Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival to Mark 35th Anniversary

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival presented by Oaklawn announced the lineup of films and honorees for its 35th Anniversary edition, taking place October 9-17. Screenings will kick off at Oaklawn's Event Center with the Opening Night presentation of Penny Lane's Wild Inside, followed by the world premiere of Centerpiece Selection, Nick Capezzera's The Other Side of Memory, and Michael LaHaie's Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu screening on Closing Night.

Joe Berlinger will be in attendance for the Brent Renaud Career Achievement Award presentation, which precedes a special 30th anniversary screening of Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, and Yoruba Richen will be in attendance for the Impact Award presentation, which takes place at the Filmmaker Forum on Monday, October 12 at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa. Richen will also be in attendance for the screening of her new documentary short Free Joan Little.

HSDFF launches the film festival's inaugural Documentary Roundtable, to be held Monday, October 12 at 7:30 PM at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa. Moderated by Deadline's Documentary Editor Matt Carey, the Roundtable conversation will bring together an internationally diverse group of directors and producers representing top contenders for this year's Documentary Feature Oscar. Confirmed for the conversation are: Liani Greaves (producer, Once Upon a Time in Harlem), Michał Marczak (director, Closure), Poh Si Teng (director, American Doctor), and Biljana Tutorov (director, To Hold a Mountain). All the films represented on the panel will be screened at HSDFF and feature Q&As with the Roundtable participants.

HSDFF Executive Director, Ken Jacobson, said, 'In this, our 35th year — also the 150th anniversary of Hot Springs, and the 250th birthday of the USA — we proudly use this occasion to embrace history. From a 30th anniversary screening of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's ground-breaking documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, to our presentation of all 16 hours of Mark Cousins' landmark new film, The Story of Documentary Film, we look back in time to teach us where we have come from and to better understand our present day. We are also inspired by all that is new at this year's festival. The inaugural Documentary Roundtable conversation, co-presented with Deadline, is our exciting new entry into the Oscar competition space, and the Filmmaker Retreat is an exciting new program designed to showcase and support Mid-Southern and Southern stories and filmmakers. 2026 is destined to be a breakout year for HSDFF.'

The Galas (Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing)

Penny Lane's Wild Inside will open HSDFF on Friday, October 9, at the Oaklawn Event Center. The film tells the story of Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from a hole cut in his enclosure in NYC's Central Park Zoo in 2023 and eventually became one of the city's most beloved inhabitants. Film participants and wildlife photographers Jacqueline Emery and David Lei will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A. The film's gala screening will also be the centerpiece of the festival's new partnership with the upcoming Birding Festival of the South.

Nick Capezzera's The Other Side of Memory will make its world premiere as the Centerpiece selection on Tuesday, October 13, at the Arlington Hotel & Spa. The film documents Capezzera's search to locate his Korean birth parents and reconnect with a cultural heritage that he never knew. In seeking answers about his past, Nick's journey leads to personal discoveries that reshape his understanding of family. Capezzera will attend and participate in a post-screening Q&A.

Michael LaHaie's Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu will be the Closing Night selection, screening on Friday, October 16, at the Oaklawn Event Center. The film follows actors and friends Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, known for cult favorite The Bob & Dave Show as well as countless other films, television shows and stand-up performances, as they take on aging, altitude, and nonstop riffs while they tackle the epic trail to Machu Picchu, reflecting on 30 years of friendship, comedy, and what comes next. LaHaie will attend and participate in a post screening Q&A.

Additional Events

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996), the first in a trilogy of films about the horrific triple murder of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993 and the subsequent arrest of three teenagers accused of killing the boys as part of an alleged satanic ritual, will screen Sunday, October 11, at 6:00 PM at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa, with Berlinger in attendance.

Filmmaker Retreat and Summit

The inaugural Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Filmmaker Retreat, a four-day intensive program for filmmakers based in the Mid-South/South, held in partnership with Indie Media Arts South, launches October 10 – 13 at this year's festival. The goal of the retreat is to provide intensive support and feedback for a cohort of six Mid-Southern/Southern-based documentary projects currently in progress. A core component of the retreat is a facilitated discussion called the 'Petit Jean Documentary Summit: Supporting Nonfiction Storytelling in the Mid-South/South' to be held at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas. The endgame for the combined retreat and summit programs is to bolster a group of exciting, culturally enriching projects, while, at the same time, engaging a community of stakeholders in a discussion of how additional resources can be assembled to support nonfiction storytelling in the region.

The Filmmaker Forum

Now in its fourth year, the HSDFF Filmmaker Forum is a two-day filmmaker/industry conference and convening to be held October 12 – 13 during this year's festival. The Forum, which has become a yearly must-attend event, provides professional development resources and networking opportunities for Mid-Southern and Southern documentary filmmakers, offers dynamic programming featuring the art, craft and business of documentary storytelling and focuses a wider lens on the nonfiction ecosystem as a whole.

Live Podcast Featuring Ben Proudfoot and The Baddest Speechwriter of All

Following a screening of his new Netflix documentary short The Baddest Speechwriter of All, two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ben Proudfoot (The Queen of Basketball; The Last Repair Shop) participates in a live podcast conversation with Michael Merrill and HSDFF Executive Director Ken Jacobson, hosts of the 'Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers' podcast.

The Story of Documentary Film

Filmmaker Mark Cousins (The Story of Film: An Odyssey) presents his latest epic about the world of film — this time turning his attention to the cinema that is nearest and dearest to HSDFF audiences: the documentary. Spanning 16 hours in 16 chapters, Cousins covers the sweeping history of documentary, from its late 19th-century origins to today.

Birding Festival of the South Programs

In partnership with Visit Hot Springs' inaugural Birding Festival of the South to be held in Hot Springs on October 8 – 10, HSDFF will present several special events, including a live owl and eagle demonstration by the Little Rock Zoo on Saturday, October 10, at 5:00 PM at the Arlington Hotel Resort & Spa, followed by Jackie & Shadow: A Love Story, a work-in-progress event with director Ashley York (Hillbilly). HSDFF's signature Secret Screening event this year will be a 'bird-related' film to be held on Saturday, October 10, at 7:15 PM.

Rex Nelson Talk: 'Mr. Sam, Arkansas, and the Making of a Global Business Empire'

Senior Editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Rex Nelson, a storyteller of Arkansas history, culture and politics, returns for a special conversation titled, 'Mr. Sam, Arkansas, and the Making of a Global Business Empire' about famed Arkansan Sam Walton, the co-founder of Walmart. Nelson will discuss how Walton went from running a five-and-dime store in Newport, Arkansas, to becoming one of the greatest business leaders in American history. He also will discuss the current impact of the Walton family on Arkansas and what the future holds for both the Walton family and Arkansas.

National Park College and Hot Springs Village Shorts Programs

HSDFF is returning to the National Park College in Hot Springs for another specially curated package of short films intended to build connections between the festival and the NPC community. The shorts program will be on Wednesday, October 14, at 1:00 PM at NPC. For the third year in a row, HSDFF brings its documentary programming to nearby Hot Springs Village for a curated shorts program on Monday, October 12, at 6:30 PM.

The Emerging Filmmakers Program

A long-standing partnership between HSDFF and Arkansas TV, the Emerging Filmmakers Program is one of HSDFF's educational initiatives. This full-day experience welcomes middle and high school students from throughout the region to engage in screenings, interactive Q&A sessions, and hands-on workshops. The program kicks off with a Work-in-Progress Screening of Flag, a new documentary directed by Erika Cohn (In Football We Trust) and produced by Christine O'Malley and Matt Radecki. Flag follows the Southeast Bulloch High School Girls Flag Football team in Brooklet, Georgia, on its quest to keep an unprecedented winning streak going. This year's Emerging Filmmakers Program will also feature a screening of Ben Proudfoot's new Netflix documentary The Baddest Speechwriter of All, followed by a conversation with the two-time Academy Award-winning Proudfoot about the art of the short documentary. Since its inception, the program has welcomed hundreds of students from more than 30 schools.

Additional film highlights include films by documentarians profiling notable personalities and figures, as well as a look back to assess what the country is currently experiencing and reassessing. Ava DuVernay's 14th brings together legal minds, politicians, historians, and cultural voices in direct conversation with a question America still hasn't settled: Who gets to belong? Ron Howard's Avedon looks at the iconic photographer's art and career. Joss Crowley's Pretenders, making its US Premiere at HSDFF, is the first feature documentary portrait of rock and roll legend Chrissie Hynde and her band, The Pretenders. Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff's Give Me the Ball! reveals the tennis legend and transformative figure who became a game-changing advocate for women's rights. Afsaneh Salari's Tehran, Under the Skin, which makes its US Premiere at HSDFF, is a look inside the world of plastic surgery in Tehran that offers a portrait of those seeking to alleviate body anxiety through plastic surgery in contemporary Iran.

Director Takashi Miike (13 Assassins, Audition) takes audiences on a behind-the-scenes journey into the world of Kabuki in Shumei – The Living Legacy of Kabuki, which will make its US Premiere at HSDFF. Allison Berg's Time Warp is about a drag theater company that stages the first Shadow Cast performance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the conservative town of Rock Springs, Wyoming. Sam Pollard's Tutu offers a perspective on South African Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, whose fight against injustice helped end apartheid and inspired generations to stand for justice. Director Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA; American Dream) returns to cover the labor movement in Union Town. The film looks at New York City via three labor stories involving Amazon, UPS, and DoorDash/Grub Hub.

Passes are on sale now. For more information on purchasing and additional details on the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, visit hsdfi.org.