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Sergei Loznitsa's Maidan (2014) / courtesy of Cinema Guild

New Adventures in Nonfiction

Ongoing

For several years now, the most consistently adventurous, unpredictable, intelligent, and dynamic films have been works of nonfiction. While never a simple, stodgy, info-based category of film—regardless of what some have claimed or assumed—today’s nonfiction filmmakers are newly committed to inventing new genres and modes, and to expanding, exploding, refining, and interrogating them as they happen. These are days of artistic masterpieces, crises de coeur, impeccably crafted yarns, and purposefully irreconcilable experiments all working within the deceptively nondescript “documentary” catchall. This ongoing series will showcase some of the most exciting and challenging works of recent nonfiction.

Organized by Curator of Film Eric Hynes

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Past Films in Series

A man in a purple suit and hat leans out of a window

Nofinofy
A woman in bandana and sunglasses sits on a curb outside a building looking at her phone and smoking a cigarette

Bad Press
A mother lies with her new baby on her chest, as the woman looks down at her baby and smiles

Our Body
Two women sit near an oil derrick outside, looking up and smoking, at night

Dry Ground Burning
A doctor in silhouette points at a chart of purple organisms

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

Director in Person
A young man sits over a sewing machine in a drab clothing factory

Youth (Spring)
A closeup of a man inspecting a diamond with tweezers in front of a magnifying glass

Nothing Lasts Forever

Director in Person
A child sits in the backseat of a car, gripping the headrests of the front seats.

In the Rearview
A woman lies on a bed during the daytime with her eyes closed and smiling

A Still Small Voice
Two men smile and sit on the floor, relaxing

Against the Tide
A woman lies on the floor with her hands behind her head, looking up and smiling, her cell phone behind her head.

Apolonia, Apolonia
In a green backyard, three generations of women, one in the foreground standing to the side, one in the middle picking fruit from a tree on a ladder, and another sitting in the background by a walker

Joonam
A woman adjusts her bra in a mirror

Kokomo City + Alpha Kings
A woman adjusts her bra in a mirror

Kokomo City
A Black girl in a red jacket and a white girl in a blue jacket together walk against the backdrop of mountains

King Coal
A serious looking man in a stocking cap walks before building rubble

Mariupolis 2
A woman faces away from the camera in a room set for a celebration while a man in a soldier's uniform raises his arm

Mariupolis
A serious looking man in a stocking cap walks before building rubble

Mariupolis 2
A woman faces away from the camera in a room set for a celebration while a man in a soldier's uniform raises his arm

Mariupolis
A young blond boy's face in closeup looking at camera

Users
A man in glasses holds a microphone stand in a sound-proofed room all drenched in green light

32 Sounds
A man in glasses holds a microphone stand in a sound-proofed room all drenched in green light

32 Sounds
A man in glasses holds a microphone stand in a sound-proofed room all drenched in green light

32 Sounds
A young girl stands in a misty field and laughs joyously, with two younger boys in the background

Children of the Mist
An image of a gigantic trash heap, as big as the green mountain next to it

Matter Out of Place
Two women sit on a flowered couch against a lime green wall

Art Talent Show

Encore Screening
An elderly woman in a rural, green area stands by the roadside holding a cluster of colorful balloons

Three Women

Encore Screening
A low-grade video image of a woman in a wedding dress and flowers in her hair, her profile reflected prismatically across the screen

The Taste of Mango

Encore Screening
Two women sit on a flowered couch against a lime green wall

Art Talent Show

Encore Screening
An elderly woman in a rural, green area stands by the roadside holding a cluster of colorful balloons

Three Women

Encore Screening
A low-grade video image of a woman in a wedding dress and flowers in her hair, her profile reflected prismatically across the screen

The Taste of Mango

Encore Screening
An image of a man with his hands over his ears with images of clouds reflected on his head facing an identical man facing him

Miguel’s War
A man stands, back to camera, in front of an expansive green forest.

After Sherman
A reflection in a doorway of a man in a wheelchair, set against a red and yellow circus tent

I Didn’t See You There

Bulletproof

Searchers
An image of a woman in a sari and veil, with hands surrounding her veil as she looks down

A Night of Knowing Nothing
An image of a woman in a sari and veil, with hands surrounding her veil as she looks down

A Night of Knowing Nothing

Acts of Love

President

Democrats

Day after…
a sea of faces all turned toward the camera at Maidan in Kyiv

Maidan
A sun sets on the yellow horizon across an expanse of sea.

Terra Femme
A man stands A man stands in front of a concrete building in front of a sign that says "to take courageous steps for freedom today"

The American Sector

Faya Dayi
A factory worker holds the head of a plastic mannequin, which is directly facing the camera.

Ascension
A woman, her back to the camera, stares out at an Icelandic frozen landscape.

The Seer and the Unseen
A man holds a mushroom up to his nose while crouching in the woods.

The Last Season
A man in silhouetted walks past the stars of a huge American flag

North by Current
A crowd of face-masked people in China look towards the camera, many holding flowers and wearing red.

In the Same Breath