Now online, the programme for Open City Doc Fest‘s 7th edition is looking like a stellar one, with 36 UK Premieres across 13 venues, and a host of special events. Dedicated to providing “an open space in London to nurture and champion the art of creative documentary and non-fiction filmmakers,” the festival has been exhibiting the kind of challenging, formally daring and complex work that is becoming increasingly popular recently, through other London festival Frames of Representation, and in the programmes of larger international festivals like Sheffield Doc/Fest, CPH:DOX or DokuFest. Here we select just five of the many surprises on offer, five opportunities to see something unusual or outlier within the comforts of the city.

One of two filmmakers in focus this year, Belgian filmmaker Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd’s work sounds extremely intriguing. “Filmed mostly in 16mm and Super 8, and with scores from British avant-garde musician Richard Skelton, these extraordinary works investigate the correlation between war, madness and memory through the lives of those who are victims of conflict and exile.” Open City present his three latest films, a loose trilogy that concludes with the UK premiere of his latest film, The Eternals. Equally noteworthy, the the other filmmaker focus is acclaimed Russian documentarian Vitaly Mansky. Ukrainian born, Mansky is now exiled from Russia and lives in Riga, where he runs ArtDoc Fest. He films have “tirelessly chronicled political and social developments in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union through examining the struggles of everyday-lives.” Open City have selected four of his works, including the unusual sounding Private Chronicles, Monologue about Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space..

Running 152 minutes, and consisting entirely of long takes of handheld, observational camera, Bitter Money may seem a challenging proposition. In reality, this new film from maybe the greatest working documentarian Wang Bing, is actually supremely watchable. Following his participants around in roaming closeup, the director gives a deep and prolonged insight into the living and working lives of a group of Chinese factory workers in Huzhou, many of whom have relocated here, facing less than favourable conditions in order to send money home or just to try to get by. Observing this informal ecosystem of extended periods of drudgery interrupted with occasional leisure, Bitter Money remains empathetic to its subjects, exploring the situation without engaging in any act of overt criticism or moralising.

The festival’s closing film, Purge This Land, from US filmmaker Lee Anne Schmitt, is well worth showing up for. Part landscape film and part essayistic inquiry, Schmitt travels various sites across America, looking into the legacy of violence behind the lands she encounters. Journeying across these places, Schmitt treads over the history of racialised violence present in much of the American landscape, little of which is unfamiliar but all of which is troublesome, and sometimes forgotten. Well known injustices crop up, names like Michael Brown and Emmett Till, but what proves most impactful is Schmitt’s own attachment to this brutal history. Dedicating the film to her son, she contextualises these past and present grievances amongst a continual legacy, affirming the constant danger of growing up in a black body – in these places or anywhere.

Also perhaps of interest, (full disclosure: we programmed one) are the shorts programmes. ‘Lost In Time’ looks at memory, exploring personal and familial histories on film, through work by Esther Wellejus, Benjamin Wigley and more. ‘Small Hours’ shows otherworldly visions of night time activities, with films from Isabel Pagliai, Rosie Needham, amongst others. ‘Fragments of the Infinite’, across films from Marie-Cécile Emblazon and Sam Oldmeadow engages with control and the loss of it, and what it means to try to maintain “order in what is ultimately a disorderly universe.” ‘A Place To Be’ looks broadly at “humanity’s struggle with our sense of presence and being in the world” through varying work by filmmakers like Duncan Cowles, Jade Jackman and Oliver Wilkins. Lastly, ‘By Hyper Media, For Hyper Media‘ will look at works of artist’s moving image that explore internet culture, in some of its varying shapes and forms. Including recent films from artists such as Jon Rafman, Louis Henderson and Jesse McLean, the programme charts a course of internet history, past, present and future.