CHICAGO — There are, as usual, treasures lurking in the gathering of films being offered at this year’s Doc10 documentary film festival.

This is the 11th anniversary of this often provocative and consistently pleasing festival, with films screening from April 24 to May 3 at the Davis Theater and Gene Siskel Film Center, and it is embellished by something new. In addition to the feature-length documentaries available, there will also be films in what is called “Speak Truth.”

This program is composed of films on timely matters — issues such as censorship, food shortage, religious freedom — that will be followed by panel discussions featuring filmmakers, community leaders and audience members. The idea, I am told, is to “carry the conversations beyond the theater.”

It’s a fine idea, true to the festival’s ambitions. Doc10 was founded in 2013 by Paula Froehle and Steve Cohen, who were out to change the way people thought of the word “documentary.” As Froehle told me long ago, “Before we began, I would mention to people that I made documentaries and I would just watch as their eyes glazed over.”

I got that then and have watched the changes, as has Froehle, who also said, “That is certainly no longer the case. Documentaries give us real people, and we are drawn to them in deeper ways than we might be to fictional characters. We crave stories about human beings where we can find an emotional connection. The lives of real people can inspire great films.”

It is, of course, up to you, the audience members, to judge for yourselves. If you need an example of the festival’s eclecticism, I ask you, what other diversion might contain films about tennis great and social activist Billie Jean King, and writer and assassination target Salman Rushdie, who will appear with the film’s director, Alex Gibney, following the screening?

They are here, along with such movies as “Soul Patrol,” about the first elite unit of Black special ops fighters in the Vietnam War, which critic Courtney Small called “a moving and captivating work (that) honours those whose legacy and sacrifice should never be forgotten”; “The Baddest Speechwriter of All,” a profile of Clarence B. Jones, former lawyer and speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., featuring the directorial debut of basketball’s Stephen Curry as co-director; and “Cookie Queens,” about the business of selling Girl Scout Cookies, which so impressed critic Jason Gorber that he wrote, “Emotionally rich, terrifically paced and handsomely framed, this is an exceptional work that’s greater than its ingredients, sandwiching politics, commerce, and the joys of childhood all into one package.”

The “Speak Truth” offerings are equally varied. As a former Tribune TV critic and no stranger to the comedy scene, I was drawn to watch “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.” Available on PBS, it is a compelling portrait of the man who gave millions of TV viewers laughter with shows such as, in no particular order, “All in the Family,” “Good Times,” “Maude,” “Sanford and Son,” “One Day at a Time” and “The Jeffersons.” (Doc10 sometimes chooses, with the artful aid of head programmer Anthony Kaufman, films from Sundance, Tribeca, Hot Docs and other major festivals.)

But for all the success and laughter in his life, it was shadowed by dark clouds. As he wrote in his late-in-life biography, “Even This I Get to Experience,” “In those Brooklyn years preceding and following my bar mitzvah, I felt less alone when I was by myself in my bedroom than when I was with my family.”

Lear died in 2023. He was 101. He was a hero.

Among other intriguing “Speak Truth” films are “The Librarians,” which explores the disturbing issue of book banning and censorship and will feature, in its post screening discussions, Henry Winkler. “The Grab” is about who is trying to corner the world’s water and food resources, “The Last Republican” focuses on former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger’s criticism of President Donald Trump, and “ICE Under Watch” is a collection of local filmmakers’ short works on last fall’s Operation Midway Blitz here.

Earlier this week, Chicago-based Kartemquin Films, celebrating its 60th year in the business of making such acclaimed documentaries as “Hoop Dreams” and “Life Itself,” sent out a message of support for Doc10, saying, “Film festivals have always been essential to independent filmmakers, but right now they matter more than ever. As distribution vanishes and public media loses funding, festivals remain an open pathway to audiences.

“They’re for audiences to gather, to experience bold and thought-provoking work, and to sit in conversation with one another. They create space for dialogue with filmmakers and the kind of spontaneous conversations that carry beyond the theater.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

If you go

The Doc10 Film Festival runs April 24 to May 3 at the Davis Theater, 4614 N. Lincoln Ave., and Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.; tickets and more information at doc10.eventive.org

———

(Rick Kogan is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.)

———

©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.