Directed by Crystal Moselle Produced by Izabella Tzenkova, Hunter Gray, and Alex Orlovsky Released by Magnolia Pictures USA. 84 min. Not rated In a city of eight million people—and eight million stories—filmmaker Crystal Moselle certainly stumbled across one of the most intriguing. Walking around the Lower East Side one day, she noticed a group of […]

Directed by Drew Taylor and Larry Weinstein Canada. 85 min. Not rated This 2013 documentary retells the real-life story of the six U.S. Embassy workers who sought refuge from the Canadian ambassador while their co-workers were taken hostage in Iran in 1979. This saga was depicted in Oscar-winning fashion by director/star Ben Affleck in his […]

Directed by Lucia Small and Ed Pincus Produced by Mary Kerr Released by First Run Features USA. 105 min. Not rated In Japanese swordsmanship, the expression “one cut, one life” refers to the importance of making every movement count. For Ed Pincus, it is also a philosophy for how to live life, one that has […]

Produced and Directed by Dena Seidel Released by First Run Features USA. 72 min. Not rated The realities of climate change are painful; the reality of studying it is painstaking. That work, chronicled in Antarctic Edge: 70° South, focuses on a group of scientists making an annual trip to what has been called “the land […]

Some of the most involving documentaries featured at previous Tribeca Film Festivals have creatively explored family histories, including The Flat and The Arbor, revealing and attempting to reconcile with the past. In two films this year, adult sons confronted their fathers, in memory and in person. In My Father’s House On Chicago’s South Side (President […]

Directed by Johannes Holzhausen Produced by Johannes Rosenberger Released by Kino Lorber German with English subtitles Austria. 95 min. Not rated America and Europe approach the past differently, and each can defy common sense in ways that make sensible people want to rip their hair out. European culture can overprotect tradition like a helicopter mom, […]

Directed by Douglas Kass and Roger Kass Produced by Roger Kass Released by Music Box Films English, Italian, French & German with English subtitles USA/Italy/Germany/France/Cyprus. 77 min. Not rated In 2010, famed novelist and occasional essayist Jonathan Franzen published a long piece in The New Yorker titled “Emptying the Skies,” about the illegal trapping of […]

For many documentaries, a strong subject matter is the main draw. Granted, directorial choices are crucial, but compelling interviewees or a topic that resonates with the public can help a film truly soar. The best of these films do just that, from a film about a father working to exonerate his son to a work […]

In general, documentaries tend to be the strength of the Tribeca Film Festival’s programming, and though there are many solid narrative films in this year’s edition, the nonfiction films take viewers on journeys that not only spanned the globe but also scrutinize many aspects of the human experience. Adolescence is explored in depth in a […]