The 22nd San Francisco Documentary Film Festival (SF DocFest) will be held June 1 – 11, 2023; and screen 39 features and 47 shorts. The festival opens with Christine Yoo’s 26.2 To Life and Fantastic Negrito: Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? directed by Yvan Iturriaga, Francisco Nuñez Capriles.
26.2 To Life explores the San Quentin’s 1000 Mile Club, in which incarcerated men train for and run a marathon on the dirt and concrete path circling the prison yard. Fantastic Negrito: Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? captures bluesman Fantastic Negrito (Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz) as he creates his latest album.
Leslie Tai’s How To Have An American Baby documentary on Chinese birth tourism in the Chinese enclaves of Los Angeles County, will screen as Centerpiece selection.
The festival will close with Black Barbie directed by Lagueria Davis and Satan Wants You directed by Steve Adames, Sean Horlor. Black Barbie explores the history of Mattel’s first African American Barbie doll; and Satan Wants You tells the shocking story of how a young woman and her psychiatrist ignited the global Satanic Panic of the 1980s.
The festival will once again be presented as a hybrid of virtual screenings and live presentations. There are 35 films that will screen at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. The majority of the in-person screenings held at the Roxie Theater will also include live Q&A sessions.
A selection of 83 films will be available virtually during the festival.
Films of the 2023 San Francisco Documentary Film Festival (SF DocFest).
OPENING NIGHT
26.2 TO LIFE
Christine Yoo
Filmed inside California’s oldest state prison, 26.2 TO LIFE explores the transformative power of San Quentin’s 1000 Mile Club, in which incarcerated men train for and run a marathon on the dirt and concrete path circling the prison yard. Through intimate access behind the walls of the infamous correctional facility, the film confronts the meaning of personal transformation within the greater crisis of the American carceral state.
FANTASTIC NEGRITO: HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND YET?
Yvan Iturriaga, Francisco Nuñez Capriles
Mercurial bluesman Fantastic Negrito (Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz) faces his demons amidst the mental health crisis ravaging his community. Digging deep as a survivor of domestic abuse, drug violence, and brutal racism, the film captures Negrito creating his most personal album to date.
CENTERPIECE
HOW TO HAVE AN AMERICAN BABY
Leslie Tai
There is a city in Southern California that is teeming with pregnant women from China. HOW TO HAVE AN AMERICAN BABY is a kaleidoscopic voyage, told through multiple perspectives, into the booming shadow economy of Chinese birth tourism that has taken over the Chinese enclaves of Los Angeles County.
CLOSING NIGHT
BLACK BARBIE
Lagueria Davis
Through intimate access to a charismatic Mattel insider, Beulah Mae Mitchell,
SATAN WANTS YOU
Steve Adames, Sean Horlor
SATAN WANTS YOU is a feature documentary about the shocking story of how a young woman and her psychiatrist helped ignite the global Satanic Panic with their bestselling memoir Michelle Remembers.
FEATURES
26.2 TO LIFE
40 BELOW: THE TOUGHEST RACE IN THE WORLD*
50, THE
ALL THAT REMAINS TO BE SEEN
ANHELL69
ANNIE LENNOX, FROM EURYTHMICS TO INVOLVMENT, A POP ICON’S JOURNEY
THE BALCONY MOVIE
BEFORE US
BLACK BARBIE
CISCO KID
COLOUR OF INK, THE
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
FANTASTIC NEGRITO: HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND YET?*
HOW TO HAVE AN AMERICAN BABY
INTO THE SHAOLIN
JESSZILLA
JOIN OR DIE
KENYATTA: DO NOT WAIT YOUR TURN
LA CLAVE-A MYSTERY OF MUSICA CUBANA
LOCKED OUT
LOUDER THAN YOU THINK
LOVE, CHARLIE: THE RISE AND FALL OF CHEF CHARLIE TROTTER
MOTEL DRIVE
MUSEUM OF THE REVOLUTION
NAFKET:YEARNING
NO TIME TO FAIL
PIANOFORTE
SATAN WANTS YOU
SECRET SONG, THE
SHAMBALA
SK8FACE
SONG OF THE CICADA
SWEETHEART DEAL
TELL ME IGGY
TIME BOMB Y2K
TO KILL A TIGER
WATER FOR BIRDS
WE R HERE
WONDROUS KIENTAL
SHORTS
ADX2 CONTROVERSY
AFRO-TECHNO FREQUENCY
ART OF MAINTENANCE
AS AMERICAN AS IT GETS
BEYOND I WANNA GO
BLUSH – AN EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE
CHICKEN STORIES
CHOKEHOLE: DRAG WRESTLERS DO DEUTSCHLAND
CULTURE TALK ON THE RADIO
ENTITIES WITH KNOWLEDGE
EXCHANGE GIRL, THE
FAIL FIRST
FORGOTTEN FOUNTAINS
FRIENDLY SIGNS
GIRL FROM 7TH AVENUE. PAT CLEVELAND & THE RUNWAY REVOLUTION, THE
GUND KWOK
IMMUNE
INK ELEMENT, THE
JOHN LEGUIZAMO LIVE AT RIKERS
KEMONITO: THE FINAL FALL
KRUSH THE WRESTLER
LAST CARNIVAL, THE
NOT ANOTHER BALLET STORY
PARKLUNCHGOD*
PERFECT LOVE, A
RIGHT TO JOY, THE
RUTH BRINKER STORY, THE
SANCTUARY OF HER
SEAN DORSEY DANCE: DREAMING TRANS AND QUEER FUTURES
SEE YOU AT THE BAR: THE CASA LOMA STORY
SNAP – ARCHIE’S STORY
STILL WATERS
STONE DOVE
THIRD TESTAMENT, A
TONY&DENISE: CINEMATIC MEMOIR OF DENISE D’ANNE
THE UNCLAIMED