Established in 2010 DOC NYC had become by 2014 the largest documentary festival in the United States and is considered by Movie Maker  as one of the top five documentary film festivals in the world, and by the Wall Street Journal  as “One of the city’s grandest  cinematic events”. DOC NYC was presented from November 12-19 in three Manhattan locations with over 200 films of which 107 were feature length productions. The program included 27 world and 15 U.S. premieres. The festival continues to expand, adding this year 50 more films. Though some observers question the rapid growth, virtually all of the 2015 screenings were sold out and many of the top documentary film makers showed up.  Continuing its 2013 and 2014 track record, numerous 2015 DOC NYC titles are contenders for the Oscar documentary awards. The mission of the fest covers education and audience growth, networking, expansion of distribution, a stronger social component, ’create social space’, and ‘make the most of New York City’. Mission building involved several day long conferences, an outstanding selection of films, galas, special events and visionary tributes to Jon Alpert, Barbara Kopple, Frederick Wiseman, Kim Longinotto, and Tom Quinn. The conferences covered first-time filmmakers, pitching productions, masterclasses, funding, and reaching the audience to name but a few. The interests of the audience were certainly met by the careful selection of films and topical seminars and conferences.

The Anthropologist, Daniel A. Miller / Jeremy Newberger, USA, 2015     Depicting the insights of two prominent anthropologists, Margaret Meade and Susie Crate, and the work of their daughters who focus on climate change, the documentary provides through its case studies investigated by Mary Catherine Bateson, and Susie Crate, a rather depressing view of our condition and ability of adapting to the rapid ecological changes faced. Certainly, anthropological knowledge is an important repository, and salvaging of cultural systems and human reactions to disruptions, yet global warming has consequences beyond our control to which Miller and Newberger’s documentary offers a superb introduction. Warming of US coastal waters has resulted in declining fishing catches. In remote Siberian regions the permafrost under the land is thawing leading to a flooding of agricultural lands and forests depriving the rural population of their livelihood. Rising sea levels threaten the very existence of low level island nations, destroying agriculture through sea water, and settlements through storms. The only adaptive option available is resettlement of the inhabitants to other countries. In the Peruvian highlands, and other regions, ice caps of the mountain areas melting has led to severe water shortages. Due to atmospheric warming,  crops in Peru must be planted at a higher altitude resulting in a reduction of plant diversity and lower yields. An effective adaptive response is not in sight. What is troublesome in these well documented field studies as supported by empirical data and extensive interviews is the impotence of the people who are impacted. Anthropological concern about climate change is certainly supported by scientific estimates of a possible rise of sea levels by about 20 feet in this century if Greenland’s ice sheet and polar icecaps continue to melt and global warming is not constrained.

Thank You For Your Service, Tom Donahue, USA, 2015   Superbly filmed, the documentary revisits in the American Perspectives section of the fest, focusing on the unresolved fundamental mental health problem soldiers are facing returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder. More than half of the soldiers receiving VA treatment suffer from PTSD as intensified by the non-linear untraditional combat they experienced and aggravated if they had several tours of duty. These soldiers have severe problems readapting to their private lives and assuming their old identities, as evidenced by higher family break ups, criminal offence rates, and suicides. As in the case of the Vietnam War, where 54.000 soldiers died in combat but 150,000 killed themselves after the war, a similar scenario is arising now. Twenty two veterans commit suicide each day. Being haunted by the guilt of having survived, of having killed civilians, and suffering from various forms of PTSD they experience an inner void and difficulty reconnecting with civilian life. Through interviews with several veterans and senior department of defense officials and officers, as well as empirical data, the documentary provides persuasive evidence that PTSD treatment has not been a priority for the military and that no significant steps have been taken to date to provide mental health and behavior services to PTSD victims. As depicted in the documentary’s call for action, there are some privately run effective treatment models such as the Save a Warrior program, and successful steps have been taken by some veterans to get closure. But in spite of universal agreement of the severity of the PTSD problem and its devastating impact, no major initiatives have been taken by the Department of Defense to remedy it. Rather, there is a massive policy failure. Amazingly, this isn’t a new problem, during World War II Roosevelt ordered the establishment of remedial programs for affected soldiers to attend before being released from the armed force. 

Newman, Jon Fox, USA, 2015   Joseph Newman invented in 1978 a perpetual motion machine that generated more energy than it consumed, apparently overturning century old laws of physics and contradicting the majority of opinions of the scientific communities. His evidence based invention created a revolutionary magnetic motor which could have terminated the dependence on carbon generated energy. The Newman machine and its support by close to 50 scientists, public presentation of the unit, congressional hearings, and law suits generated massive media attention. Thus Jon Fox was able to reconstruct the history of the Newman machine as supplemented by interviews with scientists who worked with and supported Newman. His documentary covers 37 years and ends with filming a lengthy disputation between Newman and a potential investor shorty before Newman’s death in 2015 after he had destroyed in his remaining days the only remaining perpetual motion machine. Fox covers the life of an individual who fought for his invention and sacrificed his marriage and fortune in that obsessive pursuit He demonstrates how a genius inventor is slowly driven into embittered isolation and is no longer able to communicate rationally. The film also shows that thinking and acting outside the conventional mental box can have punishing results.

A Journey Of A Thousand Miles: Peace Keepers, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Greeta Gandbhir, USA/Pakistan, 2014    This somehow puzzling documentary records the peacekeeping mission of 150 Bangladeshi women who spent one year on a mission in Haiti assisting the local authorities in crowd control, public safety and police work. After some para-military training they embark on their assignment to a country without knowledge of the local language, its culture or customs. As mostly Muslim women from traditional backgrounds their assignment was, with some exceptions, not fully supported by their families. Not all are treated with a warm welcome after their return. In Haiti’s shaky environment their only safe place is the barracks they live in, but even the competence of the Bangladeshi group is questioned by a male training officer. The population encounters them with suspicion and resentment because UN peace keepers from Nepal had brought Cholera to Haiti with devastating consequences, a situation the women were not prepared for. They were also struck by the poverty and violence prevalent in Haiti, conditions they knew only from Bangladesh.  On a more positive note, the emancipatory actions and courage of Muslim women getting engaged in police work and travelling abroad demonstrated that the patriarchal culture they are born into has its limits. The filmmakers provide a rounded picture. By focusing on several women of the group the audience gets a grasp on their home life and of the family conflicts of the mission, recording reactions before and after their mission to Haiti.

I Am Sun Mu, Adam Sjoeberg, 2015, USA    Sun Mu or ‘no boundaries’, is the pseudonym of an established Korean artist who escaped famine by defecting from North Korea in 1998. He wants to remain unknown and refuses to be photographed. He remains faceless because he fears for the life of his parents and South Korean family. Sjoeberg’s documentary covers his life and work on an exhibition scheduled for Beijing. The film maker creates a fabulous production which is superbly edited. He shares outstanding visual imagery of the work Sun Mu is creating and innovative animation underlies most of the commentary. Sun Mu worked in North Korea as a gifted propaganda artist for several years, creating posters and paintings for the regime. After arriving in South Korea in 2001 he transformed the imagery and style of North Korean poster propaganda and mass manifestations into a unique visual style that has been called political pop art by observers. It also could be characterized as a purified version of subverted socialist realism focusing on individuals and events rather than glorifying work and collectives.  His mastery of color is impressive. Much of his art work is satirical and the idealized pictures of children and North Korean leaders are surreal or too good to be true. His paintings frequently offer commentaries on political events. We accompany Sun Mu as he prepares his Beijing art show and hides his identity when going to China. After the exhibitions opens it is closed immediately by the Chinese police and he narrowly escapes from being arrested. His art work for the show, a commentary on North Korean society, is still locked up in Beijing.

Class Divide, Marc Levin, USA 2014   Two worlds face each other, mostly minority children living in the Chelsea-Elliott public housing project and primarily white students attending the Avenues: World School across 10th Avenue at the West 26^th street intersection.  Average annual family income in the housing project is about $20,000. A high proportion of the residents are unemployed and survive on welfare, including many without working papers. Across the street parents pay about $50,000.00 per student in annual tuition for the Avenues World School. Their large luxurious apartments and homes provide a stark contrast to the overcrowded flats in the housing project. Interviewing students from that school and the project, Levin detects communalities and the tremendous socio-economic class gap separating both groups. There is an obvious concern with money and education and a shared anxiety. The low-income minority students are afraid of losing their safety net and not getting jobs after leaving school. The high income white students are anxious about not meeting their parents’ expectations and not matching their success.  Both groups cannot cross the class divide, and to date there not a single scholarship student at the World School has come from the housing project.  The class segregation of the school system is pushed to the extreme here, though one must note that New York City is notorious for the segregation, only 20% of its schools and just 24% of the white students are exposed to low income students. Social class is the determining factor driving the gentrification of most New York City neighborhoods and eradicating economic diversity. Over the last decade rents have risen steeply and much low income housing has disappeared. Though Marc Levin did not intend to produce a political film, the message about growing disparity has clear political overtones. The public educational system is underfunded, whereas the private system can use the most advanced educational technologies and hire the best teachers. The Avenues World School is funded by private investors from equity firms expecting a return of at least 10%.  The school is marketed as an alternative to the top rated private schools such as Horace Mann, Dalton, and Brierley which have  admission rates  below that of Harvard.  If their children are not admitted to these schools, the Avenues World School becomes instantly appealing for affluent upscale white parents. Nevertheless, when opened, only 25 of the 350 applicants for a kindergarten slot could be accommodated. It is noteworthy that the SAT scores of World School students are below those from the top private schools.

Motley’s Law, Nicole Horanyi, Denmark, 2015  The Grand Jury Prize winner of the  2015 the DOC NYC festival, this documentary provides a unique insight into the seven year law practice of the  Afro-American Kimberly Motley in Afghanistan as a defense attorney. As the only female Western lawyer accredited at Afghani Courts, Motley represents U.S and Western expats who are caught in that country’s system of justice, but also takes on pro-bono cases of imprisoned Afghan women entangled in an apparently archaic traditional legal system. Practicing under life threatening circumstances and growing political instabilities in Kabul Motley left her husband and children in the United States, only seeing them periodically. She started her work in Kabul motivated by income but developed a commitment for human rights which are disregarded by the local legal system and neglected by the international community. Motley’s Law offers perceptive insights into a disorganized and inefficient Afghani justice system and depicts prevailing corruption and the threats Motley experiences. Her work seems to be ending there because the withdrawal of foreign troops from that country has generated more threats and chaos.

There is no question that this year’s edition of DOC NYC provided a comprehensive overview of the problems faced by contemporary societies and of the domestic and international issues we are confronted with. There does not seem to be much room for optimism.

Claus Mueller

filmexchange@gmail.com