MoMA Film Kicks Off DOCUMENTARY FORTNIGHT 2014 Today

The Museum of Modern Art announces Documentary Fortnight 2014: MoMA's International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media, the 13th annual two-week showcase of recent documentary films that examines the relationship between contemporary art and nonfiction practices and reflects on new areas of documentary filmmaking, from today, February 14 through 28, 2014.

This year's festival includes an international selection comprising more than 20 screenings of features, shorts, and installations. All are New York premieres, and many will be presented by the filmmakers. This year's selection includes three noted video installations shown at the 55th Venice Biennale: Duncan Campbell's It for Others (2013), Sharon Hayes's Ricerche: three (2013), and Akram Zaatari's Letter to a Refusing Pilot (2013), all presented in single-channel versions. Documentary Fortnight is organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film, with Matthew Freundlich, Festival Liaison, and Paulina Kowalcyck, Film Intern. The Selection Committee consists of Sally Berger; Chi-hui Yang, independent curator; and Lucy Raven, artist.

The festival opens on February 14 with A Mãe e O Mar (The Mother and the Sea) (2013), director Gonçalo Tocha's cinematographically majestic portrait of the aging inhabitants of Vila Cha, Portugal, where he uncovered a link to the mythical stories of seafaring women that were said to exist in the coastal villages of Portugal. The festival's closing night film, the exhaustively researched Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2013), directed by Thomas Allen Harris, reveals how African American photography since the 1840s has played a major role in shaping the identity and aspirations of African Americans from slavery to the present day. Both films show the important role of the documentary filmmaker in revealing Unknown and hidden histories.

Pictured: A Mãe e O Mar (The Mother and The Sea). 2013. Portugal. Directed by Gonçalo Tocha. Courtesy of Agência da Curta Metragem.