In 10 short years, SFFILM’s Doc Stories has established itself as one of the premiere documentary festivals in North America, perfectly timed on the calendar to showcase work with Oscar ambitions.
This year, its lineup included The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, from director Benjamin Ree, Robinson Devor’s Suburban Fury, Kevin Macdonald’s One to One: John & Yoko, Raoul Peck’s Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, and No Other Land, the Berlin Film Festival award winner directed by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers.
Doc Stories also featured special events including – we are proud to say – a taping of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary awards editor. We gathered at SFFILM offices for a conversation with Anne Lai, executive director of SFFILM, and the organization’s Director of Programming, Jessie Fairbanks, discussing the state of the documentary film industry as well as SFFILM and Doc Stories’ role supporting the field and the careers of established and emerging filmmakers.
San Francisco and the Bay Area has long been a hub of filmmaking, as early as the days of Charlie Chaplin. What has been underappreciated is the area’s status as a magnet for nonfiction filmmaking talent and production – witness BAVC Media (formerly known as the Bay Area Video Coalition), ITVS, and major film programs at Stanford and Cal Berkeley.
On the pod, we also speak with a product of SFFILM’s education programs, young filmmaker Jonah Mosshammer and fellow filmmaker Brennan McGee, directors of the short film Arepas en Bici, which premiered at Doc Stories. What is an arepa, you may ask? If you are Venezuelan you know already, but in the new episode of Doc Talk we explore the savory dish, and the sumptuous film from Mosshammer and McGee.
That’s on Doc Talk, live from San Francisco and Doc Stories. The pod, a 2024 Webby Awards honoree, is a production of Deadline and Nō Studios, Ridley’s production company. Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.
