IDA Announces FallDocs Series: ‘Sugarcane,’ ‘I Am: Celine Dion,’ ‘Black Box Diaries,’ ‘The Last of the Seawomen’ And More To Get Oscar Boost

The Oscar hopes of almost a dozen documentaries will be getting a lift from the International Documentary Association.

The IDA announced the first 11 films in its FallDocs screening series, traditionally an important FYC showcase for documentaries with awards ambitions. Among the 11 are Sugarcane and Blink, both from National Geographic Documentary Films; Frida and I Am: Celine Dion, from Amazon MGM Studios; Black Box Diaries from MTV Documentary Films; Hollywoodgate from Fourth Act Film; The Last of the Sea Women, an Apple TV+ documentary that is about to make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, from Kino Lorber. Scroll for the full list of films.

As it has done for several years running, FallDocs is also making room for several films without distribution to date: The Brink of Dreams (winner of the L’Oeil d’or prize at the Cannes Film Festival); The Flats, winner of the DOX:Award at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, and Porcelain War, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

The screening series begins September 26 and continues into December. Additional films will be added beyond the 11 that have just been announced. The prestigious fall event includes in-person screenings in Los Angeles at The Culver Theater, as well as New York, Oakland, and San Francisco, and virtual screenings available globally through IDA’s online streaming platform. More information can be found at documentary.org/falldocs.

“FallDocs is a curated collection of the most acclaimed documentary films of the year,” the nonprofit IDA said in a release. “IDA combines films and their creators with industry insiders and film enthusiasts throughout the award season. This year, FallDocs will include For Your Consideration screenings of 20 Academy Award-eligible feature-length documentaries alongside a new section called IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Presents. All FallDocs screenings will be followed by a conversation with filmmakers.”

The newly-created banner IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Presents will present screenings of The Strike in New York, Oakland, and San Francisco. Co-directed by JoeBill Muñoz and Lucas Guilkey, The Strike — an IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund grantee — tells the story of Pelican Bay State Prison, “the supermax prison in California that was designed specifically for mass-scale solitary confinement and isolated men for decades,” the IDA writes. “In 2013, 30,000 incarcerated people at Pelican Bay went on hunger strike joined by people in other prisons. Told by those who lived it, The Strike goes beyond making a case against solitary confinement; it illuminates the power of organizing, and in doing so, flips the true-crime genre on its head.”

Below is the FallDocs schedule, beginning with L.A. screenings arranged by date, followed by streaming-only titles, and then dates for New York, Oakland, and San Francisco screenings:

I AM: CELINE DION

September 26, 7:30 PM PT, The Culver Theater

Streaming September 27 – October 4

Dir: Irene Taylor / Prod: Irene Taylor, Stacy Lorts, Tom Mackay, Julie Begey Seureau / Country: USA / Year: 2024 / Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios

Directed by Academy Award nominee Irene Taylor, I Am: Celine Dion gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic superstar as she comes to terms with a life-altering illness. Her revelations and anguish become a testament to the power of music and deep resilience of the human spirit.

FRIDA

October 1, 7:30 PM PT, The Culver Theater

Streaming October 2-9

Dir: Carla Gutiérrez / Prod: Katia Maguire, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Loren Hammonds, Alexandra Johnes / Country: USA / Year: 2024 / Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios

FRIDA: A journey through the life, mind, and heart of artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought to life by animation inspired by her artwork.

BLINK

October 8, 7:30 PM PT, The Culver Theater

Streaming October 9-16

Dir: Daniel Roher, Edmund Stenson / Prod: Melanie Miller, p.g.a., Diane Becker, p.g.a. / Country: USA / Year: 2024 / Distributor: National Geographic Documentary Films

When three of their four children are diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare and incurable disease that leads to severe visual impairment, the Pelletier family’s world changes forever. In the face of this life-altering news, Edith Lemay, Sébastien Pelletier and their children set out on a journey around the world to experience all its beauty while they still can. As they fill their memories with breathtaking destinations and once-in-a-lifetime encounters, the family’s love, resilience and unshakeable sense of wonder ensure that their uncertain future does not define their present.

PORCELAIN WAR

October 10, 7:00 PM PT, The Culver Theater

Streaming October 11-18

Dir: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev / Prod: Aniela Sidorska p.g.a., Paula DuPre’ Pesmen p.g.a., Camilla Mazzaferro, Olivia Ahnemann / Country: Australia, USA, Ukraine / Year: 2024 / Distributor: N/A

Porcelain War is a stunning tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, embodying the passion and fight that only artists can put back into the world when it’s crumbling around them. With extraordinary footage from a war-torn country, filmed by ordinary civilians, Porcelain War is a story far bigger than Ukraine, it’s a story about all of us.

SUGARCANE

October 17, 7:30 PM PT, The Culver Theater

Streaming October 18-25

Dir: Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie / Prod: Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn / Country: USA / Year: 2024 / Distributor: National Geographic Documentary Films

In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities. Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, Sugarcane illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.

THE LAST OF THE SEAWOMEN

October 21, 7:30 PM PT, The Culver Theater

Streaming October 22-29

Dir: Sue Kim / Prod: Malala Yousafzai, Erica Kennair / Country: USA / Year: 2024 / Distributor: Apple Original Films

The Last of the Sea Women follows the haenyeo divers of South Korea’s Jeju Island who are renowned for centuries of diving to the ocean floor—without oxygen —to harvest seafood for their livelihood. Today, with most haenyeo now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, their traditions and way of life are in imminent danger. This documentary unfolds an uplifting tale of women, young and old, taking on world powers to protect their beloved ocean.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: STREAMING ONLY

All screenings will be followed by a pre-recorded Q&A with filmmakers. The following list is in order of screening date.

BLACK BOX DIARIES

Streaming October 3-10

Dir: Shiori Ito / Prod: Eric Nyari, Hanna Aqvilin, Shiori Ito / Country: Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia / Year: 2024 / Distributor: MTV Documentary Films

Black Box Diaries follows director Shiori Ito’s courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Unfolding like a thriller and combining secret investigative recordings, vérité shooting and emotional first-person video, her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s desperately outdated judicial and societal systems.

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT

Streaming October 6-13

Dir: Johan Grimonprez / Prod: Rémi Grellety (producer), Daan Milius (producer), Katja Draaijer (co-producer), Frank Hoeve (co-producer), Sara Skrodzka (archival producer) / Country: Belgium / Year: 2024 / Distributor: Kino Lorber

United Nations, 1961: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe, and the U.S. State Department swings into action, sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup. Director Johan Grimonprez explores a moment when jazz, colonialism, and espionage collided, constructing a riveting historical rollercoaster that illuminates the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. The result is a revelatory documentary richly illustrated by eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, speeches from Lumumba himself, and a veritable canon of jazz icons. Sundance award winner Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat interrogates colonial history to tell an urgent and timely story that resonates more than ever in today’s geopolitical climate.

THE BRINK OF DREAMS

Streaming October 13-20

Dir: Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir / Prod: Ayman El Amir, Nada Riyadh, Marc Irmer, Claire Chassagne / Country: Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia / Year: 2024 / Distributor: N/A

In a remote village in southern Egypt, a group of girls rebel by forming an all-female street theater troupe. They dream of becoming actresses, dancers and singers, challenging their families and villagers with their unexpected performances. Shot over four years, The Brink of Dreams follows them from childhood to womanhood, facing the most crucial choices of their lives.

THE FLATS

Streaming October 20-27

Dir: Alessandra Celesia / Prod: JJean-Laurent Csinidis, Geneviève De Bauw, Jeremiah Cullinane, John McIlduff / Country: France, Belgium, Republic of Ireland, UK / Year: 2024 / Distributor: N/A

In his tower-block apartment in New Lodge, Joe reenacts memories from his childhood amidst the “Troubles”. In this Catholic area of Belfast, the number of deaths was tragically significant. Joe is joined by neighbours Jolene, Sean, Angie, and others, all willingly participating in this process of revisiting the collective memories that shaped their lives and the district they live in.

HOLLYWOODGATE

Streaming October 15-22, 2024

Dir: Ibrahim Nash’at / Prod: Shane Boris, Odessa Rae, Talal Derki / Country: Germany, USA / Year: 2023 / Distributor: Fourth Act Film

Director Ibrahim Nash’at spent a year with the Taliban in the wake of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Risking his life, Nash’at is on the ground with the Taliban when they enter an American base loaded with a portion of the roughly $7 billion worth of U.S. armaments left behind. Nash’at tracks Taliban leaders as they attempt to transform from a fundamentalist militia into a modern military regime, employing Hollywood-style propaganda to achieve their goals.

IDA members receive $5 off and free popcorn and soda at the following screenings (all screenings will be followed by a live Q&A with filmmakers):

As noted above, the FallDocs series will include The Strike under the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Presents. Dir: JoeBill Muñoz, Lucas Guilkey / Prod: JoeBill Muñoz, Lucas Guilkey / Country: USA / Year: 2024