Film: New York ’s Best Documentary Festival Makes Its Return

Film & Documentary

April 1, 2022 • View in browser

New York’s Best Documentary Festival Makes Its Return

After 2020’s virtual festival and 2021’s severely abridged edition, Art of the Real is back with a full slate of exciting experimental nonfiction. | Dan Schindel

Film at Lincoln Center’s Art of the Real is only in its ninth edition, but in its short lifetime, it has become the most exciting documentary-focused film festival in New York.

An exceptionally curated event, it brings together the most formally inventive and boundary-pushing recent works of nonfiction from across the globe — many of which are so experimental and creatively arranged that some viewers might not even consider them nonfiction.

Arthur Jafa’s Medley of Joy Everlasting Versus Hell on Earth

The video installation akingdoncomethas is an epic montage of sermons and performances from Black churches. | Justin Kamp

In between these salvos of salvation come high-definition footage of raging forest fires, of riders on horseback under a choked orange sky. akingdoncomethas is joy everlasting vs. Hell on Earth.

Letting a Dairy Cow’s Life Speak for Itself

In her documentary Cow, Andrea Arnold avoids anthropomorphism, instead trying to present the world as her main character sees it. | Manuela Lazic

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