- May 18, 2024
Writer Rachael Healy details recent findings from Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre's quarterly Labour Force Survey, showing underrepresentation of working-class people in all areas of arts and culture.
- March 2024
The DISCO network (Ambulante, AFLAMUNA, DocsMX, Doc Society, DocSP, Docubox, and In-Docs) launched the Independence Project to articulate the unique importance of independent documentaries to culture, society, and democracy.
- March 7, 2024
Color Congress released a report in March 2024, detailing their findings from the first two years of collaborating with member organizations, shedding light on their network of documentary film organizations led by people of color and their ideas for helping to diversify the types of stories reaching audiences.
- March 7, 2024
The Hollywood Reporter's Rebecca Sun describes the March 2024 release of Color of Congress's report on the state of support for people of color working in the documentary field.
- February 21, 2024
Hosted by producer, filmmaker, and Distribution Advocates co-founder Avril Speaks, this episode of the Distribution Advocates Presents podcast features conversations with industry leaders Amy Hobby, Kaila Sarah Hier, Abby Sun, and Jemma Desai, on the film festival system's efficacy in promoting discovery, dealmaking, and filmmaker connection, as well as the language and meaning evoked by this environment.
- 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.
- November 30, 2023
While Lily Gladstone receives accolades for her role in Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," her other film, "Fancy Dance," from Indigenous women filmmakers Erica Tremblay and Miciana Alise, has struggled to secure a distribution deal despite the filmmakers claims of meeting industry criteria for success—inspiring calls for change in industry support of Native American-led storytelling.
- October 3, 2023
BBC Film announces two initiatives to support budding UK producers and address under-representation in the industry: the Associate Producer Programme and the opening of applications for the Small Indie Fund.
- January 19, 2023
Reporting on the presentation of Distribution Advocates' data on film festival sales at the International Documentary Association's 2022 Getting Real Conference, film writer Anthony Kaufman describes the challenges independent documentary filmmakers face finding financing, festival acceptance, exposure, and distribution deals that make sense for them.
- December 2022
A study by the Center for Media and Social Impact (CMSI) exposes a lack of diversity among documentary filmmakers, emphasizing the dominance of white men and revealing disparities in acknowledging racism, particularly in the representation of BIPOC and women of color across major platforms, including streamers, cable, and public television.
- September 2021
Documentary filmmaking lacks internal standards for accuracy and ethics. As a key resource for public knowledge, documentary film deserves increased journalistic scrutiny, enriched by diverse perspectives, to strengthen both criticism and reporting.
- June 15, 2020
Calling for a reimagining of the documentary film industry, cultural strategist Sonya Childress details inequities and issues found throughout the system, focusing on the areas of authorship, accountability, and ownership.
