Doc Distro Lit Review: Article

Photograph of person wearing a blue Superman costume with a red cape pointing up to the sky

UK Global Screen Fund Announces Latest Awards for International Promotion of Independent UK Feature Films

  • February 8, 2024
The British Film Institute (BFI) has awarded new grants through its UK Global Screen Fund, endowed by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), to nine UK independent screen projects for international distribution, targeting Film Sales, Prints & Advertising (P&A), and Festival Launch tracks to boost the global visibility of UK feature films, with further funding opportunities available in different categories.
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This Oscar Season Just Got Its Dumbest Controversy Yet

  • February 8, 2024
Slate Senior Editor and Writer Sam Adams discusses the controversy surrounding the 2024 Oscar nominations for Best Documentary, citing disgruntlement from some industry insiders over the lack of American nominees.
Photograph of an adult and a child hugging

Are Indie Docs Hot Again? At Least for Netflix

  • February 4, 2024
Writer Anthony Kaufman reflects on Netflix's unprecedented acquisitions of documentaries at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, raising questions about the impact on theatrical distribution, the role of celebrity endorsements, and the evolving dynamics of the documentary market.
A compilation of five images, from the films: “Four Daughters,” “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” “To Kill a Tiger,” “The Eternal Memory,” and “20 Days in Mariupol.”

Doc World Is Reeling from Oscar Nominations and What They Might Mean for the Struggling Sector: “There Is This Resentment Towards Certain Kinds of Success”

  • February 3, 2024
The 2024 Oscar documentary nominations, dominated by international filmmakers and with little major streamer-backed films, have sparked discourse on potential resentment in the documentary branch, a preference for social-issue documentaries, and considerations for altering the voting system.
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With Sundance Boost, Even Original Documentaries Could Make a Comeback in 2024

  • February 1, 2024
Writer Anthony Kaufman reports on the optimism felt for documentary film sales at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
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Sundance Offers a Glimmer of Hope for the Struggling Documentary Market: “We’re No Longer in a DOA Situation”

  • January 26, 2024
Writer Addie Morfoot details reports of strong interest in independently-made documentaries at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, which offered hope to sales agents about the trajectory of distribution for these projects.

Filmmaker Magazine Editor’s Letter – Sundance and Saving Indie Film

  • January 2024
Filmmaker Magazine's editor-in-chief, Scott Macaulay, reports on the industry climate surrounding the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, discussing an episode of Matthew Beloni's The Town podcast, where Beloni interviews Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente, discussing the role of the festival in "saving" independent film.
Photograph of people dancing in the street in front of the Egyptian Theatre at the Sundance Film Festival

At Sundance, Indie Film Struggles to Find a Working Business Model

  • January 24, 2024
Founder, CEO, and Editor in Chief of TheWrap, Sharon Waxman reports on perceptions of the faltering independent film business model at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. *Please note: This article is behind a paywall.

Sundance Reinvented

  • January 24, 2024
Producers Megan Gilbride and Rebecca Green suggest transforming the Sundance Film Festival into a year-round, multi-city roadshow called "Sundance Reinvented" to address financial, accessibility, and relevance issues in the independent film ecosystem.
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What’s at Risk in the Streaming Media Age

  • January 18, 2024
Walter Shorenstein fellow Keri Putnam explores the risks and challenges associated with the streaming media age, discussing implications for content creators, platforms, and consumers in an evolving digital landscape.
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The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center dedicated to exploring and illuminating the intersection of press, politics and public policy in theory and practice. The Center strives to bridge the gap between journalists and scholars, and between them and the public.

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