DOC NYC Short Lists Include Musk Doc and Gaza Films — SkimNews
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- DOC NYC announced its annual short lists Wednesday; the festival runs in-person November 11-19 at IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika in New York and continues online through November 29.
- Short List: Features selections include Ava DuVernay's 14th (about the 14th Amendment), Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's You Can See Everything (about Elizabeth Holmes), and Alex Gibney's Musk, profiling Elon Musk.
- Two Gaza-focused films made the features short list: American Doctor (following U.S. physicians at a Gaza hospital treating mass-casualty victims from the Israeli war campaign) and NAZA (anonymous IDF members reflecting on civilian casualties and the meaning of genocide).
- The Winner's Circle section features the NYC premiere of Rehearsals for a Revolution (winner of Cannes' L'Œil d'Or for Best Documentary and the UK's submission for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars) and Closure, which took the Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival.
- Alex Gibney will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Stephen Maing (co-director of The Great Experiment) will receive the Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence at this year's DOC NYC Visionaries Tribute.
- Short List: Shorts is now in its ninth year, overseen by Artistic Director Jaie Laplante, Director of Special Projects Thom Powers, and consultant Samah Ali; the 2025 showcase included All The Empty Rooms, which went on to win the Oscar.
Why it matters: DOC NYC's short lists reliably forecast which documentaries gain traction with Oscar voters, and this year's lineup features politically charged titles — two Gaza docs and Gibney's Musk profile — alongside the festival's annual Visionaries Tribute honors, which elevate filmmakers' visibility during the most competitive stretch of awards season.
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