Full Frame Festival to return to Durham next year

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will return to Durham next year, organizers announced Tuesday. 

The festival took a break this year as the Center for Documentary Studies, which oversees Full Frame, undergoes a strategic planning review. 

The four-day festival will be held April 4 to 7, 2024, at the Carolina Theatre and Durham Convention Center.

The last in-person Full Frame festival was held in 2019. From 2020 to 2022, the event was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For 2024, the festival will be a partnership between CDS and Duke Venues and Performance Management (DVPM), the university's arm that handles planning, ticketing and other logistics for arts and other Duke events.

“Nothing will change in how festival leadership determines a vision for the event, nor how documentary experts select films,” said Ed Balleisen, Duke’s vice provost for interdisciplinary studies. “But the festival will mesh more substantially with operations at Duke to leverage logistical expertise and capacity.”

Emily Foster and Sadie Tillery, who have been co-directing the festival since 2021, will continue with the festival in a joint leadership role.

“By the time we get to Full Frame in 2024, it will have been five years since we last held an in-person festival,” Foster said. “Returning to the physical landscape is a big milestone for Durham and the documentary community. We’re committed to maintaining the core values that make Full Frame so special, while also building upon them to create a vision for Full Frame well into the future.”

“Full Frame is regarded as a filmmakers’ festival. I am committed to cultivating the sense of community and intimacy that Full Frame is known for as we return to in-person programming, while celebrating artists and exceptional documentary storytelling,” Tillery said.