Reality Check: Is the Documentary Feature Truly on Life Support?

In the wake of yet another Sundance Film Festival where virtually no documentaries were acquired for distribution, special guests Iyabo Boyd (Producer and Founder/Executive Director of Brown Girls Doc Mafia) and Kathleen Lingo (Producer and former Executive Producer of NY Times Op Docs) joined us to discuss the current grim state of fundraising and distribution for doc features, how clever producers are still managing to get their films made and seen widely, and much more.
The unusually large number of live Zoom attendees (335) attested to the general consensus that the entire documentary eco-system is in crisis, and that we're in dire need of new models of production and distribution. Instead of a more traditional Q&A, the second half of the session was turned into an open forum where those attending were invited to come on camera and share their own thoughts and ideas about the topic.
This F2F session was recorded on Zoom on February 7, 2025. It was moderated by D-Word founder and co-host Doug Block.
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ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
-- Iyabo Boyd: www.iyaboboyd.com
Brown Girls Doc Mafia: browngirlsdocm...
-- Kathleen Lingo: / kathleenlingo
Read Kathleen's Substack at: kathleenlingo....
-- Doug Block: www.dougblock.com
-- To join The D-Word: www.d-word.com
#documentaries #documentary #sundance #sundancefilmfestival #filmdistribution #filmproduction

[@stuartclarfield2566]

Jeanie Finlay - yes, brilliant. "all of the work, is part of the WORK". Every activity; 'radical, creative' distribution, outreach, promo, etc. is an extension of the creative activity from end to end. Nice one. Stop chasing them, do it your way.

[@thepowerofmusicCB]

Alex Houston makes a great point