Found Footage Festival Volume 7: Live in Asheville

This special 10th anniversary edition of the Found Footage Festival finds curators Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher in a nostalgic mood, delving deeper--perhaps too deep--into some of their favorite VHS finds from over years. But Volume 7 is also jam packed with newly unearthed treasures, featuring singing rabbis, petulant news anchors, coughing snake handlers, bodybuilding clowns, and two body parts never before seen in the festival! It's a celebration of a decade of Found. Record over and you'll die! Taped live at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina.

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into Herzog’s everyday life, rare archive material and in-depth interviews with celebrated collaborators – including Christian Bale, Nicole Kidman, and Robert Pattinson, we are given an exciting glimpse into the work and personal life of the iconic artist.

The Hat Man: Documented Cases of Pure Evil

Eyewitnesses across the globe describe encountering the same evil entity.

Capturar (Las 1001 novias)

Dark Side of the Moon

A French documentary or, one might say more accurately, a mockumentary, by director William Karel which originally aired on Arte in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the CIA with help from director Stanley Kubrick.

Lane Woods Finds Love

Fresh out of a long term, serious breakup, Lane Woods chooses to work through (read as: distract himself from) his feelings by making a documentary about his attempts to get back out there and find a new love. With the help of his younger brother, Colin, Lane films himself as he goes on countless dates, hoping to catch those first sparks of love on film, instead he ends up documenting something much closer to reality.

Slaughter (Besmel)

"Slaughter" is an experimental short film that delves into the archival and historical footage of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, depicting a symbolic narrative surrounding the ritualistic act of animal sacrifice, known as "Besmel." It serves as an allegorical representation of a nation's sacrifice amidst the backdrop of political transformations.

The Canadian Conspiracy

A mockumentary illustrating a supposed conspiracy to infiltrate American culture through employing Canadians in the U.S. entertainment industry.

I Think It's Clogged

This short film explores the resolution of a plumbing problem through a narrative lens compiled from found footage sourced from pornographic websites.

1976: Search for Life

A new father takes his wife and daughter on a journey to his mother’s birthplace in Scotland. It is 1976 – the year in which NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 space probes land on the surface of Mars. They send images of an only vaguely explored area from a great distance, enabling a first look into the history of an alien planet. Like the NASA scientists, the small family are hoping that their journey will give them insights into the past, an understanding of the present situation and perhaps even the chance to anticipate the future.

When the Water Stops Flowing

Jonathan Stavleu explores, in a stream-of-consciousness video essay, the relationship people have with water and what happens when access to it is taken away. For this work, he examines anecdotal histories he has heard from Estonians, as well as stories from his own family history in the Netherlands, weaving them together into a journal-like narrative.

Area 51: The Alien Interview

A documentary about aliens and UFOs with re-enactments of alien interviews and video of a supposedly real video of an alien being interviewed by government officials.

Jeffrey's Hell

In 2023, Writer/director Aaron Irons went deep into the Appalachian wilderness area known as Jeffrey's Hell to expand on the legends and stories from his 2022 found footage film, CHEST. He was never seen again. This documentary explores what really happened to Aaron and what secrets are being kept below the surface.

My Heart Is an Octopus or My Father on the Shore of the Black Sea

A middle-aged man returns to a fictional country in the Balkans to make a documentary about his father, a well-known artist. The son’s own artistic endeavours have never received attention to the level he feels they deserve. Consequently he has struggled to find a meaningful place in society and his personal life is chaos.

Night at the Hotel

Paranormal horror documentary with real footage of the night when two friends entered with cameras in an abandoned hotel among the forests of Galicia, they were surrounded and attacked by unexplained forces. The documentary shows what happened there with real footage and interviews of the protagonists.

Backyard Epics: A Retrospective of Curranator Productions

Many years ago, a group of friends started a journey. This documentary looks back at unique hobby that forged an unbreakable brotherhood.

Reflejos

Two generations dialogue through the images they filmed of their children, a reflection of the emotional bond that arises from their involvement with what was shot.

La caravane du cafard

An intimate portrait of a Belgian family. They seem normal at first, but after a while they show their true colors. They’re a bunch of ruthless and indifferent serial killers without any scruples or morality. You’ll witness their daily slaughter and, as the bodies pile up, see how they’ll come apart at the seams.

The Wild Blue Yonder

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

And on the 7th Day, God Rocked

A mockumentary about a Christan Battle of the Bands.

Burden of Dreams

The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty

A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.

Maria by Callas

Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs, the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York City to become a glamorous international superstar and one of the greatest artists of all time.

Powaqqatsi

An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.

Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity

A deep dive into the making of the Paranormal Activity films with first time ever interviews with cast and crew, never-before-seen footage from the movies, and a preview of the seventh installment in the franchise.

Lost in La Mancha

Fulton and Pepe's 2000 documentary captures Terry Gilliam's attempt to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground. Back injuries, freakish storms, and more zoom in to sabotage the project.

42 Up

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

For Sama

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

Naqoyqatsi

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Interstellar: Nolan's Odyssey

A look behind the lens of Christopher Nolan's space epic.

Koyaanisqatsi

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

Behind the Planet of the Apes

Roddy McDowall takes you, film by film, from production meetings to make-up sessions, then right onto the movie set to see the actual filming of the science fiction masterpiece. The most comprehensive history of Planet of the Apes ever created, this fascinating 127-minute documentary explores one of the most imaginative and influential series in movie history.

Chronos

Carefully picked scenes of nature and civilization are viewed at high speed using time-lapse cinematography in an effort to demonstrate the history of various regions.

The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button

A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.

My Mom Jayne

Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.

S4: The Bob Lazar Story

Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity

180° South

The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.

Val

For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood's most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors, has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes

This documentary explores the mystery surrounding the death of movie icon Marilyn Monroe through previously unheard interviews with her inner circle.

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

Darwin meets Hitchcock in this documentary. Directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have created a parable about the search for paradise, set in the brutal yet alluring landscape of the Galapagos Islands, which interweaves an unsolved 1930s murder mystery with stories of present day Galapagos pioneers. A gripping tale of idealistic dreams gone awry, featuring voice-over performances by Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, and Gustaf Skarsgard.