Documentary Films
From delicately rendered, intimate portraits to thrilling reconstructions of historical events and everything in between, SIFF’s Documentary Films program selections are grounded in thorough research and executed with exquisite cinematography. Depth and range define this collection of remarkable films.
Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]
USA | 2026 | 80 min. | Adam Khalil (Ojibway), Zack Khalil (Ojibway)
Indigenous elders and activists fighting to reclaim ancestors’ remains, exposing colonial violence and institutional resistance while affirming that returning bodies to the earth restores dignity, memory, and balance.
American Doctor
USA | 2026 | 93 min. | Poh Si Teng
Three courageous doctors—a Jewish orthopedic surgeon from North Carolina, a Zoroastrian trauma surgeon from California, and a Palestinian American ER specialist from Illinois—volunteer their services in Gaza, risking their lives to save others.
The Ascent
USA | 2026 | 102 min. | Edward Drake, Scott Veltri, Francis Cronin
Mandy Horvath, a bilateral amputee battling her past, embarks on a gripping journey to summit Mount Kilimanjaro in her quest to become the first legless woman to conquer it without prosthetics.
Barbara Forever
USA | 2026 | 102 min. | Brydie O’Connor
For five decades, avant-garde feminist filmmaker Barbara Hammer created groundbreaking lesbian cinema—exploring identity, gender, and sexuality, uncovering erased histories, and putting lesbian lives boldly, joyfully, and unapologetically on screen.
Beat the Lotto
Ireland | 2025 | 80 min. | Ross Whitaker
When Ireland inaugurated its National Lottery, it became a national obsession. One man soon discovered a flaw in the system, gaming the odds to win it all and dividing the nation in the process.
The Best Summer
USA | 2026 | 84 min. | Tamra Davis
A found-footage documentary from a 1995 concert tour featuring live performances, candid interviews, and a behind-the-scenes look at life on tour with Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Beck, Pavement, Rancid, The Amps, and Bikini Kill.
The Big Cheese
USA | 2025 | 88 min. | Sara Joe Wolansky
Adam “Mr. Moo” Moskowitz is on a mission to make the world take American cheesemongers seriously. For over a decade, he’s led a team of eccentric misfits to the Olympics of Cheese, where Team USA has never won. Could this be their year?
Birds of War
United Kingdom | 2026 | 85 min. | Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak
Lebanese journalist Janay Boulos and Syrian activist and cameraman Abd Alkader Habak share their extraordinary love story, told through 13 years of personal archives spanning revolutions, war, and exile.
Boorman and the Devil
USA | 2025 | 112 min. | David Kittredge
After the success of The Exorcist, Warner Bros. offered director John Boorman the opportunity of a lifetime, the chance to direct its sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic. And then all Hell broke loose…
Broken English
United Kingdom | 2025 | 99 min. | Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard
Singer-songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull is too big for a simple documentary. Instead, a theatrical “Department of Not Forgetting” interweaves intimate interviews, archival clips, and newly recorded performances to conjure a holistic understanding of a career spanning more than half a century.
Bucks Harbor
USA | 2026 | 98 min. | Peter Muller
In the small port of Bucks Harbor, its fishermen are shaped by brutal winters, the ocean’s bounty, and the emotional complexity of growing up in a community where a man’s worth is often defined by the strength of his back.
Cookie Queens
USA | 2026 | 91 min. | Alysa Nahmias
This charming SXSW Film & TV Festival Audience Award-winning documentary profiles four resolute girls through Girl Scout Cookie season as they find their place in the $800 million phenomenon.
Cuba & Alaska
Ukraine | 2025 | 93 min. | Yegor Troyanovsky
Amid the carnage of war in Ukraine, frontline medics Cuba and Alaska risk their lives to save others, forging an unbreakable bond of friendship while holding onto dreams of a life beyond conflict.
The Garden We Dreamed
Mexico | 2026 | 100 min. | Joaquín del Paso
A Haitian family migrating through Mexico becomes entangled in illegal logging. Amid fleeting stability and the forest’s quiet beauty, they confront violence, survival, and destruction, testing their hope for a place to call home.
Ghost in the Machine
USA | 2026 | 110 min. | Valerie Veatch
Is AI racist? This documentary says yes, seeing as it’s made from so many books written when racism was commonplace, not to mention the ingestion of posts and rants from the wild west of social media today.
Hanging by a Wire
Pakistan | 2026 | 77 min. | Mohammed Ali Naqvi
In remote northern Pakistan, schoolchildren cross a canyon by cable car each day—until one morning, two of the three cables snap, turning their routine journey into a desperate fight for survival as they are suspended 900 feet in the air.
Jaripeo
Mexico | 2026 | 71 min. | Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig
Set amid Michoacan’s electrifying bull-riding celebrations, Jaripeo uncovers queer desire within a fiercely hypermasculine world—blending music, dance, and intimate stories into a vibrant celebration of sensuality, joy, and living openly.
Kikuyu Land
Kenya | 2026 | 93 min. | Andrew H. Brown (Huron-Wyandot), Bea Wangondu (Kikuyu)
What begins as a seemingly straightforward investigation into land restitution in Kenya leads to a web of exploitation, family secrets, and death threats in this riveting political documentary.
The Life We Leave
USA | 2026 | 87 min. | JJ Gerber
An ambitious entrepreneur and two funeral directors pioneer a groundbreaking eco-friendly deathcare facility in Washington state, challenging traditional burial practices and transforming end-of-life rituals.
Love Chaos Kin
USA | 2025 | 98 min. | Chithra Jeyaram
An Indian immigrant couple adopts twins of Navajo descent and stays connected to the biological family. Love Chaos Kin is a clear-eyed look at what belonging to more than one world actually means.
Maintenance Artist
USA | 2025 | 95 min. | Toby Perl Freilich
Overlooked acts like maintaining a house by doing dishes or maintaining a city by picking up garbage can be seen as performance art, or so says Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the first-ever artist in residence at the New York City Department of Sanitation.
Nuisance Bear
USA | 2026 | 87 min. | Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman
A polar bear is forced to navigate a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. When a sacred predator is branded a nuisance, it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape.
One of Our Own: A Tribute to Joan Roca
Spain | 2025 | 70 min. | Jorge Fernández Mayoral, Virginia Jönas Urigüen
Catalan chef Joan Roca, hailed as the “Messi of the kitchen,” is a revolutionary force in gastronomy. Twenty of Spain’s top chefs, together holding 70 Michelin stars, unite to craft an extraordinary banquet celebrating Roca’s generosity, vision, and pioneering culinary genius.
Phoenix Jones: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Superhero
USA | 2026 | 116 min. | Bayan Joonam
Real-life superhero or untrained vigilante? This documentary revisits the Phoenix Jones saga, a fascinating chapter in Seattle history, with never-before-seen footage and interviews with his family, co-superheroes, and enemies.
Powwow People
USA | 2025 | 88 min. | Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians)
Powwow People immerses us in a single day at a powwow, guided by Reuben Little Head’s humor and heart, culminating in a long take honoring community as privilege.
RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole
USA | 2026 | 83 min. | Peter Hilgendorf, Andrew Franks
Over 25 years at KEXP, DJ Kevin Cole shaped what Seattle listens to and how we listen. RADIOHEART, a bio-doc about his life, features a killer soundtrack, archival footage, and cameos from Seattle music legends.
Rising Through the Fray
Canada (Quebec) | 2025 | 88 min. | Courtney Montour (Kanien'kehá:ka)
Roller derby built its identity on the outsider. Indigenous Rising is what it looks like when over 30 Indigenous Nations lace up together, skate onto the track under their own banner, and refuse to be invisible.
The Seoul Guardians
South Korea | 2026 | 71 min. | Jong-woo Kim, Shin-Wan Kim, Chul-Young Cho
On the night of December 3, 2024, South Korea pushed back against its own president. The Seoul Guardians puts you on the streets and inside the National Assembly chamber as it happened.
Soul Patrol
USA | 2026 | 98 min. | J.M. Harper
The Vietnam War's first all-Black special operations team spent decades in silence. Now, fifty years later, they gather one last time to tell the story America forgot to tell.
To Hold a Mountain
Serbia | 2026 | 105 min. | Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić
Semi-nomadic shepherd and cheesemaker Gara raises her 13-year-old niece Nada as her own. As she fights to protect her grazing land from a NATO military expansion, Nada begins to imagine her own future.
Under a Million Stars
USA | 2026 | 77 min. | Chezik Tsunoda
Experts and homeless neighbors alike bust myths about Seattle’s homelessness crisis in a deeply reported, humanistic dispatch from the front lines.
When A Witness Recants
USA | 2026 | 117 min. | Dawn Porter
The story of the three Black Baltimore teens wrongfully incarcerated in 1983 for the murder of a classmate, exonerated 36 years later, delving into the prosecutorial and police misconduct, and the collateral damage on the wrongfully accused and the whole community.
Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)
USA | 2026 | 78 min. | Anna Fitch, Banker White
A vibrant intergenerational friendship forms between Yo, 72, and director Anna, 24. After Yo’s passing at 89, Anna recreates her world through building a miniature house and puppet, weaving memories into an intimate verite portrait.