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Welcome to the San Francisco Documentary Festival Virtual Festival!
Explore our on-demand catalog here. Film programs are available May 29-June 8, 2025
Feature Films
Multi-national rescuers in Qatar team up with a cat cafe owner from America to rescue 25 cats amidst a population crisis.
96 min | 2025 | United States
Thu May 29th
25 Cats From Qatar + Q&A
Thu May 29th
40 Watts from Nowhere + Q&A
Acts of Reparation follows two friends as they explore what reparations means to them. Selina, who is Black, and Macky, who is white, have been friends and filmmaking partners for 25 years. Genealogy nerds, they travel south to reclaim and reckon with their roots. In the process they move from awkward outsiders toward belonging to broad kin networks who come along for the ride.
114 min | 2024 | United States
Thu May 29th
Acts of Reparation
CLOSING NIGHT: Anxiety Club offers a heartfelt and humorous exploration of anxiety through the lens of some of today’s most brilliant comedians: Tiffany Jenkins, Joe List, Marc Maron, Aparna Nancherla, Mark Normand, Baron Vaughn, and Eva Victor. With a mix of stand-up performances, sketch videos, exclusive interviews, and relatable everyday life scenarios, they candidly share their personal struggles with anxiety, the world’s most prevalent mental health condition, affecting more than 300 million people globally.
87 min | 2024 | United States
Thu May 29th
Anxiety Club + Q&A
Thu May 29th
Any Problem is No Problem + Q&A
Ten drag performers find solace in each other as they rebel against their oppressive reality and those who control it.
93 min | 2024 | Greece
Thu May 29th
Avant-Drag!
CLOSING NIGHT: In the 1960s, Jule Campbell shattered glass ceilings, transforming a struggling magazine into a media empire: the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. The documentary chronicles her 32-year reign, where she championed intelligence and empowered supermodels like Christie Brinkley. Weaving together her journey with feminism's evolution, the film explores the changing gaze on beauty, from objectification to body positivity. Through stunning visuals and intimate interviews with a wise, nonagenarian Campbell, witness a legacy that continues to inspire.
108 min | 2024 | United States
Thu May 29th
Beyond the Gaze + Q&A
In her 60s, Mary Phillips embarks on a bold pursuit of pleasure, attending dungeon parties, engaging in intimacy with strangers, and offering healing touch through her BDSM practice. After 13 years of celibacy and isolation, Mary begins to reclaim her power, rediscovering herself through sexual play, open-road adventures, and deep self-embodiment.
78 min | 2024 | United States
Thu May 29th
The Flamingo + Q&A
Next to the Salton Sea, in a near-lawless squatter town known as Slab City, a group of young queer and trans people create a thriving safe space called Flamingo Camp. Under the leadership of their founder, Nova, the camp flourishes through the winter months. When Nova departs, summer’s brutal heat sets in with an unthinkable tragedy that fractures their once close-knit chosen family.
81 min | 2025 | United States
Thu May 29th
Flamingo Camp + Q&A
A poetic and honest story about a man who believes that those who forget to be playful will grow old very quickly.Jens-Rune lives to create an enchanting world full of adventures. For 40 years, he and his friends have been exploring it in Jens-Runes version of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Despite his impressive achievement of 40 books filled with stories and imaginative drawings, he still lacks recognition from the outside world, his daughters in particular. Therefore, he decides to showcase his life's work in an exhibition – but navigating the "real world," especially without email and the internet, proves to be a challenge.
Thu May 29th
Gamemaster & Bad Hostage + Q&As
Sneak Preview Work In Progress: One of the most controversial visionaries and political leaders of our time, Gerry Adams led the people of the North of Ireland from conflict towards peace, (1968-1994). A critical voice in the decision taken by the IRA to lay down their arms after their twenty-five-year war against the British state. Imprisoned and shot, Adams has been demonized and censored by dominant media as both a subversive and terrorist – yet the British and their allies were forced to recognize his legitimacy and negotiate with him and his party Sinn Féin, the Irish peace accord, ‘The Good Friday Agreement’.
118 min | 2025 | Mexico, Ireland
Thu May 29th
Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man + Q&A
Thu May 29th
The Hole Story + Q&A
Greyhound racetrack workers, trainers, and breeders in Iowa and Kansas cling to survival as the 100-year-old sport of dog racing faces extinction amidst mounting pressure from animal rights groups.
77 min | 2025 | Canada, United States
Thu May 29th
The Last Hounds + Q&A
The Last Mongolia Horseman follows the life of a nomadic shepherd family across four seasons in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Through quiet observation and poetic imagery, the film captures the rhythms of traditional Mongolian life amidst growing pressures from industrialization and cultural displacement. As the family tends to their animals and sustains their ancestral way of life, the documentary reveals the ecological and spiritual fragility of a vanishing culture. This intimate portrait becomes a powerful meditation on identity, survival, and the unyielding connection between people and their land.
100 min | 2024 | United States
Thu May 29th
The Last Mongolian Horseman + Q&A
Thu May 29th
Life After + Q&A
Thu May 29th
Looking for my Anchor + Q&A
Mahwash: A Documentary Film follows the extraordinary journey of Mahwash, Afghanistan’s pioneering female singer, whose voice transcends borders, exile, and political turmoil. Encouraged by her devoted husband, Farooq, she rises to fame despite cultural barriers, only to face severe backlash when her identity is revealed. As she dreams of a final concert in her homeland, the Taliban’s rise shatters her hopes, banning music and silencing artists. Yet, Mahwash refuses to be silenced. Through intimate performances and Farooq’s unwavering support, she keeps her melodies alive. Honored in Washington, D.C., she delivers a powerful final performance—a tribute to her homeland, an act of resistance, and a testament to music’s enduring power. Her voice, once exiled, becomes immortal.
Thu May 29th
Mahwash & The Honest Poet
Thu May 29th
No Bad Takes: An American Picture Show with William T. Vollmann + Q&A
Discover the extraordinary journey of a feminist icon in Norita the forthcoming feature documentary about Nora Cortiñas. From Executive Producers and Academy Award® Winners Jane Fonda and Gustavo Santaolalla comes a film that takes viewers on a gripping journey through Argentina's tumultuous history, where Norita's personal tragedy becomes a catalyst for change.
2024 | United States, Argentina
Thu May 29th
Norita
Thu May 29th
Peaches Goes Bananas + Q&A
Photographer and activist Misan Harriman, documents the global impact of protest movements, capturing the resilience of grassroots activists fighting for equality, civil rights, and social justice in the year he's nominated for an Oscar.
2024 | Italy, Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States
Thu May 29th
Shoot The People
Surrounding Tajin Mexciothere are several schools for Papantla flyers attended by Dana, Said, Jairo and Sarahí, four children that learn a prehispanic dance where people fly to invoke the rain. While they are prepared to become flyers, they will take us on a journey through the legends that tell how new generations can fly and save the region from drought. In order to fly, they must confront their fears, be disciplined and keep dreaming.
77 min | 2024 | Mexico
Thu May 29th
Sketches on the Sky
For the last 3 years, Pierre-Gilles and Antoine have been growing their vegetables entirely naturally. It's not an easy job, with daily threats such as a changing climate, pests and diseases, not to mention financial pressures. The year 2023 has begun with an added challenge: the road running alongside the plot is undergoing major works, which are making access to the crops more difficult. What's more, they have to live with the workers and put up with the noise
91 min | 2025 | Switzerland
Thu May 29th
A Taste For Things + Q&A
Daniel Claridge and Pacho Velez’s They’re Here uses UFO culture to explore perception and the human quest for connection. New York, with many UFO sightings, is home to believers like Cookie, her friend Steve, comic Twon, and spiritual devotee Dave, who share their encounters, revealing humor and empathy in their search for a shared experience.
2025 | United States
Thu May 29th
They're Here
Thu May 29th
Wild Magic + Q&A
Shorts Programs
Art & Tech Shorts
Thu May 29th
Community Shorts
Thu May 29th
Crafty Shorts
Thu May 29th
The Personal is Political: Shorts
Thu May 29th
Pop/Culture Shorts
Thu May 29th
Resistance of Vision: Selects + Q&A
Thu May 29th
Short Stories Part One +Q&A
Thu May 29th
Short Stories Part Two +Q&A
Thu May 29th
Short Stories Part Three + Q&A
Thu May 29th
Shorts: Rituals
Thu May 29th