DOC NYC 2026 opens Wednesday, Nov. 11, and five of its films carry the festival's own Asian/Asian American tag: Mai American, What Happened to Danny, The Dao of Thao, The Navigator and Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing. Together they stretch from a Vietnamese refugee's story to a Chinatown family's search for answers to Native Hawaiian wayfinding. This guide to the Asian American documentaries at DOC NYC 2026 covers when each one plays and which ones you can also watch online.

What is DOC NYC 2026, and when does it run?

The festival's 17th edition runs in person from Nov. 11 to 19 at IFC Center, SVA Theatre and Village East by Angelika, then continues online through Nov. 29. In its Oct. 9 announcement, DOC NYC said the program includes more than 200 films and dozens of events.

Which Asian American documentaries are at DOC NYC 2026?

Five, going by the festival's own tagging. Each film page lists Asian/Asian American among its tags. We did not find a festival wide Asian American program, so this grouping follows those tags, and other titles in the lineup may carry them too. In order of first screening: Mai American on Nov. 13, What Happened to Danny on Nov. 15, The Dao of Thao on Nov. 16, and The Navigator and Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing, which both play Nov. 19. Every in-person screening of the five lists a Q&A, and each film page names who is expected to take part.

What is Mai American about?

Mai American is a world premiere in the U.S. Competition section, directed by Kevin Truong. The festival's description starts with a Vietnamese woman who arrives as a refugee and eventually becomes an "American," then asks what belonging looks like when your body continues to be "a reminder of an unforgettable past." A queer filmmaker puts those questions to his mother, and through memoirs, paintings and conversations the film becomes a story of hurt and healing through love and acceptance. It runs 94 minutes, in English and Vietnamese.

It plays Friday, Nov. 13 at 6:15 p.m. and Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 3:30 p.m., both at Village East by Angelika. Each is followed by a Q&A with Truong, who is listed as both director and protagonist. An online screening runs Nov. 14 to 29.

What is What Happened to Danny about?

Danny Chen was a 19-year-old Chinatown native when he died while serving in Afghanistan. According to the festival, the official account raised troubling questions for the family who knew his ambitions, and his grieving parents and their New York community mobilized to uncover the truth. The festival calls the film "both an intimate investigation and stirring portrait of collective resistance" that confronts racism, institutional power and "the difficult pursuit of accountability."

Directed by ManSee Kong, What Happened to Danny is a world premiere in the Investigations section. It runs 78 minutes, in English and Chinese. The first screening is Sunday, Nov. 15 at 7:15 p.m. at IFC Center, followed by a Q&A with Kong, producer and editor Samuel J. Rong, and protagonists Elizabeth OuYang, Banny Chen and Jacky Wong Tik. The second is Monday, Nov. 16 at 6:20 p.m. at Village East by Angelika, with a Q&A featuring Kong, Rong, OuYang and Banny Chen. The online window runs Nov. 16 to 29.

What is The Dao of Thao about?

Comedian Thao P. Nguyen builds a one-woman show about "understanding human identity as it continually morphs in relation to lived experience," which the festival calls a direct meditation on motherhood, sexuality and cultural legacy. Directed by Khai Thu Nguyen, The Dao of Thao is an NYC premiere in the Come As You Are section. It runs 70 minutes, in English and Vietnamese.

The single in-person screening is Monday, Nov. 16 at 9 p.m. at Village East by Angelika, followed by a Q&A with Khai Thu Nguyen. It streams online Nov. 17 to 29. Because What Happened to Danny plays the same theater at 6:20 p.m. that night, one trip to Village East can cover two of the five.

Which two Asian American films play on Nov. 19?

The Navigator, directed by Jordan Manley, follows Nainoa Thompson. The festival's description says he became the first Native Hawaiian in 600 years to voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti without the aid of modern instruments, and that 50 years later he leads a new generation of student navigators on a 2,400-mile journey. It features archival footage of the late master Mau Piailug. The film is an NYC premiere in the American Stories section and runs 93 minutes, in English. The page tags it Asian/Asian American even though its subject is Native Hawaiian wayfinding. Whatever the reasoning behind the tag, it puts a Pacific Islander story on this list, which is reason enough to include it.

It plays Thursday, Nov. 19 at 6:30 p.m. at Village East by Angelika, with a Q&A featuring Manley and protagonists from the film, and streams Nov. 20 to 29.

Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing, directed by Erik Shirai, follows a new breed of wrestlers training in Master Sakaigawa's Tokyo stable as they take on "a centuries-old cultural tradition" and "a life-changing physical burden" in their quest to become yokozuna. It is an NYC premiere in the Game Face Cinema section and runs 99 minutes, in Japanese and Mongolian. Its only listed screening is Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at IFC Center, followed by a Q&A with Shirai and producer Carolyn Hepburn. The two Nov. 19 screenings start 30 minutes apart at different theaters, so you will have to choose.

Who is JT Takagi, the DOC NYC Visionaries Tribute honoree?

On opening day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, DOC NYC holds its 13th annual Visionaries Tribute at Gotham Hall, an in-person event supported by Netflix and National Geographic Documentary Films. JT Takagi receives a Lifetime Achievement Award alongside Alex Gibney.

The tribute page describes Takagi as an award-winning independent filmmaker, a sound recordist and the executive director of Third World Newsreel, "a progressive alternative media center." Her own films are primarily on Asian/Asian American and immigrant issues, including Bittersweet Survival, Homes Apart: Korea, The Women Outside and North Korea: Beyond the DMZ. As a sound engineer she has recorded numerous documentaries that earned Emmy and Cinema Audio Society awards, including Yance Ford's Strong Island. She also teaches at The New School and City University of New York.

That is a career spent on the machinery documentary depends on, the media center, the sound room and the classroom, as much as on the films themselves.

How do you get tickets and watch DOC NYC 2026 online?

Each film page links to ticketing but shows no prices, so check docnyc.net before you plan around a budget. Four of the five films have online windows that run through Nov. 29: Mai American from Nov. 14, What Happened to Danny from Nov. 16, The Dao of Thao from Nov. 17 and The Navigator from Nov. 20. Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing lists no online window, so its Nov. 19 screening at IFC Center is the only listed way to see it. Times and ticket status can change, so recheck each film page close to the date.

Looking for another Asian American film festival this month? See our San Diego Asian Film Festival 2026 guide.