Unorthodocs offers an early glimpse of awards season
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The buzziest movie in America is a smash hit documentary — if the fascinating "You Can See Everything" has you in the mood for more nonfiction on film, OSU's Wexner Center for the Arts has the festival for you.
Driving the news: The annual Unorthodocs film festival returns this week with an impressive collection of documentaries.
The intrigue: Now in its 10th year, the festival has found its niche as a place to see prize-winning documentaries before they hit the winter awards circuit.
- Last year's festival featured Peabody- and Emmy-nominated "Predators" and the 2024 edition featured Oscar-winner "No Other Land."
- "You can get in on the ground floor," curator Chris Stults tells Axios. "These are the films that everybody is going to be talking about in two months, but you haven't heard of them yet."
What's inside: This year's lineup features a wide array of topics and mediums.
- The headliner may be "Once Upon a Time in Harlem," a posthumous work by filmmaker William Greaves that documents a 1972 party featuring key Harlem Renaissance figures.
- The already award-winning "American Doctor" documents physicians in a Gazan hospital.
- "The Oldest Person in the World" chronicles Guinness world record holders.
State of play: It's harder than ever for documentary filmmakers to find wide distribution for their work, so festivals like Unorthodocs are important opportunities for both moviegoers and artists.
- "There were several films we showed last year that still aren't really available," Stults says.
Yes, but: After a decade, the festival has become a community for documentary lovers and the people who make them.
- "There are definitely people I mainly see at Unorthodocs," Stults says with a laugh.
- "If you get a pass, you're often going to see a lot of the same people, but it's also a chance to meet people who are interested in the same things as you, or filmmakers who are sitting grabbing a bite."
🎟️ If you go: Screenings run Oct. 22-26.
- Festival passes are $18-45 and most individual screenings are $6-12.