Catch up on the essentials
- The festival will open with Ava DuVernay's "14th," a Netflix documentary examining threats to the protections and rights afforded by the 14th Amendment that premiered at the New York Film Festival earlier this month.
- The lineup includes 10 Oscar-contending feature documentaries and 11 short documentaries.
- The festival will feature three Doc Talks, including a 60-minute conversation with Poitras and Mueller about embedding themselves in a Minneapolis community during a wave of ICE raids.
Selected from this article · 2026-10-14
Read on for the full pictureDoc Stories announces opening and closing films
SFFILM has set the program for the 12th edition of Doc Stories, its San Francisco documentary film festival running November 5–8 at the Vogue Theater. The festival will open with Ava DuVernay's "14th," a Netflix documentary examining threats to the protections and rights afforded by the 14th Amendment that premiered at the New York Film Festival earlier this month. Sam Pollard's "Tutu," a profile of South African archbishop and anti-Apartheid activist Desmond Tutu, will close the four-day event.
Oscar contenders and filmmakers set to attend
The lineup includes 10 Oscar-contending feature documentaries and 11 short documentaries. Among the feature selections are J.M. Harper's "Soul Patrol" and James Marcus Haney's "Black Sunflowers," the latter executive produced by three-time Oscar winner Sean Penn and focused on the Ukraine war. Oscar winner Laura Poitras is bringing her short "They're Here," co-directed with Rachel Lauren Mueller and documenting ICE agents' descent on Minneapolis, while two-time Oscar nominee Joshua Oppenheimer will present his short "The Revolution Against Death." Oscar-shortlisted filmmaker Luke Lorentzen's "Boatbuilders" is also on the program. DuVernay, Pollard, Poitras, Lorentzen and two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot are slated to attend.
Doc Talks and Doc Congress programming
The festival will feature three Doc Talks, including a 60-minute conversation with Poitras and Mueller about embedding themselves in a Minneapolis community during a wave of ICE raids. Beyond the public program, SFFILM's Artist Development team will convene Doc Congress, a day of dialogue and networking for filmmakers, funders and industry professionals. This year's Doc Congress includes a group discussion on AI use in documentaries featuring Srđan Keča, director of Stanford's MFA in Documentary Film, and Rachel Antell, co-founder of the Archival Producers Alliance. Artist Development will also host an inaugural Pitch Forum for three local filmmakers.
Schools at Doc Stories expands educational programming
From November 2–10, SFFILM's Education team will host students and teachers at Schools at Doc Stories, featuring free screenings at SFMOMA, online classroom programs and filmmaker Q&As. Two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot will lead a documentary workshop for teen filmmakers.
Festival leadership and Oscar track record
"For over a decade, Doc Stories has embodied the best of what SFFILM and the San Francisco Bay Area champion and celebrate in new documentary work," said SFFILM executive director Anne Lai. Director of programming Jessie Fairbanks added that the 2026 edition was drawn to "filmmakers who are looking closely at the forces shaping our lives, while also revealing the humor, beauty, resilience, and contradictions within them." Since 2015, Doc Stories has hosted more than two dozen selections that went on to earn Academy Award nominations, with winners including "No Other Land" and "Summer of Soul."
Follow-up signals
Doc Stories runs November 5–8, 2026, with Schools at Doc Stories programming extending through November 10. Further Doc Talks and filmmaker Q&A schedules are expected as the festival approaches.
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