Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival unveils 35th-edition lineup with DuVernay, Odenkirk and Hynde premieres

Opening and closing galas anchor the 35th edition

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival announced its full program on Thursday for the 35th edition of the festival, scheduled for October 9-17 in the historic spa town of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Penny Lane's documentary "Wild Inside" will serve as the opening-night gala. The film follows Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl that escaped from New York's Central Park Zoo and became a celebrated urban resident. The closing-night selection will be "Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu," directed by Michael LaHaie, which tracks comedians Bob Odenkirk and David Cross as they revisit three decades of friendship while tackling altitude and age on the Inca Trail.

Centerpiece and centerpiece-plus selections highlight personal quests

Nick Capezzera's "The Other Side of Memory" was named the festival's Centerpiece Selection and will receive its world premiere in Hot Springs. The documentary is described as Capezzera's personal search for his Korean biological parents and is timed to follow shortly after its world premiere at the New York Film Festival. Days after that New York premiere, Hot Springs will also screen "14th," the highly anticipated documentary from Oscar nominee Ava DuVernay, extending a tightly sequenced awards-season rollout between the two festivals.

U.S. premieres honor music icons and expand the music strand

HSDFF will host the U.S. premieres of two music-focused documentaries: "Pretenders," Joss Crowley's film about Chrissie Hynde and her band, and "Darlene Love: I Know Where I've Been," directed by Barry Avrich. R&B and soul singer Darlene Love, described by her peers as one of the greatest vocalists of all time, will serve as the festival's honorary chair. The pair of premieres gives the 35th edition a distinct music-documentary through-line that complements the gala bookends.

Documentary Awards Roundtable and tributes to Berlinger and Richen

For the first time, HSDFF will convene a Documentary Roundtable of leading contenders for the Academy Awards, co-presented with Deadline. The panel will feature representatives from "American Doctor" (director Poh Si Teng), "Closure" (director Michał Marczak), "Once Upon a Time in Harlem" (producer Liani Greaves) and "To Hold a Mountain" (director Biljana Tutorov), with each award-winning film also screening at the festival. Separately, Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Joe Berlinger will receive the Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award ahead of a 30th-anniversary screening of "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," which he co-directed with the late Bruce Sinofsky. Peabody winner Yoruba Richen will receive the festival's Impact Award at the Filmmaker Forum on Monday, October 12, paired with a screening of her new documentary short "Free Joan Little."

Wider lineup adds Mark Cousins series, forums and a Mid-South retreat

The announced features and shorts slate includes work from Barbara Kopple, Ron Howard, Sam Pollard, Nanette Burstein, Waad Al-Kateab, Nathan Truesdell, Cristina Costantini, Sam Soko, Bill Morrison, Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff and Grace Lee, among others. HSDFF will screen "The Story of Documentary Film," Mark Cousins's 16-chapter, one-hour-per-chapter series. The festival's fourth annual Filmmaker Forum, a two-day industry conference, is set for October 12-13, and the inaugural HSDFF Filmmaker Retreat, a four-day intensive for Mid-South/South filmmakers run in partnership with Indie Media Arts South, will launch October 10-13. A live podcast taping featuring Ben Proudfoot was also included in the announcement.

Next milestone

The festival's first competition screenings begin with the opening-night gala on October 9 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, followed by the Filmmaker Forum and Filmmaker Retreat on October 12-13 and the closing-night film on October 17.