A musician on the verge of stardom has a head-on car crash that leaves him paralyzed and unable to sing. Then he fights his way back.

WILL POWER, a new documentary from director Lauro Rocha, follows the true story of Alex Sparrow (Aleksey Vorobyov), an actor and musician who suffered a traumatic brain injury and stroke after a 2013 car accident in Los Angeles. The film screens at DOC NYC on November 15 at Village East by Angelika.

Sparrow was 17 when he broke out on the Russian version of The X Factor. He signed with Universal Music Russia in 2006 and represented Russia at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. By 2013, he’d moved to the U.S. and was working with Grammy-winning producer RedOne, known for Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance.

Then came the crash. Doctors said he might never sing, act, or dance again. Filmed over several years, WILL POWER documents Sparrow’s recovery as he relearns basic skills and eventually returns to performing.

“My progress wasn’t linear, and reclaiming my life meant discovering a new version of myself,” Sparrow says.

The documentary has won awards at the Overcome Film Festival and Eurasia Film Festival. Rocha, a graduate of the AFI Conservatory and founder of Small World Films, says the film challenges assumptions about resilience and human limits.

Tickets are $20 to $22.