The documentary world has been rocked by news of Participant shutting down, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival ending after a 35-year run, and the possibility this may be the final year for the Hot Docs festival in Toronto. But there is one bright spot on the firmament: the debut of a new festival in Los Angeles dedicated to nonfiction cinema.
The American Cinematheque’s inaugural This Is Not a Fiction festival began April 10 and runs through this Thursday, presenting a program of 44 feature docs and 11 shorts.
“We dreamed this up pretty much a year ago, almost to the day last April, knowing the 40th anniversary of the American Cinematheque was coming,” says Chris LeMaire, senior programmer at the AC. “Our approach to it was just to try to go as big as possible and try to bring as many of the great figures of this amazing art form together as we could. It was really kind of amazing to get such a good response from the filmmakers that were interested, that acknowledged this type of thing doesn’t exist at this scale in L.A.”
L-R Filmmakers Steve James, Barbara Kopple and Joe Berlinger
Jared Cowan for American Cinematheque at Egyptian Theatre
Among the major figures participating in the festival’s first year are Morgan Neville, screening his new Steve! (Martin) documentary; Barbara Kopple, screening Harlan County, USA and American Dream; Joe Berlinger screening Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Brother’s Keeper, both co-directed by the late Bruce Sinofsky; Kirsten Johnson with Cameraperson; Terry Zwigoff with Crumb, Bill Morrison with Dawson City: Frozen Time, Incident, and Decasia; Brett Morgen with Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck; Sandi Tan with her feature Shirkers and short Gourmet Baby; Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss with Girls State. Steve James came for an event commemorating the 15th anniversary of ESPN’s acclaimed documentary series 30 For 30 (he has directed a couple of documentaries for the ESPN show, including No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson and The Luckiest Guy in the World, about Bill Walton).
‘Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story’
Hulu
The festival also showcased the L.A. premiere of Power, Yance Ford’s new Netflix documentary, as well as the filmmaker’s Oscar-nominated Strong Island; Jon Bon Jovi attended the festival’s opening night screening of Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, along with director Gotham Chopra. Wednesday night will see a screening of Tongues Untied, the 1989 classic directed by Marlon T. Riggs.
‘Waiting for Guffman’
Sony Pictures Classics/Castle Rock Entertainment
On Wednesday night, director Christopher Guest will participate in a Q&A after a screening of his beloved mockumentary Waiting for Guffman, moderated by actor Eugene Levy, who starred in the comedy and co-wrote it with Guest. Another landmark of comedy, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, directed by Jeff Margolis, screened on Sunday, marking the concert film’s 45th anniversary.
“The inaugural festival includes a dynamic lineup of repertory classics, cutting-edge documentaries, television programs, experimental works, essay films, fiction and more,” notes the American Cinematheque. “This Is Not a Fiction goes beyond the limits of genre, with a lineup reflecting the boundless possibilities of non-fiction storytelling, and is a celebration of non-fiction as a form of filmmaking and its profound impact on our lives, from its influence in art and entertainment to its power in education, political advocacy and social discourse.”
The program for This Is Not a Fiction has been designed to exhibit new work, as well as cinematic standards from as far back as the 1960s, including Frederick Wiseman’s Titticut Follies and Albert and David Maysles’ Salesman.
The Los Feliz Theater in Los Angeles, one of the venues for This Is Not a Fiction.
Matthew Carey
“Our starting place with the festival was actually from the repertory side — to build the history of nonfiction,” LeMaire explains. “Cinema was born out of the idea of documenting reality. So, before we even told any studios or any independent producers about this festival, we wanted to have a solid foundation of repertory, basically, and show that scope and history and what nonfiction could be. Once we had that laid out, that’s when we were trying to find ways to bring new films in, in conversation with them, and find ways to combine it all.”
Also countering some of the bleak headlines about nonfiction cinema recently, the Full Frame documentary festival in Durham, NC came back earlier this month, after being dark since the pandemic. And now L.A. has a major new documentary festival.
And if you’re wondering about whether This Is Not a Fiction will return in 2025, the answer is yes. LeMaire says, “The idea for future years is for it to get even bigger.”