{"id":736792,"date":"2026-04-18T13:45:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/736792\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T13:45:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:45:33","slug":"despite-trump-funding-cuts-doc10-film-fest-returns-with-films-that-speak-truth-to-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/736792\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite Trump Funding Cuts, Doc10 Film Fest Returns With Films That ‘Speak Truth’ To Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

LINCOLN SQUARE\u2014Chicago\u2019s longest-running documentary film festival, Doc10, returns for its 11th year with an expanded lineup of features, shorts and events, spanning 10 days of screenings and special guests.<\/p>\n

The festival runs April 24-May 3 at its perennial home, the Davis Theater, 4614 N. Lincoln Ave. Doc10 will feature 12 feature documentaries in its official selections, as well as a \u201cSpeak Truth\u201d program of hard-hitting, topical documentaries meant to inspire discussion on timely, critical issues facing America and the world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just after Chicago\u2019s longest-running documentary festival, Doc10, finished its 10th edition last year, Chicago Media Project organizers learned that the National Endowment of the Arts was rescinding their funding, after the Trump Administration\u2019s call to eliminate the agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not our sole funder by any means,\u201d Froehle told Block Club, \u201cbut they weren\u2019t insignificant.\u201d The news came as a shock to the organizers of the fest, who then spent the next couple months reorganizing and deciding how to move forward.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Froehle and the CMP team chose to not only return this year, but expand the festival\u2019s offerings by a week, with funding gaps shored up by individual philanthropists. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the reason Chicago Media Project is in existence,\u201d Froehle said. \u201cWe would not exist without individuals who believe in the power of media to bring about change.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of the folks in power understand how media, and manipulation of that media, can really have an impact. We agree; media is powerful. In our case, we can use media to bring people together, to help them see they\u2019re not alone in their fear and rage and desire to learn more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A still from Doc10 selection \u201cSteal this Story, Please!\u201d, which chronicles the career of \u201cDemocracy Now!\u201d host Amy Goodman.<\/p>\n

One of the ways the Doc10 team chose to answer this call is to add a new program to the festival called \u201cSpeak Truth,\u201d aiming to expand the festival\u2019s reach by screening documentaries focused on a timely, important issue, followed by discussions with filmmakers and community leaders and supported by various community partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Froehle explains that she wanted to \u201cliterally lay the bedrock of this festival\u201d on this idea, building new avenues to spark conversations about issues ranging from the war on journalism to climate to free speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Doc10 kicks off April 24 with the first of several \u201cSpeak Truth\u201d screenings, a 7 p.m. presentation of \u201cSabbath Queen,\u201d Sandi DuBowski\u2019s 21-year profile of Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, the latest in a long line of Orthodox rabbis who reinvents his faith through drag. (DuBowsky and Rabbi Lau-Levie will be in attendance for a Q&A).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Highlights of the \u201cSpeak Truth\u201d program include an April 25 screening of last year\u2019s \u201cThe Librarians,\u201d about the fight for access to knowledge in an age of school-library censorship; Emmy-winning actor and producer Henry Winkler will attend a Q&A after the screening at 6 p.m. Former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger will also attend a Zoom Q&A following a presentation of his doc, \u201cThe Last Republican\u201d at 7 p.m. April 28.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

The headlining documentary of Doc10\u2019s official selections is the upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 Documentary \u201cGive Me the Ball!,\u201d about legendary tennis pro Billie Jean King and her trailblazing struggles through sexual identity and gender parity in the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Billie Jean King in the documentary \u201cGive Me the Ball!\u201d by Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff. Credit: Ellen Griesedieck<\/p>\n

Doc10\u2019s lineup also includes several connections to Chicago, whether through subjects or filmmakers. \u201cAmerican Doctor,\u201d a documentary about three doctors who volunteer to work in Gaza, features Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian emergency room doctor who hails from Chicago. <\/p>\n

\u201cNot only is Dr. Ahmad a leader to Palestinians in Chicago, he\u2019s actually a leader of our time for Americans as a whole,\u201d director Poh Si Teng told Block Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ed Emanuel, Jerry Brock, Ellis Gates, Thad Givens, Franklin Swann, Lawton Mackey and Donald Mann appear in \u201cSoul Patrol\u201d by J.M. Harper. Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoul Patrol\u201d comes from director J.M. Harper, who grew up in Rockford, Illinois, and lived for some time in Chicago; it explores the first elite unit of Black Special Ops fighters in the Vietnam War, centering on Ed Emanuel (the author of the book on which the doc is based).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a homecoming for me,\u201d Harper told Block Club. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a powerful experience watching Chicago audiences watch the film, and showing it to people I consider to be family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps most timely is the Speak Truth presentation \u201cICE Under Watch,\u201d a 40-minute presentation of short films from local Chicago filmmakers who monitored and witnessed ICE activity in Chicago during last year\u2019s Operation Midway Blitz, in which federal agents descended on the city and commit injustices in the name of immigration enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrew Freer, local filmmaker and founder of Go Forth Media<\/a>, is pleased to have some of his short films included in the program. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been potentially one of the most consequential things that\u2019s happened in the last fifty years for our democracy,\u201d Freer tells Block Club. \u201cI\u2019m glad to be included, and that more of this information is getting out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program screens at noon May 3.<\/p>\n

Other highlights of the festival\u2019s official selections include:<\/p>\n

\u201cCookie Queens:\u201d Alysa Nahmias\u2019 endearing, heartfelt profile of four young Girl Scouts, varying in age, socioeconomic status and identity, navigating a particularly challenging cookie-selling season. A Q&A with Nahmias will follow.<\/p>\n

\"\"The closing night of last year\u2019s Doc10 at the Davis Theater. Credit: Victoria Sanders<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody to Kenmure Street\u201d: Felipe Bustos Sierra uses archival footage, interviews, and surprising reenactments (featuring actors Emma Thompson and Kate Dickie) to piece together the case study of a 2021 protest in Glasgow, where citizens rebelled against immigration enforcement attempting to deport two Muslim neighbors. Sierra will also appear for a Q&A.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie\u201d: Acclaimed documentarian Alex Gibney turns his lens to the 2022 assault on world-renowned author Salman Rushdie, showing his emotional path to recovery and the power of resilience. Gibney and Rushdie, along with journalist Bethany McLean, will field questions after the film.<\/p>\n

Tickets for each screening are $20, with discounts for students, seniors, military and first responders. There is also an Official Selections Pass for $350, which includes one ticket to every screening.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more information on Doc10, visit the festival website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LINCOLN SQUARE\u2014Chicago\u2019s longest-running documentary film festival, Doc10, returns for its 11th year with an expanded lineup of features,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":736793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[648,960,5386,1818,1072],"class_list":{"0":"post-736792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116426017331574711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}