UK Feature Docs – A Study of the Feature Documentary Film Industry

The UK Feature Docs project, spanning from January 2018 to December 2020, aimed to comprehensively study the UK feature documentary industry, which has experienced a significant surge in popularity since the early 21st century. Despite its established presence and recognition as a “golden age” of UK documentary, there is a lack of scholarly attention to the industrial structures supporting it. The UK Feature Docs team conducted research through interviews, desk-based analysis, and collaboration with industry partners, seeking to understand and support the economic and cultural success of the UK feature documentary sector. The findings were disseminated through conferences, events, and several publications including two major reports: Keeping It Real: Towards a Documentary Film Policy for the UK (2020) and Making It Real: A Policy Programme for UK Documentary Film (2021). As recommended in the reports, the project resulted in the formation of a new, democratic umbrella body for UK independent documentary, the Documentary Film Council (DFC) (https://documentaryfilmcouncil.co.uk/). The reports are available to download on the UK Feature Docs website and the Resources pages of the DFC.