Elegance Bratton’s “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House” will open the 10th edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on April 30. The doc, which premiered at Sundance 2025, charts the rise of house music. The film recounts how the Disco Sucks movement led to the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, which resulted in thousands of people throwing records, mostly by Black artists, into a bonfire. The doc highlights Vince Lawrence, who was working as an usher at Demolition Night. Lawrence reveals how the event led him to become one of the founding innovators of house music. Doc10, a five-day fest running April 30-May 4, will feature a selection of 11 of the past year’s most acclaimed feature documentaries. They include Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim and Nyle DiMarco’s recent SXSW audience award winner “Deaf President Now!” and Elizabeth Lo’s “Mistress Dispeller,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2024 and went on to win 11 major film festival prizes from around the world. Dedicated to supporting social-impact documentary films, the fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project (CMP).
Director: Mstyslav Chernov Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath
Ukraine, 107 min
As enthralling and haunting as war cinema classics All Quiet on the Western Front and Apocalypse Now, the new film from the Oscar-winning director of 20 Days in Mariupol plunges the viewer into the trenches of Eastern Ukraine. It is 2023. Amid Ukraine’s brutalizing counteroffensive, the film follows Ukrainian platoons as they traverse a thin corridor of decimated forest, fighting for every inch of their land and creeping ever closer—2000 meters, 1000 meters, 500 meters—to retake the town of Andriivka. Mstyslav Chernov skillfully balances heart-stopping helmet-cam combat footage with profoundly intimate moments with the soldiers, revealing their vulnerability and humanity. Still as timely as ever, with stakes that couldn’t be higher for the Ukrainian people, or for Chernov himself. Antidote
Director/producer: James Jones
United Kingdom 89 min.
What is the cost of speaking truth to power? In Putin’s Russia, it could mean your life. This immersive docu-thriller follows Christo Grozev, lead researcher at the investigative journalism group Bellingcat, who famously identified those who poisoned Alexei Navalny. But now it’s Grozev who is in Putin’s crosshairs. While working on an exposé about Russia’s poison program and helping to exfiltrate a key Russian whistleblower, Grozev learns that he and his family’s lives are at risk. Deaf President Now!
Directors: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim Producers: Jonathan King, Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim, Amanda Rohlke, Michael Harte
U.S.,101 min
The story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard of… Deaf President Now! recounts the thrilling eight days of protests held at Gallaudet University in 1988 after the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over several very qualified Deaf candidates. The protests marked a pivotal moment in civil rights history, with an impact that extended well beyond the Gallaudet campus, and paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The film features exclusive interviews with the five key figures of the movement, including the Gallaudet Four—Jerry Covell, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Tim Rarus and Greg Hlibok—alongside dean I. King Jordan, as well as archival and scripted elements. The film also incorporates an experimental narrative approach called Deaf Point of View, using impressionistic visual photography and intricate sound design to thrust the audience into the Deaf experience. Folktales
Director/producers: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
U.S., 106 Min
On the cusp of adulthood, three teenagers converge on Norway’s rustic Pasvik Folk High School for a unique gap year experience. Rather than study literature or politics, Hege, Bjorn, and Romain learn Nordic myths, survival skills, and dogsledding, and the transformative power of bonding with their newfound Siberian Husky partners. Both a beautiful snapshot of our majestic Arctic climate and a charming portrait of young adults each trying to overcome their own personal challenges, the film eschews the typical competing teens documentary for a subtler tale about sensitive souls and coming-of-age. Move Ya Body: The Birth of House
Director: Elegance Bratton
Producers: Chester Algernal Gordon, Elegance Bratton
U.S., 92 min
The defining story of Chicago’s house music scene is finally here. Summer 1979: In the chaos of Comiskey Park’s “Disco Demolition Night,” teenage usher Vince Lawrence witnesses a fiery scene: Thousands of people are throwing records, mostly by Black artists, into a bonfire. Undeterred by the display of racist and homophobic hostility, Vince saves his money to buy a synthesizer, setting in motion a life’s journey that would forever impact the sound of music. Mixing interviews with house music pioneers and compelling cinematic recreations, Move Ya Body offers a revelatory chronicle of house’s humble roots, explosive influence, and inevitable exploitation, all the while celebrating its unique power to liberate listeners and bring people together. Ghost Boy
Director: Rodney Ascher Producers: Elika Portnoy, Ryan Bartecki, Gary Levinsohn, Billy Hines
U.S., 95 min.
Ghost Boy is the moving and inspiring story of Martin Pistorius, who fell into a mysterious coma when he was just 12 years old. Three years later, he woke up, paralyzed and unable to communicate, finding himself suffering from locked-in syndrome and fearful that he would live his life as a “ghost,” invisible to those around him. Alternating between vivid dream-like recreations of Martin’s past and present-day interviews with the charismatic survivor, the film effectively conveys Martin’s extraordinary journey—an emotional roller coaster ride of heartbreak and triumph. In Waves and War
Directors: Jon Shenk, Bonni Cohen Producers: Jessica Anthony, Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
U.S., 108 min
Marcus Capone, Matty Roberts and DJ Shipley are elite and decorated Navy SEALs—highly skilled men who have been trained to endure combat’s most excruciating psychological and physical stresses—and yet, they are completely shattered by their experiences in Afghanistan. When government treatment options fail to address their PTSD, these fighting men embark on a new tour of duty: They travel to Mexico to undertake experimental psychedelic treatments to try to make themselves whole again. Mistress Dispeller
Director: Elizabeth Lo Producers: Emma D. Miller, Elizabeth Lo, Maggie Li China,
U.S., 94 min.
One of the most acclaimed documentaries of the year and winner of nearly a dozen festival awards, this deeply fascinating family portrait follows the emotional journey of Mrs. Li, an upper-middle-class Chinese woman who learns her husband is having an affair. Desperate to save her marriage, Mrs. Li hires a “mistress dispeller” —a crafty young female professional named Wang Zhenxi—to repair her love life. Unfolding in almost real time, Mistress Dispeller follows “Teacher” Wang as she clandestinely befriends both the cheating husband and the mistress, all part of her intricate master plan to restore the family’s equilibrium. The Perfect Neighbor
Director: Geeta Gandbhir Producers: Nikon Kwantu, Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Sam Bisbee
U.S., 94 min
In 2023, in a small middle-class suburban street in Central Florida, a seemingly minor dispute escalated into violence. While Black children play in a grassy open lot between houses, one resident Susan Lorincz—who calls herself “the perfect neighbor”—feels continually taunted and allegedly threatened. Conceived almost entirely using bodycam footage from police who were called into investigate Lorincz’s claims of harassment, The Perfect Neighbor is the increasingly gripping chronicle of an escalating conflict, laying bare in stunning and intimate detail the racial schisms and profound injustices that continue to define American life. Predators
Director: David Osit Producers: Jamie Gonçalves, Kellen Quinn, David Osit
U.S., 96 min
A captivating and provocative exploration of America’s obsession with true crime and vigilante justice, Predators explores the rise and fall of To Catch a Predator. Each episode of the popular Dateline NBC series was designed to hunt down child predators by luring adult men to a house with a young decoy. There, TV host Chris Hansen would eventually emerge from the shadows and confront the men in front of the cameras before they would eventually be turned over to the police. Prime Minister
Directors: Michelle Walshe, Lindsay Utz
Producers: Cass Avery, Leon Kirkbeck, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Katie Peck, Clarke Gayford
U.S., 102 min
In this compelling and inspiring portrait, filmmakers Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz vividly capture New Zealand Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Dame Jacinda Ardern’s extraordinary and heartening journey as a leader guided by compassion. At just 37-years-old, she led her country over five tumultuous years guided by her mantra: “Optimism is true moral courage.”
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Other Doc10 highlights include Sundance winners “The Perfect Neigbor,” which was recently acquired by Netflix , “2000 Meters To Andriivka” directed by Oscar-winner Mstyslav Chernov (“20 Day In Mariupol”) and “Antidote,” about Russia’s real-time murder plot against journalist Christo Grozev. Fellow Sundance hits heading to Doc10 include David Osit’s “Predators” and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s “Folktales.” Consistent with the past 10 years, every Doc10 screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmakers. “When American democratic norms, the rule of law, and basic long-held facts are under attack, a documentary film festival is a vital place for people to come together and experience people’s true stories and actual struggles,” says Doc10 senior programmer Anthony Kaufman. “Whether it’s dog-sledding teenagers in the majestic “Foktales,” Ukrainian soldiers fighting for their homeland in “2000 Meters To Andriivka,” or a Bulgarian journalist trying to keep his family from being killed by Putin’s kill squads in “Antidote,” you can witness directly what’s going on in the world versus what propagandists and social media are saying.” Doc10 will conclude on May 4 with the Sundance world cinema audience award-winning film “Prime Minister, about former Rt. Hon. Dame New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The film’s directors Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz will participate in a post-screening conversation with Ardern. Doc veterans Geralyn Dreyfous, Tabitha Jackson, and Kellen Quinn will be honored at a special fest ten-year anniversary celebration gala on May 3. Dreyfous is an American producer with over 180 film credits that include Oscar-winning and nominated films “Born Into Brothels,” “Icarus,” and “The Invisible War.” She will receive the Angel Award. Jackson was the first woman and person of color to be appointed director of the Sundance Film Festival, and she served as head of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program from 2013 to 2020. She will receive the Luminary Award. Oscar-nominated producer Kellen Quinn (“Predators,” Sugarcane”) is the recipient of the Vanguard Award. “This year’s honorees underscore our festival’s mission to celebrate and promote the visionaries and leaders in our field,” Doc10 co-founders Steve Cohen and Paula Froehle said in a joint statement. “Geralyn Dreyfous, Tabitha Jackson, and Kellen Quinn embody the values of these awards with their deep commitment to impact-driven storytelling, innovative filmmaking, and overall incredible contributions to the documentary film community. We look forward to welcoming them, and all of our incredible guests.” The anniversary celebration on May 3 will also include the fourth edition of CMP’s Great Chicago Pitch, which awards three finalists of the Shifting Voices Film Fund. The Fund is dedicated to championing films that amplify the voices, perspectives, and histories of underrepresented communities across America. This year’s fest lineup will also include the third annual Doc10 shorts program, featuring the Chicago premieres of eight new short films curated from the top film festivals, including Sundance, Rotterdam, BlackStar, and IDFA. Four of last year’s Doc10 films, “Daughters,” “Porcelain War,” “Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat, and “Union,” were shortlisted for the best documentary Oscar. Two – “Porcelain War” and “Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat” were nominated for an Academy Award in 2025. 2000 Meters to AndriivkaDirector: Mstyslav Chernov Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath
Ukraine, 107 min
As enthralling and haunting as war cinema classics All Quiet on the Western Front and Apocalypse Now, the new film from the Oscar-winning director of 20 Days in Mariupol plunges the viewer into the trenches of Eastern Ukraine. It is 2023. Amid Ukraine’s brutalizing counteroffensive, the film follows Ukrainian platoons as they traverse a thin corridor of decimated forest, fighting for every inch of their land and creeping ever closer—2000 meters, 1000 meters, 500 meters—to retake the town of Andriivka. Mstyslav Chernov skillfully balances heart-stopping helmet-cam combat footage with profoundly intimate moments with the soldiers, revealing their vulnerability and humanity. Still as timely as ever, with stakes that couldn’t be higher for the Ukrainian people, or for Chernov himself. Antidote
Director/producer: James Jones
United Kingdom 89 min.
What is the cost of speaking truth to power? In Putin’s Russia, it could mean your life. This immersive docu-thriller follows Christo Grozev, lead researcher at the investigative journalism group Bellingcat, who famously identified those who poisoned Alexei Navalny. But now it’s Grozev who is in Putin’s crosshairs. While working on an exposé about Russia’s poison program and helping to exfiltrate a key Russian whistleblower, Grozev learns that he and his family’s lives are at risk. Deaf President Now!
Directors: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim Producers: Jonathan King, Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim, Amanda Rohlke, Michael Harte
U.S.,101 min
The story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard of… Deaf President Now! recounts the thrilling eight days of protests held at Gallaudet University in 1988 after the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over several very qualified Deaf candidates. The protests marked a pivotal moment in civil rights history, with an impact that extended well beyond the Gallaudet campus, and paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The film features exclusive interviews with the five key figures of the movement, including the Gallaudet Four—Jerry Covell, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Tim Rarus and Greg Hlibok—alongside dean I. King Jordan, as well as archival and scripted elements. The film also incorporates an experimental narrative approach called Deaf Point of View, using impressionistic visual photography and intricate sound design to thrust the audience into the Deaf experience. Folktales
Director/producers: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
U.S., 106 Min
On the cusp of adulthood, three teenagers converge on Norway’s rustic Pasvik Folk High School for a unique gap year experience. Rather than study literature or politics, Hege, Bjorn, and Romain learn Nordic myths, survival skills, and dogsledding, and the transformative power of bonding with their newfound Siberian Husky partners. Both a beautiful snapshot of our majestic Arctic climate and a charming portrait of young adults each trying to overcome their own personal challenges, the film eschews the typical competing teens documentary for a subtler tale about sensitive souls and coming-of-age. Move Ya Body: The Birth of House
Director: Elegance Bratton
Producers: Chester Algernal Gordon, Elegance Bratton
U.S., 92 min
The defining story of Chicago’s house music scene is finally here. Summer 1979: In the chaos of Comiskey Park’s “Disco Demolition Night,” teenage usher Vince Lawrence witnesses a fiery scene: Thousands of people are throwing records, mostly by Black artists, into a bonfire. Undeterred by the display of racist and homophobic hostility, Vince saves his money to buy a synthesizer, setting in motion a life’s journey that would forever impact the sound of music. Mixing interviews with house music pioneers and compelling cinematic recreations, Move Ya Body offers a revelatory chronicle of house’s humble roots, explosive influence, and inevitable exploitation, all the while celebrating its unique power to liberate listeners and bring people together. Ghost Boy
Director: Rodney Ascher Producers: Elika Portnoy, Ryan Bartecki, Gary Levinsohn, Billy Hines
U.S., 95 min.
Ghost Boy is the moving and inspiring story of Martin Pistorius, who fell into a mysterious coma when he was just 12 years old. Three years later, he woke up, paralyzed and unable to communicate, finding himself suffering from locked-in syndrome and fearful that he would live his life as a “ghost,” invisible to those around him. Alternating between vivid dream-like recreations of Martin’s past and present-day interviews with the charismatic survivor, the film effectively conveys Martin’s extraordinary journey—an emotional roller coaster ride of heartbreak and triumph. In Waves and War
Directors: Jon Shenk, Bonni Cohen Producers: Jessica Anthony, Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
U.S., 108 min
Marcus Capone, Matty Roberts and DJ Shipley are elite and decorated Navy SEALs—highly skilled men who have been trained to endure combat’s most excruciating psychological and physical stresses—and yet, they are completely shattered by their experiences in Afghanistan. When government treatment options fail to address their PTSD, these fighting men embark on a new tour of duty: They travel to Mexico to undertake experimental psychedelic treatments to try to make themselves whole again. Mistress Dispeller
Director: Elizabeth Lo Producers: Emma D. Miller, Elizabeth Lo, Maggie Li China,
U.S., 94 min.
One of the most acclaimed documentaries of the year and winner of nearly a dozen festival awards, this deeply fascinating family portrait follows the emotional journey of Mrs. Li, an upper-middle-class Chinese woman who learns her husband is having an affair. Desperate to save her marriage, Mrs. Li hires a “mistress dispeller” —a crafty young female professional named Wang Zhenxi—to repair her love life. Unfolding in almost real time, Mistress Dispeller follows “Teacher” Wang as she clandestinely befriends both the cheating husband and the mistress, all part of her intricate master plan to restore the family’s equilibrium. The Perfect Neighbor
Director: Geeta Gandbhir Producers: Nikon Kwantu, Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Sam Bisbee
U.S., 94 min
In 2023, in a small middle-class suburban street in Central Florida, a seemingly minor dispute escalated into violence. While Black children play in a grassy open lot between houses, one resident Susan Lorincz—who calls herself “the perfect neighbor”—feels continually taunted and allegedly threatened. Conceived almost entirely using bodycam footage from police who were called into investigate Lorincz’s claims of harassment, The Perfect Neighbor is the increasingly gripping chronicle of an escalating conflict, laying bare in stunning and intimate detail the racial schisms and profound injustices that continue to define American life. Predators
Director: David Osit Producers: Jamie Gonçalves, Kellen Quinn, David Osit
U.S., 96 min
A captivating and provocative exploration of America’s obsession with true crime and vigilante justice, Predators explores the rise and fall of To Catch a Predator. Each episode of the popular Dateline NBC series was designed to hunt down child predators by luring adult men to a house with a young decoy. There, TV host Chris Hansen would eventually emerge from the shadows and confront the men in front of the cameras before they would eventually be turned over to the police. Prime Minister
Directors: Michelle Walshe, Lindsay Utz
Producers: Cass Avery, Leon Kirkbeck, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Katie Peck, Clarke Gayford
U.S., 102 min
In this compelling and inspiring portrait, filmmakers Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz vividly capture New Zealand Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Dame Jacinda Ardern’s extraordinary and heartening journey as a leader guided by compassion. At just 37-years-old, she led her country over five tumultuous years guided by her mantra: “Optimism is true moral courage.”
