​​​​NEW YORK, NY (SMI-GLOBAL-ENTERTAINMENT OCT 09-NOV. 30, 2025)-DOC NYC, the festival for documentaries — celebrating its 16th edition in-person November 12-20 at IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika and continuing online through November 30 — announced its Main Slate lineup for the duration of the festival.

 

The 2025 festival presents more than 115 feature-length documentaries (with Short List, Winner’s

Circle, and Selects Encore sections still to be announced), including 30 World premieres and

34 U.S. premieres, among over 200 films and dozens of events, with filmmakers expected in

person at most screenings.

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Opening the festival on Nov. 12 at SVA Theatre will be the U.S. premiere of Christopher

Nelius’s paean to inclusiveness and mutual support, Whistle, a winsome honoring of the

international stage of the Masters of Musical Whistling festival, where the world’s top whistlers

gather to be seen, to connect, and to honor a shared craft. Closing the festival on Nov. 20, also

at SVA Theatre, will be the NYC premiere of Ivy Meerpol’s Ask E. Jean, an explosive look at

the ordeals of the writer and cultural icon E. Jean Carroll and her lawsuits against Donald

Trump when he accused her of lying about the charges of sexual assault that she levied against

him.

 

In this period of rapid change, DOC NYC is proud to present a collection of films that speak to

urgent global, national, and personal matters,” said the festival’s artistic director Jaie Laplante.

“What binds the filmmakers of this year’s official selection are their illuminations of shared

humanity.”

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The festival’s two Centerpiece screenings are the NYC premiere of Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s

Steal This Story, Please! (Nov. 13, SVA Theatre), a profile of the beloved Democracy Now!

host Amy Goodman, and the World premiere of Celia Aniskovich’s delightful peek behind the

curtain of NYC’s Christmas tree trade, The Merchants of Joy (Nov. 14, SVA Theatre).

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Opening Night

WHISTLE (US Premiere)

Director: Christopher Nelius

Producers: Camilla Mazzaferro, Louise Smith, Luke Mazzaferro, Al Hicks, Casey Ventura

Top-rate whistlers gather in Hollywood at the annual Masters of Musical Whistling competition, hoping not just to win but to connect.

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Closing Night Film

ASK E. JEAN (NYC Premiere)

Director: Ivy Meeropol

Producers: Laura Bickford, Annabelle Dunne, Ivy Meeropol

Writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuits against Donald 

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Centerpiece Film

THE MERCHANTS OF JOY (World Premiere)

Director: Celia Aniskovich

Producers: Celia Aniskovich, Zoe Vock, Arthur Spector, Joshua Davis, Joshuah Bearman

A joyful look at the five families who dominate NYC’s Christmas tree trade and whose efforts begin months before the first fir trees hit the busy sidewalks of the five boroughs.

 

STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE! (NYC Premiere)

Directors: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin

Producers: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! pursues the news with integrity and dauntlessness, seeing

independent journalism as a major force for good.

 

 

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