Of course, I'll be helping out and covering the Chicago Critics Film Festival. In addition, Doc10 is happening around the same time. The latter is always great too - and their lineup has been announced! Read all about it below!
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In person guests for Doc10 this year include Author Salman Rushdie, Maria Bamford, Award-Winning Directors Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus, Maite Alberdi, and Ross McElwee! April 24-May 3, 2026
As most of you know, Ross McElwee is my favorite documentary filmmaker. My first attempt at a solo podcast for Director's Club was all about his work and how much it means to me. To say that I'm excited for his latest work is an understatement, so I'm really glad it's playing the Doc10 Film Festival. Here's the rundown/press release of everything they're showing this year. More on the Chicago Critics Film Festival (also the first week of May) in the weeks to come!
GIVE ME THE BALL! an upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 film, leads the Doc10 film festival’s showcase of the best in documentary cinema, headlining this year’s festival events on Thursday, April 30 at the Davis Theater. GIVE ME THE BALL! tells the incredible, inspiring story of world champion trailblazer Billie Jean King through compelling interviews with King herself, still a magnetic presence, revealing both her competitive drive on the court as well as her private struggles with her sexual identity.
Celebrating its 11th year, Doc10 will close on Sunday, May 3 with KNIFE: THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SALMAN RUSHDIE, a captivating and compelling chronicle of the 2022 violent assault against world-renown author Salman Rushdie followed by a Q&A with Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, and the film’s participants, celebrated author Salman Rushdie and poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths.
Doc10’s slate also includes the latest films from other highly acclaimed documentary-makers, including two-time Oscar nominated filmmaker Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent) with her recent Berlin Film Festival premiere A CHILD OF MY OWN, an engaging stranger-than-fiction story about a woman, desperate to be a mother, who faked her own pregnancy; and REMAKE, from legendary personal documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee, as he grapples with the juxtaposition of the death of his son and an awkward Hollywood development deal.
Other highlights include Sundance winners SOUL PATROL, winner of the Best Directing Prize, about the first elite unit of Black special ops fighters in the Vietnam War; EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET, winner of the Special Jury Award for Civil Resistance, which follows a 2021 immigration raid in Glasgow, Scotland and the community’s rallying response to stop their neighbors’ deportation; and winner of the Short Film Grand Jury Prize, THE BADDEST SPEECHWRITER OF ALL, about Martin Luther King Jr.’s trusted lawyer and speechwriter, directed by two-time Academy Award winning director Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry.
“If I had to come up with a theme for this year’s selection, it would be perseverance,” says Doc10 Senior Programmer Anthony Kaufman. "Many of our films follow people who are fiercely determined whether Billie Jean King, Salman Rushdie, or Amy Goodman; a father relentlessly searching for his missing son; a would-be-mother who desperately wants a child; American doctors bravely trying to provide medical care in Gaza; or even Girl Scouts tenaciously selling cookies. Perhaps these are exactly the kind of stories we need right now."
Doc10 2026 Official Selections
- A CHILD OF MY OWN (Dir. Maite Alberdi)
- AMERICAN DOCTOR (Dir. Poh Si Teng) *In partnership with the Chicago Palestine Film Festival
- CLOSURE (Dir. Michał Marczak)
- COOKIE QUEENS (Dir. Alysa Nahmias)
- EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET (Dir: Felipe Bustos Sierra)
- GIVE ME THE BALL! (Dirs. Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff)
- KNIFE: THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SALMAN RUSHDIE (Dir. Alex Gibney)
- PARALYZED BY HOPE: THE MARIA BAMFORD STORY (Dirs. Judd Apatow, Neil Berkeley)
- REMAKE (Dir. Ross McElwee)
- SOUL PATROL (Dir. J. M. Harper)
- STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE! (Dirs: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin) *Speak Truth presentation
- THE BADDEST SPEECHWRITER OF ALL (Dirs: Ben Proudfoot, Stephen Curry) *Short Film
For tickets and a full schedule of festival events please visit Doc10.org. Doc10, presented by CMP, runs April 24- May 3 at the Davis Theater (4614 N. Lincoln Ave.) and the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State St.). Tickets are $20 each, discounted to $16 for students, seniors, military and first responders. Doc10 also offers an Official Selections Pass for $350 (one ticket to each screening). The annual lineup for Doc10 continues to be a harbinger for the coming year’s awards season nonfiction highlights. Last year’s selection A PERFECT NEIGHBOR was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, while the previous years’ picks PORCELAIN WAR and SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT were also Oscar nominees. In its decade-long history, Doc10 has become one of the country’s preeminent showcases for highly curated nonfiction cinema, a catalyst for dialogue and social change, and a magnet for audiences seeking art that matters. As it enters its second decade, Doc10 continues to grow, in scale, ambition and impact, reaffirming Doc10's reputation as a destination for creative excellence and community-driven storytelling. Here are the titles, dates/times:
A Child of My Own (Un Hijo Propio)
Friday, May 1, 8 PM at the Davis Theater followed by Q&A with Director Maite Alberdi Dir: Maite Alberdi Producers: Sandra Godínez, Carla González Vargas, Maximiliano Sanguine Mexico, 96 min. From two-time Oscar nominated director Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent, The Eternal Memory) comes this engaging stranger-than-fiction story about a woman, desperate to be a mother, who faked her own pregnancy and attempted to have a baby. Based on a real incident that took place in Mexico in 2009, the film tells the story of Alejandra, who after multiple miscarriages, lied to her hopeful husband that she was finally having their child. Even after months of sustaining the complex charade—from obstetrician visits to a baby shower—Alejandra appeared to have figured it all out. Or did she? This unique hybrid of drama and documentary gives sensitivity and nuance to the story, transforming a scandalous act into a touching and complex portrait of motherhood, sisterhood, and family. “Immensely engaging [with] “deft narrative footwork” (The Hollywood Reporter), A Child of My Own is an “undeniably fascinating” “effective blend of intimacy and universality” (Screen).
American Doctor
Sunday, April 26, 12:15 PM at the Siskel Film Center followed by Q&A with Director Poh Si Teng, Dr. Thaer Ahmad and Dr. Mark Perlmutter. Dir: Poh Si Teng. Producers: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad. US, State of Palestine, Malaysia, Qatar, 93 min. When three American doctors—Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian—volunteer to work in Gaza, they find themselves working on the frontlines of both medicine and politics to save peoples’ lives. In this urgent and tense chronicle of Gaza’s decimation and U.S. complicity with the war, filmmaker and journalist Poh Si Teng follows these three very different physicians—Chicago-area ER doctor Thaer Ahmad, humanitarian surgeon Feroze Sidhwa, and the bluntest of them all, orthopedist Mark Perlmutter—united in their fearless pursuit to make a difference. But the challenges are enormous: They lack basic resources and medicine; they worry where the next bomb will land; and their fellow local physicians are grappling with the trauma of their own family members’ deaths. Beyond Gaza’s besieged hospitals, American Doctor also follows their fight as activists on the global stage and in the halls of the U.S. Congress, trying to raise awareness about the truths on the ground with the same bold dedication. A powerful “necessary watch” (Variety), American Doctor is an “unflinching and courageous exposé” (The Hollywood Reporter) and “an emotional gut-punch portrait of life during conflict" (Screen Daily).
Closure
Sunday, May 3, 4 PM at the Siskel Film Center, Q&A TBA Dir. Michał Marczak. Producers: Monika Braid, Michał Marczak, Rémi Grellety, Katarzyna Szczerba, Karolina Marczak. Poland, 108 min. After his teenage son Chris goes missing in 2023, last seen by surveillance cameras walking on Warsaw’s Gdańsk Bridge, Daniel Dymiński sets out to find him. With relentless perseverance and using a host of tools—from GPS tracking devices to drones—Daniel obsessively searches for his child, scouring every inch of the nearby Vistula River and following up on every lead. Sightings of Chris across Poland fuel the family’s hopes; bodies are found in the water; Daniel will never give up. Called “spellbinding” (Variety) and “a singularly stunning experience” (Filmmaker Magazine), this slow-burn mystery unfolds like a missing person investigation combined with a piercing and emotional portrait of the extremes one will go to for the people they love. “Haunting and heartstruck” (Indiewire), “gorgeously shot [and] one of the best documentaries of Sundance 2026, Closure is a moving story of how grief and love can harden into determination” (RogerEbert.com).
Cookie Queens
Saturday, May 2, 5:45 PM at the Davis Theater followed by Q&A with Director Alysa Nahmias Dir. Alysa Nahmias Producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw, Alysa Nahmias, Jennifer Sims. United States, 2026, 91 min. There’s so much more to the story than Thin Mints and Tagalongs. In this delightful and captivating cinematic confection about girlhood and American capitalism, award-winning director and producer Alysa Nahmias (The New Bauhaus, Wildcat) follows four different Girl Scouts around the country racing to meet their cookie-selling goals. But the stakes are high in this $800 million annual business. Not only are the young girls grappling with their own entrepreneurial skills and self-confidence, but the families must also hit their targets—or they have to eat the costs. The film tracks four different girls across the country: Twelve-year-old record-holder Olive; Nikki, a fourth-grader following in the footsteps of her big sisters; Shannon Elizabeth, whose El Paso family is struggling to send her to summer camp; and Ara, a precocious five-year-old who is selling cookies she can’t eat—she’s diabetic. Full of heart and humor, Cookie Queens is “highly engaging” (The Hollywood Reporter) and “an exceptional work that’s greater than its ingredients, sandwiching politics, commerce, and the joys of childhood all into one package.” (POV Magazine).
Everybody to Kenmure Street
Saturday, May 2, 3:45 PM at the Davis Theater, Q&A TBA Dir: Felipe Bustos Sierra Producers: Ciara Barry, Felipe Bustos Sierra United Kingdom, 98 min. When immigration enforcement officers attempt to remove two individuals from their community, hundreds of local citizens spontaneously rush to the streets to stop their neighbors’ deportation. If it sounds familiar, this particular incident actually happened on the morning of May 2021 in the Scottish city of Glasgow when two Muslim immigrants were thrown into a van on Kenmure Street. Combining interviews with participants in the protest, citizen video footage, and some surprising reenactments, this rousing documentary follows this inspiring moment of civil disobedience as it unfolds, minute by minute, to its extraordinary conclusion. With uncanny parallels to the immigration clashes in the U.S. today, the film also delves into some key differences, such as the relationship with Scotland to the UK authorities, and Glasgow’s own complicated history of both complicity and active defiance. Winner of a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for Civil Resistance and executive produced by actress Emma Thompson (who makes a surprise appearance!), Everybody to Kenmure Street is “incredibly energizing” (Variety), “a love letter to community” (The Guardian), and “a spirited and imperative portrait of collective action whose urgency painfully speaks to now” (RogerEbert.com)
Give Me the Ball!
Thursday, April 30, 7 PM at the Davis Theater followed by Q&A with Directors Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff and Producer Dan Cogan Dirs: Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff Producers: Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff, Dominic Crossley-Holland, Dan Cogan, Chris James, Gentry Kirby. US, 101 min. As thrilling to watch and superbly executed as the tennis matches that made Billie Jean King famous, Give Me the Ball! - an upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 film - tells the incredible, inspiring story of the world champion trailblazer, both behind the scenes and in the public eye. Guided by compelling interviews with King herself, still a magnetic presence, this fascinating portrait reveals both her competitive drive on the court and for women’s equality, as well as her private struggles with her sexual identity. Filmmakers Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?, Harry & Meghan) and Elizabeth Wolff masterfully weave King’s own captivating storytelling and compelling archival footage, charting her hard-won rise through the ranks to establish a place for women’s sports to her famous 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match to the scandalous legal battle that outed her as queer in 1981. Made with an “ecstatic, enduring thrill” (RogerEbert.com), Give Me the Ball! is “ferociously entertaining” (Variety).
Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie
Sunday, May 3, 7 PM at the Davis Theater followed by Q&A with Director Alex Gibney, Salman Rushdie and Rachel Eliza Griffiths, moderated by author and journalist Bethany McLean. Dir. Alex Gibney Producers: Alex Gibney, Erin Edeiken, Sruthi Pinnamaneni U.S., 107min. In 2022, at a small public lecture in a bucolic town in New York State, world-renown author Salman Rushdie was viciously attacked by a man wielding a knife. His first thought: “So it’s you.” It had been 33 years since Iran’s Supreme Leader ordered Rushdie to be executed for blasphemy for his acclaimed book The Satanic Verses. After several death threats against his life over the decades, Rushdie had finally, it appears, met his fate. In this captivating and compelling chronicle of the violent assault and Rushdie’s emotional path to recovery, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) brilliantly weaves past and present, the personal and the political, into a deeply moving cinematic journey about freedom of expression, the power of love, and the will to live. A masterful tale told by two artistic giants, Rushdie and Gibney, working at the peak of their storytelling powers, Knife is “undeniably inspiring” (RogerEbert.com), “playful and profound” (New York Magazine), and “a testament to Rushdie’s humor and resilience” (Screen Daily).
Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story
Saturday, May 2, 8:15 PM at the Davis Theater followed by Q&A with Maria Bamford and Director Neil Berkeley Dirs: Judd Apatow, Neil Berkeley Producers: Judd Apatow, Neil Berkeley, Amanda Rohlke, David Heiman. US, 116 mins. You might know and love comedian Maria Bamford for her acclaimed stand-up specials, her wacky series Lady Dynamite, or her manic “Target Lady” ads—and if you don’t, this hilarious and powerfully intimate portrait of her life is sure to make you a fan. Co-directed by award-winning directors Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) and Neil Berkeley (Beauty Is Embarrassing, Gilbert), the film charts Bamford’s path to acclaim and reveals her unique comic sensibility—as admirer Conan O’Brien says in the film, “Maria is like a lobster whose shell has been removed.” Blurring the line between performance and personal crisis, Bamford turns her mental health into material that’s riotously funny and ultimately inspiring. What emerges is a portrait of an artist transforming vulnerability into creative strength through honesty. With Bamford as our guide, and supportive voices from fellow comedians Patton Oswalt, Stephen Colbert, Sarah Silverman, and others, “You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! And you’ll walk away with a hard-won appreciation for everything Maria Bamford is and hopes to be.” (Indiewire). “Hysterical” (RogerEbert.com) and “achingly funny” (Variety).
Remake
Saturday, May 2, 1 PM at the Davis Theater followed by Q&A with Director Ross McElwee Dir. Ross McElwee Producers: Mark Meatto, Ross McElwee U.S., 116min. Forty years after Sherman’s March, his award-winning, boundary-breaking, and wryly funny feature debut about looking for love in the nuclear age, Ross McElwee is back with this masterpiece of personal documentary. In this extraordinary and bravely intimate work, McElwee deftly combines his inimitable eye for the tragic and the comic. As he grapples with the death of his son Adrian—whose coming-of-age has been a fixture of his camera over the years in films such as Time Indefinite, In Paraguay, and Photographic Memory—McElwee is also in the midst of an awkward Hollywood development deal to turn the landmark Sherman’s March into a fictional movie. Along the way, McElwee reexamines not just his relationships, but the very nature of his life’s work and the role of the camera in their lives. A prizewinner at last fall’s Venice Film Festival, McElwee’s culminating work of fearless vulnerability is a moving meditation on a father trying to hold onto his son—and the difficulty of letting him go. “Complex, self-confronting and eventually shattering” (Variety) and “funny as well as brutally honest” (Time Out), Remake is “a richly rewarding experience, emotionally, narratively and philosophically … and calls out to be more widely seen as well as passionately discussed” (Screen Daily).
Soul Patrol
Friday, May 1, 6 PM at the Davis Theater followed by Q&A with Director J.M. Harper United States 2026 100 min Director/Producer: J.M. Harper Producers: Sam Bisbee, Danielle Massie, Nasir Jones, Peter Bittenbender. In the summer of 1968, 17-year-old soldier Ed Emanuel was selected for the “Soul Patrol,” the first elite unit of Black special ops fighters in the Vietnam War. As a member of a six-man team assigned to one of the war’s deadliest areas, Emanuel, along with his fellow African American brothers, proudly fought for their country–while realizing the fact that their country didn’t fight for them. In this immersive and revelatory journey, filmmaker J.M. Harper follows the complex and emotional struggles of the platoon as they wrestle with their past and present. Combining vivid reenactments, impressionistic fantasies, and intimate conversations with the veterans, the film is a vivid and humanist snapshot of their attempt to heal, and a complex look at racial identity and American nationalism. Winner of the Sundance Best Directing Award, Soul Patrol is “emotionally piercing” (RogerEbert.com), and “moving and captivating” (POV Magazine), “weaving together eloquent visuals with energy and deep feeling.” (The Hollywood Reporter).
Steal This Story, Please!
Wednesday, April 29, 7 PM at the Davis Theater followed by Q&A with Director Tia Lessin and film subjects Juan González and Amy Goodman* (*via zoom) Dirs: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin Producers: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch. U.S., 101 min. Undeterred by armed soldiers, smooth-talking politicians, and riot police, Amy Goodman has reported on some of the most consequential stories of our time. This gripping portrait follows the trailblazing reporter’s unwavering commitment to truth-telling, spanning three decades of turbulent history. From the frontlines of global conflicts to the organized chaos of her daily news show Democracy Now!, Goodman broadcasts stories and voices routinely silenced by commercial media. Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water, The Janes) take us behind the scenes with the warm, wisecracking journalist as she navigates a news landscape reshaped by technology, corporate consolidation, and political assaults on truth itself. Winner of over eight Audience Awards at film festivals around the country, Steal This Story, Please! is provocative and unexpectedly funny, both a call to action and a celebration of resistance, posing a question that’s now more urgent than ever: How can the press hold the powerful to account? This “rousing, urgent documentary” (Screen International) is a "compelling... giant finger to The Man” (Filmmaker Magazine).
The Baddest Speechwriter of All
Sunday, May 3, 2 PM at the Siskel Film Center followed by Q&A with two-time Academy Award winning Director Ben Proudfoot Dirs: Ben Proudfoot, Stephen Curry Producers: Ben Proudfoot, Erick Peyton, Stephen Curry US, 29 mi. Rivetingly told by 95-year-old Clarence B. Jones—Martin Luther King Jr.’s trusted lawyer and speechwriter—The Baddest Speechwriter of All portrays the personal costs and surprising truths of the Civil Rights Movement. Personally recruited by Dr. King in the early 1960s, the headstrong attorney and Juilliard-trained clarinetist was forced to choose between the security of his successful life or a path of purpose that would forever alter history. Mixing captivating animation and first-person testimony, the film recounts Jones’ journey from the halls of Juilliard to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as he reflects on what led him to advise Dr. King and help craft the first seven paragraphs of the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Winner of this year's Sundance Short Film Grand Jury Prize and co-directed by NBA Champion Stephen Curry and two-time Academy Award winner Ben Proudfoot, The Baddest Speechwriter of All is a stirring, humorous, and compelling portrait of a living legend and unsung icon of the struggle for racial justice.
ABOUT DOC10
Doc10 was founded in 2016 by CMP as an extension of their mission to support social-impact, non-fiction films in order to illustrate the power of storytelling to entertain, ignite debate, inspire action and activate audiences.Doc10 is a highly selective and curated film festival, featuring 10+ of the year’s best documentaries, making it possible to attend every screening and event. Each screening is followed by a Q&A with filmmakers and dynamic panel conversations. In just 10 short years, Doc10 has proven itself as a world-class documentary film destination. The festival has premiered films from Oscar-winning directors and documentary legends including 2025’s multiple-winning sensation The Perfect Neighbor, Oscar nominated and Oscar winning films Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Navalny, Fire of Love, Summer of Soul, Crip Camp, Icarus, and American Factory; Emmy-winning STILL: A Michael J Fox Movie; Sundance award winners The Territory, Descendant, One Child Nation, Knock Down the House, and A House Made of Splinters; and ground-breaking docs covering subjects from reproductive justice to climate change to the power of journalism—all through the lens of dramatic storytelling and complex main characters.
Buy tickets for both Chicago Critics Film Festival + DOC10 right now!
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