New to DocPlay in July

Collective (July 8)

In 2015, a fire at Bucharest’s Colectiv club leaves 27 dead and 180 injured. Soon, more burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life-threatening. Then a doctor blows the whistle to a team of investigative journalists. One revelation leads to another as the journalists start to uncover vast health care fraud. When a new health minister is appointed, he offers unprecedented access to his efforts to reform the corrupt system but also to the obstacles he faces. Winner of over 20 awards, and selected as Romania’s Academy Awards entry for Best International Film, Collective follows journalists, whistle-blowers, burn victims, and government officials in its uncompromising look at the impact of investigative journalism at its best.

The Painter and the Thief (July 15)

When two paintings are stolen from Oslo-based artist Barbora Kysilkova, the police catch the thieves within a few days. But the paintings are never found. Barbora attends the court case hoping to find clues for where they can be but finds herself compelled to walk over to one of the criminals to ask another question: “I wonder if I could paint you?” Thief Karl-Bertil answers without hesitation: “That would be possible.” Thus begins the relationship between an artist and her unlikely muse—which soon evolves into an even more unlikely friendship. Barbora eventually becomes Karl-Bertil’s closest ally when he is severely hurt in a car crash and needs full time care. Filmed over three years, the documentary follows a remarkable story of human connection that takes turns that one could never have imagined.

Max Richter’s Sleep (July 15)

This film follows composer and performer Max Richter​ as he consolidates an ambitious performance of his critically acclaimed eight-hour opus, Sleep​. The film plunges deeply into the artist’s life and process, transcending the work to explore his legacy. Personal reflections from Max Richter, and visual archive from his long-term creative partner, the BAFTA winning filmmaker Yulia Mahr – the co-architect of Sleep – help build this intimate portrait, along with contributions that illuminate both the science and story behind the work.

1964 (July 19)

1964 was the year the Beatles came to America, Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali, and three civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. It was the year when Berkeley students rose up in protest, African Americans fought back against injustice in Harlem, and Barry Goldwater’s conservative revolution took over the Republican Party. Based in part on The Last Innocent Year: America in 1964 by Jon Margolis, 1964 follows some of the most influential figures of the time—Lyndon B. Johnson, Barry Goldwater, Betty Friedan—but also brings out from the shadows the stories of ordinary Americans whose principled stands would set the country onto a new and different course.

Girls Can’t Surf (July 22)

The untold story of how a band of renegade surfer girls in the 1980s fought to create their own professional sport, changing surf culture forever. It’s the 1980s and the world of professional surfing is a circus of fluoro colours, peroxide hair and radical male egos. Girls Can’t Surf follows the journey of a band of renegade surfers who took on the male-dominated professional surfing world to achieve equality and change the sport forever. Featuring surfing greats Jodie Cooper, Frieda Zamba, Pauline Menczer, Lisa Andersen, Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha, Layne Beachley and more, Girls Can’t Surf is a wild ride of clashing personalities, sexism, adventure and heartbreak, with each woman fighting against the odds to make their dreams of competing a reality.