Full Frame: ‘One of the Most Important Festivals in the World’
The annual documentary film festival brings thousands of visitors to Durham each year
Rhodes was among the thousands of visitors to Durham for the annual international event that generates about $2 million in revenue for local businesses.
Inspiring a New Generation
Among the throng of festival attendees were this year’s Full Frame Fellows: 150 students enrolled at 15 different universities, including out-of-state institutions along with area schools North Carolina State, North Carolina Central University and Duke.
The goal of the program is to inspire a new generation of documentary filmmakers by encouraging them to absorb the energy surrounding the festival, and to meet and hear from the documentarians themselves.
The festival included a thematic program titled “Extremely Rich Theater: Staging, Performance, and Elasticity in American Nonfiction Film,” curated by filmmaker Robert Greene, which considered ideas of art and authenticity in documentary filmmaking.
While introducing a trio of short films that explored immigration, Greene said he wanted to curate a program that featured “a wide spectrum of movies and visual experiences.
“But part of that framing is America,” Greene said. “And part of that framing, when I was talking to Sadie Tillery (Full Frame’s co-director and artistic director) about the program, and what the focus was going to be, it became very important in these very strange times — strange times is an understatement — to focus on American cinema.”
Run by Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies, this year’s festival happened April 16-19. One of the highlights was a tribute that honored the work of filmmaker Dawn Porter. Seven of Porter’s films, including “Gideon’s Army,” “When a Witness Recants,” and “Luther: Never Too Much,” about the late singer Luther Vandross, were screened at the festival.
“I’m compelled by stories that explore the abuse of power,” Porter said in a Full Frame interview. “But when you’re dealing with tough stories, you need a break, you know? ‘Luther: Never Too Much’ was a break.”
The festival ended Sunday afternoon with an awards ceremony where the Grand Jury Award was presented to “A Fox Under a Pink Moon,” which chronicles the life of 16-year-old Akhlaghi, an Afghan girl living in Iran, and her attempts to escape the country.
The poetic, nine-minute Still Standing, won the Full Frame Jury Award for best short film.
Educational Experience for Full Frame Fellows
All this was plenty of fuel for the participants in Full Frame Fellows, a program that has been a fixture of the festival for more than 20 years, said Brett Chambers, a North Carolina Central University (NCCU) lecturer, and the university's Full Frame Fellows advisor.
Chambers noted that NCCU mass communications professors Calvin Hall, Michael Pearce, and the late Kenneth Campbell, created the historically Black university’s digital film program. Pearce and Campbell were both Full Frame Fellows.
Senior D‘Anthony Boutwell was one of six NCCU students at the festival. Boutwell has attended Full Frame as a fellow for the past three years. This fall, he’s going to the University of Southern California, where he plans to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree in film and television production.
“I learn so much, every time,” said Boutwell, who added that he was looking forward to seeing the 2025 film “There Are No Words,” directed by Min Sook Lee.
“I spoke with the filmmaker earlier, and she seems really passionate about the film,” he said.
Duke student Daya Brown said she appreciated how the festival allowed her to gain a deeper understanding of the process behind documentary filmmaking. “It is not just about capturing a story, but about patience, ethical responsibility, access, and trust-building over time,” she said.
Senior N.C. State English major Olivia Smith was attending the festival for the first time. While standing in a long line to watch the newly released “Nuisance Bear,” Smith said she was impressed by the editing in “The Last First: Winter K2.”
The 2025 film directed by Amir Bar-Lev chronicles the challenges faced by climbers competing in 2021 to reach the summit of K2, the second highest mountain in the world that straddles the China-Pakistan border.
“I like how brilliantly it was edited,” said Smith, who has a concentration in film. “The way Bar-Lev and his editor created so much tension while only using interviews and archival footage was insane, and I’ve never felt so much anxiety while watching a documentary. It made me appreciate editing as art.”