For 40 years, Alan Berliner has clipped photographs that caught his eye from the pages of The New York Times, meticulously archiving and cross-referencing them like a self-proclaimed archivist. Driven by his obsession, Berliner has transformed and reinterpreted his collection of images into a film that offers poignant reflections on the power of photography, photojournalism, and the profound role news plays in our lives. In an age when the demise of the daily print newspaper seems inevitable, this documentary «letter» is a call to recognize what is at stake.
The presence of Alan Berliner (New York, 1956) at the 30th edition of FIDOCS will delight his admirers and those who appreciate the infinite and unexpected possibilities of documentary filmmaking. Those unfamiliar with his work will have the opportunity to experience for the first time the emotions evoked by this unclassifiable body of work: as experimental as it is narrative, as comic as it is serious, as luminous as it is painful, as personal as it is relatable to anyone who identifies as human.
Berliner is capable of questioning his father—as demonstrated by his most famous film, 'Nobody's Business' (1996)—, of exploring the world through the newspaper clippings he has obsessively collected ('Letter to the Editor', 2019), or of paying homage to a friend who died during the Covid pandemic ('Benita', 2025) without falling into the egocentric territories of "autobiographical cinema." Quite the opposite: the more he explores his own little world, the more universal he becomes.
How does he do it? With honesty, intelligence, sensitivity, a certain obsession with collecting images, and a rare warmth in contemporary cinema. These are some of the qualities that help decipher the universe of a filmmaker admired by colleagues, critics, programmers, and students, whose work seems destined to continue finding new audiences.
Andrés Nazarala R, FIDOCS 30 programmer
Alan Berliner's ability to combine experimental filmmaking, artistic purpose, and popular appeal in captivating film essays has made him one of America's most acclaimed independent filmmakers. The New York Times has described Berliner's work as "powerful and captivating… full of conflict and contradiction… innovative in its technique… Alan Berliner demonstrates the power of art to transform life.".