American Documentary
Toggle menu
Watch
Engage
Create
Donate
POV
America ReFramed
Interactive
Toggle search
Clear search
Media
Resources
Search
American Documentary
Close modal
True Love in Pueblo Textil
Short Film
2020
10 Mins
Nine-year-old Maribel tells us how it feels to be stricken with the world's oldest affliction.
Based on similar topics
Youth
Arts & Culture
Still Tomorrow
Watch Interview
Interview
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2018
Interview
A village woman with no high school diploma becomes China's most famous poet, and her book of poetry the best-selling such volume in China in the past 20 years. Still Tomorrow follows Yu Xiuhua, a 39-year-old woman living with cerebral ...
Whose Streets?
Watch Clip
Clip
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2018
Clip
When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of the St. Louis area and beyond. Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the ...
Brimstone & Glory
Watch Interview
Interview
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2018
Interview
The National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico, is a site of festivity unlike any other in the world. Conflagrant revelry engulfs the town, while artisans show off their technical virtuosity. For the three-quarters of Tultepec residents who work in pyrotechnics ...
Swim Team
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2017
Feature Film
Parents of a boy on the autism spectrum form a competitive swim team, recruiting other teens on the spectrum and training them with high expectations and zero pity.
Swim Team
chronicles the extraordinary rise of three diverse young athletes, capturing ...
Raising Bertie
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2017
Feature Film
Raising Bertie
is an intimate portrait of three African American boys as they face a precarious coming of age in rural Bertie County, North Carolina. Like many rural areas, Bertie County struggles with a dwindling economy, a declining population, and ...
From Damascus to Chicago
More Info
Info
Short Film
2017
Short Film
In the documentary short
From Damascus to Chicago
, two young Syrian siblings recently resettled in Chicago enroll in a dance class, while the film follows their family's experiences in navigating a new city and country.
Pink Boy
More Info
Info
Short Film
2016
Short Film
An intimate portrait of a gender-nonconforming child growing up in conservative rural Florida.
StoryCorps Shorts: Eyes on the Stars
More Info
Info
Short Film
2012
Short Film
Carl McNair tells the story of his brother Ronald, an African-American kid in the 1950s who set his sights on the stars.
StoryCorps Shorts: Facundo the Great
More Info
Info
Short Film
2012
Short Film
Ramòn "Chunky" Sanchez recounts how the new kid at school became a hero when his teachers could not find a way to anglicize his name.
Big Birding Day
More Info
Info
Short Film
2011
Short Film
David Wilson offers a glimpse into the world of competitive birdwatching, as three friends attempt to see as many species as possible in 24 hours.
Joe's Violin
More Info
Info
Short Film
2017
Short Film
In the Oscar-nominated
Joe's Violin
, a donated musical instrument forges an improbable friendship. 91-year-old Holocaust survivor Joe Feingold and 12-year-old Bronx school girl Brianna Perez show how the power of music can bring light in the darkest of times, and ...
Balloonfest
More Info
Info
Short Film
2018
Short Film
The city of Cleveland was abuzz on September 27, 1986. Over 1.5 million balloons were about to be released at once, breaking the world record. What could go wrong?
Stay Close
More Info
Info
Short Film
2019
Short Film
Stay Close
blends home videos and animation in an expressionistic montage to tell the underdog story of Keeth Smart, an African American fencer from Brooklyn who overcomes a gauntlet of hardships on his road to the Olympics.
Crisanto Street
More Info
Info
Short Film
2020
Short Film
In the shadow of Silicon Valley, a hidden community thrives despite difficult circumstances. For one resident, eight-year-old Geovany Cesario, impending change is bittersweet.
The Velvet Underground Played At My High School
More Info
Info
Short Film
2020
Short Film
This animated short recounts the Velvet Underground's first gig in 1965: in front of a crowd of shocked kids at a suburban New Jersey high school.
Gentlemen of Vision
Watch Trailer
Trailer
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2018
Trailer
Gentlemen of Vision
follows a year in the life of coach, counselor and founder Marlon Wharton, and his 2015-2016 class of young Black males as he strives to rewrite future prospects for his students. While striving for excellence in school ...
For Ahkeem
Watch Trailer
Trailer
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2018
Trailer
Expelled from high school, Daje Shelton is only 17 years old when she is sentenced by a judge – not to prison, but to an alternative school, the Innovative Concept Academy. It offers Daje one last chance to earn a high ...
Agents of Change
Watch Trailer
Trailer
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2018
Trailer
Agents of Change
examines the racial conditions on college campuses across the U.S. in the late 1960’s, focusing on student demands at two seminal protests: San Francisco State in 1968 and Cornell University in 1969. Many of the ...
Through the Repellent Fence
Watch Trailer
Trailer
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2018
Trailer
Through the Repellent Fence
follows the creation of a two-mile long ephemeral art installation by three Native American artists: Raven Chacon, Cristóbal Martínez, and Kade L. Twist. Collectively known as "Postcommodity," these artists explore Indigenous connections to place and ...
Finding Kukan
Watch Trailer
Trailer
More Info
Info
Feature Film
2018
Trailer
Filmmaker Robin Lung documents her 7-year journey to uncover the efforts of Li Ling-Ai, the visionary but uncredited producer of Kukan. Lung discovers a damaged film print of Kukan, and pieces together the untold tale of the two renegades behind ...
Engage with the issues
Nine-year-old Maribel tells us how it feels to be stricken with the world's oldest affliction.
Film Credits
Horatio Balz
Press Room
American Documentary Receives 7 News & Documentary Emmy® Award Nominations for POV and POV Shorts Across Several Categories
American Documentary Announces the 2025 Wyncote Filmmaker Fellows in Attendance at PBS Annual Meeting
American Documentary Welcomes Monica Ma as New Development Officer for External Affairs
More from The Press Room
Donate
Become a donor
Create
Explore resources &
funds for filmmakers