DOC10

05/11/2026

🎬 Doc10 2026 was a record-setting and inspiring 10 days of cinema, conversations, and community — with our new Speak Truth series and special guests from Billie Jean King to Salman Rushdie. ✨

Take a look at some highlights from this year’s festival — and stay tuned for more exciting screenings and events in the months to come!

05/06/2026

That’s officially a wrap on Doc10 2026!

Thanks to the amazing audiences who joined us for 10 days of inspiring documentary films at the Davis Theater and Siskel Film Center — plus all the filmmakers, partner organizations, sponsors, volunteers, team members, and everyone who makes Doc10 possible!

Onward to more impactful documentary films!

05/05/2026

Celebrated novelist Salman Rushdie and Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney helped us close Doc10 2026 in style, screening their captivating new film KNIFE: THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SALMAN RUSHDIE and discussing it in Q&A, alongside Rachel Eliza Griffiths and Bethany McLean.

05/04/2026

Don't miss more amazing docs this week at The Chicago Critics Film Festival at the Music Box Theatre:

🎬 WHEN A WITNESS RECOUNTS, with dir. Dawn Porter in-person - tonight at 6:30pm

🎬 TIME AND WATER, from Doc10 alum Sara Dose (FIRE OF LOVE) - tonight at 9:30pm

🎬 BROKEN ENGLISH, a bold portrait of iconic singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull - Thursday at 5pm

Get tickets: https://www.chicagocriticsfilmfestival.com/films

05/04/2026

Our powerful "ICE Under Watch" screening made the Chicago Tribune!

Read more about the inspiring shorts and how we "made a deliberate shift toward local storytelling and civic engagement."

Documentary film festival premiered six films that chronicled stories of Chicagoans affected by last fall’s Operation Midway Blitz immigration raids.

05/03/2026

It was a moving Saturday night at Doc10, with packed houses for 2 hilarious, insightful films:

🍪 COOKIE QUEENS, featuring director Alysa Nahmias alongside real life Cookie Queens in-person, including Englewood's Girl Scout Troop 26286

🎤 PARALYZED BY HOPE: THE MARIA BAMFORD STORY, with Maria Bamford and director Neil Berkley discussing the film with fellow comedian Kristen Toomey

See you today for the final day of the festival — with films at the Davis Theater & Siskel Film Center!

📸: Vee Sanders

05/02/2026

2 more days of "the Best Documentaries You’ll See This Year”!

Today — Saturday — at Doc10:

REMAKE
1pm, with dir. Ross McElwee in-person

Get to The Davis Theater ASAP to meet legendary filmmaker Ross McElwee for the 1pm Chicago premiere of his "richly rewarding" person “masterpiece” REMAKE.

EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET
3:45pm, with dir. Felipe Bustos Sierra via Zoom

Winner of a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for Civil Resistance, this doc is “incredibly energizing” and “a spirited and imperative portrait of collective action whose urgency painfully speaks to now."

Tickets at https://doc10.eventive.org/films/69bad050f45d5765535debb2

COOKIE QUEENS
5:45, with dir. Alysa Nahmias & more special guests in-person

Join us this evening for a special celebration of the COOKIE QUEENS, with special surprise guests

PARALYZED BY HOPE: THE MARIA BAMFORD STORY
8:15, pm, with Maria Bamford and dir. Neil Berkeley in-person

See comedian Maria Bamford, live, and in person, for Judd Apatow’s funny and tender portrait of her life.

05/01/2026

Can't wait for Saturday's screening of COOKIE QUEENS, with Englewood’s Troop 26286 — Chicago's own cookie queens — joining alongside director Alysa Nahmias and film subjects Nikki & Olive!

The South Side troop made headlines after selling 34,000 cookie boxes to keep their group active, snagging an invitation to Saturday’s screening of director Alysa Nahmias’ film, part of the Doc10 Film Fest.

05/01/2026

A Doc10 night to remember: the Chicago premiere of the rousing GIVE ME THE BALL! with the legendary Billie Jean King joining us in-person, alongside co-directors Liz Garbus & Elizabeth Wolff, producer Dan Cogan, Laura Ricketts, and Christie Hefner 🎾🏆🎞️

Photos: Vee Sanders

04/26/2026

"Chicago’s Doc10 film festival is best known for two things. It is one of the only documentary-exclusive film fests in the country, and the organizers have an uncanny knack for curating a menu of films that end up on annual shortlists for prestigious awards, including the Oscars."

A running theme of this year’s event, which opens Friday, is ‘collective courage.’ Expect political heavy hitters, immigration themes and Oscar preludes.