DocLands, Marin County’s esteemed documentary film festival, takes place at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael starting Wednesday, April 30 and runs through Sunday, May 4.
Tickets are on sale now. And as always, DocLands has a wide variety of docs from around the globe as well as our own backyard.
While certainly every single day since the November election seems to provide a new subject matter for a fury inducing documentary, Mark Fishkin, founder and executive director of the California Film Institute, who puts on the event, frames things in a slightly more hopeful way.
“DocLands 2025 arrives at a time of profound change. The old proverb, ‘May you live in interesting times,’ has never felt more relevant,” he said. “This year’s films will educate, amuse, enrage and inspire. But what we declared at the very first DocLands still holds: Documentaries are more important and entertaining than ever.”
Joni Cooper, director of programming for DocLands, added, “We were intrigued by the sheer number of personal stories that emerged this year—stories that not only aligned beautifully with all three DocLands programming strands: The Great Outdoors, Wonderlands and especially Art of Impact, but also addressed urgent environmental and cultural issues.
“These inspiring films illustrate what individuals and communities—young and old—can achieve when confronted with social and systemic challenges,” Cooper continued.
This year’s festival features 25 premieres, including two world premieres (The Invisible Mammal and Thaw) from filmmakers with deep ties to Marin County.
Kristin Tièche’s doc, The Invisible Mammal, seeks to debunk many of the fears, myths and misunderstandings surrounding bats. Using beautiful slow motion cinematography and a bevy of California-based experts, Tièche’s film is certain to attract both wildlife lovers and chiroptophobes (folks with a deep fear of bats) alike.
Speaking via email, Tièche, who graduated from Tamalpais High School, said, “As someone who grew up in Mill Valley, attending the Mill Valley Film Festival, I couldn’t be more thrilled to have our world premiere at its sister festival, DocLands.
“I always loved early October when the little town of Mill Valley became the center of the independent filmmaking world, and I got to see films from all over the world that I would otherwise never get a chance to see. Those films inspired me to tell my own stories and share my films at festivals,” she added.
Tièche promised the film is going to look stellar on the big screen. She also noted that in case one misses it during its big premiere, it will also screen May 1 at the Rafael as part of California Film Institute’s DocLands educational program and May 4 as part of the institute’s ongoing DocTalk program.
Another local filmmaker whose film will find an audience for the first time is Robin Hauser. Her Thaw centers on the popular yet often fraught practice of women who freeze their eggs in hopes of procreation somewhere down the line.
The film follows the intimate journeys of three American women as they grapple with life-altering decisions about their biological clocks, hoping for results in an impossible to foresee future.
Hauser is a San Francisco native and has lived in Marin for the last 16 years. When speaking about the opportunity to premiere Thaw so close to home, she said, “My producers and I are thrilled to hold the world premiere at DocLands Film Festival, one of the most prestigious documentary festivals in the U.S.” She continued, “As filmmakers with roots in the Bay Area, we have a devoted following in Marin, and we look forward to sharing this deeply emotional and timely film about women’s choices to extend fertility.”
Indeed, Hauser’s producers include Joanne Lubeck Esser, who grew up in Marin, as well as San Francisco-based Annie Marr and Sonoma resident Jennifer Steinman, who is not only co-producer but also edited the film.
In addition to the deep slate of films, on Sunday, May 4, DocLands will host a panel on documentary filmmaking with the specific topic of how to build an audience. Guests include Tièche as well as Peter Hutchison and Lucas Sabean (The Invisible Doctrine), Ryan Andrej Lough (You Need This) and Jenny Ash (Flight 149: Hostage of War).
The panel takes place 10:30-11:30am in the Mark Fishkin Room located in the Rafael Theater. So one should be sure to grab a coffee and get there early, as tickets are free but required.
Another intriguing facet of the fest is the popular annual “DocPitch LIVE!” event which takes place at the Rafael Theater opening night, Wednesday, April 30, at 7. This festival kickoff event will give selected filmmakers a chance to pitch their doc project. And the winner will receive the second most important thing for a doc filmmaker behind a compelling story—big chunks of cash.
To clarify—“DocPitch initiative provides cash awards to filmmakers completing feature-length documentaries to further their projects’ development,” says the organizer’s website. How is this accomplished, one may ask? It just so happens that those in attendance will help decide.
The prize money is split into three categories, with the attending audience deciding which project will earn a $45,000 Audience Award. An additional $55,000, including a $40,000 Jury Award, will be awarded to the remaining four film teams by an industry jury.
This year’s projects include Alex Rivera’s deportation-centered doc, Banishment; Kimberly Reed’s gender/sex conversation starter, The Gender Project; Samuel Pigott’s doc, How to Get Away With Greenwashing, which investigates nefarious goings-on at a Chilean nature preserve; Masha Karpoukhina and Michael Preston’s co-directed nature preservation by way of chinook salmon doc, In Between Worlds; and S. Leo Chiang’s Parachute Kids, which details the common trend of parents from Taiwan sending their children to the U.S. unaccompanied in order to secure a better future. Good luck choosing a winner with those amazing choices.
Tickets to DocPitch LIVE! are free, but one must have a ticket to attend. Talk about a thrilling and challenging way to kick off a film festival.
Possibly the best part of attending a film festival is the people one meets standing in line or sitting in a theater and the conversations cinema can spark. Speaking to this, Fishkin buttoned things up nicely, saying, “Here in Marin, DocLands connects our community to the world beyond our borders through stories that spark empathy, curiosity and action.
“By supporting theaters like the Rafael, Sequoia and the Lark, you help sustain festivals, independent cinemas and the filmmakers behind these essential stories,” Fishkin continued. “That connection begins with engaged audiences who understand the power of film.”
Information and tickets for all things DocLands can be found at doclands.com.
