Documentary Fortnight
MoMA, 1 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
February 13 through 27, 2015
Documentary Fortnight 2015: MoMA’s International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media, is the 14th annual showcase of recent documentary film that examines the relationship between contemporary art and nonfiction practices and reflects on new areas of documentary filmmaking. The two-week festival includes 28 films, with many directors present for discussions following screenings, which will take place within The Roy and Niua Titus Theaters at the MoMA from February 13 through 27, 2015. This year’s festival includes an international selection of 21 feature films and seven short films, a lecture performance, an archival film program, and a flat-screen installation. Many of the directors will be present at the screenings and will participate in discussions following the films. Documentary Fortnight 2015 is organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film, with Jesus Hernandez Bach, Festival Liaison. The selection committee consists of Sally Berger; Chi-hui Yang, independent curator; and Kimi Takesue, filmmaker. Presented in collaboration with Cinema Tropical, Milestone Films, and True/False Film Festival.
The festival opens on February 13 with the New York premiere of The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015). A thrilling, comprehensive history of the revolutionary movement that transformed race and class in America, the film is told through meticulous research and astonishing archival materials by MacArthur Fellow and Emmy Award winner Stanley Nelson. A riveting chronicle of power, idealism, tragedy, and transformation, the film brings together the multiple, complex histories of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, as told by its disparate factions, supporters, opposition, and the news media. Founded nearly 50 years ago, the Panthers and their Ten-Point Platform—which called for equal education and housing and an end to police brutality—continue to resonate in today’s world. The film is a 2015 Sundance Film Festival selection.
The closing night event is the world premiere of Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation (2014), the new film by Barbara Kopple, a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature. The oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States, founded in 1865 and now in its 150th year, The Nation covers politics and culture from a liberal point of view. The film captures daily life working on the periodical, introduces staff writers and editors past and present, and follows the in-depth stories of reporters in the field.
