Each year, the International Documentary Association (IDA) presents Docuweeks, a three-week event staged in both New York City and Los Angeles, in which the nonprofit organization 'four walls' a selected program of independently produced feature length documentaries and nonfiction shorts to assure that they meet requirements for Academy Awards consideration.

The 16th annual Docuweeks are scheduled to take place in New York from August 3 to 23, 2012, at the IFC Center, and in Los Angeles from August 10 to 30 at the Laemmle NoHo 7.

The screenings are open to the public, so Docuweeks presents an excellent opportunity for documentaries enthusiasts to see films that have not yet had theatrical releases elsewhere, but may eventually be named to the 2013 Oscars shortlist and, ultimately, win the coveted golden statuette for the year's Best Documentary Feature or Best Documentary Short.

Docuweeks is not the only way for a documentary to qualify for Oscars consideration, but there are 17 features that have been selected to participate in the Docuweeks program. They are (in alphabetical order):

Feature Length Documentaries

• The Anderson Monarchs - Directed by Eugene Martin, USA, 76 mins. - This sports documentary chronicles the daily doings of the nationally competitive African-American girls soccer club, a team named for Marian Anderson. The girls on the team hail from inner-city Philadelphia's at-risk neighborhoods, but have overcome obstacles and risen above their personal hardships to become champions. They were nominated by Sports Illustrated to be 2008's "Sports Team" of the year, and London's The Guardian noted that they are "the future of American Soccer." The film follows the Anderson Monarchs as they make history, and is an inspiration to all who aspire to change their lives for the better.

• Defiant Requiem - Directed by Doug Shultz, USA/Czech Republic, 86 mins. - A powerful and emotion-packed documentary that chronicles a holocaust memorial concert staged to reflect upon the story of an historic artistic uprising in Terezin, the Nazi concentration camp, where 150 inmates formed a chorus to confront and defy the Nazis through song. A real tribute to the sustaining spirit and importance of music.
• Digital Dharma - Directed by Dafna Yachin, India/USA/Nepal/China, 82 mins. - This documentary reveals the extraordinary path followed by E. Gene Smith, a Mormon from Utah, who spent 50 years rescuing, preserving and making known some 20,000 volumes of ancient Sanskrit and Tibetan texts that were threatened with destruction during political turmoil in the 1950s and 1960s. Smith's efforts raised awareness and gave rise to an international movement that actyakk saved the history of a people, their religion and culture from extinction.
• Drought/Cuates de Australia - Directed by Everardo González, Mexico, 84 mins. - Drought annually forces the residents of Los Cuates de Australia in Northeast Mexico to leave their ejido (communal land) to search for water. This profile of the men, women and children of a small, rural, doubt-stricken community waiting for water to return to their land is a compelling alert to the desperation caused by the lack of fresh, potable water -- desperation experienced not only by this ejido, but by small, rural communities around the world.
• Garden in the Sea (Jardín en el Mar) - Directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer, Mexico. 69 mins. - In this beautifully shot documentary, we experience the thematic connection between landscape, environment and art, as we follow renown Spanish artist Christina Iglesias fulfilling a commission to create an underwater sculpture that would protect and enhance marine life in the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Baja California. The sculpture was four years in creation and installation. The thrilling journey from beginning to completion stirs conservationist instincts, and urges audiences to respect and protect Earth's natural wonders.
• HOLY MAN: THE USA vs. DOUGLAS WHITE - Directed by Jennifer Jessum, USA, 84 mins. - This documentary exposes the systematic injustice that Native Americans experience in America's criminal justice system. It is the story of Douglas White, an 89-year-old Lakota Sioux medicine man from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, who spent 17 years in federal prison for a crime he did not commit. The filmmakers discovered new evidence of White's innocence, and were able to reopen his case in federal court. Like Crime After Crime and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, this harrowing documentary calls for examination of our criminal justice system and the implementation of necessary reforms. The film is narrated by actor/activist Martin Sheen.
• La Source - Directed by Patrick Shen, USA/Haiti, 71 mins. - The documentary tells the story of an ordinary man, Haitian-born Josue Lajeunesse, who leaves his janitorial job at Princeton to return to his homeland after the devastating earthquake of 2010, determined to provide fresh water that will enable his town to survive. Again, the necessity for fresh, potable water is at the core of a compelling documentary about a rural community faced with crisis. The film is narrated by actor/activist Don Cheadle, previously engaged in the documentary Darfur Now.
• Love Free or Die - Directed by Macky Alston, USA/UK, 83 mins. - Gene Robinson, the film's lead subject, is the first openly gay person to be consecrated as a bishop in any Christian sect, and that has made him the target for venomous criticism and threats of death. He had to wear a bulletproof vest to this consecration in 2003. But he has been steadfast in his beliefs regarding equality and staunchly loyal to his partner, Mark. In Love Free or Die, filmmaker Macky Alston follows Robinson on his crusade, from rural churches in New Hampshire to Washington, D.C. to London, speaking out for equal rights and encouraging gay clergy and secular people to declare their homosexuality and challenge repressive policies and practices.
• The Magic Life - Directed by Nelson Cheng, USA, 73 mins. - Be prepared to be thoroughly entertained by this engaging documentary about three budding magicians who aspire to turn their true passion for illusion and card tricks into successful careers. Of the three, the charming 17 year-old Yang Yang, who hails from China has the most thrilling and unusual act. He's destined for stardom, with a performance at LA's Magic Castle as his initiation. Card trickster Michael Friedman leaves a prosperous real estate career to move to Los Angeles to play the Magic Castle, too, with his pregnant fiance on his arm. And Los Angelino Matthew Noah Falk prestidigitates on Hollywood Boulevard outside Grauman's Chinese Theater. Can't help but love the three of them, and the film.
• Of Two Minds - Directed by Doug Blush and Lisa Klein, USA, 89 mins. - An intimate and compassionate look at the lives of several of the five million Americans who are struggling with bipolar disorder, a condition that pushes them to the extremes of ecstasy and despair -- often within minutes of each other. They're on an unpredictable roller coaster of emotions that effects their friends and family as well as themselves. Hard to watch, sometimes funny, always insightful.
• Once in a Lullaby: The PS22 Chorus Story- Directed by Jonathan Kalafer, USA, 85 mins. - The wonderful story of the Staten Island grade school chorus that was invited to perform as the closing act of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, after their talents were made known by their proud teacher who posted videos of them on YouTube. Filmmaker Jonathan Kalafer follows the charming fifth-graders from Staten Island to Tinsel Town, revealing their glee and jitters. This is a pre-teen coming of age in the midst of sudden celebrity, and it's a challenge that is well met by its youthful subjects.
• Out of the Clear Blue Sky- Directed by Danielle Gardner, USA/UK, 108 mins. - A post-911 documentary that takes a close look at the character and behavior of Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, the Wall Street brokerage that suffered more casualties than the FDNY as a result of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. None of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who were in the company's offices on floors 101 to 105 of One World Trade Center made it out of the building alive, including Lutnick's brother and several of his closest friends. Lutnick promised to take care of the survivors, and was hailed as a hero of sorts. But the praise was not enduring. Why? See the film.
• RICKY on LEACOCK - Directed by Jane Weiner, USA/France/Spain/Canada, 90 mins. - With interviews and other footage shot over a period of 38 years, filmmaker Jane Weiner presents a beautiful tribute to the work and chronicles the life of legendary filmmaker Richard Leacock, who had enormous influence on the form and aesthetics of documentaries, and on the use of developing technologies in nonfiction filmmaking. Leacock contemporaries who appear in Interviews and/or filmed encounters with the master include D.A. Pennebaker, Robert Drew, Ed Pincus, Jonas Mekas and Dušan Makavejev, among others.
• TRIAL BY FIRE: Lives Re-Forged - Directed by Megan Smith-Harris, USA, 88 mins. - Dancing With The Stars champion J.R. Martinez is one of the burn survivors whose stories are told in this documentary about people whose physical presence and spiritual outlook have been transformed by their life threatening encounter with fire. Others include an oil worker who survived an explosion at a refinery, a race-car driver who made an extraordinary comeback after a fiery crash, and a firefighter who emerged from a 1,500 degree inferno. Their scars, they say, are like tattoos, but with better stories. These people are profiles of courage.
• We Women Warriors (Tejiendo Sabiduría)- Directed by Nicole Karsin, USA/Colombia, 79 mins. - Colombia's indigenous people -- there are 102 distinct aboriginal groups -- are being wiped out by warfare centered around and financed by the country's drug trade. In following three indigenous women who are using nonviolent resistance to lead the struggle to assure their peoples' survival. The character driven film underscores the importance of female influence, empowerment, courage and faith in indigenous cultures.
• Without A Net - Directed by Kelly J. Richardson, USA/Brazil, 60 mins. - When a big top traveling circus sets up its tent in an impoverished, drug-saturated slum in Rio de Janiero, four struggling local youngsters sign on to learn acrobatics, trapeze, contortion and juggling, with the goal of appearing in the end-of-year show and improving their lots in life. This determined, colorful and somewhat charismatic lot represent the desires, desperation and resilience of youngsters who've been born into hardship and must take risks to forge paths out of their life-stifling poverty. Thrilling and entertaining, yet a harsh reminder of the hardships faced by millions around the world.
• Words of Witness - Directed by Mai Iskander, USA/Egypt 69 mins. - As she did in Garbage Dreams, filmmaker Mai Iskander takes us to Egypt, this time following 22-year-old Heba Afify, a female journalist who defies her country's cultural norms and her family's expectations by heading for the streets to report on current political and social unrest. Using social media including texting, Twitter and Facebook, Heba bravely informs her fellow countrymen and the rest of the world what's going on in her homeland. Her commitment and struggle cover the events shaping the future of her country's future, is a reflection of the nation's efforts to attain freedoms with which they can move forward and create their own future.

Docuweeks Scheduling and Tickets

For Docuweeks scheduling, and further information about the Internation Documentaries Association, visit the organization's official Website. For tickets in New York, visit the IFC Center Website. Tickets for Los Angeles screenings may be obtained from the Laemmle Theater.

If You Like This Article, You May Also Like:

• Docuweeks 2012 Program of Documentary Shorts
• International Documentary Association - Overview
• Docuweeks 2011 Program
• Docuweeks 2010 Program
• New Oscars Qualifying Rules for 2013