Sean Penn Brings 'Black Sunflowers' to SFFILM's Doc Stories

Sean Penn introduced James Marcus Haney's "Black Sunflowers" at SFFILM's Doc Stories on Saturday, telling a packed Vogue Theatre in San Francisco: "This movie is the song I dreamed I could sing."

Penn isn't a regular on the regional documentary circuit. He made an exception for this one. The film follows a generation of young Ukrainians coming of age under martial law and the demands of a country at war. Penn, an outspoken supporter of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed on as executive producer before the documentary premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

His full quote to the audience carried a characteristic flourish: "Who do you imagine yourself singing like if you could sing like somebody?" Penn said. "This movie is the song I dreamed I could sing."

Penn was one of several Oscar winners at the 12th edition of Doc Stories, which concluded Sunday.

What role does the festival play for independent film?

Anne Lai, SFFILM's executive director, said the organization's mission — embodied by Doc Stories and the annual San Francisco Film Festival — is keeping independent voices alive by backing filmmakers and helping them reach audiences.

"That means not only supporting films and filmmakers who are trying to put distinctive work out into the world, but also growing and sharing that work with audiences," Lai said. "So as we talk about consolidations of studios and what happens on the margins, I think a lot about us as an organization is trying to look at what is in the margins because a lot of the most interesting things do not come through the mainstream."

What did Laura Poitras screen?

Academy Award winner Laura Poitras attended with her short "They're Here," about ICE agents' descent on Minneapolis. It was one of 11 short documentaries at the festival.

Poitras and co-director Rachel Lauren Mueller discussed the film at length during the fest's Doc Talks series. Mueller, who is Minneapolis-based and shot most of the documentary in January and February 2026, offered a blunt description: "We describe (the film) as a horror documentary."

Her account of the production was more chilling than any pitch deck. "Being in the occupation just as a human being and not even as a filmmaker was one of the most difficult experiences of my life," Mueller said. "There were tanks rolling down my street. It was not the first time. That also happened after the murder of George Floyd, but this was different because the streets were filled with tear gas. They were kidnapping people from street corners right around my house."

Poitras — known for "Citizenfour," "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" and "Cover-Up" — said the gravity of the situation shaped the format: she and Mueller made "They're Here" a short deliberately.

"I've worked in short form and long form, and the truth is feature-length documentaries often take longer, and I think we both felt a sense of urgency of making something that could be released in a more contemporaneous moment," Poitras said.

Which Oscar contenders showed up?

"They're Here" was one of several Oscar-qualified films on the program. Others included:

• Sam Pollard's "Tutu"
• J.M. Harper's "Soul Patrol"
• Ava DuVernay's "14th"

DuVernay said the Democrats' midterm victory could make "14th," with its exploration of belonging and birthright citizenship, even more resonant.

"The film goes far beyond this moment," DuVernay said. "This film is about the structural challenges that we have had as a country, and until you know the machinery of elections, they are not going to get us to where we need to be. So, this is the right time for people to get past the vote, vote, vote of it all and into the OK, this is how we actually make systemic change."

Why does Doc Stories matter in awards season?

The festival is considered an essential stop on the Oscar-season circuit, thanks to its curation and the Bay Area's concentration of AMPAS Documentary Branch members (AMPAS being the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars) and guild voters. The track record speaks for itself: more than two dozen Doc Stories selections have earned Academy Award nominations, and several have won, including "No Other Land" and "Summer of Soul."

"The doc community here is very engaged, committed, and vibrant, and they show up for each other," said Jessie Fairbanks, SFFILM's director of programming. "They want to see each other's work and talk about what they are working on. There is usually some synergy just because of where we sit in the calendar year and the types of films that are campaigning, which is wonderful because it means we get a heightened profile for the festival."

How does its brunch differ from DOC NYC's?

Like DOC NYC's annual Visionaries Luncheon, Doc Stories' annual brunch gathers the doc world's who's who — filmmakers, producers, editors, cinematographers and publicists schmoozing with branch members before the Oscar Short List voting deadline. DuVernay and Netflix's documentary VP Adam Del Deo flew in for the lunch, as did the filmmakers behind "To Hold a Mountain" and Frontline's Raney Aronson-Rath, who is campaigning for "One in a Million."

Unlike for-profit DOC NYC, Doc Stories runs as a nonprofit, with a much smaller brunch. Fairbanks insists the economics protect the programming. "Different organizations engage with the awards campaign in different ways," she said. "We don't charge people a fee to be a part of our events. If you want access to the brunch, you can sponsor us, a nonprofit organization, and get access to the room; otherwise, you have to be a filmmaker who is a part of our organization, or you are an (AMPAS) voter. Monetizing that allows us to retain our independence when it comes to what we curate and what we put in front of audiences."

That independence, on this year's evidence, is the festival's competitive edge: a place where a Hollywood star, an intelligence-documentary laureate and a network commissioner share one program without anyone buying the room.