July 19th, 2022 - The 2022 edition of Doc.Boston took place this past weekend. The annual documentary film festival features work from around the world by up and coming artists, showcasing innovative independent cinema that invites viewers to learn and ponder.
“This year, we wanted a more intimate setting of the Doc-Boston film festival and decided to organize our event in the MICROCINEMA at the Somerville Theater,” says festival manager and host Maarten Cornelis. “The event was a complete success! We even had a few sold out screenings. Our audience was super excited about the 2022 selection and loved all the free drinks and popcorn we provided for everyone that attended. Congratulations to all the amazing filmmakers!” The program included eighteen short documentary films hailing from the U.S, the U.K., Sweden, Iran, Belarus, Canada, Italy, and France. Jury members having cast their votes, Doc.Boston is happy to share with you today the award winners for the 2022 edition: Best Feature Documentary Film: Experimental Curator: The Sally Dixon Story (USA) by Brigid Maher. “A biographic documentary that delves into the life of experimental film curator Sally Dixon, a little-known pioneer in the male-dominated art world.” Best Short Documentary Film: The Storyless Land (Iran) by Mitra Roohimanesh. “The Storyless Land is about a faraway, ancient deprived village with no facilities, not even electricity, clinics, schools, bathrooms. Where most of the people are blind, mentally retarded or disabled and Golmah, their omniscient, who is an old 98 years woman, is involved with their birth, marriage and death… But despite all suffering, they love their land and soil and fight to stay and live in their ancestors' village.” Best US Documentary Film: Failure to Protect (USA) by Jeremy Pion-Berlin. “Failed by a system that unfairly tears apart low income, marginalized families, five parents - Anna, Rheta, Trish, Ernst and Rosa - fight to reunify with their children. But what does it take to get your children back after they’ve been taken by the Child Protective Services? Failure to Protect is an in-depth look at the child welfare system through the forgotten lens of parents, further contextualized by experts in the field to unpack a pressing socioeconomic issue that affects hundreds of thousands of families everyday.” Best New England Documentary Film: A sentence that ends in a word that starts a new one (USA) by Letao Chen. “A digital triptych documentary mourning my grandmother’s death through language, chess, and ants on the bathroom wall, this film is a desperate attempt to articulate loving and mourning in a language I cannot speak (well enough).” Best Experimental Documentary Film: RE-MEMBERING: Meditation on a Triptych (Sweden) by Amra Heco. “A chance encounter with discovered video footage from 1983 of the Bosnian town Tesanj triggers unexpected emotions as the filmmaker recognizes her grandfather who died in the 90's during the war. This opens old wounds, but also creates an opportunities for healing. The film is a meditation that brings into question dominating visual narratives through the eyes of three characters whose destinies and fates merge in unexpected ways through the thin veil of digital celluloid.” Best Extremely Short Documentary Film: Unknown Hand (U.K.) by Saul Pankhurst. “An individual reflects on the inevitability of change, how we know ourselves and how we wish to be known. This film discusses the impact of degenerative illness on one's sense of Identity and Authenticity, asserting an individual's right to approach a major change in their health in a way that remains true to them.” Congratulations! A new Call for Entries has been launched on FilmFreeway, submit your film now: https://filmfreeway.com/DocBostonDocumentaryFilmFestival. See you next year. About Doc.Boston Doc.Boston is part of Doc.World, a global network of Documentary Film Festivals, with festivals in Sydney, Berlin, London, Ghent, and Boston. As a celebration of the cinematic and visual arts, these documentary festivals bring diverse international films to our community and showcase the best regional and international filmmakers.