bond between their countries.

BEYOND UTOPIA

Madeleine Gavin | USA, Korea, Laos, Thailand

A suspenseful look into the lived experience of fleeing North Korea. By embarking on this journey, defectors risk severe punishment and possible execution all to abandon a paradise theyve believed in their whole lives.

EL CASTILLO

Martin Benchimol | Argentina, France | US Premiere

Having worked as a housekeeper all her life, Justina inherits from her former employer an enormous castle in the middle of the Argentine pampas. The inheritance comes with a singular condition: she must never part with it.

THE CONTESTANT

Clair Titley | UK | US Premiere

The incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV in Japan, to over 15 million viewers a week.

EASTERN FRONT

Vitaly Mansky, Yevhen Titarenko | Latvia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, USA | US Premiere

Six months on the front lines of war with a Ukrainian medical unit.

FAUNA

Pau Faus | Spain | US Premiere

A science fiction fable about humans and animals, Fauna is the story of two worlds, seemingly antagonistic, that end up being two sides of the same coin. Two intertwined stories that illustrate the complex relationship between humans and nature.

A GOLDEN LIFE

Boubacar Sangare | Burkina Faso, Benin, France | North American Premiere

In Burkina Faso, in the gold-digging site of Bantara, Rasman, 16 years old, descends more than 100 meters deep in artisanal mines to extract gold. Anxious about accidents, Rasman makes his way in this world of fierce adults in the hope of one day becoming emancipated.

GRASSHOPPER REPUBLIC

Daniel Mccabe | USA | US Premiere

Filmed over the course of three seasons, GRASSHOPPER REPUBLIC follows a local grasshopper trapping team in verit style, as these modern-day prospectors push into remote forests seeking their fortune by capturing this elusive prey.

A HAWK AS BIG AS A HORSE

Sasha Kulak | France | North American Premiere

Lydia a queer ornithologist who lives in Shcherbinka, embarks on remaking David Lynchs Twin Peaks, and decides to create Lara, a life-size silicone doll she has been made from scratch.

IN RESTLESS DREAMS: THE MUSIC OF PAUL SIMON

Alex Gibney | USA | US Premiere

The definitive musical biography of Paul Simon, one of the greatest songwriters (and performers) in the history of rock n roll. Granted unprecedented access to the making of a new album, the filmmakers also show never-before-seen footage of Simons extraordinary career, from Simon Garfunkel to the phenomenal global success of Simons solo album Graceland.

IN THE SHADOW OF LIGHT

Ignacia Merino Bustos, Isabel Reyes Bustos | Chile | North American Premiere

In a small town in Chile, rural life deals with the electric grid that provides power to the rest of the country. In the darkness, the threatening presence of the large-scale industrial complex reveals the workings of an unequal system.

JOONAM

Sierra Urich | USA

Spurred by a provocative family memory and a lifetime of separation from the country her mother left behind, a young filmmaker delves into her mother and grandmothers complicated pasts, and her own fractured Iranian identity.

KNITS ISLAND

Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse, Quentin Lhelgoualch | France | North American Premiere

In the guise of avatars, a film crew enters an online video game. They come into contact with a community of players and meet their stories, fears, and aspirations.

THE LADY BIRD DIARIES

Dawn Porter | USA

From award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter comes a groundbreaking documentary film that uses Lady Bird Johnsons audio diaries to tell the story of one of the most influential and least understood First Ladies in history.

THE LAST YEAR OF DARKNESS

Ben Mullinkosson | China, USA

THE LAST YEAR OF DARKNESS revolves around a small club called Funky Town, the go-to party space for a group of twenty-year-old DJs, drag performers, lovers, ravers and skaters in China. In this unassuming corner bar hidden by Chengdus construction cranes, five locals escape their stress, even if its only for the night. But as the sun rises and the cranes begin to move again, our protagonists are forced to face what brought them to the party in the first place.

MACHTAT

Sonia Ben Slama | Tunisia, Lebanon, France, Qatar | US Premiere

Mahdia, Tunisia. Fatma and her daughters, Najeh and Waffeh, work as machtat, traditional wedding musicians. While the eldest, divorced, tries to remarry to escape the authority of her brothers, the youngest seeks a way to breakup with her abusive husband.

MANIFESTO

Angie Vinchito | Russia | North American Premiere

This found footage film is composed entirely of often-shocking videos that Russian teenagers have posted on social media.

MILISUTHANDO

Milisuthando Bongela | South Africa, Colombia

Explored through the memories of Milisuthando, who grew up during apartheid but didnt know it was happening until it was over, the story is a meditation on power, intimacy, difference, and the weight of loving and fearing your enemy in a time of decolonisation.

THE MISSION

Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine | USA

A missionarys obsession with the remote Sentinelese people proves fatal.

NON-ALIGNED: SCENES FROM THE LABUDOVI REELS

Mila Turajli | Serbia, France, Croatia, Montenegro, Qatar | US Premiere

Using a trove of unseen archives and the diaries of the cameraman who filmed them,

Non-Aligned reveals the behind-the-scenes of a political dream; Cin-Guerrillas plunges us into the impact of cinema joining the struggle against colonialism.

ONE WITH THE WHALE

Peter Chelkowski, Jim Wickens | Sivuqaq (St Lawrence Island), USA, UK, Portugal | World Premiere

A heartwarming, yet thrilling tale of an Alaskan familys struggle to recover from animal activists online assaults against their teenage son, the youngest person to ever harpoon a whale for his village.

ORLANDO: MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY

Paul B. Preciado | France

In this maximalist celebration of trans* and nonbinary lives, director Paul B. Preciado employs an all-ages cast of players to embody Virgina Woolfes gender-bending protagonist, Orlando.

PIGEON TUNNEL

Errol Morris | UK

Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris pulls back the curtain on the storied life and career of former British spy David Cornwell better known as John le Carr, author of such classic espionage novels as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardener.

Q

Jude Chehab | USA, Lebanon

God works in mysterious ways and so do women. For 50 years, a secretive matriarchal religious order has stolen the hearts of thousands of women. Q unravels the unspoken ties of devotion that have bonded the filmmaker, her mother, and her grandmother to the group, stealing not only her mothers heart but her soul.

QUEENDOM

Agniia Galdanova | France, USA

Gena, a queer artist from a small town in Russia, dresses in otherworldly costumes and protests the government on the streets of Moscow. She stages radical performances in public, which becomes a new form of art and activism and puts her life in danger.

REJEITO (TAILINGS)

Pedro de Filippis | Brazil, USA | US Premiere

After the largest mining dam breaks in history, further dam collapses threaten millions in Brazil. A state counselor confronts the modus operandi of the government, while dam refugees resist the abuses of the mining companies in their threatened communities.

SILVER DOLLAR ROAD

Raoul Peck | USA | US Premiere

From Academy-Award Nominee Raoul Peck, SILVER DOLLAR ROAD follows the story of the Reels family as told by the matriarch Mamie Reels Ellison and her niece Kim Renee Duhon, two fierce and clear-eyed women bending to safeguard valiantly their ancestors land and their brothers and uncles Melvin and Licurtis, who were wrongfully imprisoned for eight years the longest sentence for civil contempt in North Carolina history.

A STORM FORETOLD

Christoffer Guldbrandsen | Denmark | US Premiere

With Trumps political godfather, Roger Stone, as its central character, this film documents how Trumps presidential period found its logical endpoint with the January 6th Insurrection. Director Guldbrandsen set out to follow the Make America Great Again movement, and became a close witness to the historical events at the center of American democracy.

THREE PROMISES

Yousef Srouji | Palestine, Lebanon, United States | US Premiere

While the Israeli army retaliates against the Second Intifada in the West Bank in the early 2000s, a mother films her familys daily life, punctuated by time spent shielding her family from harm in the basement. Now, her son revisits this past, delivering a heart-breaking portrait of the anguish of parents who are forced to choose between their childrens physical safety and the emotional upheaval of leaving home.

TIME BOMB Y2K

Brian Becker, Marley McDonald | USA

As the clock counts down to the dawn of the new millennium, America is forced to contend with the largest technological disaster to ever threaten humanity. Crafted entirely through archival footage, Time Bomb Y2K examines how we grapple with existential threats in an increasingly technological world.

Shorts:

45th PARALLEL

Lawrence Abu Hamdan | UK | 2022

A ROBUST HEART

Martin Benchimol | Argentina, USA, UK | 2023 | US Premiere

ALL THAT IS SACRED

Scott Ballew | USA | 2023

ALPHA KINGS

Enrique Pedrza-Botero, Faye Tsakas | USA | 2023

AMMA KI KATHA

Nehal Vyas | India, USA | 2023 | World Premiere

ANTI-COSMOS

Takashi Makino | Japan | 2022

BAY OF HERONS

Jared Lank | USA | 2023 | US Premiere

BEHIND THE SUN

Bentley Brown | USA, Saudi Arabia | 2023 | US Premiere

BLOOM

Helena Girn, Samuel M. Delgado | Spain | 2023 | US Premiere

CAMP COURAGE

Max Lowe | USA | 2023 | World Premiere

CLOSURE

Abigail Jakub | USA | 2022

DARKROOM

Asli Baykal | Turkey, USA | 2023

EAT FLOWERS

River Finlay | USA | 2023

ELEPHANT

Wes Sterrs | USA | 2023 | World Premiere

EVER SINCE, I HAVE BEEN FLYING

Aylin Gkmen | Switzerland | 2023 | US Premiere

FALLING

Anna Gyimesi | Hungary, Belgium, Portugal | 2023 | North American Premiere

INCIDENT

Bill Morrison | USA | 2023

LETS GO TO THE MINES

Advik Beni | South Africa, USA | 2022 | World Premiere

LITTLE BOY LOON

Kevin Bay, Julia Thompson | USA | 2023 | World Premiere

MAS Y MAS Y MAS FLORES

Csar Martnez Barba | Mexico, USA | 2023 | World Premiere

MAST-DEL

Maryam Tafakory | UK, Iran | 2023 | US Premiere

SO THAT TONIGHT WE MIGHT SEE

Bea Hesselbart | USA | 2023 | World Premiere

SUDDENLY TV

Roopa Gogineni | Sudan, Qatar | 2022

TITO

Kervens Jimenez | Haiti | 2023 | North American Premiere

WAKING UP IN SILENCE

Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi | Germany, Ukraine | 2023

WELCOME TO KING FRIDAYS DUNGEON

Destiny Arturet | USA | 2022 | World Premiere

WHAT THE HANDS DO

Bing Liu | USA | 2023 | World Premiere