Western Canada’s largest documentary film festival returns for its 21st edition with crucial and thought-provoking programming next month.
DOXA Documentary Film Festival announced the full lineup for DOXA 2022 from May 5-15.
Documentary enthusiasts can choose from over 75 films, including 55 feature and mid-length films, 24 short films, and more. There will also be pre-recorded, live Q&As with the filmmakers to provide deeper insight into the actual topics.
After two years of showing online, as well as a popular drive-in film festival held at the PNE Amphitheater, this year’s DOXA will be presented in a hybrid format. Most of the festival films will be available to stream across Canada, through DOXA’s Eventive online platform, for selected durations between festival dates.
Those wishing to experience DOXA in person can see films at the Vancouver Playhouse (opening film), the Cinematheque, the VIFF Center and the SFU Goldcorp Center for the Arts. There will also be a number of in-person industry events at SFU’s Global Arts Center, as well as virtual options.
DOXA 2022 Highlights Include The Opening Film fire of love from director Sara Dosa, which follows volcanologist couple Katia and Maurice Krafft around the world as they paddle through acid lakes and explore areas of unstable volcanic activity to uncover the mysteries of the Earth’s core and our place above.
Fire of Love (DOXA/Submissive)
The festival will feature a number of world premieres by several Canadian filmmakers, including Sara Wylie’s film A more radiant spherethat of Ali Kazimi Beyond Extinctionand Alexandra Buck Beckwoman’s Hippy Shop.
There are two guest-curated programs to check out during DOXA. French French: Telling Stories, curated by Thierry Garrel, features French directors Mariana Otero and François Caillat alongside bold new voices from Francophone cinema. Grandmother. Grandmother. Babushka, curated by Laurence Reymond, celebrates the universal figure of the grandmother and examines her many cinematic representations.
DOXA also offers the flagship programs Justice Forum and Rated Y for Youth, as well as two flagship programming streams titled Memory And Archives and Landscapes Of Resistance.
Left to right: Wally Watson, Simon Kendall, Doug Bennett, Steve Bosley, John Burton, Richard Baker (Hans Sipma/Submitted)
The closing film of DOXA 2022 is Doug and the slugs and me by local filmmaker Teresa Alfeld. The intimate biography of legendary musician, father and East Vancouverite Doug Bennett is presented from Alfeld’s unique perspective as the childhood best friend of one of his daughters. Viewers will also witness the journey of semi-public and private grief and the effects of addiction and fame.
Discover the full program of the festival here.
DOXA Documentary Film Festival 2022
When: May 5 to 15, 2022
Weather: Various times
Or: Online and in-person screenings
Cost: Various; purchase in line