The 27th edition of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, launching on April 3, will feature a lineup of 34 feature documentaries and 15 short docs. The Durham, N.C.-based, four-day doc film fest will kick off with Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe’s “Prime Minister, “about the life of former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
“Prime Minister” debuted at Sundance 2025, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award. The film is one of 16 Sundance feature docs screening at Full Frame this year. Others include U.S. Grand Jury Prize winner “Seeds,” “The Librarians,” “Preditors, “Nat. Geo’s “Sally” and “The Perfect Neighbor,” which Netflix recently acquired.
Often referred to as “a filmmaker’s festival,” Full Frame is not a premiere or market-focused fest. Instead, it’s known within the doc industry as a well-organized, intimate gathering that gives well-received docs out of Sundance, Camden Intl. Film Festival and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam a boost.
Full Frame was held entirely online for the 2020–22 festivals due to COVID-19. Then, in 2023, the festival was put on hold due to financial struggles and leadership turnover at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies, a nonprofit affiliate of the university that puts on the fest. Last year’s Full Frame was the first in-person festival held in five years. The return was triumphant, with 17,000 tickets sold and 5,000 unique attendees.
“We were blown away by the enthusiastic reception to the festival’s in-person return,” says Emily Foster, Full Frame co-director. “The success of the 2024 festival was driven by the incredible energy of our audiences and filmmakers, who are truly the heart of Full Frame. The overwhelming support from the documentary community, our partners, and the broader film industry created an atmosphere that was both inspiring and energizing.”
The Full Frame 2025 program includes 20 features and 15 short documentaries that will screen in the New Docs category and compete for nine juried awards totaling $45,000 in cash prizes. Included in its competition lineup are David Borenstein’s “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” Amber Fares’ “Coexistence, My Ass!” and Isabel Castro’s “Selena y Los Dinos,” which all premiered at Sundance. Max Keegan’s “The Shepherd and the Bear,” which had its world premiere at the Camden Intl. Film Festival last September and its international premiere at IDFA last November is also part of the New Docs category.
While all of the feature films in the New Docs category have already made their world premieres at various film festivals around the world, two docs – Katarina Stankovic’s “The Tempest of Neptun” and Suzanne Raes’s “Where Dragons Live” – will make their North American premieres at Full Frame.
“As we program the festival, we are not premiere-focused the way some other events are,” Full Frame co-director and artistic director Sadie Tillery told Variety. “We are always very excited to have a discovery in the lineup, a film that is screening in Durham for the first time, but it’s not a priority as we set the lineup.”
In addition to the 35 films in Full Frame’s New Docs section, 14 features will screen out of competition in Full Frame’s Invited category. They include: Petra Costa’s “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim’s “Deaf President Now!” and Stanley Nelson’s “We Want the Funk!” The category will feature one world premiere – Victoria Bouloubasis and Ned Phillip’s “The Last Partera.”
The Invite program does not usually include short films.
In total, this year’s festival will screen 49 films from 30 countries, which were selected from approximately 1,000 submissions.
Full Frame will also continue its tradition of inviting a filmmaker to curate a special thematic program. For this year’s fest, “Strong Island” filmmaker, Yance Ford put together a program titled “The Weight of a Question: Documentary and the Art of Inquiry.” The program will include eight features and three short films that invite viewers to wrestle with complex — and at times, uncomfortable — questions about the world around them. Ford will present the lineup and take part in discussions with filmmakers following the screenings.
“I am drawn to documentary films that ask me to test and stretch my preconceived notions and surface-level understandings,” says Tillery. “Simply put, I watch films to grow, as I believe many audiences do. Yance’s films “Strong Island” and “Power” invite profound reflection in ways that are artful and steadfast, sensitive and direct. It’s humbling to see the idea of audience engagement come into focus through his selections for this year’s Thematic Program.”
In addition, the festival’s 2025 tribute will honor editor and producer Jean Tsien, known for her work on docs, including “Scottsboro: An American Tragedy” (2000), “The Apollo” (2020), and “aka MR. CHOW” (2023). A curated selection from Tsien’s body of work will screen at the 27th annual festival.
Full Frame is a qualifying festival for the Academy Award documentary film short subject. The fest will feature wide array of panel discussions, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Full Frame lineup:
NEW DOCS
2000 Meters to Andriivka / Ukraine, US (Director: Mstyslav Chernov; Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson)
Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.
Apple Cider Vinegar / Belgium (Director: Sofie Benoot; Producer: Peter Kruger)
Stones are at once the most foundational and the most overlooked parts of our lifeworld. When a retired nature documentary narrator passes a kidney stone, she decides to tell one more story about this forgotten world of stone. A hypnotic essay film asking urgent ecological questions, Apple Cider Vinegar takes the viewer on a journey meeting Palestinian quarry workers, a passionate British geologist and people living on the lava fields of Fogo.
Coexistence, My Ass! / US, France (Director: Amber Fares; Producers: Amber Fares, Rachel Leah Jones, Valérie Montmartin)
Coexistence, My Ass! follows Israeli activist-comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi as she creates a comedy show by the same name.
Come See Me in the Good Light / US (Director: Ryan White; Producers: Jessica Hargrave, Ryan White, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen)
An unexpectedly funny and joyful love story, poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley navigate life and mortality in the face of an incurable diagnosis.
Confessions of Undecided Women (Päättämättömien Naisten Tunnustuksia) / Finland (Director: Milja Härkönen; Producer: Vilja Savonlahti)
An animated short documentary about thirty-something women who confront the biggest question of their lives while the biological clock is ticking. North American Premiere
Constructing an Island / Sweden (Director: Ebba Gustafsson; Producer: Klara Gibson)
A mother’s comforting tales of a remote Finnish island is an imagined paradise, but a journey to the island reveals that something is missing. This essayistic documentary explores inherited emotions and behaviours and how spaces can be created to offer the opportunity of reconciliation between generations of women. North American Premiere
The Devil Is Busy / US (Directors: Christalyn Hampton, Geeta Gandbhir; Producers: Soledad O’brien, Rose Arce, Amber Fares)
As the director of operations and security of an abortion clinic in Atlanta, Tracy doesn’t take any chances when it comes to the safety of both the patients and the staff. Executive Produced by Soledad O’Brien and Directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton, The Devil Is Busy is an eye opening on the ground portrayal of the shifting landscape for abortion providers in America.
The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine (La fabulosa máquina de cosechar oro) / Chile, Netherlands (Director: Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza; Producers: Francisco Hervé, Annemiek van der Hell, Alfredo Pourailly De La Plaza)
A 60-year-old gold digger with health issues can’t afford to retire, so his son wants to build a gold harvesting machine that should bring them a better future.
Hold Me Close / US (Directors: Aurora Brachman, LaTajh Simmons-Weaver; Producers: Aurora Brachman, LaTajh Simmons-Weaver)
A chronicle of the power and complexity of the relationship between Corinne and Tiana, two Queer Black womxn who experience cycles of life’s joys and pains together in the home they share.
I’m Not Everything I Want to Be (Ještě nejsem, kým chci být) / Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria (Director: Klára Tasovská; Producers: Lukáš Kokeš, Klára Tasovská)
After the Soviet invasion of Prague, a young female photographer strives to break free from the constraints of Czechoslovak normalization and embarks on a wild journey towards freedom, capturing her experiences on thousands of subjective photographs.
la Flor del Camino / Georgia, Hungary, Belgium, Portugal (Director: Giorgi Parkosadze; Producers: Giorgi Parkosadze, Attic Docu Films, DocNomads)
A few dreamlike glimpses into the life of a young girl who is on her way to meet a beloved friend, and for whom nothing exists but the here and now. North American Premiere
Light Memories (Eco de Luz) / Ecuador, Germany (Director: Misha Vallejo Prut; Producers: Mayfe Ortega Haboud)
Photography, fractured memories, and family secrets converge in a visually poignant exploration that delves into the effects of absent father figures throughout a family tree.
The Long Valley / US (Directors: Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, Robert Machoian; Producers: Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, Robert Machoian)
A meditation on humans’ difficulty accepting reality, while still finding room to dream. It documents the people and landscapes of the Salinas Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions in California.
Mail Myself to You / US (Director: Imogen Pranger; Producers: Imogen Pranger)
“Mail Myself to You” explores the legacy and future of the correspondence art movement through stop-motion animation and 16 millimeter direct cinema. The film focuses on the Oberlin College Mail Art Collection, asking how an archive can best preserve the memory of art that resists convention.
Mama Micra / Germany (Director: Rebecca Blöcher, Co-director: Frédéric Schuld; Producer: Fabian Driehorst)
My mother lived in her small car for over 10 years until she could no longer walk and the car gave up right after that.
A Move (خونه) / Iran), UK (Director: Elahe Esmaili; Producer: Hossein Behboudi Rad)
Elahe returns to her hometown in Mashhad, Iran, to help her parents move to a new place after 40 years. Influenced by the Woman-Life-Freedom movement, she’s also hoping for a bigger move beyond just a new apartment.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin / Denmark, Czech Republic (Directors: David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin; Producer: Helle Faber)
As Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, primary schools across Russia’s hinterlands are transformed into recruitment stages for the war. Facing the ethical dilemma of working in a system defined by propaganda and violence, a brave teacher goes undercover to film what’s really happening in his own school.
The Other One (Ta druhá) / Czechia, Slovakia (Director: Marie-Magdalena Kochová; Producers: Aleš Hudský, Vít Poláček, Petr Kubica, Barbora Drtílková)
The life of 18-year-old Johana revolves around her sister’s mental disability. In her last year of high school, she must face inner conflicts and choose between love for her sister and love for herself. North American Premiere
The Other Side of the Mountain (山的另一面) / China, US (Director: Yumeng He; Producers: Yue Wu, Julie Gaynin, Yumeng He)
A filmmaker follows her father, an artist, in search of his childhood home in Southwestern China, fulfilling a wish of his aging mother. Changed by the tides of history, the streets are unrecognizable. Father and daughter meander through time, contemplating what it means to see and make images.
The Perfect Neighbor / US (Director: Geeta Gandbhir; Producers: Nikon Kwantu, Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Sam Bisbee)
A minor disagreement between neighbors in Florida takes a lethal turn, with police body camera footage and interviews probing the aftermath of the state’s controversial “stand your ground” laws.
perfectly a strangeness / Canada (Director: Alison McAlpine; Producer: Alison McAlpine)
In the dazzling incandescence of an unknown desert, three donkeys discover an abandoned astronomical observatory and the universe. A sensorial, cinematic exploration of what a story can be.
Predators / US (Director: David Osit; Producers: David Osit, Kellen Quinn, Jamie Gonçalves)
To Catch a Predator was a popular television show designed to hunt down child predators and lure them to a film set, where they would be interviewed and eventually arrested. Predators is a surprising exploration of the scintillating rise and staggering fall of the show, and the world it helped create.
Rat Rod / US (Director: Jared and Carly Jakins; Producers: Carly Jakins, Jared Jakins, H.B. Phillips, Kelyn Ikegami)
A haunted mechanic muses on his experiences as an immigrant in rural America—as well as the nature of life and death as he resurrects cars. World Premiere
Seeds / US (Director: Brittany Shyne; Producers: Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne)
Seeds is a portrait of Centennial farmers in the geographical south. Using lyrical black and white imagery, this meditative film examines the decline of generational black farmers and the significance of owning land.
Selena y Los Dinos / US (Director: Isabel Castro; Producers: Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, J. Daniel Torres, David Blackman, Simran Singh)
Selena Quintanilla—the “Queen of Tejano Music”—and her family band, Selena y Los Dinos, rose from performing at quinceañeras to selling out stadium tours. The celebration of her life and legacy is chronicled through never-before-seen footage from the family’s personal archive.
The Shepherd and the Bear / US, UK, France (Director: Max Keegan; Producers: Elizabeth Woodward, Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, Max Keegan)
Set high in the majestic French Pyrenees, The Shepherd and the Bear explores a conflict provoked by the reintroduction of brown bears in the midst of a traditional shepherding community. The film follows an aging shepherd who struggles to find a successor as bears prey on his flock, and a teenage boy who becomes obsessed with tracking the bears. Through its breathtaking cinematography and immersive storytelling, The Shepherd and the Bear is a modern folktale about tradition, community and humanity’s relationship with a vanishing natural world.
Songs of Slow Burning Earth / Ukraine, Sweden, France, Denmark (Director: Olha Zhurba; Producer: Darya Bassel)
An audiovisual diary of Ukraine’s immersion into the abyss of the first two years of Russia’s full invasion, made up of places, occasional characters, rare dialogues, intraframe sounds and silences which, when put together, capture the chronology of how the war became normalised. Against the backdrop of this (meta)physical landscape of collective disaster, a new generation of Ukrainians aspires to imagine the future.
Speak. / US (Directors: Jennifer Tiexiera, Guy Mossman; Producers: Pamela Griner, Guy Mossman, Jennifer Tiexiera)
Five top-ranked high school oratory students spend a year crafting spellbinding spoken word performances with the dream of winning one of the world’s largest and most intense public speaking competitions.
The Spectacle / Sweden (Director: Yasmin van Dorp; Producers: Yasmin van Dorp, Costanza Julia Bani)
The Spectacle is a short reflective documentary that explores the world of modern tourism. Filmed in various locations across Europe, the documentary unveils the transformation of serene landscapes into tourist attractions. What remains truly seen and felt amidst the curated snapshots of our adventures? World Premiere
The Tempest of Neptun (Neptunova Nevera) / Serbia, Croatia, Poland (Director: Katarina Stankovic; Producers: Katarina Stankovic)
On the Croatian island of Vis, a pan-social cast of characters engage in a stormy debate on their future, reminding us of the loss of both storytelling and listening cultures. Fishermen, youth, workers, intellectuals, the mayor and the wealthy South-African owner of the deteriorating cannery “Neptun” build up the main character of the film which is the collective culture of memory and empathy. The visions for growth vs environmental protection and cultural heritage built over millennia bridge the gap between past, present and future, between the local and the global, inner and outer realities. The island is a world, yet the island engages the world. North American Premiere
Tiger / US (Director: Loren Waters; Producers: Loren Waters, Dana Tiger)
Tiger highlights an Indigenous award-winning, internationally acclaimed artist and elder, Dana Tiger, her family, and the resurgence of the iconic Tiger t-shirt company.
Valentina and the MUOSters (Valentina e i MUOStri) / Switzerland, Italy (Director: Francesca Scalisi; Producer: Mark Olexa)
In the heart of Sicily, where a scarred landscape bears the weight of environmental destruction and military imposition, Valentina, nearing 30, still lives under her family’s roof. As her father’s health declines, she must break free from the shadows of dependency to forge her own path.
Where Dragons Live (Waar draken wonen) / The Netherlands, UK (Director: Suzanne Raes; Producers: Ilja Roomans, Reece Cargan)
An intimate and enchanting portrait of childhood fears, imagination and the enduring power of the memories that shape our lives. North American Premiere
WTO/99 / US (Director: Ian Bell; Producers: Laura Tatham, Ian Bell, Alex Megaro)
An immersive archival documentary that reanimates the clash between the then-emerging World Trade Organization (WTO) and the more than 40,000 people who took to the streets of Seattle to protest the WTO’s impacts on labor, the environment, and the future impacts of continued globalization.
Your Opinion, Please / US (Director: Marshall Granger; Producers: Alana Waksman, Marshall Granger)
As America enters the new millennium, listeners across Montana call into Yellowstone Public Radio to express their views on everything from state politics to the Iraq war, or the meaning of poetry.
INVITED PROGRAM
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Apocalipse nos Trópicos) / Brazil (Director: Petra Costa; Producers: Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino)
When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? Apocalypse in the Tropics investigates the increasingly powerful grip that faith leaders hold over politics in Brazil. Weaving past and present, it holds up an uncanny mirror to the rest of the world.
Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story / Ireland, UK (Director: Sinead O’Shea; Producers: Claire McCabe, Eleanor Emptage, Sinéad O’Shea)
In 1960, Edna O’Brien, a young Irish woman, made a sensational literary debut with The Country Girls, sparking controversy in Ireland, where her books were banned and burned. She moved to London, where she led a vibrant life, hosting star-studded parties, conducting love affairs, and building a fortune. O’Brien passed away in July 2024 at 93, and in her final testimony for filmmaker Sinéad O’Shea, she reflects on her extraordinary life. Blue Road features readings from her personal journals by Jessie Buckley, with insights from Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosley, and other notable writers.
Deaf President Now! / US (Directors: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim; Producers: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim, Amanda Rohlke, Jonathan King, Michael Harte)
The story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard of. “Deaf President Now!” recounts the eight days of historic protests held at Gallaudet University in 1988 after the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over several very qualified Deaf candidates.
FOLKTALES / US, Norway (Director: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady; Producers: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady)
On the precipice of adulthood, teenagers converge at a traditional folk high school in Arctic Norway. Dropped at the edge of the world, they must rely on only themselves, one another, and a loyal pack of sled dogs as they all grow in unexpected directions.
Helen and the Bear / US (Director: Alix Blair; Producers: Rebekah Fergusson, Alix Blair, Lauren Kushner, Jenny Slattery)
A rebellious young hippie marries a prominent Republican politician twenty-six years older than her. Four decades later, as they anticipate his death, she wrestles with their marriage, her sexuality, and what’s been lost and won through a life by his side.
The Librarians / US (Director: Kim A. Snyder; Producers: Kim A. Snyder, Janique L. Robillard, Maria Cuomo Cole, Jana Edelbaum)
Librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities.
Mistress Dispeller / China, US (Director: Elizabeth Lo; Producers: Emma D. Miller, Elizabeth Lo, Maggie Li)
Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband’s affair. With strikingly intimate access, Mistress Dispeller follows this unfolding family drama from all corners of a love triangle.
Prime Minister / US (Directors: Michelle Walshe, Lindsay Utz; Producers: Cass Avery, Leon Kirkbeck, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Katie Peck, Clarke Gayford)
Rt Hon Dame Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s 40th Prime Minister, led her nation through unprecedented challenges, implemented bold policies, and became the second leader in history to give birth in office, all while championing an inclusive and empathetic leadership style that changed global expectations of what a leader can be.
SALLY / US (Director: Cristina Costantini; Producers: Lauren Cioffi, Cristina Costantini, Dan Cogan, Jon Bardin)
Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure was a secret. Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, reveals their hidden romance and the sacrifices that accompanied their 27 years together.
The Last Partera / Costa Rica (Directors: Victoria Bouloubasis, Ned Phillips; Producers: Pilar Timpane, Victoria Bouloubasis, Ned Phillips)
At 100 years old, Doña Miriam confronts the end of her life cycle, passing on her wisdom as the last living traditional Costa Rican midwife in the region. Inspired by her courage and strength, a new generation pushes for stronger women-centered healthcare at the foot of an active volcano. World Premiere
Third Act / US (Director: Tadashi Nakamura; Producers: Eurie Chung; Executive Producers: Spencer Nakasako, Diane Quon, Carrie Lozano, Lois Vossen)
Generations of artists call Robert A. Nakamura “the godfather of Asian American media,” but filmmaker Tadashi Nakamura calls him Dad. What begins as a documentary about his father’s career takes a turn with a Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis, and evolves into an exploration on art, activism, grief, and fatherhood.
Viktor / US, Denmark, Ukraine (Director: Olivier Sarbil; Producers: Olivier Sarbil, Darren Aronofsky, Dylan Golden, Brendan Naylor, Sigrid Dyekjær, Philippe Levasseur)
Elegantly fusing rigorous reportage with cinematic subjectivity, Viktor offers a deeply personal perspective on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A young man living in Kharkiv embarks on a journey to find his place in the midst of a war he cannot hear and is denied to fight. An audiovisual experience delicately crafted to mirror that of its subject, “Viktor” is a testimony of a Deaf person navigating through chaos and violence.
We Want the Funk! / US (Director: Stanley Nelson; Producer: Nicole London)
We Want the Funk! is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown’s dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, the story also traces funk’s influences on both new wave and hip-hop.
The White House Effect / US (Directors: Pedro Kos, Jon Shenk, Bonni Cohen; Producers: Josh Penn, Bonni Cohen, Noah Stahl, Jon Shenk, Justine Nagan)
Three decades ago, the world was poised to stop global warming. Using exclusively archival material, The White House Effect tells the origin story of the climate crisis and how a political battle in the George H.W. Bush administration changed the course of history.
