DOC NYC’s fourth annual Spring Showcase returns from May 16th – June 10th, 2024. Viewers have free access to 12 of this year’s most talked-about nonfiction films and series, paired with exclusive conversations featuring the creative teams behind them.

Watch Q&A’s with the Spring Showcase Filmmakers

2024 Spring Showcase Events

Click the links below for more info and to RSVP:

Girls State – Q&A with Amanda McBaine (Director / Producer), Jesse Moss (Director / Producer), and Emily Worthmore (Subject), moderated by DOC NYC’s Samah Ali.
Screened May 16 – 17

*Additional in-person screening on Wednesday, June 12 at the IFC Center at 6:30pm, followed by a live conversation with Jesse Moss (Director / Producer) and Amy Foote (Editor), moderated by DOC NYC’s Samah Ali.

STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces – Q&A with Morgan Neville (Director / Producer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Jaie Laplante.
Screened May 18 – 19

For Love & Life: No Ordinary Campaign – Q&A with Christopher Burke (Director / Producer) and Tim Rummel (Producer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Ruth Somalo.
Screened May 20 – 21

*Additional in-person screening on June 6 at the Whitby Hotel at 7pm, followed by a live conversation with Brian Wallach & Sandra Abrevaya (Film Subjects / Executive Producers), Christopher Burke (Director / Producer), Tim Rummel (Producer), and Katie Couric (Executive Producer). This will be followed by a reception.

Our Planet II – Q&A with Huw Cordey (Series Producer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Ruth Somalo.
Screened May 22 – 23

Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story – Q&A with Director Yoruba Richen, Director Brad Lichtenstein, Film Participant Denise Jackson Ford, and Former Chief of FBI Civil Rights Unit Cynthia Deitle, moderated by DOC NYC’s Ruth Somalo.
Screened May 24 – 25

*There was an additional in-person screening on May 20 at the IFC Center at 7pm, followed by a live conversation with Gelila Bekele (Writer / Director / Producer), Armani Ortiz (Director / Producer), and Geeta Gandbhir (Executive Producer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Brandon Harrison.

Secrets of the Octopus – Q&A with Alex Schnell (Lead Storyteller / Producer / National Geographic Explorer) and Adam Geiger (Executive Producer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Ruth Somalo.
Screened May 28 – 29

Beckham – Q&A with Fisher Stevens (Director), moderated by DOC NYC’s Brandon Harrison.
Screened May 30 – 31

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story – Q&A with ​​Gotham Chopra (Director / Executive Producer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Ruth Somalo.
Screened June 1 – 2

Queens – Q&A with Vanessa Berlowitz (Executive Producer), Justine Evans (Director of Photography), and Tania Escobar (Cinematographer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Ruth Somalo.
Screened June 3 – 4

The Greatest Night in Pop – Q&A with Bao Nguyen (Director), moderated by DOC NYC’s Samah Ali.
Screened June 5 – 6

Jim Henson Idea Man – Q&A with Ron Howard (Director / Producer), Sara Bernstein (Producer), Margaret Bodde (Producer), and Justin Wilkes (Producer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Jaie Laplante.
Screened June 7 – 8

The Dynasty: New England Patriots – Q&A with Matthew Hamachek (Director / Executive Producer), moderated by DOC NYC’s Brandon Harrison.
Screened June 9 – 10

Accessibility

All prerecorded conversations and select shows will have closed captioning. To inquire about accessibility for any DOC NYC events, please email [email protected].

Week 1

What would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? A political coming-of-age story and a stirring reimagination of what it means to govern, Girls State follows young female leaders — from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri — as they navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up. 






















































Week 2

This is a documentary unfolding in real time as one couple fights against a broken system for their own future while seeking to build a brighter one for countless others.








































































































Our Planet II unravels the mysteries of how and why animals migrate to reveal some of the most compelling stories in the natural world.


Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story, a nod to his mother’s love, is an intimate portrait of visionary Tyler Perry and his harrowing but faithful road to the top of an industry that didn’t always include him.






















































Week 3

The octopus is like an alien on Earth, but they have one superpower we are only beginning to appreciate fully.






















































Beckham, a four-part documentary series, tells the unseen, unheard and unfiltered story of one of the most recognizable and scrutinized athletes of all time.


Thank you, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story is a four-part, all access series chronicling the epic past and uncertain future of the iconic band Bon Jovi. A 40-year odyssey of rock ‘n roll idolatry on the precipice as a vocal injury threatens to bring everything to a halt.


Week 4

In the Congo forest, a young bonobo must leave behind everything she knows to find her place in a world where friendship means survival.






















































In 1985, 46 music icons, including Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder, came together for the most star-studded recording session in history. This is the untold story of the legendary global pop song “We Are the World” — which very nearly didn’t happen.


Directed by Ron Howard, Jim Henson Idea Man is a fascinating look at a man whose boundless imagination inspired the world.


Week 5

Go inside the franchise’s 20-year journey, from the unique chemistry that fueled six Super Bowl wins to the internal strife that sparked a turf war. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft and key players reveal the road to — and cost of — greatness.