DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, kicked off last week here in Downtown Manhattan. Continue reading to learn more about our time at the festival, including the special screening of Mija.
I arrived at Cinépolis Chelsea and the lobby was filled with frenzied filmmakers, reporters and the like. I had been invited to a special screening of Disney+ documentary, Mija and the excited crowd confirmed I was in the right place.
After receiving my tickets and checking out the snacks (coconut-oil popped popcorn, anyone?), I made my way into the theater. My fellow festival attendees and I settled into the theater’s plush seats and the screening began.
Mija follows Doris Muñoz, a first-generation Mexican American woman who broke into the music industry managing popular Latin pop artist, Cuco. Viewers are quickly charmed by Doris as she navigates the pandemic, job loss and her family’s precarious immigration status. Doris soon discovers underground musician and fellow Latina, Jacks Haupt. We watch as the two young women build each other up—Doris develops Jacks’s career and Jacks reignites Doris’s passion for the music business.
By the end of the film, many of us in the audience were in tears, moved by this tale of love, loss, artistry, and ultimately, success. The screening was followed by a Q&A with Director Isabel Castro and DOC NYC’s founding artistic director, Thom Powers.
DOC NYC continues through November, with in person-screenings ending November 17 and online screenings ending on November 27. Mija is currently streaming on Disney+.
