DOC NYC, the United States’ largest documentary film festival, has announced today its 2019 edition of its eight annual Short List with their selection of the year’s top 15 award contenders for feature documentary. The list is considered influential for its steady track record of anticipating Academy Award nominees and winners. The list includes the Brazilian film The Edge of Democracy / Democracia em Vertigem by Petra Costa and the British film Diego Maradona on the Argentine soccer star directed by Academy Award-winner Asif Kapadia.
Was Brazil’s democracy a short-lived dream? As a child in 1985, filmmaker Petra Costa (Elena, Olma and the Seagull) saw democracy take root in Brazil following years of authoritarian rule under a military dictatorship. Gaining unprecedented access to working-party leaders Lula da Silva and his protégée Dilma Rousseff, Costa traces the downfall of both democratic leaders following corruption scandals that resulted in the impeachment of Rousseff and the imprisonment of da Silva.
Merging the personal and the political, Costa delves to the heart of her country’s unfolding identity crisis, examining widespread institutional corruption while connecting her own family’s complex political and industrial past to Brazil’s current crisis. Capturing a unique historical moment, The Edge of Democracy examines the complex forces at play that erode one system and replace it with another.
Diego Maradona is a documentary that highlights one of the most celebrated and controversial footballers in the world. Maradona arrived in Naples on July 5, 1984, for a world-record fee. The charismatic Argentine was worshiped on and off the pitch and led Napoli to its first league title. This wild and unforgettable story will recount the miracles he performed on the field as darker days loomed ahead. It will include more than 500 hours of never-before-seen footage from Maradona’s personal archives, and decades-old news footage and interviews with historians and journalists.
All of the DOC NYC Short List titles will be shown during the festival taking place November 6 -15 in New York City, with the director or other special guests present.
