Genre: Documentary

Artist Nick Cave prepares for a career-spanning exhibition and a groundbreaking fashion performance celebrating gender identity.

Paulette Jones Morant recounts her athletic journey at the University of Virginia in the 1970s.

In his funny and thought-provoking latest film, Erik Gandini (Videocracy) chronicles the past, present, and future of labor.

During Chile’s military dictatorship, radio operators receive messages from an alien race. Are they real, or is it something more insidious?

Based on true events, American Sikh tells the story of a courageous man in post-9/11 New York City who faced prejudice and racism with humor and heroism.

Wim Wenders’ 3D documentary is a luminous portrait of iconoclastic German artist Anselm Kiefer, whose monumental work is captured in all its mythic splendor.

Three dedicated film workers journey through the world of informal film culture.

This wondrous and warm-hearted documentary follows a neurodivergent Australian family as they experience the joys, misfortunes, and traumas of everyday life.

This suite of films explores the fusion of the natural world and cultural narratives, as well as the limitless possibilities of creative expression and transcending convention.

A father and son embark on an epic bike ride from St. Louis to Chicago in this stirring documentary that takes a hard look at health disparities in the Black community.

Filmmaker Lina Souaelm traces the journeys of her mother — Palestinian actress Hiam Abbas — and the women of her extended family, whose lives have been defined by separation, exile, and resilience.

This playful documentary chronicles the construction of the Depot, a shimmering open-concept space in Rotterdam that reimagines the possibilities for art storage and exhibition.

From the acclaimed director of Prayers for the Stolen comes an exquisitely textured coming-of-age story about an adolescent girl in rural Mexico.

This short film follows a chef with a mission to share and elevate Cambodian food using his family’s recipes.

This heartfelt tribute to food, family, and cultural identity charts Chicago restaurateur Billy Dec’s journey to reconnect with his Filipino heritage.

An artistic Cannes-winning tour-de-force blending documentary and fiction that explores the secret trauma at the heart of a Tunisian family.

In this sublime documentary, civilians fleeing war-torn Ukraine share intimate stories of struggle and resilience in the backseat of a minivan.

The Black church is explored as a site of personal and political belonging through portraits of communities across west Philadelphia and southeast London.

The community of Highland Park, Illinois, commemorates those who lost their lives in the Independence Day shooting of 2022.

An absorbing, multilayered account of the journey of an American missionary who was killed while attempting to convert an Indigenous people.

Mountain Man chronicles Phuntsho Tshering and his annual sacred journey to the Himalayas to track the movement of the glaciers.

A moving portrait of an elderly pair, their quirky rituals, and their strong sentiments for life.

From the streets of Amsterdam, McQueen creates two interlocking portraits: a vivid journey through the last years of pandemic and protest, and a door-to-door excavation of the Nazi occupation that still haunts his adopted city.

From acclaimed Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho comes an incisive and whimsical essay film about movies, memory, and the places of one’s past.

Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris (The Fog of War) pulls back the curtain on the storied life and career of former British spy David Cornwell, better known as John le Carré, author of the most classic espionage novels of all time.

The poetry of the passage of time is seen on the faces of the elderly and in the voices of a youth choir.

The six shorts in this program represent distinct modes of storytelling through film, while reflecting the diversity and creativity of our region.

These animated shorts create an idiosyncratic mosaic of the difficulties, joys, enigmas, and triumphs of the human experience.

These short documentaries offer singular looks into lives that have been transformed by pivotal events.

Vibrant cultural legacies come to life, hidden histories are unearthed, everyday life is illuminated, and resonant stories unfold in captivating splendor in this collection of shorts.

In celebration of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial, this program tracks how we establish strong connections to a place, and the complications of staying in it.

Acclaimed director Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) tells the shocking story of a Black family who fought for decades to keep their ancestral land.

A grandson uses animation to reconstruct a loved one’s lost memories in this documentary film.

Pioneers in civil rights and outer space, Black astronauts boldly ventured where no Black Americans had ever gone before. This is their untold story.

Based on the book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi (How to Be An Antiracist), this searing documentary explores the roots of anti-Black racism in America.

In this lively animated music documentary, a New York journalist (Jeff Goldblum) seeks the truth behind the disappearance of a Brazilian jazz pianist.

Former residents remember happier times in a beloved apartment.

Displaced by war, Ukrainian children make a former military barrack their playground.