Crowdfunding - Film and Storytelling

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles Film Festival (DocuSlate)

December 4-5, 2020

Los Angeles, CA

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles presents a virtual edition of its annual line-up of Documentary films with DocuSlate on December 4th and 5th, 2020, powered by Seed&Spark. The event will include virtual screenings, filmmaker Q&A’s and industry panels. The films programmed include a selection of international features and short documentaries across six programs.

NFMLA DocuSlate Introduction

1 min Directed by NFMLA

I Am Not a Wind-up Doll

56 min • Documentary Directed by Amir Moniri

An expelled teacher launches a relief group for girls.

The Labyrinth of the Moons

69 min • Documentary Directed by Lucrecia Mastrangelo

A look at the lives of trans women in Argentina and an exploration of maternity in all its meaning. Following three main subjects, the stories are intertwined with songs and poems by Susy Schok trans artist, poet and writer. Identity, a true maze that depends on personal construction.

The Man of The Monkey

90 min • Documentary Directed by David Romberg

Intrigued by the tale of a strange man living in isolation with a chimpanzee, filmmaker David Romberg travels to his childhood home in Ilha Grande, Brazil to find him, only to discover that the tale pales in comparison to what he uncovers.

Wild Honey

72 min • Documentary Directed by Farhad Akhmetov

A rare view of the ethnic groups of five regions across Russia: the Bashkirs of the Ural Mountains, the Cossacks of the Caucasus, the Molokans of the Southern Steppe, the Ashkenazim and Krymchaks of the Black Sea, and the Altaians of Central Siberia. While on the surface these groups appear to differ, varying in location, religion, and language, they are united through their connection to music — for all of them, song is an expression of everyday life, each note a trace of the ancestral past, each beat a conduit to the future. Ultimately, the harmonious universality of musical expression is revealed through this rapturous ethnographic look at traditional folk music.

Short Docs #1: Confines and Expanses

101 min

A selection of thought-provoking short documentaries that meditate on the contrast and struggle between confinement and expansiveness, taking us through the stories of a teenager suffering the consequences of a gang injunction following his release from juvenile hall, the frontline battle for the environment through the eyes of Zambian anti-poaching activists, the journey of a quadriplegic race car driver, the tales of refugees cast adrift to form new bonds in foreign lands, and the remarkable story of the friendship that emerged between a Guantánamo detainee and guard.

Short Docs #2: Animated & Experimental

54 min

An exciting collection of documentary works that use animation, mixed media and experimental mediums and structures to tell their stories. Challenging form and celebrating the creativity available to documentary storytelling, these films provide meditations on causes, the nature of reality, identity, personal passions, the rhythms of nature, family relationships and the journey of the individual within a collective.

NFMLA Panel: William Morris Endeavor (WME) on Documentary Filmmaking

Friday, Dec 4, 2020
3:00pm - 12:30pm

Join NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) for a conversation with William Morris Endeavor (WME) agent Matthew Baskharoon. We will discuss representation for documentary filmmakers, the current documentary landscape, both for film and series and the packaging and pitching of documentary projects. This discussion will be Moderated by NFMLA Board Member, Filmmaker and TV Director Varda Bar-Kar.

All event times are Pacific Time.

A Zoom link will be emailed to festival passholders an hour before the start time.