Dallas VideoFest 30 presents DocFest, featuring dozens of documentary features and also shorts, during four days, Oct. 5-8, 2017, on one screen at one theater, Studio Movie Grill on Northwest Highway in Dallas.

Documentaries explore nonfiction investigations of topics or events deemed worthy of further insight. Its specific storytelling techniques are flourishing like never before – encompassing reportage, memoir, history, and humor. Documentaries have always been an integral part of the Dallas VideoFest experience.

Over the course of four days, DocFest showcases several themes with different approaches, and shows how we experience real life in new ways. Check out the lineup below.

Analogue People in a Digital World
11 min.

Digital technology has made it faster and cheaper to produce photographs leading many to wonder why bother to craft a physical image at all. This documentary profiles artists and photographers who describe their processes and makes the case for creating in the physical realm.

Angel Wagenstein: Art is a Weapon
2017, 90 min.

As a teenager in wartime Bulgaria, Wagenstein commanded a daredevil Jewish partisan brigade, surviving capture and torture by fascist police. When post-war dreams of a socialist utopia turned to dust, his films became a kind of covert resistance against the brutality of the Stalinist era. This is one of the great untold stories of world cinema: at 94, Wagenstein is still a man of massive charm and ferocious intelligence, a passionate witness to history and influential voice in the debate on Europe’s rocky post-communist future. Intimate conversations, excerpts from his films, and rare archive materials inform this visually striking and provocative documentary on a remarkable artist.

BadAss Beauty Queen
Canada, 60 min., 2017

Get the story behind the front page story of this Canadian Beauty Queen who uses her beauty and brass to stand up against oppression internationally all while those same forces threaten her family, her livelihood, and her supporters around the world. Full of glitz, glamour, and dramatic behind-the-scenes access.

BETO VS. CRUZ: The Fight for 2018.
5 min.

Polar opposites will collide against a background of national political turmoil when conservative Republican Ted Cruz defends his U.S. Senate seat against center-left liberal Democrat Beto O’Rourke in 2018. Handicapped as the ultimate ‘long shot’ battle, the Cruz/O’Rourke fight pits an aggressive unconventional grassroots campaign free of PAC money and political consultants against a formidably organized and well funded GOP effort. In a vast ‘red’ rural state punctuated with ‘blue’ urban areas, both camps will court a Texas electorate divided by ideology and geography.

Big Sonia
2017, 93 min.

John’s Tailoring is the last shop standing in a desolate corner of a rundown mall, and there is a looming threat the mall could close its doors any day. Will Sonia be able to continue working? Will she have to shut the doors on John’s Tailoring and finally retire in her late 80’s? How will Sonia’s stories make a difference to people now? How will her stories inspire audiences to learn about their own families and ensure that we don’t repeat mistakes of the past?

Bill Nye Science Guy
2017, 110 min.

A famous television personality struggles to restore science to its rightful place in a world hostile to evidence and reason.

BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY
86 min.

When Nazi U-Boats torpedo a ship carrying 83 school children during World War II, Hollywood movie star, Hedy Lamarr, decides to exact revenge.

Dare to be Different
2017, 95 min.

Dare To Be Different is a feature length documentary revealing how 80’s music was really introduced to the US from Europe.

DON’T FRACK WITH DENTON
2017, 60 min.

The empowering story of how my hometown became the first city in Texas to ban the drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) deep in the heart of the oil and gas empire.

Election Night
UK, 8 min.

I moved from Brooklyn to London in June of 2016, just a few weeks before the Brexit vote in the UK. For the months leading up to the referendum, not many people thought Britain would vote to leave the EU. It just wasn’t a consideration. So when people woke to the news the next morning, they were stunned

Escapes
2017, 89 min.

Escapes blazes a wild path through mid-20th-century Hollywood via the experiences of Hampton Fancher – flamenco dancer, actor, and the unlikely producer and screenwriter of the landmark sci-fi classic Blade Runner.

EX LIBRIS – THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
2017, 197 min.

Texas Premiere Frederick Wiseman’s film, EX LIBRIS – The New York Public Library, goes behind the scenes of one of the greatest knowledge institutions in the world and reveals it as a place of welcome, cultural exchange and learning.

Extraordinary Ordinary People
2017, 101 min.

EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY PEOPLE, a sweeping celebration of the cultures of the world living and thriving in the United States. At a time when the existence of the National Endowment for the Arts has never been more threatened, Govenar’s documentary focuses on one of its least known and most enduring programs: the National Heritage Fellowship, awarded annually since 1982.

FIRST COWBOYS
60 min.

The 1960s were a turbulent decade for the City of Dallas, including bearing the stigma as the location of President John F Kennedy’s assassination. But the 1960 expansion Dallas Cowboys began paving the way to become one of the most popular teams in the world, and it started with a group of players and coaches who would help define a city’s image and identity.

FRIDAY NIGHTS IN FREDRICKS
10 min.

Friday Nights in Frederick is an observational documentary short about homecoming day in a fading town. Frederick, OK has spent the last 50 years losing many of its most valuable economic assets, leaving many residents without the opportunity for work and growth.

Half A Life
12 min.

HALF A LIFE is a short animated documentary that pairs the intimate narration of a young, Egyptian gay activist with highly stylized animation, bringing the streets of Cairo to life through this firsthand account.

The Islands and The Whales
Scotland, 2017, 60 min.

On the isolated North Atlantic archipelago of the Faroe Islands, the longtime hunting practices of the Faroese are threatened by dangerously high mercury levels in the whales, decimated seabird populations, and anti-whaling activists. The Faroe islanders consider themselves a canary in the mine, their tale a warning to the rest of the world.

Maineland
90 min.

Maineland follows the stories of two Chinese high school students who leave their country to attend boarding school in Fryeburg, Maine. While the documentary is primarily a coming-of-age tale, it is also an eye-opening cultural commentary on two seemingly opposite countries.

MONO GENERATION
4 min.

In 2005, Lena Dunham starred in a short video by Keil Troisi and A.W. Strouse. Endless problems plagued production—from the scatterbrained script, to the cast’s dorm-room partying, to Strouse’s seedy romance with Dunham. Eleven years later, Troisi and Strouse have reunited to spawn “Mono Generation.” This poetic short documentary reframes their original footage into a nostalgic commentary about celebrity, the War on Terror, and mononucleosis.

Rabbit Hunt
USA / Hungary, 2017, 12 min.

Every weekend, seventeen year old Chris and his family hunt rabbits during sugarcane field burning and harvesting in the Florida Everglades.

SAVING BRINTON
90 min.

In rural Iowa, a beloved history teacher uncovers the century-old showreels of one of America’s first motion picture impresarios and sets out to premiere the films at the world’s oldest continuously operating movie theatre.

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser
France, 1988, 90 min.

The documentary, about Thelonious Monk, pianist and jazz great, combines the Blackwood’s rare footage of Monk in studio on tour and behind the scenes with new interviews, archival photos and more to create a landmark aural and visual treat.

TWO OF FIVE MILLION
6 min.

Two cousins from Deer Ez-Zor, Syria flee from ISIS and leave everything they have behind to seek opportunity and freedom. While one makes it out okay, the other is not so lucky…

Visit www.prekindle.com for more information and to purchase tickets.