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by Sonya Childress and Natalie Bullock Brown, for The International Documentary Association

    For many in the documentary industry, 2020 dawned with hope on the horizon. The festival season promised premieres for many filmmakers, including first-time makers and filmmakers of color who had overcome significant barriers to complete their films. All of that changed in a matter of days in early March, as the reality of the COVID-19 crisis set in, as well as the dawn of a new “normal” that has upended the field and everyone’s lives.

    But before the current upheaval wrought by the pandemic, other changes were afoot: a culture shift propelled by a growing discontent with entrenched norms and unequal power dynamics, and a desire to forge new models for nonfiction filmmaking. This tension surfaced on production shoots, in edit rooms and funding panels, but it played out most dramatically on the festival circuit, as stories of confrontations arising at screenings and panels began to make the rounds in the filmmaking community. Each story bore a similar footprint: filmmakers and impact producers, mostly of color, raising critiques of authorship, representation, safety, inclusion, consent, access and accountability.

    For those raising public critiques, there was real concern for how their decision to speak out might affect their careers. The conflicts left some filmmakers of color feeling depleted, angry and disillusioned—while some white colleagues expressed feelings of frustration at being publicly challenged, fairly or unfairly. For those watching these conflicts unfold at Full Frame, True/False, Camden and Sundance Film Festival, it was clear that these were not disparate events. What may have appeared as interpersonal conflicts between filmmakers, or filmmakers and festival staff, revealed a broader, structural critique of the field and formal demands for change.

    At the root of this discord is a clash between two competing visions for the future of the documentary field.

Read the full story…
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Topics discussed:

The evolving state of documentary filmmaking Film in conversation with justice and independence movements The commercial influence on film The use of documentary as a tool of colonial propaganda The issue of filmmakers of color Giving voice to the voiceless On accountable filmmaking

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