LDNDOCS
- Nov 29, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 11
By Nicole Kent
LDNDOCS is a unique, carefully curated documentary festival that showcases vital stories exploring how memory and time shape our relationships—and the lasting impact they leave on us.
The festival presents new, award-winning feature films from some of the most acclaimed and exciting filmmakers working today. Each screening is followed by a conversation with visiting directors and special guests, and every film is experienced the way cinema was meant to be: on the big screen, together.
Ben Fowlie, the founder of LDNDOCS, describes his mission as 'building greater access to bold, ambitious nonfiction filmmaking in a city that remains a vital centre for the global creative documentary community.'
Come See Me In The Good Light
Director: Ryan White
Ryan White tenderly captures the fragility of life through poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley as they navigate Andrea’s incurable cancer diagnosis. The film traces Andrea’s journey—from a closeted queer high school basketball star to a woman grappling with suicidal ideation that once culminated in a real attempt. Andrea once wrote about her suicidal struggles in a poem, ‘Living Proof:'
The last, and I mean the last time,
I tried to return myself to sender
was a year ago this June.
After five months so sick I was certain
my stomach would never know a butterfly again,
I got so low I had to look up
to see rock bottom, and, ghosted by hope,
I got in my car and started driving toward
a dead end, a cliff that had been my backup plan
if ever the pain got stronger than I am.
The great irony—and the film’s emotional core—is that only after her diagnosis did Andrea begin to truly see the beauty in living. Confronting mortality sparked in her a renewed, urgent desire to be alive and to cherish every moment with fierce, deliberate gratitude. The couple reveal that the diagnosis also, unexpectedly, saved their relationship, bringing them closer and happier than they had been in years. And even as their lives shifted into three-week cycles marked by blood tests and treatment results, they continued to face even the most painful moments with humour.
The film unfolds as a poignant exploration of light amid darkness, a reminder to cherish and celebrate life every single day —and to recognise that love and connection is what endures when words fail, even for a poet laureate.
®Nicole Kent
The Last Dive
Director: Cody Sheehy
The Last Dive is truly a deeply moving masterpiece that chronicles an extraordinary friendship between Terry Kennedy—an ex–Hell’s Angel turned conservationist—and a manta ray named Willy. For seventeen years, Kennedy explored the ocean on Willy’s back. On several occasions, Willy led him to discarded nets on the seabed, and once, he even protected Kennedy from a hammerhead shark. No matter what happened, Willy always brought Terry safely back to his boat.
In The Last Dive, Terry recalls the moment Willy saved his life: 'he turned around and came up in front of me, kind of dogging me, moving back and forth. I thought he wanted to go for a ride—but every time I broke to the right, he broke to the right. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Finally, I did a jig and a jog, looked around, and there was an 18-foot great hammerhead. I thought to myself, ‘Whoa. Willy protected me.’'
The film’s ineffable sweeping wide shots of the ocean’s vastness and majesty transport the audience into a magical underwater world. We come to know other manta rays—Rosie, Tippy—as vividly as characters in a narrative, which makes the revelation of their plight even more horrific. In 1994, on Valentine’s Day at San Benedicto Island, Kennedy witnessed and recorded a brutal manta ray slaughter right beside his boat. After that moment, the once big-game hunter transformed into a dedicated manta ray conservationist. He became a vocal advocate for federal fishing regulations, ultimately helping push the Mexican government to declare the Revillagigedo Archipelago a nationally protected marine reserve.
The extraordinary bond between Kennedy and Willy is a powerful reminder of the healing beauty of nature, and the divine bond that can exist between humans and animals when approached with respect. This film touches the soul and fills the heart with a rare a sense of wonder that remain long after the credits roll.
®Nicole Kent
The Tale Of Silyan
Director: Tamara Kotevska
The Tale of Silyan blends the ordinary with the mystical through Macedonian folklore. It film Nikola and his family in their native North Macedonia, where government policies have driven crop prices so low that their generations-old farming is no longer sustainable. Kotevska captures heart-wrenching scenes of watermelons smashed during a farmer’s protest, potatoes left to decay in the fields because selling them is no longer worth the cost. The injustice is palpable, made even more painful after witnessing how tirelessly the family works to harvest each crop. The film leaves you with a newfound reverence for something as humble as a potato—as little jewels in the earth, beautiful gifts from the land. And then, in an instant, an entire livelihood—and an entire way of life—collapses under the weight of human greed.
When Nikola’s wife, daughter, and her husband relocate to Germany for a better life, Nikola is left to manage his farm. But after struggling to sell it even for a bargain price, he takes on job driving a bulldozer at the local dump. With the fields left untended, storks, the most common species in Northern Macedonia, turn to the dump to find food, many suffering injuries or death as a result. It is during this time that Nikola forms a deep bond with an injured stork, and through caring for it, he finds a quiet solace amid his loneliness.
Jean Dakar, the director of photography, approaches the material with a measured restraint, capturing Macedonia’s rural landscapes, wildlife, and human life with a painterly sensitivity. The storks are filmed with patience and care, whether in flight, foraging, or perched silently. They are never used merely as wildlife spectacle; instead, they take on an almost otherworldly presence, acting as impartial observers of Nikola’s life. Wide shots of them soaring over empty fields or navigating the dump add a lyrical, almost spiritual layer to the narrative.
Despite the grandeur of the landscapes, the camera frequently shifts to close-ups of Nikola’s expressions, gestures, and routines. These intimate shots highlight his humor, resilience, and quiet loneliness, creating an emotional intimacy without overt sentimentality. In addition, the clicking of stork beaks, the hum of the bulldozer, and the rustle of fields are integrated seamlessly with the visuals, enhancing the immersive, almost meditative quality of the film.
®Nicole Kent
The Bend In The River
Director: Robb Moss
The film is the final instalment of Moss’ doc trilogy about a group of free-spirited friends navigating their way through life.
Come See Me In The Good Light
Director: Ryan White
The film follows poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley as they face an incurable cancer diagnosis, transforming their experience into a moving celebration of resilience
King Hamlet
Director: Elvira Lind
Lind’ follows her husband, actor Oscar Isaac, as he takes on the iconic role of Shakespeare’s Danish prince at NYC’s Public Theatre.
The Last Dive
Director: Cody Sheehy
Cody Sheehy follows Terry Kennedy, an ex-Hell’s Angel-turned manta ray conservationist, on a personal journey to Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
Seeds
Director: Brittany Shyne
A lyrical look into the lives of Black generational farmers lyrical look into the lives of Black generational farmers.
Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost
Director: Ben Stiller
A doc about Stiller’s parents, comedy icons Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.
The Tale Of Silyan
Director Tamara Kotevska
The latest from the Oscar-nominated ‘Honeyland’ director is about the unlikely and beautiful bond between man and animal.
Vacances
Director: Victoria Hely-Hutchinson
A project shot over the course of a decade with her unforgettable bohemian ‘Granny’ in Provence.
Yanuni
Director: Richard Ladkani
The documentary follows the extraordinary journey of Juma Xipaia, an Indigenous chief from the Brazilian Amazon.
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