Andreia and Leidiane lie in bed in a home in Juliana Antune’s Baronesa (2018).
Entering its eighth year, the Open City Documentary Festival returns to London this September to celebrate the art of nonfiction through films, audio and immersive (VR/AR) projects, screenings, special events, panels, workshops and masterclasses and more in a variety of venues across central London.
A key aim of the festival is to challenge and expand the idea of documentary in all its forms while providing a platform for emerging talent as well as established masters working within the documentary form.
Highlights include the following:
The UK premiere of Baronesa (2017, Brazil, 71’), directed by Juliana Antunes and in partnership with MUBI, about the reality of daily life in the favelas of Belo Horizonte, Brazil;
The UK premiere of The Swing (2018, Lebanon, 74’) directed by Cyril Aris, about the lies a family tells to keep their patriarch happy and the unattended costs of those falsehoods;
Retrospectives of documentarian Penny Lane and Japanese pioneer of “action documentary” Kazuo Hara, with both filmmakers attending the festival to present their work;
And an Industry Bootcamp for students and recent graduates offering career advice.
There is plenty more on top of that.
Open City Documentary Festival runs from 4 to 8 September. Your best bet to find out about listings, dates, prices etc is to go to opencitylondon.com.
