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DOC NYC festival brings the best in nonfiction films

Sen. Charles Schumer announces the Commuter Benefits Equity Act, which would extend federal mass transit benefits that are currently scheduled to expire January 1st. (Nov. 11, 2013)
Sen. Charles Schumer announces the Commuter Benefits Equity Act, which would extend federal mass transit benefits that are currently scheduled to expire January 1st. (Nov. 11, 2013) Photo Credit: Handout Handout/ Joaquin Simo

DOC NYC, the all-documentary festival kicking off at the IFC Center and the SVA Theatre tomorrow night, is big.

How big, you ask?

Try 132 nonfiction films and events. That’s 73 features, 39 shorts and 20 panel discussions.

In other words, it’s the largest documentary fest in the United States.

DOC NYC begins with the local premiere of Errol Morris’ “The Unknown Known,” in which the iconic documentarian turns his trademark Interrotron camera device on Donald Rumsfeld, exploring the former secretary of defense’s career through his own image and words.

The centerpiece “Finding Vivian Maier” explores the famous photographer, who worked as a nanny by day, and whose images of street scenes in Chicago and New York were only recently discovered.

Fittingly, New York is a central subject in many of the movies. The city-centric fare includes documentaries about the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, the Jayson Blair scandal, competitive eaters, and a famous 1970s NYPD corruption scandal.

The fest wraps up with the world premiere of a Michel Gondry doc about Noam Chomsky.