Historically, most of the DOC NYC short list titles overlap with the Academy’s official 15-film Oscar Short List. Until last year, while DOC NYC did not screen Netflix’s Oscar-winning “My Octopus Teacher,” for nine years the festival had screened the documentary that went on to win the Academy Award, including “American Factory,” “Free Solo,” “Icarus,” “O.J.: Made in America,” “Amy,” “Citizenfour,” “20 Feet From Stardom,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” and “Undefeated....

Kvedaravicius is best known for the 2016 documentary “Mariupolis,” which was a hit at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film takes place in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which was frequently occupied by Russian troops, even years before Russia formally invaded Ukraine. But rather than focus on Russia’s aggression, the film focused on telling small, human stories about ordinary people trying to continue living their lives in the midst of armed conflict....

It was a great weekend for theaters with “Carnage” taking in $90 million domestic, a success hinted by strong VOD showings the week prior with the 2018 “Venom” (Sony). However, last week also saw the nearly unprecedented offer (on all platforms) to pre-buy the sequel on PVOD at a date unspecified. iTunes placed it at #6, even though it cannot be rented. Presume more confusion for moviegoers. Meantime, the reduced-price franchise starter is #3 at both iTunes and Google Play....

In an exclusive interview with IndieWire, Marvel Studios VP of Production & Development and “Falcon and Winter Soldier” executive producer Nate Moore said they started planning to run the series as a Drama fairly early on. “[The decision] came about sort of as the series was launching, but it was something we were thinking about even as we were making it — not because we think, ‘Oh my God, it’s so great,’ but because it does feel a bit more dramatic than some of our typical stuff,” Moore said....

The atmospheric, hallucinatory “Fever Dream” is another mother and son fable. After the birth of Llosa’s second child, the director read the magic realist novel “Distancia de Rescate,” by Argentine author Samanta Schweblin, and instantly saw the movie in her mind. “Usually, I’m not looking for things to adapt, but it just captured me in such a way that I needed to do it,” Llosa said on a Zoom call from her home in Barcelona....

Joel Kim Booster’s Searchlight film stars Bowen Yang, Zane Phillips, James Scully, Matt Rogers, Tomas Matos, Torian Miller, and Margaret Cho in the queer rom-com about a group of friends who embark on a week-long vacation filled with hook-ups, debauchery, and friendship make-or-break moments. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Peppermint makes a cameo. Screenwriter Booster also stars, with Andrew Ahn (“Spa Night”) directing. Inspired by Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice,” the film gives a modern, AAPI queer twist to the famed romance comedy of errors....

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but when it comes to experimental archival documentaries, just because something worked once doesn’t mean it will work again. In the burgeoning canon of queer and trans documentaries, filmmakers face a unique challenge: How do you tell a story that has either been deliberately erased, or filtered through a lens that views you as abnormal at best, abhorrent at worst? It’s a dilemma that has been handled elegantly in recent documentaries like “Disclosure,” “The Lady and the Dale,” and “No Ordinary Man....