Durham hosts Full Frame film festival

Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of films shown at the Full Frame festival. It also did not clarify to whom the festival’s profits went. The article has been changed to reflect these corrections. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the errors.

Film festivals are like circuses.

Every prestigious gathering of independent or commercial filmmakers behaves, in Deirdre Haj’s mind, like a circus animal.

And Durham’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is no different.

Full Frame — one of the city’s most treasured and popular annual events — is back in its 14th year, bringing together filmmakers from around the world to showcase their talents in the art of making documentaries.

Of the more 1,200 films submitted by international and local filmmakers, only 100 are chosen to be screened.

Those 100 are divided and will compete in four categories — Career, Invited, New Docs and Thematic — for this weekend’s four-day event.

Haj, executive director of the festival, said Nancy Buirski — Full Frame’s founder — will debut her film, “Long Way Home: The Loving Story,” Friday.

Buirski’s documentary examines the arrest of Mildred and Richard Loving in 1958 on charges of interracial marriage, which eventually resulted in the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision of Loving v. Virginia, through a mix of found footage and present-day interviews.

Today, UNC students will have the opportunity to see the world premiere of the documentary, “To Be Heard.”

The film tells the story of three Bronx high school students who take a life-changing poetry class.

But the festival officially kicks off Thursday with Julie Moggan’s “Guilty Pleasures.”

The film follows five women and their diverse relationships with Harlequin paperback romance novels.

Full Frame hosts events with local venues and organizations throughout the year to promote and raise funds for the spring festival.

Ticket sales for this weekend’s festival have already surpassed last year’s ticket sales, Haj said. Twelve screenings sold out before the festival started.

Last year, Full Frame generated nearly $2 million in funds for local businesses, she said.

Tom Rankin, professor and director of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, helps choose from the many films that are submitted to compete at Full Frame.

The variety of films and filmmakers that travel to Durham for the festival make Full Frame an internationally renowned festival, Rankin said.

“You get the opportunity to meet filmmakers and meet people whose creativity rise behind these films,” he said. “It’s a rare opportunity.”

The Center for Documentary Studies is also one of the cosponsors of the festival.

Full Frame differs from other festivals — like Tribeca in New York or Cannes in France — in that it only presents documentary films, Rankin said.

In showcasing documentaries, Full Frame focuses more on the content of the film rather than the commercial market, Rankin said.

“It’s a filmmaker’s festival,” Haj said. “Festivals are like unique animals.”

Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.