Five Films to See at DC/DOX 2026

DC/DOX is back, now in its 4^th year, running June 11-14. I wasn’t able to attend last year’s fest, though I attended the first two iterations. As before, the event features a great variety of films from around the world. This year promises to do the same. According to a May 6 press release, there are 64 full-length movies and 49 short films “with nine World Premieres, three North American Premieres, and five US Premieres.”

Thanks to visits to other film festivals, I have already seen some of the selections playing at DC/DOX 2026 and I plan to see some more while on the ground. I’ll also be moderating three Q&A. What follows are 5 recommendations of what to see from among those I have previously watched and written about. Each title is hyperlinked to the movie’s DC/DOX page.

Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs That’s the Weight of the World) (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson) [excerpted from my Tribeca 2026 review for this site]

The Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, also a documentarian, just premiered his latest film, Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS That’s the Weight of the World), at the 2026 Tribeca Festival. As was the case with his otherwise-strong feature debut, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), the movie may be a little overlong yet still delivers plenty of fascinating information wrapped in a mostly engaging format. Given the subject matter—the musical band Earth, Wind  & Fire, which was huge in scope as well as size—it is perhaps appropriate that the documentary occupy so much space. The group deserves it.

First They Came for My College (Patrick Bresnan) [adapted from my SXSW 2026 review at Hammer to Nail]

Most people are familiar with at least some of the lines from German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous 1946 poem “First They Came.” Director Patrick Bresnan (Naked Gardens) repurposes Niemröller’s signature line in the title of his latest documentary, which tells the sad tale of what happened to the New College of Florida. Founded in 1960, the institution was, until 2023, a respected liberal arts honors college in Sarasota where a diverse student body studied a range of subjects in a safe environment by the sea. No good things last forever, however. Enter Governor Ron DeSantis, who decided to declare war on “woke” (whatever that means) and appoint a conservative majority to the college’s board. The results are not pretty, but the film is a must-see.

The Lorraine (Sam Pollard) [adapted from my Tribeca 2026 review for this site]

In The Lorraine, director Sam Pollard (Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes) gives us the account of the titular motel, in Memphis, Tennessee. Black-owned, it reached its peak of popularity during the segregated era of the American South, appearing in Victor Hugo Green’s Green Book as a safe place for African Americans to stay. It’s also where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968. Today, the Lorraine is no longer a motel. Instead, it is the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. If it seems odd—and it does, to some, as we learn—that the site of an assassination should be commemorated in this way, well, give the movie a whirl. You’ll come away with a robust understanding of all the facts, and along the journey gain an appreciation of the pride of place Memphis should hold in our memory, too.

Seized (Sharon Liese) [excerpted from my Sundance 2026 review for this site]

On August 11, 2023, police in Marion, Kansas, raided not only the office of the local newspaper The Marion Record, but the home of its editor, Eric Meyer, which he shared with his 98-year mother, Joan. Together they both owned the publication, though sadly Joan (pronounced “Jo-ann”) died the next day, leaving Eric as sole majority owner. In Seized, the jaunty new documentary from director Sharon Liese (Transhood), we dive into the why and the how of this attack on a free press, with comic brio and moving sentiment joined at the cinematic hip.

When a Witness Recants (Dawn Porter) [adapted from my Maryland 2026 review at Hammer to Nail]

On November 11, 1983, in Baltimore’s Harlem Park Junior High School, someone shot ninth grader DeWitt Duckett and stole his Georgetown University jacket. He shortly thereafter died from his injuries. Although the witnesses present at the scene of the crime identified only one perpetrator, the detective in charge of the case soon decided to pursue three teens with no connection to the case, and the justice system being what it is, these unfortunate souls spent the next 36 years in prison. In When a Witness Recants, director Dawn Porter (Luther: Never Too Much) follows this nightmare story from terrible start to more-optimistic (but still traumatic) finish, indicting the racist behaviors and cowardly actions that destroyed lives for no good reason. As with all her work, it is compelling. It’s also infuriating to behold.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.