Indigenous Amazon artist opens DOC NYC as documentary film festival returns for its 17th year; check the year’s lineup

Festival dates and featured films

DOC NYC brings screenings to New York City and online for its 17th edition. Manhattan showings run from Wednesday through Nov. 19, and online screenings continue until Nov. 29.

Opening night features the American premiere of “The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs,” about an Indigenous artist in the Peruvian Amazon using art to support her people and their land. The film received best international documentary at the São Paulo International Film Festival. The closing feature, “Totality,” follows 21 film crews across the United States documenting public responses to the 2024 solar eclipse.

History, environment and science

“Whiddy” traces the impact of a Gulf Oil supertanker terminal on a small Irish island. The film uses archival footage and interviews to recount oil spills and a 1979 tanker explosion that killed 50 people.

In “Time and Water,” Icelandic poet Andri Snær Magnason combines archival footage and photographs to reflect on melting glaciers and their meaning for his family. “Understory” explores plant intelligence through macro imagery, animation and time-lapse photography, while “Materia Prima” examines outside developers’ interest in Bolivia’s lithium reserves.

“The New Extinction” looks at commercial fossil hunting and wealthy buyers in the dinosaur fossil trade. “The Sickling” follows a man pursuing experimental stem cell treatment for sickle cell disease, and “Under Fire” features an Idaho fire captain receiving experimental ketamine therapy for PTSD.

Music, art and performance

“...And Damn, He Could Play: The Marcus Belgrave Story” celebrates the jazz trumpeter, who played for more than six decades and mentored young musicians. “Let It Be, Let It Bleed: The Unlikely Rock n’ Roll Journey of Ethan Russell” follows the photographer’s access to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and other stars.

“Make Work” follows choreographers at the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute. In “Illuminations,” experimental filmmakers Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler discuss their hands-on filmmaking methods. “Figaro Up, Figaro Down” follows singer Tim Blevins as he draws on his talent while living on the streets after addiction disrupted his opera career. “Acting Like Women” looks at feminist artists challenging the art world in 1970s and ’80s Los Angeles.

Resistance, memory and social issues

“Zenón and the Rebel Boats” tells of Puerto Ricans in small fishing boats resisting the U.S. Navy’s occupation of Vieques. “Jane Elliott Against The World” follows the Iowa teacher whose “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise addressed racism after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968; the lesson brought backlash and strengthened her resolve.

“MySpace” revisits the social media platform’s early years, including a period when it drew more internet traffic than Google’s home page. “An Eye For an Eye” examines an Iranian legal case involving a woman convicted of killing her abusive husband and a blood money payment that could help her avoid execution.

The festival also includes “You Can See Everything,” “Once Upon a Time in Harlem,” “NAZA,” “Musk,” “American Doctor,” “Everybody to Kenmure Street,” “Nuisance Bear” and “One In a Million,” identified as notable nonfiction releases of 2026. Another film examines three people who face retaliation after breaking nondisclosure agreements intended to silence them; the account does not provide its title or finish describing the subject.