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- January 11, 2024
Exploring the potential impact of the Sundance Film Festival on the documentary genre, journalist Anthony Kaufman delves into the festival's lineup, industry trends, and the challenges and opportunities faced by documentary filmmakers in the evolving landscape.
- December 29, 2023
Considered the largest US documentary film festival, DOC NYC offers filmmakers opportunities for exposure and networking, though industry insiders offer mixed sentiments, conveying concerns over the festival's breadth and money-making initiatives.
- December 20, 2023
Writer Anthony Kaufman reports on filmmakers alleging that nonfiction entertainment studio XTR has not followed through on significant grant offers, including one to South African filmmaker Milisuthando Bongela, casting doubt on its reliability and integrity within the industry.
- December 19, 2023
Evaluating the landscape of the documentary field in 2023, Anthony Kaufman reports on the types of stories that are gaining prominence and filmmakers' attitudes toward a seemingly contracting industry.
- December 15, 2023
Journalist Anthony Kaufman provides case studies and insights into various films from the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, shedding light on the festival's notable occurrences and trends in the industry.
- December 7, 2023
An account from the 2023 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF), featuring discussions of documentaries "Beyond Utopia," "A Golden Life," and "The Last Year of Darkness," alongside a discussion of the film industry's contradictions.
- December 7, 2023
Firelight Media's Marcia Smith spoke with documentary veterans Brian Newman and Geralyn Dreyfous about the state of the documentary industry, discussing market shifts, positive developments, and the need for audience advocacy.
- December 6, 2023
Writer Addie Morfoot describes the 2024 Oscar documentary shortlist race, with fewer streamer-backed films opening up possibilities for filmmakers utilizing smaller awards campaign budgets.
- December 5, 2023
Hosts of Deadline and Nō Studios's Doc Talk podcast, writer-director John Ridley and Deadline’s documentary editor Matt Carey, speak with Diane Becker (producer, "King Coal"), Joe Peeler (co-director, "Bad Press"), and Keith Wilson (producer, "Joonam") on their innovative approach to Oscar awards campaigning, with their DIY FYC (Do It Yourself For Your Consideration) strategy.
- October 31, 2023
At Color Congress's National Convening, Karin Chien from Distribution Advocates, presents plans to address the documentary distribution crisis, by fostering collaboration for a more equitable filmmaking ecosystem.
- September 2023
President and CEO of Independent Television Service (ITVS), Carrie Lozano spoke at the 2023 Camden International Film Festival on the potential opportunities to be found from perceived threats to the industry, looking at the creation of ITVS in the late 1980s as an example.
- September 2023
At the 2023 Camden International Film Festival, strategic brand consultant and independent film producer Brian Newman spoke about a "booming" documentary industry that is bound to "bust" and declared the need for collaborative strategizing around reaching audiences.
- February 1, 2023
New York Magazine Features writer Reeves Wiedeman spoke with more than eighty documentary filmmakers about the state of the industry with the streaming platforms playing a larger role in the production of such films.
- 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 27, 2022
Distribution Advocates' slideshow explores the link between film festivals and documentary distribution, featuring visuals on acceptance rates, director demographics, funding, and retained rights.
- September 16, 2022
Journalists Mia Galuppo and Katie Kilkenny explore the transformation of the nonfiction space into a lucrative industry with streaming platforms, featuring insights from filmmakers like Alex Gibney and Ken Burns on rising costs, ethical challenges, and the evolving nature of their profession.
- April 1, 2022
Freemantle's global head of documenaries, Mandy Chang, spoke at at the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival (CPH: DOX), about how streaming platforms stick with true crime, sport, and celebrity-driven stories so that they become mainstream and popular, essentially locking out opportunities for other, perhaps viewed as "challenging," documentaries.
- December 2020
A three-year study of the UK feature-length documentary film industry, the UK Feature Docs project disseminated findings through conferences, events, and publications, including "Keeping It Real: Towards a Documentary Film Policy for the UK" and "Making It Real: A Policy Programme for UK Documentary Film"—as well as the formation of the Documentary Film Council (DFC).
- 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.
