The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) has announced its main slate of feature and short films for its expanded 16th edition, which will take place October 1-12, 2020. In addition to all films screening virtually, the in-person experience of this year's festival will occur at CIFF’s recently constructed Shotwell Drive-In Theater in Rockport.

A program of the Points North Institute, CIFF is one of the top documentary film festivals in the world. This year the festival will present 30 features, 3 mid-length films and 27 shorts from 27 countries, with more than half of the feature films presented as major premieres. CIFF will open with Garrett Bradley’s Time, and close with Hulu’s latest feature, I Am Greta. The festival will also present new work by documentary luminary Victor Kossakovsky and Academy Award winning directors Frederick Wiseman and Steve James.

“Our 2020 slate celebrates documentary as a reimagining of the ways we engage with stories from both near and far,” said Ben Fowlie, executive and artistic director of the Points North Institute, and founder of the Camden International Film Festival, in a news release. “There’s no question this has been a challenging and strange year for independent filmmakers and film festivals, but the bold and creative ways in which these films were constructed, reminded us time and again that nothing has changed when it comes to the power of storytelling. We feel compelled to do all we can to ensure these imaginative and essential portraits of our world are experienced. The show must always find a way to go on.”

In support of the challenges experienced by independent filmmakers this year due to covid, CIFF established the Filmmaker Solidarity Fund, ensuring honoraria for every participating filmmaker or filmmaking team, including both features and shorts directors participating in the 2020 festival. 50% of net proceeds from CIFF’s virtual festival will seed the fund, with an  additional pool of contributions and donations. “These remain unprecedented times for the field, and we hope that our festival will unearth new modes of collaboration between filmmakers, and a more accessible, equitable, and filmmaker focused festivals,” said Fowlie.

This year’s slate reinforces CIFF’s commitment to diversity not only on the screen but behind the various filmmaking teams. 55% of this year’s films are directed or co-directed by women, and 48% of films are directed by artists of color.

CIFF will present three World Premieres including The Long Coast by Ian Cheney; The Mystery of D.B. Cooper by John Dower; and Bicentenario by Pablo Álvarez Mesa. As a leading showcase of international works, CIFF welcomes the North American premiere of seven feature films, including A Shape of Things To Come by Lisa Marie Malloy and J.P. Sniadecki; American Sector by Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez; Bottled Songs 1-4 by Chloé Galibert-Laîné and Kevin B. Lee; and There Will Be No More Night by Eléonore Weber, as well as new works directed by emerging South American female filmmakers, Carolina Moscoso Briceno’s Night Shot and Shady River directed by Tatiana Mazú. Marking their United States premieres this October are 76 Days by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, and Anonymous, North by Leslie Lagier, Songs of Repression by Estephan Wagner and Marianne Hougen-Moraga, and Truth Or Consequences by Points North Institute alumni Hannah Jayanti.

“Many of the films we engaged with took on new dimensionality and resonance during this year’s festival selection process, inside our homes, during a global pandemic,” says programmer Jeanelle Augustin. “As we each go through our own deeply personal molting process to mourn what’s been lost and cultivate space for new growth, the value of real connection and creative community is stronger than ever. Despite our physical distances, there is no question that the nonfiction moving image is operating in new economies of scale. This year at CIFF we have stripped back the out and overgrown, guided by the urgency of beauty, the essentiality of art, and the imaginary potential of cinema.” 

The global refugee crisis will be represented in a kaleidoscope of films, including the North American Premiere of Amel Alzakout and Khaled Abdulwahed’s Berlinale title, Purple Sea about Syrian filmmaker and artist Amel Alzakout’s harrowing journey on the Aegean Sea, and a special retrospective of award-winning Danish-Palestinian filmmaker and visual artist, Mahdi Fleifel, whose work has documented the Palestinian refugee camp, Ain al-Helweh since 2012.

"Many of these works observe, traverse, and delineate an intimate relationship between violence and its many ways of hiding in plain sight," says programmer Milton Guillén. "It is in the intimate encounter between the unveiling and re-framing of these systems that this year's program takes shape. They opened new ways of seeing as people, filmmakers, and programmers, that's what really excited us."  

In addition to Jayanti’s feature debut, the festival is pleased to showcase six features directed by alumni of the Points North Institute’s Artist Programs: Bulletproof by Todd Chander, Landfall by Cecilia Aldarondo, Two Gods by Zeshawn and Aman Ali, For The Love of Rutland by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, and Jacinta by Jessica Earnshaw and Holly Meehl, as well as Truth or Consequences.

To conclude the 16th edition of the festival, CIFF will celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day with a special day of programming on October 12, presenting work from award-winning director Sky Hopinka and others.

A complete list of the program’s selected feature films can be found below.

The Points North Institute announced that SHOWTIME Documentary Films will serve as the Presenting Sponsor for the 2020 Points North Fellowship and a Headlining Sponsor for the 2020 Camden International Film Festival.

The Points North Forum’s lineup of masterclasses, roundtables, panels, and industry delegates will be announced in the coming week, along with this year’s cohort of Points North Institute’s Artist Program Fellows. Festival passes and a complete festival lineup can be found on the Points North Institute website www.pointsnorthinstitute.org.

The 16th Camden International Film Festival is a program of the Points North Institute. Building on CIFF’s long-established role in the nonfiction film community, the Points North Institute’s filmmaker programs provide a launching pad for the next generation of nonfiction storytellers.

Complete program and asset links to follow. 

 

2020 Camden International Film Festival Features:

76 DAYS

Hao Wu, Weixi Chen & Anonymous | USA, China | 2020

This raw and intimate documentary captures the struggles and human resilience in the battle to survive the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China.

 

A SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

Lisa Marie Malloy & JP Sniadecki | USA | 2020

A borderlands Western follows Sundog, an herbalist-hunter-homesteader in the Sonoran Desert, raising provocative questions about humanity's relation to the environment - and to itself - amidst the specter of global collapse.

 

A WORLD NOT OURS (screens as part of the Mahdi Fleifel retrospective)

Mahdi Fleifel |  UK, Lebanon, Denmark, United Arab Emirates | 2013

Three generations of a family live in exile in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

 

THE AMERICAN SECTOR

Courtney Stephens & Pacho Velez | USA | 2020 

The American Sector takes viewers on a roadtrip to visit fragments of The Berlin Wall, scattered across the United States.

 

BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING LEFT BEHIND

Katrine Philp | Denmark | 2020

Beautiful Something Left Behind captures the heartbreaking, mundane and even the funny moments in the lives of several young children who have recently lost one or both parents.

 

BICENTENARIO

Pablo Álvarez Mesa | Colombia, Canada | 2020

On the 200th anniversary of Simon Bolivar’s liberation journey across Colombia, a whispering voice summons his spirit, which begins to wander amongst contemporary small towns’ parades and revolutionary cosplayers.

 

BOTTLED SONGS 1-4

Chloé Galibert-Laîné & Kevin B. Lee | USA, Germany, France | 2020

This series of desktop documentaries records investigations of online terrorist propaganda playing directly upon computer screens.

 

BULLETPROOF

Todd Chandler | USA | 2020

What does it mean to be safe in school in the United States? Safe from what, and from whom? Bulletproof poses and complicates these questions through a provocative exploration of fear and American violence.

CITY HALL

Frederick Wiseman | USA | 2020

A new documentary from award-winning director, Fred Wiseman,  that examines the inner workings of Boston government.

 

CITY SO REAL (Episodes 1-4)

Steve James | USA | 2020

Academy Award ®-nominated filmmaker Steve James’ complex portrait of contemporary Chicago and a deep, multifaceted look into the soul of a quintessentially American city, set against the backdrop of its history - making 2019 mayoral election.

 

THE EARTH IS AS BLUE AS AN ORANGE

Iryna Tsilyk | Ukraine, Lithuania | 2020 

To cope with the daily trauma of living in a war-zone, Mira and her family make a film together about their life in the most surreal surroundings.

 

FOR THE LOVE OF RUTLAND

Jennifer Maytorena Taylor | USA | 2020

In a blue-collar Vermont town, Stacie emerges as an unexpected and resilient leader in a community divided by class, cultural values, and the toxic politics of today.

 

GUNDA

Victor Kossakovsky | Norway | 2020

Experiential cinema in its purest form, Gunda chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy.

 

I AM GRETA

Nathan Grossman | Sweden, France, USA | 2020

The story of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is told through compelling, never-before-seen footage in this documentary following her rise to prominence. 

 

JACINTA

Jessica Earnshaw | USA | 2020

A deeply intimate portrait of mothers and daughters and the effects of trauma, JACINTA follows a young woman in and out of prison as she attempts to break free from an inherited cycle of addiction, incarceration and crime.

 

LANDFALL

Cecilia Aldarondo | USA | 2020

Through shard-like glimpses of everyday life in post-Hurricane María Puerto Rico, Landfall examines a ruined world at the brink of transformation, spinning a cautionary tale for our times.

 

THE LONG COAST

Ian Cheney | USA | 2020

A lyrical and artful portrait of seafolk and seafood producers along the coast of Maine.

 

MAYOR

David Osit | UK, USA, Palestine | 2020

MAYOR is a real-life political saga following Musa Hadid, the Christian

mayor of Ramallah, during his second term in office. His immediate goals: repave the sidewalks, attract more tourism, and plan the city’s Christmas celebrations. His ultimate mission: to end the occupation of Palestine.

 

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF BIRDS (A METAMORFOSE DOS PÁSSAROS) 

Catarina Vasconcelos | Portugal | 2020

A boy dreams of becoming a bird, first loves are found and lost, and leaves fall faithfully with the seasons in this multigenerational story of love and the sea. 

 

THE MYSTERY OF DB COOPER

John Dower | UK, USA | 2020

A documentary that looks at the well-known case, which is largely regarded as the greatest unsolved heist in American history.

 

NIGHT SHOT (VISION NOCTURNA)

Carolina Moscoso Briceno | Chile | 2019

Recording the everyday was always a way of relating to the world. One night the rape happened and everything changed, although the search continued. When revisiting these images, a dialogue arises between light and darkness, while the strangeness remains before the world.

 

NORTH

Leslie Lagier | Canada | 2019
In Canada's Far North, some men live in the wilderness, isolated from the world. They chose

this region for its beauty. Yet, by mining, they play a part in destroying it.

 

PUBLIC TRUST

David Byars | USA | 2020

In a time of growing inequality, one asset remains in the hands of the people: 640 million acres of America’s Public Lands.  As the last large public asset on the planet, powerful forces are attempting the largest land grab in modern history to rob all Americans of their birthright.

 

PURPLE SEA

Amel Alzakout & Khaled Abdulwahed | Germany | 2020

I lie on my back, under the surface of the water. The sea is purple. I feel the warmth with every pore of my body. I’m not afraid anymore.

 

SHADY RIVER (RÍO TURBIO) 

Tatiana Mazú Gonzalez | Argentina | 2020

How to film what we are forbidden to experience? How to state what we cannot say? How to record the sound of what does not sound? What place do women occupy in a mining town?

 

SONGS OF REPRESSION

Estephan Wagner & Marianne Hougen-Moraga | Denmark, Netherlands | 2020

At the foot of the Andes Mountains in Chile lies an idyllic German colony called Villa Baviera. However, the beauty hides a grim past. 

 

THERE WILL BE NO MORE NIGHT

Eléonore Weber | France | 2020 

Entirely drawn from frontline helicopter footage of the American and the French armed forces, this film shows how far the desire to see can lead to.

 

THIS LAND, OUR VOICES

Julia Thompson & Kevin Bay | USA | 2020

This Land, Our Voices is an experimental documentary profiling five rural American outsiders. From the high plains of Montana to the Black Belt of Alabama, the film shapes an impression of the nation in microcosm.

 

THROUGH THE NIGHT

Loira Limbal | USA | 2020

Through the Night explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a child care provider - whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center.

 

TIME

Garrett Bradley | USA | 2020

In this intimate yet epic love story filmed over two decades, indomitable matriarch Fox Rich strives to raise her six sons and keep her family together as she fights for her husband’s release from the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola.

 

MAɬNI - TOWARDS THE OCEAN, TOWARDS THE SHORE

Sky Hopinka | USA | 2020

This film follows Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier's wanderings through each of their worlds as they wander through and contemplate the afterlife, rebirth, and the place in-between. 

 

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

Hannah Jayanti | USA | 2020 

Set in the small desert town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, the film takes place in the shadow of the world’s first commercial Spaceport. Subtly set in a near future when space travel has begun, the film follows five residents in the town.

 

TWO GODS

Zeshawn Ali | USA | 2020

Hanif is a Muslim casket maker and ritual body washer who takes two kids under his wing to teach them how to live better lives. 

 

THE VIEWING BOOTH

Ra'anan Alexandrowicz | Isreal | 2019 

The Viewing Booth recounts an encounter between a filmmaker and a viewer, exploring the way meaning is attributed to non-fiction images in today's day and age. 

 

VOICES FROM THE BARRENS: NATIVE PEOPLE, BLUEBERRIES, AND SOVEREIGNTY

Nancy Ghertner | USA, Canada | 2020

Wabanaki People from the USA and Canada are challenged to balance their traditional, hand-raked blueberry harvest with the economics of the world market. 

 

ZAPPA

Alex Winter | USA | 2020

Interviews and archival footage provide insight into the private life of singer-songwriter Frank Zappa.

 

2020 Camden International Film Festival Shorts 

3 LOGICAL EXITS (screens as part of the Mahdi Fleifel retrospective)

Mahdi Fleifel | Denmark, UK, Lebanon | 2020

 

A CROWD

Yeonu Ju | South Korea | 2020

 

A MAN RETURNED (screens as part of the Mahdi Fleifel retrospective)

Mahdi Fleifel| : UK, Denmark, Netherlands, Lebanon | 2016

 

ALLUMAH

Curtis Essel | Ghana | 2020

 

AVERAGE HAPPINESS

Maja Gehrig | Switzerland | 2019

 

CIVIL WAR SURVEILLANCE POEMS (PART 1) 

Mitch McCabe | USA | 2019

 

FIELD RESISTANCE

Emily Drummer | USA | 2019

 

FIGURE MINUS FACT

Mary Helena Clark | USA | 2020

 

GARDEN CITY BEAUTIFUL

Ben Balcom | USA | 2019

 

HALAPATE

Adam Piron & Adam Khalil | USA | 2020

 

HOW TO MAKE A RAINBOW

Ryan Maxey | USA | 2019

 

HUNTSVILLE STATION

Jamie Meltzer & Chris Filippone | USA | 2020

 

I RAN FROM IT AND WAS STILL IN IT

Darol Olu Kae | USA | 2020

 

I THINK IT’S ENOUGH ISN’T IT?

Emily Shir Segal | Israel | 2020

 

I’M FREE NOW, YOU ARE FREE

Ash Goh Hua | USA | 2020

 

MAN OF THE PEOPLE

Amir George | USA | 2020

 

OF MEMORY AND DEBRIS

Rodrigo Michelangeli | Venezuela, Canada | 2020

PATTAKI
Everlane Moraes | Cuba | 2019

PLAYBACK

Agustina Comedi | Argentina | 2019

RECEIVER
Jenny Brady | Ireland | 2019

SKY AELANS
Neil Nuia, Edward Manuga, Georgianna Lepping, Jeremy Gwao, Regina Lepping, Zahiyd Namo, Junior Patrick Makau, Manner Levo, Daniel Kakadi | Solomon Islands | 2020

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES
Riccardo Giacconi, Paolo Pennuti & Mirko Fabbri | Italy | 2020

SOUNDS OF SUMMER
Stephanie Wang-Breal | USA | 2020

T
Keisha Rae Witherspoon | USA | 2019

THE DAY THE SUN DIED
Tenzin Phuntsog | Crow Country, USA | 2019

THE EYES OF SUMMER (GIMHANAYE NETRA)
Rajee Samarasinghe | Sri Lanka, USA | 2020

THE LAKE AND THE LAKE
Sindhu Thirumalaisamy | India, USA | 2019

THE SEEKER
Lance Edmands | USA | 2020

USA V. SCOTT
Ora DeKornfeld & Isabel Castro | USA | 2020

UTUQAQ (ICE THAT LASTS YEAR AFTER YEAR)
Iva Radivojevic | USA | 2020

VILLA EMPAIN
Katharina Kastner | France, Belgium, Austria, Germany | 2019

XENOS (screens as part of the Mahdi Fleifel retrospective)
Mahdi Fleifel | Denmark, Greece, UK | 2013

About the Points North Institute: Established in 2016, the Points North Institute is the launching pad for the next generation of nonfiction storytellers. Building on the success of the Camden International Film Festival, the Points North Institute programs include a year-round calendar of artist development initiatives that nurture the careers of diverse nonfiction storytellers and help them develop a stronger artistic voice.

CIFF was founded in 2005 and is now recognized as one of the top documentary film festivals in the world. The 2020 Camden International Film Festival will take place October 1 - 12. Major support provided by SHOWTIME Documentary Films, the National Endowment for the Arts, Ford Foundation, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional support comes from Premier Sponsors CNN Films, A&E IndieFilms, ESPN, Netflix, Kickstarter, LEF Foundation and GBH/World Channel.

For more information visit http://pointsnorthinstitute.org/