From the cover of Love & Rockets No. 20 by the Hernandez brothers: Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario
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Redux - from the latin meaning revived, restored, resurgent
Dear Friends,
Perhaps only when the chips are down would it become crystal clear that Independent Media is one of the last lines of defence against autocracy and rising facism. That it may prove to be one of the most powerful and effective antidotes to fracture and polarisation in our communities.
These are the days.
We’ve taken a beat this year to look up and out and interrogate how Doc Society might be most useful at this tectonic moment. We have remade our vows (see below) and are ready to commit and name how we are focusing our energy, our resources, the expertise of this organisation.
Read on friends, and for a little pick me up, press play on this month's playlist.
A love filled broadcast dedicated to our cloud surfing, celestial bar hopping beauty Jess Search, as we mark this year and our redux; this is Love & Rockets 2024.
Yours, the Doc Society Directors
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We back independence
We back storytelling by artists, journalists, filmmakers who have creative and editorial control. Not dictated by governments, by corporate interests or the algorithm.
We believe independent media is an essential ingredient in any functioning democracy and is the last line of defence against rising autocracy. Providing a plurality of visions, reflections on the world we’ve made and the world we want to build. Driving accountability and speaking truth to power. Deepening our humanity and connection to one another.
We champion the makers of independent media - the tenacious, the curious and the bold - making work because they must, engaging audiences by any means necessary. From community cinemas to public broadcasters, social media platforms to global streamers. Influencing the mainstream from the margins and creating personal and collective transformation.
We reject the insidious notion that “mass audiences” only want simple ideas, explained quickly. We reject the monoculture of bread and circuses, of endless true crime and celebrity helmed content dictated by market logic. We are all human after all. Hungry for nuance, for complexity, for authenticity, for the personal and the profound. And never more than now, at this critical moment in history.
After 19 years in the field, we know that funding independent artists, storytellers, filmmakers, journalists works. Yes the distribution mechanisms have been disrupted by tech, market forces and politics. But let's not confuse this with some notion that citizens don’t want or desire a pluralism of ideas.
It is time to build back a richer and more resilient public square and we know that if we feed the system at the grassroots, with increased direct funding to artists and local cultural organisations in every region, then the ecology of public and corporate media upstream will be transformed.
This is reconstruction time but we are multitude. Doc Society is proud to work alongside a constellation of cultural allies and legacy institutions, networks of practitioners and cultural activists who together are dedicated to building a better future for independent media in every region, imagining a new global media ecosystem that is decolonised and decentralised.
We are all in.
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Big Tech Narrative Initiative: Doc Society & The Citizens
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Are you working on a film, series, podcast or VR project which explores the role of big tech in families, in communities or across society? Are you curating or commissioning narratives around Big Tech and want to understand how to engage audiences effectively? Are you interested to hear from social scientists, journalists, philosophers, reflecting on the impacts of Big Tech and the trends we need to be paying attention to?
Come and join us for the Big Tech Narrative Initiative at Doc Society in collaboration with The Citizens - to help artists and storytellers unlock creative and courageous vision and give our publics a clearer understanding of how Big Tech is shaping society today and tomorrow.
We’re kicking this off on Tuesday 3 December, 2024 with an online gathering of thinkers & doers including Maria Ressa, Christopher Wylie, Karim Amer and Carole Cadwalladr, together with filmmakers and journalists, publishers + commissioners, campaigners + technologists, academics + philanthropists who are thinking about the power and potential of narrative strategy and Big Tech. Join us to build our collective knowledge and strategy, and connect with new colleagues who share a common goal of understanding and shaping the narrative around Big Tech.
The online event will also showcase up to a dozen live storytelling projects. If you’re working on a documentary film, short, or series; fiction film or short; podcast; VR/AR project; or another medium and you’d like to share your work and find new allies, please register and submit your project for the showcase.
This is just the first phase of work. Big Tech and its impacts on society is a new narrative initiative for Doc Society’s Democracy Story Unit, and this is the start of a series of programmes and funding opportunities around this topic, including an in-person Narrative Hack Lab to be hosted in 2025 in London. We can’t wait to hear what you are working on and see you all in December. Click here to learn more and register for the online gathering!
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MATCHMAKERS: UK Producer-Director meet-ups
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To address the challenges in finding the right directing or producing partner on a project, BFI Doc Society will be organising online meet-up sessions between independent creative documentary directors and producers from across the UK, starting in Autumn 2024.
We are inviting any UK-based directors and producers working towards independent feature documentary work, who are interested in finding collaborators, to express their interest. Based on compatible elements including experience level, location, and formal, genre and topical interests, we will invite selected groups of participants. In short one-on-one meetings, you'll be able to find out about each other's interests and aims, and hopefully find the right project to join forces. You can find all details and an application form here.
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BFI Doc Society at festivals near you
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Folkestone Documentary Festival Industry Day
The next edition of Folkestone Documentary Festival is taking place from 17 - 20 October and BFI Doc Society is excited to partner with the festival and Screen South on their FREE industry day on Friday 18 October. If you want to find out more about the UK documentary sector, who’s who, and meet with other film creatives and potential new collaborators, this one’s for you. The day will run from 10:00 - 18:00 and will include masterclasses, panels, roundtables and networking. Anyone can attend for free, but you do need to book a ticket for the day.
Bolton Film Festival
If you are an emerging filmmaker based in the North of England (or beyond!), join BFI Doc Society and BFI NETWORK North at Bolton Film Festival (2 - 6 October) for a showcase of recent short film work and an info roundtable where you can find out more about our organisations, funds and talent development activity. Both events are on the afternoon of Thursday 3 October and are free, though with limited capacity, so reserve your place now.
For both above events. Find out more and book your tickets via bfi.docsociety.org/talent
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A Story of Bones: A UK Theatrical Release right on time
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Amidst a week where the UK was harshly reminded of its trepidatious state of racial dynamics, BFI Doc Society backed A Story of Bones (dirs. Joseph Curran & Dominic de Vere, prods. Mike Brett & Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo) set off on a theatrical release and Q&A tour across the country with Doc Society's impact support and released by TullStories.
A Story of Bones follows the ongoing fight to memorialise one of the most significant traces of the transatlantic slave trade on earth. It’s a meditative recount of Annina van Neel’s efforts for decolonisation, UK accountability, and spiritual justice when she encounters an unmarked mass burial ground of 9,000 formerly enslaved Africans on Saint Helena while working as the Chief Environmental Officer on the island’s troubled £285m airport project, paid for by UK taxpayers. Haunted by this historical injustice, Annina fights alongside renowned African American preservationist Peggy King Jorde and a group of disenfranchised islanders - many of them descendants of the formerly enslaved - for the proper memorialisation of these forgotten victims.
The Garden Cinema describes the project as, “An eye-opening history lesson, a resolute portrait of the campaigners, and a kind of memorial in itself, A Story of Bones is the kind of film we need to process and examine our collective histories.” Released during a week of riots led by racist mobs, that’s precisely what the film offers: a much needed moment to understand where we have been, in order to understand what is at play now.
The impact screenings and Q&As were organised in partnership with local community organisations and activists that are working in London, Liverpool, Bristol, and nationally to bring these undertold histories to light and work towards justice: thank you to the African Voices Forum, Bristol Legacy Foundation, The State of the African Diaspora, Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey, Jacqueline Springer (V&A), K Biswas, and Laurence Westgaph. From Parliamentary strategies, to community screenings across Africa, journalist efforts, and more - this release, the relationships built, and the foundations laid are both the culmination and spark of the team’s tireless impact work. Annina is continuing her incredible efforts and has launched The Tieke Box Project, an organisation working to reclaim and transform the way African Descendant Communities and the Diaspora engage with their cultural heritage.
The film received several brilliant reviews in the Guardian, The Times, Morning Star, Financial Times, and more. You can learn more about A Story of Bones and keep an eye on upcoming opportunities to watch the film here.
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Platforming Climate Stories: Nation Media Group in Kenya Launches the Docu Hour
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In collaboration with the Climate Story Unit at Doc Society, the Nation Media Group in Kenya launched the Docu Hour TV last month, aimed at increasing media salience of climate stories from across Africa. The partnership is connecting African climate storytellers with NMG to explore new models of collaboration; where the news organisation gets access to new kinds of climate storytelling and where, through their platforms, the climate storytelling projects can access and engage new audiences. NMG are also going beyond traditional film screenings to commission new journalism inspired by the films through the climate desk as well as experimenting with podcast episodes which will showcase on Nation Media Group’s online platform.
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Venice International Film Festival
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Fall festival season is about to kick off and we’ve got a lot of congrats to announce! We couldn’t be happier to announce that two Doc Society supported films will be heading to Venice to premiere their timely and beautifully crafted work. Please give a big virtual round of applause to Apocalypse in the Tropics and Homegrown.
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Threshold Fund)
Dir. Petra Costa; Prods. Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino
Blending essayistic and observational filmmaking, Petra Costa asks provocative questions about the boundaries between democracy and theocracy in contemporary Brazil. Honing in on the alliance between influential televangelist Silas Malafaia and Jair Bolsonaro, the film chronicles the deep history and ascendant power of a religious nationalist movement that is remaking Brazilian politics, holding up a mirror to the fragility of secular democracies around the world.
Settimana Internazionale della Critica
Homegrown (New Perspectives)
Dir. Michael Premo; Prods. Rachel Falcone, Michael Premo
Homegrown is an unflinching chronicle of Americans at war with each other. Three right-wing activists—a newly politicized father-to-be in New Jersey, an Air Force veteran organizing conservatives in New York City, and a charismatic activist from Texas—crisscross the country in the summer of 2020, campaigning for Donald Trump and building a movement they hope will outlast him. When they become convinced that the election is stolen, they take their fight to the streets. The result is a chilling portrait of a growing movement pushing American democracy to the brink.
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Toronto International Film Festival
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Joshua Oppenheimer, the filmmaker behind the visionary The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, makes his fiction debut with The End. Supported many moons ago by our Bertha Journalism Fund, The End will have its Canadian premiere at TIFF in September. If you’ll be in Toronto you don’t want to miss this one!
“Academy Award® Nominated Director Joshua Oppenheimer presents THE END, a Golden Age musical about one of the last families on earth, starring Academy Award® Winner Tilda Swinton as MOTHER and Academy Award® Nominee Michael Shannon as FATHER.
After the sudden arrival of a stranger, GIRL (Moses Ingram), threatens the family’s luxurious compound deep underground, SON (George MacKay) begins to question their seemingly perfect existence.”
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Camden International Film Festival
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Happy 20th birthday to Camden International Film Festival! We adore CIFF, the way they put filmmakers and artistry first, their commitment to thoughtful field building, and of course their legendary parties. Maxyne, Shanida and Nikki will be up north for the festival and look forward to connecting with folks. Please say hi if you’ll be there too!
We love celebrating this 20th edition and are proud to have four Doc Society supported films screen in Maine this September. You can catch Petra Costa’s new film, Apocalypse in the Tropics, on opening night of the festival.
Adura Baba Mi (BFI Made of Truth) - World Premiere
Dir. Juliana O. Kasumu; Prods. Juliana Kasumu, Ese Jade Onojeruo
Intimate recollections by the filmmaker's father, a religious leader within the Celestial Church of Christ, and the filmmaker's mother, his once devoted wife.
Homegrown (New Perspectives) - Dir. Michael Premo; Prods. Rachel Falcone, Michael Premo
Apocalypse in the Tropics (Threshold Fund) - Dir. Petra Costa; Prods. Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino
Driver (New Perspectives) Dir. Nesa Azimi; Prods. Nesa Azimi, Nicolas Borel, Ines Hofmann Kanna
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CONGRATULATIONS ALL AROUND
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We’re sending big congratulations to the teams nominated for Emmy Awards this year. Winners of the Emmys and the News & Documentary Emmys will be announced September 15th and 26th respectively. We’re thrilled your films are being recognised for their brilliance and will be cheering you on!
Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking:
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project. Dirs. Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson; Prods. Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson, Tommy Oliver
News & Documentary Emmy Award, Best Documentary:
Hidden Letters, Dir. Violet du Feng; Co-director Zhao Qing; Prods. Violet Du Feng, Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas, Jean Tsien, Su Kim
Great Photo, Lovely life, Dirs. Amanda Mustard, Rachel Beth Anderson; Prods. Amanda Mustard, Rachel Beth Anderson, Luke Malone
News & Documentary Emmy Award, Outstanding Writing Documentary:
Great Photo, Lovely life, Dirs. Amanda Mustard, Rachel Beth Anderson; Prods. Amanda Mustard, Rachel Beth Anderson, Luke Malone
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DOC NYC announces their next class of 40 Under 40
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Each year, DOC NYC spotlights documentary creatives who are making an impact on our field. We’re celebrating each of these talented documentary trailblazers! Special shout out to Nesa Azimi, Paige Bethmann, Will Miller - we’re so proud to support you and your work.
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Digital Security Clinic from Field of Vision and Freedom of the Press Foundation
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The brilliant Field of Vision and Freedom of the Press Foundation have teamed up again to launch another instalment of their Digital Security Clinic. Sessions are free and open to documentary filmmaking professionals. Read more about it and sign up here!
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Peace Is Loud Participant Care Resources
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Check out Peace is Loud’s exciting new suite of resources to help the documentary film community prioritise participant care. These resources include:
- A field scan surveying current state of—and future vision for—participant care.
- A detailed model of practicing informed consent
- A question list to support healthy dialogues between filmmakers and participants
- A Fire Through Dry Grass collaborative filmmaking case study
- A participant focus group report with eight key filmmaker strategies for implementation
Have a read here.
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Represent Justice: Impact Campaign Open Call
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Our friends at Represent Justice have launched an open call for films looking for impact campaign support. See more from them here:
Film teams can apply today for a 2025 impact campaign collaboratively planned and led by Represent Justice, which includes a $20,000 grant for system-impacted filmmakers or film participants. The deadline to apply is September 30, 2024.
Represent Justice is collaboratively leading impact campaigns for films addressing mass incarceration. We invite film teams with projects releasing in 2025 to apply today to our Impact Campaign Open Call. We prioritize projects helmed by people who are currently or formerly-incarcerated.
Represent Justice turns stories into action to change the legal system, while building the capacity of communities impacted by the carceral system. Together with filmmakers and film participants, we launch impact campaigns that connect award-winning films and series with movement leaders, and uplift community-led solutions to protect vulnerable communities, rather than reinforcing cycles of violence and harm.
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Impact Kickstart 2025 Applications Open Now
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Applications are now open for Impact Kickstart 2025! Impact Kickstart offers partnership and strategy development, 1:1 mentorship support, and $60,000 in impact campaign funding to underrepresented filmmakers with feature-length films that hold great promise to catalyse action and address critical issues of our time.
Now in its seventh year, Impact Kickstart has helped underrepresented filmmakers create strategic goals for impact and specific plans to engage future partners, funders, and audiences in meaningful ways. This year, two film teams will receive an Impact Kickstart from Working Films. Learn more and apply here by Thursday, September 26th at 11:59pm EST.
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Distribution Advocates launch the FilmADE Fund
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Distribution Advocates, a collective that aims to reclaim power for independent storytellers, has launched the FilmADE Fund. The program seeks to support up to 30 independent film releases a year by offering financial support, skills training and industry collaborations for U.S. theatrical and non-theatrical releases. Applications for the fund open 21 August and will feature grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to fund marketing strategies and distribution experiments. The program is aiming to cultivate a field-wide transformation in the industry to improve how independent films reach and engage with their audiences. Learn more and apply here.
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That’s all for now, folks.
Love,
Doc Society
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