A Place of Absence by Marialuisa Ernst
The 16th annual hybrid edition of DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, will take place with in-person screenings November 12–20 and online screenings through November 30, featuring a diverse lineup of Latinx and Latin American features from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, co-presented by Cinema Tropical.
Following up on her Oscar-nominated The Edge of Democracy, about the institutional corruption and populist mistrust plaguing Brazil’s democracy almost since its 1980s restoration, Petra Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics explores the Christian fundamentalism seizing the nation’s political discourse. With stunning access to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former president Jair Bolsonaro, and others, Costa distills Brazil’s political chaos into a clear-eyed, deeply troubling, and internationally resonant vision of the unseen forces at work on a vulnerable population.
Aurora, by Brazilian director João Vieira Torres, is a poignant, powerful, and deeply personal exploration of generational trauma. Prompted by vivid dreams and ghostly visits from his grandmother, the filmmaker traces the stories of the women in his family, many of whom experienced violence. Through intimate conversations, haunting photos, and his coming-of-age story, the documentary weaves a narrative that confronts Brazil’s racism and sexism, ultimately celebrating the triumph of love.
In Traces from Home, filmmaker Colette Ghunim speaks to her Mexican mother and Palestinian father about their trying journeys into the United States, delving into the past and the pain unearthed along the way. In a society where rhetoric increasingly vilifies Mexicans and Palestinians, Ghunim uses her camera to address the grief at the center of the generational trauma that has impacted her family. It serves as a meditation on loss and grief that ultimately leads toward reconciliation.
Mexican filmmaker Miguel Calderón’s Loss of Adjustment / Ajuste de pérdidas is a biting examination of exploitation and survival set in Mexico. It follows a Mexican insurance adjuster who, haunted by the corruption in his professional life, seeks refuge in the art world, only to uncover a different but equally pervasive form of deceit.
Para vivir: The Implacable Times of Pablo Milanés, directed by Fabien Pisani, is a rich, music-filled North American premiere and a deeply personal portrait of Afro-Cuban music icon Pablo Milanés, captured during his final years in self-imposed exile. His adopted son, Fabien Pisani, traces Milanés’s extraordinary life from child prodigy to beloved activist and co-founder of the Nueva Trova movement. The film journeys through Cuba’s political and cultural evolution alongside his legendary career, featuring intimate moments and interviews with musical luminaries.
Directed by Elvira Lind, King Hamlet offers an intimate look into the life of actor Oscar Isaac as he grapples with profound personal and professional challenges. The documentary follows Isaac as he prepares for a demanding New York City stage production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. During this intense period, he receives the devastating news that his mother is battling aggressive cancer as he awaits the birth of his first child with filmmaker and partner, Elvira Lind.
Shedding light on the familial burden of the migrant crisis, A Place of Absence, by Marialuisa Ernst, charts the physical and emotional journey of Central American mothers on a bus caravan as they desperately search for their disappeared children, clinging to hope against overwhelming odds. Interwoven with the filmmaker’s story of her beloved uncle’s disappearance, this film offers a poignant look at migration, loss, and the enduring bonds of family.
Twenty years after its premiere, DOC NYC will present a retrospective screening of Marilyn Agrelo and Amy Sewell’s classic Mad Hot Ballroom, about NYC public school fifth-graders competing in the extracurricular world of ballroom dancing. The filmmakers followed students from schools in Bensonhurst, Tribeca, and Washington Heights as they learned about ambition, discipline, respect, and perspective—all to the beats of merengue, rumba, tango, and other rhythms.
Ernie Bustamante’s Street Smart: Lessons from a TV Icon honors the trailblazing career of Sonia Manzano, best known as “Maria” on Sesame Street. Through her own words, the film celebrates Manzano’s achievements as an actress and Emmy-winning writer while exploring life after Sesame Street. This uplifting portrait pays tribute to a beloved Latina role model who made an indelible mark on children’s television.
Fermín Eloy Acosta’s film essay Museum of the Night / Museo de la noche explores the vibrant queer underground art scene of early 1970s New York City, centering on Argentine artist and photographer Leandro Katz, a key figure in the Theatre of the Ridiculous collective.
Through powerful and poetic storytelling, I Dreamed His Name / Soñe su nombre by Colombian filmmaker Ángela Carabalí follows the director and her sister Juliana as they traverse Colombia’s Indigenous farmlands to investigate the disappearance of their father. Thirty years ago, the Afro-Latino farmer became a victim of the violence enveloping the country during a period of civil unrest. Now, as Ángela and Juliana probe their missing father’s story, they encounter others who lost family members in similar circumstances.
María Valverde’s El canto de las manos follows renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel as he partners with Coro de Manos Blancas, a choir of deaf and hard-of-hearing performers in Venezuela, to stage Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. As the choir prepares for their innovative performance, the film follows them through auditions, rehearsals, and personal stories of resilience.
Set in La Cantera, a remote town in Guanajuato, Mexico, that has become deeply tied to the global economy since the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the mid-1990s, The Age of Water, the revealing debut feature from sibling co-directors Isabel Alcántara Atalaya and Emmy-winning producer and cinematographer Alfredo Alcántara, follows two mothers—Nely Baeza and Elia Zarazua—whose lives are upended after three children die from an aggressive form of leukemia within a single year. In response, they transform from ordinary citizens into determined activists, form the civil group MAYOYE—named after the initials of their deceased children—and begin investigating the source of the epidemic.
Seven Latinx and Latin American short films from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico will screen across various categories, including The New Yorker Theater: A Talbott Legacy by Argentine filmmaker Sergio Maza; the Colombia–Chile co-production Sunset Over America by Matías Rojas Valencia; La orquesta by Monica Villavicencio and Stephanie Liu; Casa Amadeo by Ariana Marie Luque; Voice from the Abyss by Mexican directors Irving Serrano and Victor Rejón; Island Willing by Cece King; and The Murmurations by Xavier Marrades.
The 2025 hybrid edition of DOC NYC will be held at the IFC Center, the SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika, with online screenings continuing through Sunday, November 30.
