SFFILM’s Doc Stories To Open With Ava DuVernay’s ‘14th,’ Showcase ‘Tutu,’ ‘Black Sunflowers,’ ’Soul Patrol’ & More
SFFILM’s Doc Stories festival will open with Ava DuVernay’s *14th*, a documentary examining threats to the rights and protections promised by the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The 12th edition runs from 5 to 8 November in San Francisco, bringing filmmakers and audiences together around documentaries exploring social and political forces.
The closing film is Sam Pollard’s *Tutu*, about South African archbishop and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu. Other participants include Laura Poitras, Joshua Oppenheimer and Sean Penn, whose Ukraine war-themed film *Black Sunflowers* is among the selections; Ben Proudfoot will lead a workshop for teenage filmmakers. The programme also includes a filmmakers’ forum on AI in documentaries, a pitch event for three local filmmakers, and free school screenings from 2 to 10 November.
- Ava DuVernay’s *14th* opens Doc Stories in San Francisco.
- Sam Pollard’s *Tutu* closes the festival.
- The 5–8 November programme includes an AI forum and teen workshop.
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The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, adopted after the Civil War, established citizenship for people born or naturalised in the country and set rules intended to protect equal treatment and due process. Debates over how those protections apply continue to shape US law and politics.
SFFILM is a San Francisco arts organisation that presents films and events for local audiences. Its Doc Stories festival brings together documentary filmmakers and viewers to explore real people and events, including subjects shaped by political and social change.
Desmond Tutu was a South African church leader who opposed apartheid, the system of racial segregation enforced by the country’s former government. Documentaries about figures such as Tutu, as well as current conflicts and the use of AI in filmmaking, offer different ways to examine how history and public life are represented on screen.