Announcing the DocYard’s Spring 2020 Program

THE DOCYARD ANNOUNCES
SPRING 2020 SEASON AT THE BRATTLE THEATRE

The Spring Season begins
February 10 with Erick Stoll and Chase Whiteside’s América and concludes May 18 with Marnie Ellen Hertzler’s Crestone.

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The DocYard, Boston’s home for artful nonfiction
cinema, is proud to announce its Spring 2020 program of documentary films and
visiting filmmakers. The program runs from February 10 through May 18 with
all screenings taking place on Mondays at 7 PM at the Brattle Theatre,
the DocYard’s long-time partner venue in the heart of Harvard Square. Most screenings
are Boston-area premieres, and each will be followed by a filmmaker discussion.

The season starts on Monday, February 10 with América,
co-directed by Erick Stoll and Chase Whiteside. A deeply immersive and warm
observational film, América follows three brothers in Mexico as they
reunite to take care of their grandmother, América, and fight to release their
father from jail for elder negligence. 

The series continues to highlight nonfiction filmmaking that
challenges traditional notions of the form. My First Film, Zia Anger’s
critically-lauded live performance, will be performed in Boston for the first
time (February 24). My First Film upends tenets about the
gatekeeping apparatuses of independent film and the possibilities of failure,
brilliantly merging the personal and the political.

Additionally, two of this season’s films have yet to make their
world premieres and will be traveling to the DocYard as fresh offerings off the
US festival circuit. Some Kind of Heaven, a meticulously-constructed portrait
of four residents of the world’s largest retirement community, is showing at
the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in the innovative NEXT section and marks the
first feature from recent Harvard College graduate, Lance Oppenheim (March 2).
Marnie Ellen Hertzler’s infectious creativity abounds in her debut feature Crestone,
a doc-fiction hybrid tracing one summer with a group of idealistic SoundCloud
rappers. Crestone will begin its
festival run in February 2020 and closes the Spring DocYard season on Monday, May
18.

The DocYard will also be presenting new work by a filmmaker who
has previously screened at The DocYard, continuing our dialogue with alumni of
the series as they advance their visions. Alexander Nanau follows his earlier
film Toto and His Sisters (Fall ‘15) with Collective, a tour de
force investigation into medical fraud in his birth country of Romania after
the Colectiv nightclub fire. Nanau will travel to Boston via Berlin to
accompany Collective, which is already being touted as a masterpiece (April
6). 

The distinctive voices of two emerging filmmakers based outside of
the US complete the lineup of new nonfiction films. Now living and working in
the Philippines, Miko Revereza will present a cinema of resistance via his
train journey across the US in No Data Plan, screening as part of the
film’s US theatrical tour by indie Dorchester-based distributor
Sentient.Art.Film (March 23). FilmmakerArchana
Atul Phadke will Skype in from India for a post-screening discussion following About
Love, an uproariously humorous first-person account of her own family
recorded over three years (April 13).

The Spring 2020 New England Legacy screenings will be a double
feature of My Father, The Genius (2002) and One Cut, One Life (2014)
in an evening surveying Lucia Small’s body of work (May 4).  My
Father, The Genius, a fiercely personal reconsideration of biographical and
family documentaries, took home the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance. One Cut,
One Life features Small and pioneering documentarian Ed Pincus in their
final collaboration facing mortality and grief. A post-screening discussion
after One Cut, One Life will focus on Small’s long engagement with
Boston-area independent documentary as a boundary-pushing director, producer,
and editor.

The DocYard’s Spring 2020 season is programmed by Guest Curator
Abby Sun. The DocYard is a program of the LEF Foundation in partnership with
the Brattle Theatre. Other series sponsors include the Irving House at Harvard
and the Tyler Family Foundation.

Season passes are on sale now at an early bird rate of $75 through Sunday, February 2. Regular season passes at $85 for adults will be on sale beginning Monday, February 3. The student rate for DocYard season passes will remain at $65 throughout the season. Passes can be purchased online now at thedocyard.com. Individual tickets for each film at the Brattle Theatre are $12 ($10 for students and seniors) and can be purchased online at brattlefilm.org or on the night of each event at the Brattle Theatre box office.

The DocYard Spring 2020 Program
All screenings take place at the Brattle Theatre

América (Directed by Erick Stoll and Chase Whiteside, 2018, 76 minutes)
Monday, February 10 at 7pm Filmmakers Erick Stoll and Chase Whiteside attending in person for Q&A

Diego and his brothers reunite to take care of their aging grandmother, América, in a film that breathes new life into the observational genre.

My First Film (Directed by Zia Anger, 2018, 75 minutes)
Monday, February 24 at 7pm 
Filmmaker Zia Anger attending in person for Q&A 

Zia Anger’s brilliant live cinema performance upends tenets of desktop documentaries, the first-person perspective, and the business of independent filmmaking.

Some Kind of Heaven (Directed by Lance Oppenheim, 2020, 83 minutes)
Monday, March 2 at 7pm 
Filmmakers Lance Oppenheim and Daniel Garber attending in person for Q&A

Four residents of “The Villages,” the world’s largest retirement community, seek love and health amidst the shifting sands of Central Florida.

No Data Plan (Directed by Miko Revereza, 2019, 70 minutes)
Monday, March 23 at 7pm
Filmmaker Miko Revereza attending via Skype for Q&A

The American road movie is renewed in this essential essay film about documentation, precarity, family, and freedom of movement.

Collective (Directed by Alexander Nanau, 2019, 107 minutes)
Monday, April 6 at 7pm 
Filmmaker Alexander Nanau attending in person for Q&A

This masterpiece
features an explosive, uncompromising investigation into a medical
fraud scandal following the Colectiv nightclub fire in Bucharest.

About Love (Directed by Archana Atul Phadke, 2019, 90 minutes)
Monday, April 13 at 7pm 
Filmmaker Archana Atul Phadke attending via Skype for Q&A

A tender, humorous personal documentary about three generations of the filmmaker’s family living in one compound in Mumbai.

Monday, May 4, starting at 5pm 
A New England Legacy Screening and DOUBLE FEATURE
Filmmaker Lucia Small attending in person for Q&A following One Cut, One Life

5pm: My Father, The Genius (Directed
by Lucia Small, 2002, 82 minutes)

An anti-hagiographic and bravely personal
look at a visionary architect fading into obscurity, helmed by his filmmaker
daughter.

7pm: One Cut, One Life (Directed by Lucia Small and Ed Pincus, 2014, 105 minutes)

Personal documentarians Lucia Small and Ed Pincus’ final collaboration traces Pincus’ terminal illness and the value of an artistic life.

Crestone (Directed by Marnie Ellen Hertzler, 2020, 76 minutes)
Monday, May 18 at 7pm 
Filmmaker Marnie Ellen Hertzler attending in person for Q&A

A ragtag group of
idealistic Soundcloud rappers attempt to create a sanctuary for free expression
in the Colorado desert, set to an Animal Collective soundtrack.