EXCLUSIVE: The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, NC has announced its 2026 lineup, a slate with more than a dozen world premieres as well as award-winning films from around the world.
The cinematic event running April 16–19 in downtown Durham will open with Sam Green’s The Oldest Person in the World, an essayistic documentary that examines fascination with the person who, at any given time, qualifies as the oldest human being on the planet.
I Was Born This Way, directed by Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard, will close the festival. It tells the story of the remarkable Archbishop Carl Bean, who became known for the 1977 disco hit of the same name that much later inspired Lady Gaga’s song. Bean went on to found the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, offering welcome and a spiritual home to people of color within the LGBTQ community, and he launched the enormously consequential Minority Aids Project in 1985, a nonprofit that continues today. Junge and Pollard (an executive producer of Oscar nominee The Perfect Neighbor) will attend Full Frame in support of the film.
Scroll for the complete Full Frame lineup.
More than 30 countries are represented in 2026 program. Films screening in the NEW DOCS section are eligible to win prizes totaling $50,000 (winners will be announced at the annual Awards Barbecue on April 19). Fifteen films will screen outside of competition in the Invited Program, including the Opening Night and Closing Night Films.
Full Frame
Full Frame is an Academy Award-qualifying festival for Best Documentary Short Film.
“I am enormously proud of this year’s lineup of new films, and I am grateful to the filmmakers for allowing Full Frame to be a part of celebrating their incredible work,” said Sadie Tillery, Full Frame Festival Co-Director and Artistic Director. “These are films that take us around the world, reflect deeply personal relationships, and reveal nuanced perspectives. There is grace and tenacity on display at every turn. It is inspiring to watch these films, and even more inspiring to be a part of sharing them with audiences this spring.”
Acclaimed filmmaker Robert Greene is serving as curator of the festival’s 15-film Thematic Program, titled “Extremely Rich Theater: Staging, Performance, and Elasticity in American Nonfiction Film.” Celebrated director Dawn Porter will be honored with the 2026 Full Frame Tribute, which features a selection of her films (titles screening as part of the Full Frame Tribute will be announced next week).
Here is the lineup of films in the NEW DOCS and INVITED PROGRAM sections:
NEW DOCS
American Doctor / United States, State of Palestine, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar (Director:Poh Si Teng; Producers: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad; Co Producers: Mohammed Sawwaf, Kasper Lykke Schultz)
When three American doctors—Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian—enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth.
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez / United States (Director: David Alvarado; Producers: David Alvarado, Lauren DeFilippo, Amanda Pollak, Everett Katigbak)
Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story.
BAEA / United States (Director: Terra Long; Producers: Heidi Fleisher, Mike Paterson)
In the dead of winter, at a wildlife rescue center on the pacific coast of so-called Canada, a team of rehabbers treat Bald Eagles suffering from lead poisoning so that they can be released back to their environment. At what point does the harm of treatment exceed the potential benefits of care? North American Premiere
Barbara Forever / United States (Director: Brydie O’Connor; Producers: Elijah Stevens, Brydie O’Connor, Claire Edelman)
An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.
Buckskin / United States (Director: Mars Verrone; Producer: Mars Verrone)
An experimental portrait of the filmmaker’s grandfather: Carroll B. Williams Jr., a ground- breaking African-American forester, reflecting on his work and legacy in the twilight of his life.
The Cloud Factory / Germany (Director: Hannes Lang; Producers: Hannes Lang, Mareike Wegener)
The Cloud Factory is a cinematic exploration of the sky above the Rhenish coal mining region, where emission-enriched air masses ascend into the atmosphere to transform the climate. What can these human-made clouds tell us about our future? And what kind of castles can we build in this air? US Premiere
Failure Is a River of Mine / Guatemala, United States (Director: Julia Mendoza Friedman; Producer: Julia Mendoza Friedman)
Mari is a former rural midwife, Maricielo is a hairdresser, and Iker is a six-year-old boy. Though they appear to share little in common, a gossamer web quietly binds their lives through heartbreak, failure, and unexpected moments of respite. World Premiere
Food for Everyone: Deities, Nature and Humans / Perú (Director: Prin Rodriguez; Producer: Prin Rodriguez, Fernando Criollo)
On an equal footing, voices enter into dialogue with nature. They speak of sustenance, emotional bonds, and of how there is no future without a past.
A Fox Under a Pink Moon / Iran, Denmark, France (Director: Mehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhlaghi; Producer: Mehrdad Oskouei)
Subtly textured self-portrait of Soraya, an Afghan free-spirited 16-year-old artist in Iran who has been trying for five years to make her way to Europe—chillingly capturing everything on her phone while pouring all her fears and worries into extraordinary works of art. US Premiere
Gatorville / United States (Director: Freddie Gluck; Producers: Chloe Campion, Matteo Moretti)
As childhood memories are made and fade in the same instant, siblings Lily and Bodhi diverge at the dawn of life beyond their home, a Colorado alligator sanctuary. Their bond, forged by the exotic nature of their remote landscape, begins to change as Lily enters her teenage years and Bodhi contemplates friendship and family beyond his reptilian counterparts.
The Grandfather Puzzle / United States (Director: Ora DeKornfeld; Producer: Noemi Veronika Szakonyi, Mate Artur Vincze)
When a puzzle-obsessed grandfather refuses to discuss his past, his granddaughter travels to photograph the Hungarian castle where he grew up and turn it into a puzzle. What starts as a simple mission becomes a deeper exploration of displacement and home. World Premiere
The Great Experiment / United States (Directors: Steve Maing, Eric Daniel Metzgar; Producers: Farihah Zaman, Steve Maing, Eric Daniel Metzgar)
The Great Experiment reflects on this nation once dubbed “the last great experiment in democracy,” by documenting one four-year period of political upheaval from 2017 to 2020 to create a deeply affecting portrait of our nation and its people.
Hair, Paper, Water… / Belgium, France, Vietnam (Directors: Nicolas Graux, Trương Minh Quý; Producers: Julie Freres, Thomas Hakim, Julien Graff)
Born in a cave and now in her old age, a Rục woman navigates memory and daily life, passing on her disappearing language to her grandchildren.
Ideas of Order / United States (Director: Erin Espelie; Producer: Erin Espelie)
A collision between the macro-collapse of ecosystems and the minutiae of cellular colonies, in a story about entropy, unrestrained growth, waltzing mice, earlier-onset cancers, programmed death, and the bacteria that made Earth rich in oxygen—opening up space for life today. World Premiere
Jaripeo / Mexico, United States, France (Directors: Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig; Producer: Sarah Strunin)
Jaripeo is a feature hybrid documentary that journeys to Michoacán’s hypermasculine rodeos. What starts as a celebration of tradition, descends into the subconscious of memory, queer desire, and longing. A reckoning with the wounds and beauty of a home left behind.
Joybubbles / United States (Director: Rachel J. Morrison; Producers: Sarah Winshall, Will Butler, Annie Marr)
A boy discovers he can control the global telephone system by whistling a magic tone. Born blind and yearning for connection, his early obsession with the telephone sparks a subculture that shapes the future of hacking and technology.
KITE / Greece (Director: Thanos Psichogios; Producer: Thanos Psichogios)
Panos, now grown, returns to a childhood ritual—flying a kite with his father, a tradition marking the start of Lent in Greece. But memories are never simple. Sounds and images, fragments of the past, weave together to reconstruct their bond. A documentary about the fragile father-son relationship and the restless power of memory. North American Premiere
The Lake / United States (Director: Abby Ellis; Producer: Fletcher Keyes)
An environmental nuclear bomb looms in Utah. Two intrepid scientists and a political insider race the clock to save their home from unprecedented catastrophe.
La Tierra del Valor (The Home of the Brave) / United States (Director: Cristina Costantini; Producers: Alfie Koetter, Cristina Costantini)
During a summer of grief and fear brought on by immigration raids in Los Angeles, one small act of bravery gives a community hope.
Militantropos / Ukraine, Austria, France (Directors: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi; Producers: Eugene Rachkovsky, Ralph Wieser, Nabil Bellahsene, Justin Pechberty, Damien Megherbi)
Militantropos captures the human condition through the fractured realities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film pieces together everyday lives transformed by war—those who flee, those who lose everything, and those who stay to resist and fight—tracing both the instinct to survive and the need for closeness. North American Premiere
Mother Lidia / Chile (Director: Juan Bautista Tagle, Joaquín Nercasseau; Producer: Mao Osorio, Ismael Morales)
Mother Lidia is an immersive and unsettling portrait of Lidia Fuentes, a Chilean healer with a divine gift for breaking curses. In her home, we see her receiving patients seeking to be cured of ailments with dark origins. Between exorcisms and moments of daily life, a universe is revealed where a complex balance exists between the magical and the earthly. US Premiere
No Mean City / United Kingdom, United States (Director: Ross McClean; Producer: Conal Clapper, Heidi Fleisher, Mike Paterson)
Two workmen and an apprentice drive through Belfast at night, replacing old sodium streetlights with LED. Beneath their glow, the city grapples with change, as progress marches on.
Once you shall be one of those who lived long ago / Sweden (Directors: Alexander Rynéus, Per Bifrost; Producer: Andreas Emanuelsson)
In a small mining town in the north part of Sweden we witness a melancholic, humorous and sometimes absurd last epoch of a place. Personal stories of farewell, change, and the impermanence of life unfold above one of the world’s largest underground iron ore mines. North American Premiere
an open field / South Africa, Germany, France (Director: Teboho Edkins; Producer: Don Edkins, Carine Chichkowsky)
One of two Boeing airplane crashes six years ago, caused by a software failure, killed 157 people, including the filmmaker’s brother, Max. Director Teboho Edkins travels with his father to the crash site in search of something tangible in their grief. There, they meet people for whom mourning is a profound part of their culture—a humanity contrasting with the manufacturer’s calculated stance. North American Premiere
Seized / United States (Director: Sharon Liese; Producers: Sharon Liese, Sasha Alpert, Paul Matyasovsky)
When the small town of Marion, Kansas, is thrust into the international spotlight after a police raid on the Marion County Record and the death of its 98-year-old co-owner, a fierce debate ignites about the abuse of power, journalistic ethics, local journalism, and the United States Constitution.
Singing Wings / Iran, Georgia, Belgium (Director: Hemen Khaledi; Producers: Inna Tedzhoeva, Sargol Moradi, Zina Broyan)
Through the intertwined destinies of a wounded stork and an elderly Kurdish woman, whose daughter contemplates migrating to the UK, Singing Wings weaves a poetic parallel between animal and human migration.
The silence of pomegranates / Italy, France (Director: Clara Baj; Producer: Clara Baj)
In a coastal town in Calabria, southern Italy, a woman who prefers to remain anonymous breaks the silence surrounding the issue of abortion in the region. North American Premiere
Soul Patrol / United States (Director: J.M. Harper; Producers: Sam Bisbee, Danielle Massie, J.M. Harper, Nasir Jones, Peter Bittenbender)
From deep behind enemy lines, a hidden chapter of American military history is uncovered, prompting the question of whether reckoning with the past can bring peace to those who lived it. The Vietnam War’s first Black special operations team reunites to tell their story.
Still Standing / United States (Directors: Víctor Tadashi Suarez, Livia Albeck-Ripka; Producers: Livia Albeck-Ripka, Víctor Tadashi Suarez)
After the Los Angeles wildfires leave thousands of homes contaminated with toxic ash, residents face an impossible choice: should they risk their health to return home?
There Are No Words / Canada (Director: Min Sook Lee; Producers: Sherien Barsoum, Chanda Chevannes)
Over 40 years ago, filmmaker Min Sook Lee’s mother died by suicide. Using her camera, Lee explores long-held silences, unstable memories and unforgettable truths, attempting to understand what happened.
To Hold a Mountain / Serbia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia (Directors: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić; Producers: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Quentin Laurent, Rok Biček)
In the remote highlands of Montenegro, a shepherd mother and daughter proudly defend their ancestral mountain from the threat of becoming a NATO military training ground, stirring memories of the violence that shattered their family.
True North / United States, Canada (Director: Michèle Stephenson; Producer: Leslie Norville)
Through never-before-seen compelling historical footage and the voices of those who lived through the tumultuous period of 1960s Montréal, True North uses a bold cinematic aesthetic that centers the power of memory and archive to expose the pivotal events of a moment that impacted the global movement for Black liberation.
We Were the Scenery / United States (Director: Christopher Radcliff; Producers: Cathy Linh Che, Jess X. Snow)
The story of Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che, who, in 1975, after fleeing the Vietnam War by boat and docking in the Philippines, were utilized as background extras in the filming of Apocalypse Now.
Whispers in May / Hong Kong, Netherlands, Sweden, South Korea (Director: Dongnan Chen; Producers: Jia Zhao, Kay Xu)
In the remote Liangshan Mountains, 14-year-old Qihuo and her friends set out to find a skirt for her rite of passage. What begins as a small quest drifts into a suspended space of childhood, where time slows and the world is vast. North American Premiere
INVITED PROGRAM
Ask E. Jean / United States (Director: Ivy Meeropol; Producers: Laura Bickford, Annabelle Dunne, Ivy Meeropol)
The thrilling and adventurous life of beloved advice columnist and gonzo journalist E. Jean Carroll, the only woman to beat Trump in court. Twice.
The Bend in the River / United States (Director: Robb Moss; Producers: Lisa Remington, Kristin Feeley)
Following and filming friends for nearly fifty years, The Bend in the River is an exploration of the inexorable flow of aging and the unfinished project of living.
Benita / United States (Director: Alan Berliner; Producer: Alan Berliner)
In this deeply intimate and haunting documentary, Alan Berliner posthumously collaborates with his friend and colleague, experimental New York City filmmaker Benita Raphan, who died by suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film is an unflinching, lyrical, and ultimately moving study of an artist’s mind, offering profound insights into the intersections of mental health, creativity, loneliness, and human resilience.
A Child of My Own / Mexico (Director: Maite Alberdi; Producer: Sandra Godinez Vázquez)
The profound desire to become a mother and the pressure from her surroundings drive Alejandra to fake a pregnancy. What begins as a simple lie turns into a complex charade to sustain for months before a hopeful husband and family. It unleashes a media scandal that won’t allow her to continue lying. US Premiere
Cookie Queens / United States (Director: Alysa Nahmias; Producers: Gregory Kershaw, Michael Dweck, Alysa Nahmias, Jennifer Sims)
It’s Girl Scout Cookie season, and four tenacious girls strive to be a top-selling “Cookie Queen,” navigating an $800 million business in which innocence and ambition collide.
I Was Born This Way / United States (Directors: Sam Pollard, Daniel Junge; Producers: Wellington Love, Daniel Junge, Jed Alan)
When Archbishop Carl Bean sang the 1977 disco hit and gay anthem “I Was Born This Way,” it was just the start of his mission to create positive change in the world. He went on to found the Minority AIDS Project and the world’s first LGBTQ+ church for people of color.
Kikuyu Land / Kenya, United States (Directors: Andrew H. Brown, Bea Wangondu; Producers: Moses Bwayo, Andrew H. Brown, Mike Morrisroe, Bea Wangondu, Joseph Njenga)
In Kenya’s tea highlands, one man’s claim to his family’s stolen land sets Mr. Mungai against a multinational giant. His fight draws a local news producer into a battle that exposes buried histories, family secrets, and the unfinished business of colonial power.
The Last First: Winter K2 / United States, United Kingdom (Director: Amir Bar-Lev; Producers: John Battsek, Sean Richard, Sarah Thomson, Howard T. Owens, Ben Silverman)
The Last First: Winter K2 takes us to the icy heights and unpredictable weather of K2 and reveals a surprising and layered story — one of strategy and determination, class and caste, money and power — all under life and death circumstances.
Nuisance Bear / United States, Canada, United Kingdom (Directors: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman; Producers: Michael Code, Will N. Miller, Teddy Leifer)
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.
The Oldest Person in the World / United States (Director: Sam Green, Producers: Alison Byrne Fields, Josh Penn)
A decade-long global odyssey chronicles the ever-changing record holders of the title of oldest person alive. What begins as a portrait of longevity becomes a poignant meditation on the passage of time, the randomness of fate, and the joy and profound human experience of being alive.
Remake / United States (Director: Ross McElwee; Producer: Mark Meatto)
For forty years, Ross McElwee has made documentaries which blend autobiography and cultural observation. When his son Adrian died suddenly, the footage he had filmed of his son became something else entirely: a reckoning with what the camera captured, and what it could not. Remake traces the fragile bond the camera created between a father and son, and what remains of it now.
Shifting Baselines / Canada (Director: Julien Elie; Producer: Andreas Mendritzki)
Where the Rio Grande meets the sea, the rockets of SpaceX are launched; astronomers gaze skyward, hawkers shill their wares and environmentalists survey the damage. Welcome to Boca Chica, USA.
Steal This Story, Please! / United States (Directors: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin; Producers: Karen Ranucci, Tia Lessin, Carl Deal, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch)
Amy Goodman takes on soldiers, politicians, and corporate media in a fearless pursuit of truth.
Time and Water / United States, Iceland (Director: Sara Dosa; Producers: Shane Boris, Elijah Stevens, Jameka Autry, Sara Dosa)
Facing the death of his country’s glaciers and the loss of his beloved grandparents, Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason turns his archives into a time capsule to hold what is slipping away—family, memory, time and water.
We Are Pat / United States (Director: Rowan Haber; Producers: Caryn Capotosto, Rowan Haber)
We Are Pat is a tale of obsession, transness and how art ages over time told through the thick spectacles of the 1990s cult character Pat from Saturday Night Live.
