Durham’s Full Frame Documentary Festival is back.

A year after calling off the film festival early last March, just as COVID-19 was getting a foothold in the United States, programmers announced this year’s virtual lineup. The festival will be held online Wednesday, June 2, through Sunday, June 6. 

This year’s lineup contains 21 feature films and 15 short films, with several documentary premieres in the mix. 

“In a year unlike any other, we are grateful to the filmmakers for allowing us to be a part of celebrating their work,” Full Frame’s Artistic Director and Interim Festival Director Sadie Tillery said in a press release. “It’s hard to imagine an event without being together in downtown Durham, but Full Frame’s essence has always been rooted in the films themselves.”

Featured in this year’s lineup are documentary perspectives on war, insomnia, the fraught college admission process, hypothetical nuclear war, wildlife injuries, and (already!) the origins of COVID-19. And, as ever, there are numerous documentaries that delve into relationships, ordinary people, and the moments that shape human experience. 

“Our venue may look different this year, but there is still so much to see and experience in these films that sparks our capacity for understanding,” Tillery continued. 

Of particular note is the documentary My Name is Pauli Murray about the lawyer, Black activist, feminist, poet, and priest who called Durham home. The film, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen (RGB), premiered last year at Sundance; now, it’s made its way back to North Carolina. Storm Lake, a documentary about Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Art Cullen’s fight to keep a rural, biweekly Iowan newspaper running, is also eye-catching. 

The full lineup can be found here. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, May 18. 

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Sarah Edwards is culture editor of the INDY, covering cultural institutions and the arts in the Triangle. She joined the staff in 2019 and assumed her current role in 2020.