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San Francisco DocFest 2020
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Americaville

80 minutes | United States

Chinese citizens looking to escape city life retreat to a gated community that is a replica of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, seeking happiness and the ideology of the “American Dream.”
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Animation Outlaws

68 minutes | United States

The story of Spike and Mike and the festival that changed animation as we know it.
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Bad Art Gallery S08E02

The Bad Art Gallery is back! Check out 20+ new pieces in our VIRTUAL ART GALLERY.
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Beneath The Ink

12 minutes | United States

In a time when society's belief systems are seemingly changing, or even reverting in time, one Ohio tattoo artist Billy Joe White is challenging his community by saying: "Bring me your mistakes."
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Bleeding Audio

91 minutes | United States | Closing Night FIlm

An intimate portrait detailing Oakland band, The Matches, promising career, defeating break up, and inspiring reunion as they navigate the digital age of music.
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The Book Makers

58 minutes | United States

The Book Makers is a 1-hour documentary that pulls back the curtain on the people who are keeping books alive in the 21st century. From the esoteric world of book artists to the digital libraries of the Internet Archive, the film spins a tale of the enduring vitality of the book.
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Castells

13 minutes | United Kingdom

In the face of oppression the Catalan people have always endured a strong sense of identity. In the past they were persecuted for even speaking their own language. Today they persevere, expressing their culture throughout the region. This is Castells, the UNESCO recognized tradition of the Catalonian people. Don't look down.
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Charlie's Lot

10 minutes | United States

Charlie’s antique car-collecting habit has become a problem. The neighbors are angry and his wife is sick of it. But Charlie is also an anonymous crusader in the fight to save the soul of his city. How does a society discern between a hoarder and a preservationist? With Charlie, it all depends whether you live next door.
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Dharma Rebel - Noah Levine

77 minutes | Netherlands

Noah Levine made a name for himself as the rebel buddhist teacher, but sexual misconduct accusations rock his world and the recovery organization he leads.
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Eyes in the Forest

19 minutes | United States

The Amazon was the first victim of the peace process in Colombia.
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Filmmaker Feud S01E01

27 minutes

Festival filmmakers compete in a fast-paced survey game based on the hit game show!
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Filmmaker Feud S01E02

23 minutes

Festival filmmakers compete in a fast-paced survey game based on the hit game show!
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A Fistful of Rubbish

14 minutes | Spain

A Western environmental documentary, A Fistful of Rubbish is set in the Tabernas Desert in Spain - Europe's only desert. An area famous for being the backdrop of many famous Western films, sadly is being trashed. But now, with the help of some locals, an English ex-pat is forming a posse and taking things into his own hands. Literally.
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For the Love of Rutland

90 minutes | United States

For the Love of Rutland is a portrait of a politically divided and economically devastated town, a portrait seen repeated all across America, and the glimmer of hope that can help rebuild a community.
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Hello, We Lied

12 minutes | United States

Ordained "The King of Fake News" by NPR, Jestin Coler built a network of websites meant to "infiltrate the echo chambers" of the alt-right. His empire soon grew to embody the media monolith it satirized, garnering over 100 million views and potentially swaying the election (which was swung by a mere 0.06% of the voting population).
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I Could Tell You 'Bout My Life

26 minutes | United States

19-year-old Michael Martin reflects on his life in Harlem, his interests in music and art, and how his incarceration on Rikers Island affected him.
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Iconicity

88 minutes | United States

Iconicity is visually stunning look at the artistic and cultural history of desert art and its attendant communities in Southern California.
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The Infinite Race

70 minutes

A decade after the publication of Christopher McDougall's bestseller, “Born to Run,” the Tarahumara runners of northern Mexico continue to fight for their survival and to preserve their traditions, as the outside world encroaches on their community.

Insert Coin

101 minutes | United States | Opening Night Film

A compulsively watchable history of the legendary and notorious video game developer Midway Games (Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam) whose anarchic spirit took the industry by storm before its eventual implosion.
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The Last Blockbuster

84 minutes | United States

The Last Blockbuster is a funny, nostalgic look at the world's last remaining Blockbuster Video store and the rise and fall of a corporate giant.
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The Last Ice

83 minutes | United States

As the fate of the Arctic hangs in the balance, The Last Ice elucidates the Inuit’s struggle to preserve their fragile homeland and the unique way of life they have sustained for thousands of years.
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Legendary: 30 Years of Philly Ballroom

19 minutes | United States

An inside look into the effort to preserve Philadelphia's ballroom scene, a black LGBTQ safe-space that has endured for 30 years.
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LIGO: The Way the Universe Is, I think

13 minutes | United States

A character documentary about a mechanic-turned-scientist who tuned the machine that spurred a dramatic re-envisioning of the universe through the detection of gravitational waves.
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Little Point Richmond

8 minutes | United States

A Point Richmond artist of mini fairy houses makes them as surprise gifts for his neighbors. In turn, the art helps heal his depression and brings the community together.
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My Father the Mover

13 minutes | United States

My Father The Mover invites you on an exploration of Gqom dance and movement to ignite your own sense of freedom while introducing you to the crucial work of Stoan Move Galela and his United Township Dancers.
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Ña Káana Yee "Voices of life"

26 minutes | Mexico

World champion mountain runner and ethnic Mixtec, Ricardo Mejía, faces what might be his last and biggest challenge: Finding a successor to continue his legacy and the pride of his community.
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On Task

7 minutes | United States

A young high school teacher pushes himself and his students to work for their success.
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One Life

83 minutes | United States

Through the eyes of Nur Kalima, a young Rohingya girl fleeing Myanmar, One Life illuminates the growing international refugee crisis.
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One Word Sawalmem

20 minutes | United States

A Shasta Dam raise is being fast-tracked by the Trump administration in violation of state law, risking contamination of California’s water supply and “ethnocide” against local indigenous people. Winnemem Wintu young man Michael "Pom" Preston is a student of Environmental Studies at UC Berkeley, yet he felt his indigenous viewpoint was not heard. The time has come to listen to Michael and to the Winnemem Wintu tribe. One word ripples outward, vibrating with healing power: "Sawalmem," meaning Sacred Water.
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Out Loud

54 minutes | United States

Out Loud takes us on an inspiring journey through physical and emotional transformation as the first transgender and gender nonconforming chorus in California, the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles prepares for their debut performance.
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The Palindromists

91 minutes | United States

Delve deep into the history of palindromes while following the world's greatest palindromists as they prepare for the idiosyncratic World Palindrome Championship.
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The People who Suspend

97 minutes | United States

From ancient history to today’s practitioners today this doc takes an in-depth and personal exploration of the practiced of suspension and the people who suspend.
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Picture Character

80 minutes | Canada

Chances are, you use them every day and know very little about them, so get ready to dive deep into the history and cultural impact of emojis.
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A Place to Breathe

87 minutes | United States

This powerful documentary explores the universality of trauma and resilience through the eyes of immigrant health care practitioners and patients.
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Public Trust

96 minutes | United States

Public Trust is a wake up call to environmentalists everywhere, as the government rolls back protections placed on public land in the interest of big business.
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Redacted

19 minutes | United States

In this short essay-style documentary, a Black filmmaker reflects on present-day struggles of marginalized people on a tour devoted to challenging conventional historical narratives through the legacy of a slave revolt.
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Resisterhood

96 minutes | United States

Restisterhood follows six women who became grassroots activists leading the resistance and re-energizing a movement after the shocking results of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
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Ride Slow. Take Photos

62 minutes | United States

With social media wreaking havoc on our society, what happens when you step out from behind your keyboard and actually talk to people?
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Riplist

72 minutes | United States

A funny and thought-provoking documentary that follows a group of friends that get together once a year and draft celebrities they think might die. But while playing the game of death, they learn the value of life.
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Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago

75 minutes | United States

Hailed as ‘William Faulkner by way of B-movie film noir, porn paperbacks, and Sun Records rockabilly’ poet, author and screenwriter Barry Gifford is one of America’s greatest storytellers.
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The Seeker

19 minutes | United States

A lyrical portrait of an excommunicated Amish woodworker struggling with spirituality, poverty, and life as an outcast from his strict, insular community.
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Sleeze Lake: Life At Its Lowest and Best

60 minutes | United States

It’s 1977 and the adventurers, outcasts, and hippie counterculture van lifers have gathered around a small pond, dubbed “Sleeze Lake,” to hold the wildest van party you’ve never heard of.
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Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse

58 minutes | United States

Stalking Chernobyl: Exploration After Apocalypse, a documentary from Cultures of Resistance Films, examines the underground culture of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
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A Syrian Woman

11 minutes | Jordan

After nearly a decade of conflict, Syrian refugee women are some of the most vulnerable amid the crisis. Thousands have lost their families and husbands, and now must provide for their children, alone in an unfamiliar country. In this short film, six Syrian women living in Jordan recount their personal stories of survival – from displacement, child-marriage, and trauma, to their resilience and hope to rebuild a better future for their children.
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Truth or Consequences

102 minutes | United States | Centerpiece Film

A speculative documentary about a small desert town, a spaceport and the people who stayed.
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Uncivilized

72 minutes | United States

A young man sets off to the forest in search of the simple life of 'uncivilized' man, but when Category 5 Hurricane Maria strikes his island, his project takes on new meaning as everyone is sent back to 'primitive living'. What lessons will Michael and his comrades learn as they fight to survive in a post-disaster world.
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Unlocking the Doors of Cinema

61 minutes | United Arab Emirates

Unlocking Doors of Cinema explores the fifty years of artistic contribution of the daring Syrian auteur Muhammad Malas, as a filmmaker and intellectual from a country that, to most readers, has become a metaphor for war, refugees, and geo-political conflict.
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Variations

13 minutes | United States

At the San Francisco Ballet School, young aspiring dancers come to terms with their growing pains as they strive to go pro.
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We Are Free Because Of Harriet Tubman

5 minutes | United States

This lyrical film is a meditation on resistance, nature, and history. Prof. Sonia Sanchez’s Haiku speaks to us today as many in America struggle to find their own liberation. The other text, contributed by filmmakers Marlene and Nadine Patterson, is a list of enslaved Africans Tubman freed.
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The Wind: A Documentary Thriller

74 minutes | Poland

A tour de force of observational documentary filmmaking that tells the consequences of a destructive windstorm regularly wreaks havoc in the mountains of Poland.
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Wings of Kyrgyzstan

75 minutes | Kyrgyzstan

Wings of Kyrgyzstan is a kaleidoscope of life in the magnificent high steppe home to thousands of animals and the semi-nomadic herders of Central Asia.
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Yves & Variation

16 minutes | United States

Every day, concierge Yves Deshommes practices his violin behind the front desk of a Manhattan office building. But during the hours outside his shift, Yves's life is revealed to be equal parts intrepid and inspiring.
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