The Shorenstein Center is proud to announce the Fall 2025 cohort of Documentary Film Fellows, who will be working closely with the Documentary Film in the Public Interest (DFPI) initiative. Through the Fellows’ projects, the Shorenstein Center will engage in examinations of public impact and media policy.
Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs said, “We are eager to welcome these exceptional leaders into our research community. Prof. Aufderheide’s groundbreaking work on ethical practice, and Jax DeLuca’s on the civic power of documentary, could not be more timely at this critical moment for the field.”
The Fall 2025 Fellows will be engaged in their research work until the end of the year, with the results of their work made public in the following months. This fall, Shirley Abraham will be continuing her yearlong fellowship, and she will be joined by two new fellows: Patricia Aufderheide and Jax Deluca. More information is below.
Patricia Aufderheide is University Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C. She founded the School’s Center for Media & Social Impact, where she continues as Senior Research Fellow. She is also affiliate faculty in the School of International Service and the History department at American University, and a member of the Film and Media Arts division in the School of Communication. Her books include Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy (University of California), Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (University of Chicago), with Peter Jaszi; Documentary: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford), The Daily Planet (University of Minnesota Press), and Communications Policy in the Public Interest (Guilford Press). She has been a Fulbright Research Fellow in Brazil (1994-5), Australia (2017), and South Korea (2024). She is also a John Simon Guggenheim fellow (1994) and has served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival among others. Aufderheide has received numerous journalism and scholarly awards, including the George Stoney award for service to documentary from the University Film and Video Association in 2015, the International Communication Association’s 2010 for Communication Research as an Agent of Change Award, Woman of Vision award from Women in Film and Video (DC) in 2010, a career achievement award in 2008 from the International Digital Media and Arts Association and the Scholarship and Preservation Award in 2006 from the International Documentary Association. Patricia Aufderheide is working on a study related to the expressions of care for sources in journalistic ethics codes in the U.S. This research is designed to intervene in a discussion of how standards and practices can maintain journalistic integrity while addressing basic trust and participation issues with potential sources and communities, including minoritized populations.
Jax Deluca is a cultural strategist with over two decades of leadership across public service and nonprofit arts organizations. She is currently the interim director for the Future Film Coalition, a newly formed national alliance dedicated to safeguarding and strengthening the independent film and media sector in the United States. In her previous role as the Director of Film & Media Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts (2016–2025), she oversaw a federal funding portfolio, spearheaded national initiatives, such as the Independent Media Arts Group (IMAG) in partnership with Sundance Institute and BAVC Media, and produced research offering critical insights into creative technology practices, field-wide infrastructure needs, and high-level challenges facing the indie film sector. During her fellowship, Jax’s research will reimagine Newton Minow’s 1961 speech Television and the Public Interest, using documentary and community media as lenses to propose a forward-looking public media framework responsive to today’s digital disruption and civic needs.
This is the Shorenstein Center’s 4th class of documentary fellows. The inaugural class included filmmakers Jacqueline Olive, Mary Lampson, Natalie Bullock Brown, and Kirsten Johnson. The Spring 2024 class included Amy Hobby, Tabitha Jackson, and Karin Chien. The Fall 2024 class included Bernardo Ruiz and Abby Sun. The Spring 2025 class included Shirley Abraham and Sarafina DiFelice.
About the Documentary Film in the Public Interest Initiative
The goal of the Shorenstein Center’s Documentary Film in the Public Interest (DFPI) initiative is to inspire a documentary film practice and infrastructure that can contribute to strong societies. The Initiative’s activities bridge thought and action. We bring together practitioners and researchers, journalists and documentary filmmakers, public policy leaders and technologists in a shared project to build a resilient, ethical field designed to serve the needs of the public.
For more information, go to: https://dfpi.shorensteincenter.org/
