We’re thrilled to announce our full DOC TALKS line-up for Fall 2025. Filmmakers include Masha Chernaya, Kamal Aljafari, Violet Du Feng, Christian Nyampeta, Angelo Madsen, Kumjana Novakova.
Doc Talk: A Fidai Film with Filmmaker Kamal Aljafari
Please join us for our next screening of A Fidai Film, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Kamal Aljafari on October 6th at 1pm in Kellen Auditorium.
In the summer of 1982, the Israeli army invaded Beirut. During this time, it raided the Palestinian Research Center and looted its entire archive. The archive contained historical documents of Palestine, including a collection of still and moving images. Taking this as a premise, ‘A Fidai Film’ aims to create a counter-narrative to this loss, presenting a form of cinematic sabotage that seeks to reclaim and restore the looted memories of Palestinian history. It’s a poignant exploration of identity, memory, and resistance, told through a unique blend of documentary and experimental filmmaking techniques. (Doha Film Institute)
Program Duration: 80 min
About Kamal Aljafari
Kamal Aljafari is a Palestinian filmmaker and artist. His films have screened at major festivals and museums, including Locarno, London, Viennale, and the 35th Bienal de São Paulo. He has received prestigious awards from FIDMarseille, Pesaro, and Visions du Réel. In 2024, IndieLisboa hosted a full retrospective of his work. Aljafari has taught at The New School and DFFB in Berlin and was a Film Study Center fellow at Harvard. Currently a fellow at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination, he is developing “Beirut 1931,” a fiction film to be shot in Jaffa.
Please join us for this screening and Q&A, hosted and moderated by Amir Husak, Director of Documentary Studies and Assistant Professor of Media Studies.
Join us for our 1st Doc Talk of Fall 2025!
We’re excited to open the Fall 2025 Doc Talks screening season with The Shards by Masha Chernaya, followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.
In Spring 2022 Masha prepares to leave Russia – her homeland that has changed. It turns into a chain of unexpected farewells: her mom dies of cancer, her lover flees army conscription, everything including her own old self is falling apart. Her way to cope with the grief is to fixate everything with her camera. Her anger guides her to inner emigration to the local underground scene, which became an escape for young Russians. This kaleidoscope of shards chronicles not only the spirit of the time, but the director’s personality crumbling against the backdrop of global turmoil.
With a multifaceted background, Masha Chernaya works as a director and cinematographer, editor, text author, photographer, and illustrator, blending her diverse talents to create compelling visual narratives. Her most recent feature documentary The Shards (2024) has won the Doc Alliance award for Best Feature Film.
Please join us for this screening and Q&A, hosted and moderated by Amir Husak, Director of Documentary Studies and Assistant Professor in the School of Media Studies.
Doc Studies Alumni at DOC NYC 2024!
We are thrilled to announce that several alumni of the Doc Studies program have been selected to showcase their films at DOC NYC, the largest documentary festival in America, this November! Orgy Every Other Day by Samuel Döring (Class of 2024) and If I’m Being Honest by B.A. Williams (Class of 2024) have been chosen for the shorts programs, while Dark Chambers by Jordan Salyers (Class of 2024) was competitively selected for DOC NYC U. All three short films were previously featured during our 17th annual Doc Studies showcase, Truth Be Told 2024. Congratulations to our talented alumni!
Explore their backgrounds, the films’ synopses, and screening details below.
Orgy Every Other Day
Director/Writer: Samuel Döring
In basements and lofts NYC’s queer underground sex party community has created spaces where people can play and enjoy orgies in a safe and semi-public environment. The film explores what these places mean to people, where these parties originate from and why it might be important for them to remain underground. (USA 13 MIN)
In-Person Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 9:15 PM
- Venue: IFC Center
In-Person Date: Friday, November 15, 2024 4:00 PM
- Venue: IFC Center
Online Dates: Wednesday, November 13 – Monday, December 02, 2024
Samuel Döring is a German-French filmmaker, festival programmer, and film critic. They graduated with their debut short film Orgy Every Other Day as part of the Documentary Studies class of 2024 at The New School, funded by the Fulbright Program. Sam worked as a cultural programmer at Goethe-Institut Senegal and as a program coordinator at DOK Leipzig and hosts the film podcast Nach dem Kino on Spotify.
If I’m Being Honest
Director/Writer: B.A. Williams
A filmmaker delves into their origin story, uncovering painful truths about their estranged mother. Weaving a vulnerable letter to their son and a recorded conversation with their mother, scenes of domestic life form a poignant backdrop to this exploration. (USA 16 MIN)
In-Person Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2024 1:45 PM
- Venue: Village East by Angelika
In-Person Date: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 4:30 PM
- Venue: IFC Center
Online Dates: Wednesday, November 13 – Monday, December 02, 2024
B.A. Williams (they/she) is a writer and filmmaker. Originally from Long Beach, CA, they now call New Jersey home, where they live with their wife, Nikki, and child, Morrison. They hold an MFA in Creative Writing and are pursuing their Master’s in Media Studies at The New School, where they wrote, filmed, and directed their first short film, If I’m Being Honest. B.A. is interested in exploring themes of Blackness, motherhood, belonging, and longing in their films and, at the same time, juggling the tall task of shifting and centering the narrative surrounding queerness by focusing on the beauty of mundane queer life. Their writing is featured in Rigorous Magazine, Every-Other Broadsides, The Rumpus, and The New York Times: Parenting. (photographed by: Michael DeJour)
Dark Chambers
Directors: Jordan & Kanette Salyers
In the shadow of covid-19, the filmmaker and his mother huddle around their family photo album, updating old media and transcribing written histories. But in preserving these dark chambers, what goes to rot?
In-Person Date: Thursday, November 21, 2024 3:30 PM
- Venue: Village East by Angelika
Online Dates: Wednesday, November 13 – Monday, December 02, 2024
Jordan Salyers (he/him) was born in Maryland, 1992, to an extraordinary, singular single-mother, Kanette. His first act of independence was flunking out of the local college. He then made the most regretful decision, in 2012, to enlist in the US Navy. He has a lot to say about that. In 2019, he grew out his hair and relocated to NYC as a student at The New School. He works with blended fictions; he likes found-footage film and video; he loves his partner, Victoria, and her cat, Uma. He hopes to remain a student indefinitely.
Certificate in Documentary Media Studies is On Hiatus for the 2024-2025 Academic Year
The Documentary Media Studies Graduate Certificate will be on hiatus in Fall 2024-Spring 2025 semesters.
We encourage those interested in The New School’s 2-year Masters Program in Media Studies to apply for admission for Fall 2024 and to pursue the Documentary Certificate in their second year of study. Applications to the Documentary Certificate for students seeking to enter in Fall 2025 will open in September 2024.
Announcing the Doc Talks Spring 2024 Lineup
We are excited to announce our Doc Talks Line-up for Spring 2024! Throughout the semester, we will be hosting screenings and Q&A conversations with directors from around the world. Please join us for what we know will be a great semester!
Check out the Spring 2024 lineup webpage for more details and registration links.
Doc Studies Alumni at DOC NYC 2023!
We’re thrilled to announce that several Doc Studies program alumni are screening their films this November at DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival! Rite of Passage by Talha Jalal (Class of 2023) is an official selection of the shorts programs, and Through a Glass Eye by Lola Granger-Jourdan (Class of 2023) was competitively selected for DOC NYC U. Both short films were previously presented during our Doc Studies annual showcase, Truth Be Told 2023. Mahdokht Mahmoudabadi (Class of 2018) is the lead editor of the feature film Three Promises, included in the official selection of DOC NYC. Congratulations to our alums!
Learn more about their backgrounds, the films’ synopses, and screening details below.
Continue reading “Doc Studies Alumni at DOC NYC 2023!”Doc Talk Fall 2023 Lineup
We are excited to announce our Doc Talk Line-up for Fall 2023! Throughout the semester, we will be hosting in person and virtual Q&A conversations with directors from around the world. Please join us for what we know will be a great semester!
Check out the Fall 2023 lineup webpage for more details and registration links.
The New School Doc Studies 