"A Witch Story" by filmmaker Yolanda Pividal is one of three CCNY alumni films selected for the DOC NYC 2022 Festival starting today.
City College of New York MFA Film graduates Yolanda Pividal ‘06, Nemo Allen ‘21 and Araque (Juan) Blanco ‘21 have all had their films selected to appear in the DOC NYC 2022 Festival from Nov. 9-27. DOC NYC is an organization that celebrates and supports the flourishing cultural movement of documentary storytelling. The festival helps to introduce new talent and highlight the year’s top films.
Pividal’s film, “A Witch Story,” appears as part of the Fight the Power-themed films. Pividal was co-executive producer, director, co-producer, co-cinematographer and editor on the film. The 70-minute film is about Alice Carrier, descendant of Martha Carrier who was hanged for witchcraft in Salem in 1692. Carrier explores the infamous witch trials uncovering a thread that connects the violent past to violence waged against women today. Pividal will be available for an in-person Q&A after the film’s screening on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. The film also plays in-person on Monday, Nov. 14 at 9:15pm, and is available for online viewing from Nov. 13-27.
Allen’s “El Bastón” appears in the festival’s Shorts Programs as does Blanco’s “The (Other) 700.” Allen produced, directed and edited the film. In the 15-minute “El Bastón,” a mother and son, both filmmakers, look for answers as they document, decades apart, the struggles of Colombia's Indigenous Nasa tribe finding, instead, reserves of inner strength and resilience. Allen will appear for an in-person Q&A after the film’s screening on Monday, Nov. 14 at 4:15 p.m.
Blanco produced and directed the film “The (Other) 700,” and was co-editor and co-cinematographer on it. It is about a loose community of delivery workers who gather every day at the intersection of Broadway and Thornton St. in Brooklyn, to hang out and share their experiences while waiting for their next job. This slice of life film focuses on a microcosm of street philosophers, who share their beliefs, goals and motivations, and offer a reflection of the high-speed capitalist system in which they are trapped but need to survive. An in-person Q&A with Blanco will be held after the screening on Friday, Nov. 11 at 9:45 p.m. An in-person screening is also being held on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 9:45 p.m.
Both “El Bastón” and “The (Other) 700” are available for online viewing from Nov. 9-27.
All in-person screenings will be held at Cinépolis Chelsea, 260 W. 23 St., New York, NY 10011.
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