Top 10 Documentaries Coming Out in 2021
We’ve spent 2020 covering the world’s greatest documentary festivals, from Cinéma du Réel and Sheffield Doc/Fest to Locarno Film Festival and Doc Lisboa. It’s been a difficult year that has seen them all adapt to the circumstances in ambitious, innovative and ingenious ways.
As we approach the end of the year, the world turns to Amsterdam for the industry’s most anticipated event, IDFA, which had its online opening ceremony last week.
The programming team at IDFA have curated a stunning and expansive selection that not only introduces some brilliant new films, but also gathers some of our favourites from the year’s festival circuit under one roof.
So, we’ve put together a list of 10 hot tips due for release next year.
Almost all of them will be showing at IDFA in the coming week and made available online to anyone in the Netherlands.
Acasă, My Home by Radu Ciorniciuc
Dutch Premiere
For nearly 20 years, the Enache family has been living off-grid among the lakes and tall grass of the abandoned delta just a stone’s throw from the urban sprawl of Bucharest. Patriarch Gica long-ago chose to reject conventional living, instead settling with his wife and nine children in a makeshift hut, surviving off the fish that eldest Vali laboriously sells door-to-door in the city.
But, when the area is reclaimed for the establishment of a new urban park, inviting an incongruous cameo appearance from Prince Charles, director Radu Ciorniciuc tracks the family’s reluctant and arduous return to civilisation.
Ciorniciuc, also an investigative journalist, makes a faultless commitment to objectivity, revealing a complex narrative void of false optimism that questions the the norms of modern society and sensitively picks apart the growing splits within the family.
Acasă, My Home has been a regular appearance in major festivals this year, picking up Best Cinematography Documentary at Sundance and the Special Jury Award at Thessaloniki.
Acasă, My Home is part of the Best of Fests, Autlook Filmsales, The Road To Salvation, VPRO Extras and Omroep Zwart Guide to IDFA programs and will be screening online on 28 November at 19:00 CET.
Acasă, My Home will receive its official online release on 15 January 2020.
Jungle by Louise Mootz
Dutch Premiere
Louise Mootz’ electric debut film is everything we love in a documentary… immersive, surprising, real and raw. “Jungle” paints the intimate portrait of a tight knit group of Parisian women in their twenties as they wholeheartedly barrel through their colourful lives.
Open-minded, outspoken, liberated and full of life, theirs is a distinctly modern and urban outlook shared through intimate love confessions to camera, conversations at late night afterparties in smoke-filled apartments and exclaimed during mischievous street-lit escapades.
Loud, unruly and unfolding across Paris’ northern arrondissements, “Jungle” is a refreshing antidote to Parisian clichés and the exhilarating dose of reckless joie de vivre that 2020 has left us all craving.
Jungle was awarded Best Medium-Length International Documentary at Visions du Réel this year.
Jungle is part of the Best of Fests, Life in Europe, How She Looks, VPRO Extras, The New Originals Guide to IDFA and Last Minute Tips programs and will be screening online on 27 November at 20:00 CET.
No official release date has been set.
Stray by Elizabeth Lo
Dutch Premiere
As they search for food and shelter on the streets of Istanbul, three stray dogs—Zeytin, Nazar, and Kartal—embark on inconspicuous journeys through Turkish society, revealing a unique, untreated perspective of human life and society.
Whether they lead us into decrepit ruins or bustling streets, their gaze pauses on the overlooked corners of society: women in loveless marriages, protesters without arms, refugees without sanctuary. Through their canine eyes, we are shown a human world ruptured by divisions along class, ethnic, and gender lines.
”Stray” is also a love letter to man’s best friend, making him the centre of a world in which he is too often neglected. Nonetheless, Lo artfully captures the moments of touching affection and kindness that define our age-old bond with dogs.
Stray was awarded Best International Documentary at Hot Docs this year.
Stray is part of the Best of Fests and Dogwoof programs and will be screening online on 1 December at 19:00 CET .
Stray will receive its official online release on 5 March 2020.
The Kiosk by Alexandra Pianelli
When she is called upon to help out the family business, director Alexandra Pianelli decides to film a diary cum industry exposé from her mother’s kiosk in the wealthy16th arrondissement of Paris. For almost a century, generations of her family members have stood in the same two-by-one metre space, flogging newspapers, magazines and postcards to the daily humdrum of headlines, the clink of the cash register and the conversations of their punters.
However, she returns to the kiosk at a difficult time for the industry as strikes, the dominance of online news and greedy corporatism draw the family ever closer to the edge.
Teeming with charm, laden with funny moments but with an exceptional sensitivity to the little world around it, “The Kiosk” is an endearing and highly entertaining film that will surprise you with its depth of emotion.
The Kiosk is not being screened at IDFA this year, but is featured in their Docs For Sale catalogue.
The Kiosk also featured in our Doc Lisboa Top 10.
No official release date has been set.
‘Til Kingdom Come by Maya Zinshtein
Dutch Premiere
In America, the growing millions of Christian Evangelicals are praying for the State of Israel, and some of the country’s most impoverished states are sending millions of dollars in contributions too. They believe that the second coming is nigh, that there will be an armageddon in Jerusalem and, of course, that Donald Trump is sent by God.
Jokes aside, Maya Zinshtein’s film reveals the stunning rise of evangelicals from the pulpits of the deep south to the inner circle of global governance, culminating in Trump’s controversial decision to shift the US embassy to Jerusalem in what they believe is a prophetic sign from god that has been decades in the making.
The result is an unnerving convergence of conspiracy theories, spiritual opportunism and dystopian ideology at the highest levels of power that paints a worrying picture of the future.
‘Til Kingdom Come is part of the Best of Fests, IDFA Hits, The Americans, The Road To Salvation, The Backstage of Politics and VPRO Extras programs and will be screening online on 29 November at 21:00 CET and on 4 December at 22:00 CET.
No official release date has been set.
The Grocer’s Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World... by Claire Simon
World Premiere
Renowned director Claire Simon turns her camera on the provincial French village of Lussas to produce the ultimate non-fiction: a documentary about documentaries.
As unlikely as it may seem, Lussas is familiar to most in the documentary world. Not only does it play host to the distinguished film festival Les États Généraux du Documentaire, it’s also home to a distribution company, immense film archive and cutting-edge film school. Now, the indefatigable sexagenarian Jean-Marie Barbe and his ambitious team are hard at work on the village’s next chapter, the VOD platform Tënk and a huge, multi-million euro building to house its growing documentary eco-system.
Originally starting life as a series, Simon’s film is a mellow introduction to a surprising community split between film and farming but united in the defence of its convictions as it adapts to the modern era. With remarkable transparency and without shying from some tense moments, “The Grocer’s Son…” makes it clear: passion, hard work and belief are as much required in the production of great film as they are in the crafting of fine wine.
The Grocer’s Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World... is nominated for the IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary and features in the Andana Films and Last Minute Tips programs. It will be screening online on 3 December at 18:00 CET.
No official release date has been set.
Garage People by Natalija Yefimkina
Dutch Premiere
“Another fucking adventure, damn it” mutters a scrap metal reseller as he tows an old bus to his garage for dismantling.
Natalija Yefimkina is our silent guide to the kaleidoscopic world of the Russian garage people. There’s no telling what goes on behind each tiny door… one man radios to passing air traffic, the next breeds poultry and another has spent 25 years digging a five-floor deep tunnel (seriously!).
These are private spaces, where each is free to explore their obsessions, tinker endlessly or generate a hustle. Every garage is its own little island, with its own look, purpose and inhabitants, who occasionally drift into contact with one another.
A beautifully shot, fascinating journey into a bittersweet world of wonder and hardship.
Garage People was awarded the Heiner Carow Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Audience Award at Sarajevo Film Festival this year.
Garage People is part of the Best of Fests, IDFA Hits, Kammerspiel and Rise and Shine World Sales programs and will be screening online on 30 November at15:45 CET.
No official release date has been set.
Film About A Father Who by Lynne Sachs
The World Premiere of Lynne Sachs’ brilliant “Film About A Father Who” at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2020 was one our highlights of the year, and its our only addition to this list that won’t be featuring at IDFA this year.
Here’s an excerpt from our full review, available here.
“Film About A Father Who” is Sachs’ attempt to understand her wayward and seemingly unknowable father Ira and the complex web of family ties woven by decades of his promiscuity. Filmed over the course of 35 years in a variety of formats, the film charts Ira’s multiple wives, innumerable girlfriends and his ever-growing list of offspring.
The result is an experimental collage of home footage, idle conversations and the occasional tense confrontation that will be familiar to any member of a recomposed family. Although her offbeat style isn’t for everyone, Sachs successfully creates a reflective, surreal atmosphere without neglecting the story’s intrigue, which delivers a surprising amount of twists and turns and a late, quite shocking, discovery.”
Film About A Father Who also featured in our Doc Lisboa Top 10.
No official release date has been set.
The Magnitude of All Things by Jennifer Abbott
International Premiere
A poetic diagnosis of humanity’s mental response to the climate crisis that borrows from filmmaker Jennifer Abott’s visceral experience of losing her sister to cancer.
Through her sister’s diary entries and reflective moments with activists from around the world (including Greta Thunberg and the founders of Extinction Rebellion), Abbott brings a completely unique take to an ever-expanding subset of films that tackle the issues of climate change.
“The Magnitude of All Things” focuses on the universal feeling of grief and applies it to the loss of our environment, a tug on your heartstrings far more personal and powerful than you might expect.
The Magnitude of All Things is part of the Frontlight, IDFA Hits, The Things That Pass and Screenings hosted by Mama Cash program and will be screening online on 26 November at18:00 CET and on 29 November at 15:00 CET.
No official release date has been set.
Bulletproof by Todd Chandler
Dutch Premiere
For children in the US armed guards, shooting drills and weapon shake-downs are becoming a fact of life. In the process, protecting schoolchildren from mass shootings is emerging as a lucrative business.
Ruthlessly, and in true American fashion, security camera systems, bulletproof hoodies, door-locking systems and fire-arm providers are fighting it out in trade fairs to capture the market’s growing demands. By mixing candid shots of drills, security protocols and firearms training with the familiar aspects of school life, “Bulletproof” provides a shocking insight into just how bad things have got.
However, it also picks up on he positive changes happening within schools and the growing rejection of the status quo from both teachers and students alike.
Bulletproof is part of the Best of Fests and Perpetual War programs and will be screening online on 4 December at 19:00 CET.
No official release date has been set.
Special Mentions
Jacinta by Jessica Earnshaw - screening online on 29 November 16:30 CET
Underneath by Ugo Arsac - featured in our Doc Lisboa Top 10
Punta Sacra by Francesca Mazzoleni - screening online on 29 November 16:30 CET
The Viewing Booth by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz - featured in our Sheffield Doc/Fest
Our #topdocs series brings you a readymade selection of the best documentaries so you can get down to watching instead of searching. Get in touch to collaborate with us on our next collection.
