Monday Memo - DOC NYC

Monday Memo is a weekly newsletter with the latest news in documentary filmmaking delivered directly to your inbox. Authored by Jordan M. Smith, this newsletter includes important headlines, doc events and features a different project every week for funding. Don’t miss another Monday; sign up for our newsletter today!

The latest Monday Memo:

February 9, 2026: How Phone-Camera Vérité Defeated Propaganda in the War to Define Minneapolis, The Quirks of the Best Documentary Category and more!

Archives:

2026

February 2, 2026: BAFTA 2026 Documentary Nominations Announced, Ace Eddie Awards // 2026 Nominations Announcement and more!
January 26, 2026: Come See Me in the Good Light, Perfect Neighbor Among Oscar Doc Nominees, Chicken & Egg Announces Grantees & Relocation of Filmmaker Retreats to Canada, Ellis-Beauregard Foundation & Points North Launch New Documentary Film Award and more!
January 19, 2026: Rethinking Public Media, Together, The Winners of the European Film Awards 2026, Video Consortium’s Upcoming Future of Nonfiction Video Forum and more!
January 12, 2026: Cinema Eye Honors Documentary Winners Announced, Powerful Documentaries Lead Oscar Race Even Without U.S. Distribution, AI, Salman Rushdie and Elon Musk: the Most Anticipated Documentaries of 2026 and more!
January 5, 2026: No Safe Distance: Choosing Between Solidarity and Safety, Women Directors Fall to a Seven-Year Low in 2025, The New Year In Documentary: Most Anticipated Of 2026 and more!

2025

December 22, 2025: Three Netflix Titles Plus An ‘Undesirable’ Film Make Oscar Doc Feature Shortlist, Filmmakers on Confronting Trauma & Finding the Funny in Tragic Circumstances, The Oscars will be Streamed on YouTube Starting in 2029 and more!
December 15, 2025: Producers Guild Reveals 2026 PGA Awards Nominations, National Film Board of Canada joins International Federation of Film Archives, Blue: The Life and Art of George Rodrigue Wins 2025 Suncoast Emmy Award
December 8, 2025: Netflix’s Big Play for Warner Bros… What’s Next?, How to Win a Documentary Oscar, DOC Institute to Honor Justine Pimlott, Nicole Bazuin and more!
December 1, 2025: Restoration vs. Disinformation: Exploring Gen AI Use in Archive-based Docs, The Council of Europe Adopts Landmark Convention on Series Co-production, Midland Filmmaker’s Glacier Doc Enters Academy Film Archive Immediately
November 24, 2025: Can You Believe the Documentary You’re Watching?, Cinema Eye Announces Feature Film Nominations for 19th Annual Honors, IDA Documentary Awards Announces 2025 Nominees
November 10, 2025: BBC Director General and CEO of News Step Down After Trump Editing Controversy, Oscar Doc Hopefuls Examine the Importance of Investigative Reporting and More, World Congress of Science and Factual Producers Unveils 2025 Buzzies Nominees.
November 3, 2025: In Memoriam: Documentarians Gilles Blais and Sara Terry, Statement on the Detainment of Giorgi Mrevlishvili, and Netflix’s Latest Documentary Lights a Spark, Stays Atop Streaming Chart
October 27, 2025: Cinema Eye Honors 2025 Unveils First Round of Honorees and Nominees, Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film Winner Announced, newportFILM’s 2025 Documentary Cinematography Lab
October 20, 2025: EFA announces Documentary Shortlist for European Film Awards 2026, Nominations For The 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, 41st IDA Documentary Award Honorees
October 13, 2025: Ken Jacobs, Visionary Experimental Filmmaker, Is Dead at 92, BAFTA North America’s Inaugural Honours Now Won’t Roll Out Until Fall 2026, Canada’s NFB to Launch TopDocs FAST Channel
October 6, 2025: Deep Fusion Films Partners with Archive Agency Topfoto for Doc Production, 2025 Sundance Institute Filmmakers Fund Recipients Announced, Cal Humanities Announces $395,000 In Funding For Documentary Projects
September 29, 2025: 2025 International Emmy Award Nominees, Berkeley Film Foundation Announces 2025 Grant Recipients, 2025 Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grantees Revealed
September 22, 2025: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Received a Special, and Bittersweet, Award, Open Letter from Israeli Documentarians, Gender Parity Among European Film Pros Decades Away, Says Latest EAO Report
September 15, 2025: Vimeo Enters into Agreement to Be Acquired by Bending Spoons for $1.38 Billion, End of an Era: Quick Impressions as Vimeo is Sold, DOC NYC Alum Patrice: The Movie, About a New Jersey Couple, Just Won an Emmy
September 8, 2025: Toronto Film Festival 2025 Preview: Screen’s Guide to TIFF Docs, TIFF’s Thom Powers on the State of the Feature Doc Market, Here Are Five Reasons Why, After 50 years, Toronto’s Film Festival Still Matters
September 2, 2025: Chicken & Egg Film’s Research & Dev Grant Awarded to 29 Doc Filmmakers, Meet the 2025 Sundance Institute Documentary Edit Residency Artists, Points North Announces Second Edition of Diane Weyermann Fellowship
August 25, 2025: ‘Can’t Stop. Won’t Stop’: Documentary Filmmakers Face Federal Funding Shortfall, Influential Polish Documentary Filmmaker Marcel Łoziński Passes Away
August 18, 2025: IN REVERSAL, Toronto Film Festival Will Screen Documentary About Oct. 7 Attack, Canadian Producers Optimistic for Hot Docs’ Future After Sale of Cinema Building, Sarajevo Film Festival Announces 2025 Documentary Activities
August 11, 2025: TIFF Docs Line-up Boasts Oscar Winners & World Premieres, DokuFest 2025 Announces the Winners of its 24th Edition, Beyond Borders Celebrates its Tenth Edition with a Raft of Parallel Events
August 4, 2025: CPB Addresses Operations Following Loss of Federal Funding, What’s Being Lost in the Documentary Space As Congress Defunds Public Media, Palestinian Involved in Oscar-Winner No Other Land Shot Dead by Israeli Settler
July 28, 2025: Global Disability Media Alliance Launches Resource for Disabled Storytelling, PERFUME WAR director Michael Melski passes away at 56
July 21, 2025: PBS & NPR Funding Cut Explained, And What Happens Next, Pee-Wee as Himself Leads Documentary Emmy Nominations, Remembering Joel DeMott
July 14, 2025: Documentary Leaders Urge Senate Not To Ax Funding For Public Television & Radio, Power, Resistance, and Storytelling: Meet BGDM’s 2025 Sustainable Artist Fellows
July 7, 2025: The Documentary Producers Alliance launches the Ethics Resource Library, DOK Co-Pro Market Call for Projects, Filmshop is Taking New Members for the Fall 2025 Workshop Season
June 30, 2025: Palestine Action Doc Makers Fear Being Criminalised Under Anti-terror Laws, Documentary Emmys Winners List
June 23, 2025: Streaming Tops Combined Broadcast & Cable Viewing in U.S. for the First Time, BBC Drops Gaza Medics Documentary
June 16, 2025: PBS Responds to Vote for Funding Cuts, DC/DOX Offered Counterprogramming, DOC NYC Selects Announced for Summer
June 9, 2025: Netflix Picks Up Six Doc Features, HBO Gives Doc Makers Creative Freedom
June 2, 2025: Are Celebrity Films Killing Documentary, Jane Rosenthal Warns Political Docs Waning
May 26, 2025: Documentarian Sacha Jenkins Passed Away, AMERICAN MASTERS Criticized for ART SPIEGELMAN Edit, Critical Voices Under Attack in Hungary
May 19, 2025: Open Letter Demands BBC Air Delayed Gaza Medics Doc, New Docs Ireland Award Announced, Sunny Side of the Doc Launches New Support Program
May 12, 2025: NEH Follows Through on Terminating Grants, Producers Respond to Tariff Threats
May 5, 2025: PBS Vow to Fight White House Funding Cuts, Arrests at Doc Screening at UCLA, Field of Vision & Press Freedom Defense Fund Legal Clinics
April 28, 2025: Shirley Vercruysse is Retiring from NFB, Hot Docs 2025 In Progress, New Lab Initiative Doc Producing South
April 21, 2025: PBS Pulled a Film for Political Reasons Then Changed Mind, Palestinian Subject of Upcoming Doc Allegedly Killed by Israeli Missile
April 14, 2025: Filmmakers Reeling After Trump Kills Humanities Grants, Catapult Announces 2025 Research Grant Cohort
April 7, 2025: DOGE National Endowment for the Humanities Cuts, MPA, DGA and IATSE Submissions to U.S. Gov’t
March 31, 2025: NO OTHER LAND Co-director Hamdan Ballal Attacked & Detained, Sundance Announces Move to Boulder, CO in 2027
March 24, 2025: Miami Beach Mayor Withdraws Attempt to Close O Cinema, New Wave of Hot Doc Titles Announced
March 17, 2025: Florida Mayor Threatens O Cinema Over NO OTHER LAND, Future of NEA Funding for U.S. Docs Remain in Limbo
March 10, 202 5: ReelAbilities Film Festival Program Announced, NYWIFT Announced 45th Muse Award Honorees, AIDC Reveal 2025 Award Winners
March 3, 2025: NO OTHER LAND Wins Best Doc Oscar, Is Hollywood Too Scared to Touch Hot-button Documentaries?
February 24, 20 25: BBC Pulls Gaza Doc, AI-faked Voice In Netflix Doc Sparks Backlash
February 18, 2025: EAO Report on SVoD vs Cinema Releases, Reflection from NO OTHER LAND Filmmaker Basel Adra, DOC NYC Selects Returns
February 10, 20 25: U.S. Doc Nonprofits Scramble as NEA Funding Criteria Changes, Netflix Cancels Release of Edelman’s Prince Doc, SIMA Awards Announced
February 3, 2025: DOC NYC Alum Jimmy Goldblum Reflects on Altadena Fires, Sundance 2025 Wraps Up
January 27, 2025: Documentary Oscar Nominees Revealed, Sundance 2025 In Progress, SXSW Announces Lineup

2024

December 16, 2024: Hearts and Minds to Receive Cinema Eye Honors’ Legacy Award, Winners Announced for the 16th Annual AAFCA Awards, 2025 PGA Awards Announce Documentary Nominees and more!
December 9, 2024: NO OTHER LAND Sweeps First Wave of Awards Season Shows
December 2, 2024: DOC NYC Award Winners, Docthinks Launches, Canadian Unions & Guilds Form FAIR Coalition
November 25, 2024: Oscars Announce Eligible Films, IDA Documentary Awards 2024 Nominees
November 18, 2024: Firelight Media Unveil 2024-2026 Doc Lab Fellows, Critics Choice Documentary Award Winners, Cinema Eye Honors Name Nominees
November 11, 2024: AMPAS Lay off Archival Staff, Addressing the Mental Health of Doc Filmmakers, Political Docs in Election Year
November 4, 2024: Rory Kennedy to Receive Pennebaker Award at Critics Choice Doc Awards, Gothams Announce Award Nominees
October 28, 2024: Catapult Reveals 2024 Development Slate, IDA Doc Awards Shortlists Unveiled, AI in the Audiovisual Sector Report
October 21, 2024: DOC NYC Short Lists & Winner’s Circle Spark Award Season Discourse, IDFA Competition Program Unveiled, Hot Docs to Return in 2025
October 14, 2024: DOC NYC Main Slate Announced, IDA Documentary Awards 2024 Honorees, Critics Choice Documentary Awards Nominations
October 7, 2024: CNN Quietly Delivers Short-Form Docs, 2024-2025 Karen Schmeer Fellows Announced
September 30, 2024: News & Documentary Emmy Award Winners, UnionDocs Announces 2025 UNDO Fellows
September 23, 2024: Doc Community Contends with Distribution Challenges, Streamers Want Celebrity Docs But There’s a Problem
September 16, 2024: APA Share AI Use Guidelines, TIFF 2024 Wraps, IDFA Shares First 2024 Program Details
September 9, 2024: Why Ezra Edelman’s Prince Doc May Not See Release, Personal Belongings at MoMI, TIFF 2024 in Full Swing
September 2, 2024: RIP Ofra Bikel, News & Documentary Emmys Gold and Silver Circle Awards
August 26, 2024: Independent Lens Fall Slate Announced, How the PRESS Act Will Protect Doc Filmmakers
August 19, 2024: Increasing Cinema Accessibility, NYFF Spotlight Announced, New Orleans Film Fest Titles Unveiled
August 12, 2024: Streamers Favor Celebs & Crime Over Political Docs, TIFF Docs Announced, Gotham Project Market Slate Revealed
August 5, 2024: New Participant Care Resources by Peace is Loud, RIP Manfred Kirchheimer
July 29, 2024: DocuMentality’s Report on Filmmaker Mental Health, First Wave of TIFF 2024 Titles Announced
July 22, 2024: 2024 Emmys & Jackson Wild Media Award Nominees Announced
July 15, 2024: BAVC Media Bay Area Film Production Memo Released, Marie Nelson Steps Down at Hot Docs
July 8, 2024: NYT’s Best Docs of the Year So Far, Grierson Trust & Creators Counsel Team on Legal & Compliance Training
July 1, 2024: Circle Women Doc Accelerator Projects, Zentropa’s New Doc Division, 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Submissions Open
June 24, 2024: Cinema Eye Announced Big Changes, CBC Responds to Open Letter from REMC & DOC, Hot Docs Announces Changes to Governance
June 17, 2024: Going Beyond the CMSI Impact Report, Indian Docs Ride Global Wave & Ontario Feels the Pinch
June 10, 2024: Doc Community Demands CBC Confront Anti-Palestinian Racism, How Doc Filmmakers Are Really Making Ends Meet, and POV Season 37 Revealed
June 3, 2024: Conversations on AI, Ethics and Celebrity Profiles
May 28, 2024: R.I.P. Morgan Spurlock, Fallout from RETROGRADE, Marcia Smith to Step Down as Firelight President
May 20, 2024: ESPN Unveils 30 FOR 30 Summer Slate, 2024 Cinema Unbound Awards Honorees Announced
May 13, 2024: Anne Thompson on Netflix Docs, Frederick Wiseman’s Catalog Now Available in Digital, Peabody Award Winners Announced
May 6, 2024: Doc Alliance Award Nominees, Upcoming DocuMentality Report Release Event, Campaign to Save the West Newton Cinema
April 29, 2024: PBS Wyncote Fellows 2024, Doris Duke Foundation Grants, DC/DOX 2024 Signature Screenings
April 22, 2024: Sundance Courting New Host City, Doc Producers Set Best Practices for Generative-AI Use in Film
April 15, 2024: AI’s Encroaching Presence in Documentary Filmmaking, RIP Eleanor Coppola
April 8, 2024: Doc Filmmakers Lament Hollywood Cutbacks, Various Doc Funding & Fellowships Announced
April 1, 2024: Ten Hot Docs Programmers Leave in Mass Resignation, Sundance Institute Announces New Event in Chicago
March 25, 2024: Archival Producers Alliance on AI & Factual Trends 2024
March 18, 2024: How the PRESS Act Effects Doc Filmmakers, Up Series Voted Most Influential UK TV Show of Last 50 Years
March 11, 2024: 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL and THE LAST REPAIR SHOP Win at 96th Oscars, Hot Docs Issue Urgent Appeal for Support
March 4, 2024: R.I.P. David Bordwell, ACE Eddie Awards Announced, Eye Filmmuseum Presents ‘Cosmic Realism’
February 23, 2024: AfroPoP Returns for 16th Season, FOUR DAUGHTERS Tops Spirit Awards, Mati Diop Wins Golden Bear in Berlin
February 19, 2024: Alexei Navalny, Subject of NAVALNY, Dead at 47, 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Wins Bafta
February 12, 2024: R.I.P. Filmmaker Robert M. Young, Oscar Season Controversy
February 5, 2024: Oscar Noms & Sundance Business Sparks Industry Debates
January 29, 2024: 2024 Oscar Nominations Revealed, Sundance Wraps Up, Kickstarter’s Long Story Short
January 22, 2024: Sundance 2024 Brings Big Debuts, Industry Debates & Funding Opportunities
January 15, 2024: 32 SOUNDS Tops Cinema Eye Honors, Sundance 2024 About to Commence, SXSW Reveals Film & TV Program
January 8, 2024: Filmmaker John Pilger Passed at 84, 2024 Creative Emmy Award Winners, BAFTA Awards Longlist

2023

December 18, 2023: IDA Documentary Awards, DOC to Celebrate 40 Years, Berlinale Announces First 2024 Titles
December 11, 2023: 2024 Sundance Lineup Announced, SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD Wins at European Film Awards
December 4, 2023: Doc Producers Call for AI Guardrails, the Rise of the Docu-Comedy, 2023 Gotham Awards Winners
November 27, 2023: IDA Awards 2023 Nominees, SFFILM Rainin Grant Recipients, IDFA Audience Award Winner Revealed
November 20, 2023: 17th Annual Cinema Eye Honors Nomineees, IDA Enterprise Doc Fund Grants, Catapult Film Fund Awards Dev Funding
October 16, 2023: New Digital Security Platform for Doc Filmmakers, AmDoc to Honor Darcy McKinnon
October 9, 2023: IndieWire Announces Art of the Doc Screening Series, PBS/Firelight William Greaves Production Fund Recipients
October 2, 2023: News & Documentary Emmys, More Funding & Development Opportunities, Doc Censorship in Turkey
September 25, 2023: Doc Funding Developments, Current Doc Sales Market, IDFA 2023 Initial Program Announcements
September 18, 2023: Fall Festival Bonanza, Grierson Trust Doc Awards Nominees, Critics Choice Doc Awards Honorees
September 11, 2023: TIFF 2023 in Full Swing, Harvard’s Doc Inititive Fellows Revealed, Independent Lens Fall Slate Announced
September 4, 2023: R.I.P. Nancy Buirski, Fall Festivals Begin to Ramp Up
August 28, 2023: Barbara Kopple Honored with Lifetime Achievement at News & Doc Emmys, New York Film Festival Currents Section Revealed
August 21, 2023: Doc Scholar Patricia Zimmerman Died Unexpectedly, Development Grant Opportunities, Cinema & Labor Movements
August 14, 2023: Impact Partners Doc Producers Fellowship Cohort Announced, Points North Institute Artist Program Recipients
August 7, 2023: Doc Society’s Jess Search Passed Away at 54 & Growing Debate about AI Use in Nonfiction Film
July 31, 2023: DGA Doc-makers Want New Agreement, News & Doc Emmy Noms, TIFF Docs Program Announced
July 24, 2023: Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize Announces Finalists, DWU & IDA Ratify First Contract, 2023 Grierson Awards Shortlist Revealed
July 17, 2023: Ellen Hovde Passed Away at 97, Will the Actor’s Strike Effect the Documentary Community?, New Industry Inititive Collaboration
July 10, 2023: Doc Society’s Jess Search Stepping Down, Open City Doc Fest 2023 Program Announced, NFB Hidden Gems
July 3, 2023: Shrinking Budgets & Distribution Woes, Doc Society’s Democracy Story Unit, IndieWire’s Best LGBTQ+ Docs of All Time
June 26, 2023: DOC Institute Appoints Lauren Howes, Jamie Kastner Raising Funds to Keep Doc Footage Safe, Fair Use in Documentary Productions
June 19, 2023: Unspoken Traumas of the Filmmaking Community, Indian Court Halts Airing of Doc, DocFest, Shanghai & Tribeca Award Winners
June 12, 2023: DOC/DOX’s Inaugural Edition, Updates from Tribeca, BlackStar & Docudays
June 5, 2023: CWA/DWU and IDA Reach Agreement, Storyline Launches Paid Apprenticeship Program
May 29, 2023: BBC Summoned to Indian Court, Rooftop Files Doc Slots, Cannes Award Winners
May 22, 2023: Pure Nonfiction Launch Producer’s Notebook, PBS Diverse Voices Initiative Participants Named, Sheffield DocFest Industry Program Revealed
May 8, 2023: POV Reveals 36th Season, Deadline Launches Contenders Streaming Site, Peter Broderick’s Sundance Distribution Bulletin
May 1, 2023: Hot Docs Celebrates 30 Years, Launching the Nonfiction Media Makers with Disabilities Survey, 32 Sounds Opens
April 24, 2023: Subject of Sundance Award Winner KOKOMO CITY Killed, Field of Vision Launch 2023 Digital Security Pro-Bono Clinic
April 17, 2023: Making Sense of a Changing Doc Market, IDFA Announces Year-Round Cinema, Peabody Nominees Announced
April 10, 2023: Georgian Doc Filmmakers Fight Culture Crackdown, Alanis Obomsawin to Receive Edward MacDowell Medal, Documentary Magazine Printing Paused
April 3, 2023: PBS Announces New Independent Lens Slate, Netflix Lays Off Doc & Indie Execs Lisa Nishimura and Ian Bricke
March 27, 2023: The Rise of Docs at Wesleyan University, BFI National Lottery Fund Opens, CPH:DOX 2023 Winners
March 20, 2023: Sara Archambault to Lead Harvard Doc Initiative, Netflix and Chicken & Egg Found New Doc Fund, SXSW Award Winners
March 13, 2023: NAVALNY & THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS Win Oscars, Duke’s Center for Doc Studies Hangs in the Balance
March 6, 2023: Lawrence Pitkethly Passes Away at 79, Reflections on Images of Violence, New Directors/New Films 2023 Announced
February 27, 2023: Navalny Wins at BAFTAs, AfroPoP Reveals New Season, the Allure of Regional True Crime
February 20, 2023: Indian Tax Agents Raid BBC, BFI Reaffirms Support of UK Docmaking, Netflix Embraces Sports Docs
February 13, 2023: First Look, True/False & Thessanloniki Unveil 2023 Programs
February 6, 2023: Discussions on the State of Current Doc Market, Jafar Panahi Released From Prison, Anthology to Host Abigail Child Retrospective
January 30, 2023: Curator & Critic Noah Cowan Passes Away at 55, India Scrambles to Block Doc, Academy Award Nominees Announced
January 23, 2023: Funding Filmmakers of Color, Field of Vision Goes Independent, Netflix’s U.K. Doc Talent Fund
January 16, 2023: 2023 Cinema Eye Honors Award Winners, Docs From India Gain Prominence, TIFF & Hot Docs Programmer Ravi Srinivasan Dies Suddenly
January 9, 2023: New Report on Directorial Inclusion, BAFTA Film Awards Longlists Unveiled, Cinema Eye Honors Tickets Now Available
January 2, 2023: 2022 in Reflection

2022

December 19, 2022: Tom White Leaves Documentary Magazine, Field of Vision Goes Independent, Studies on Gender Equality & Festival Hybridity Published
December 12, 2022: ALL THAT BREATHES Sweeps IDA Awards, Firelight Sets Doc Lab Fellows, Doc Community Remembers Julia Reichert
December 5, 2022: R.I.P. Julia Reichert & Kristen Huntley, Kartemquin Films Moves Forward, Films From Iran For Iran
November 28, 2022: Lucia Small Dead at 59, UNESCO Memory of the World Program Celebrates Documentary Heritage, Suzanne Guèvremont New Chairperson of NFB
November 21, 2022: DOC NYC, Critics Choice Documentary, and IDFA Reveal Award Winners
November 14, 2022: DOC NYC Continues, Cinema Eye Honors Nominations, Grierson Award Winners
November 7, 2022: DOC NYC Set to Kickoff, CNN Scaling Back Signals “Troubling Times” for Docs?, Netflix Films Join BFI National Collection
October 31, 2022: DOC NYC Approaches, IDA Documentary Awards Shortlists, CNN to Stop Buying Docs
October 24, 2022: Cinema Eye Honors ’23 Announcements, JIHAD REHAB Conversation Deepens, Critics Choice Doc Award Nominations
October 17, 2022: A STORM FORETOLD Used as Evidence, Firehouse Cinema is New Cinematic Gem, BBC Studios Announces New Development Initiative
October 3, 2022: Emmy Winners; ‘Jihad Rehab’ debate; DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema
September 26, 2022: Thom Powers Passes DOC NYC Baton to Jaie Laplante, Double Exposure 2022 Lineup Announced
September 19, 2022: The Passing of Cinema Titans, William Klein and Jean-Luc Godard
September 12, 2022: TIFF in Full Swing, Laura Poitras Wins Golden Lion, Eugene Hernandez Named Sundance Director
August 29, 2022: Nonfiction Cinema & Social Change, New Black Public Media & Johnny Carson Center Residency, CIFF & Open City Reveal 2022 Programs
August 22, 2022: Streaming Surpasses Cable for First Time, TIFF Docs Announced
August 15, 2022: DCTV Set to Open Firehouse Doc Theater, IDF Published Ukrainian Film Curator List, Amazing Grace Back in Court
August 8, 2022: Docs & Fiction Films Covering the Same Subject, Philippa Kowarsky Leaving BBC Storyville, BlackStar Film Fest Highlights
August 1, 2022: TIFF, Venice & Open City Programming Announcements
July 25, 2022: ICFR Pen Open Letter, Florence Almozini Named Senior Director of Programming at Film at Lincoln Center, Grierson Trust Shortlist Revealed
July 18, 2022: Terence Macartney-Filgate Dead at 97, Truth Seekers Summit Programming Revealed, Doc Support Endeavor Subject Matter Launched
July 11, 2022: PBS/Firelight William Greaves Production Fund, BFI Doc Society Feature Fund, Sheffield DocFest’s 2022 Award Winners
June 27, 2022: Meet the Press Film Festival with DOC NYC, Abortion Rights Doc Makers Speak Out, Firelight Names Leticia Peguero as Senior Vice President
June 20, 2022: Color Congress Announced Inaugural Grants, Emmy Rule Changes and An Increased Appetite for Experimental Docs
June 13, 2022: Filmmaker Nick Quested Becomes Key Jan 6 Witness, New IDA Board Members, Tabitha Jackson Departs From Sundance
June 6, 2022: Jaie Laplante Named as New DOC NYC Artistic Director, World Records Volume 6 Released, Sheffield DocFest Program Revealed
May 23, 2022: Heddy Honigmann Dead at 70, FOCAL Awards Nom Shortlist, Sheffield’s Ukraine Focus
May 16, 2022: Waves of Arrests in Iran, Speaking is Difficult, POV Unveils Season Lineup
May 9, 2022: Firelight Media Doc Lab Open Call, Hot Docs Award Winners, True Crime Recommendations
May 2, 2022: Another Screen Presents Six Brazilian Docs, New Issue of World Records Journal, Hot Docs In Full Swing
April 25, 2022: IF/Then & Emergence Unveil Shifting Landscapes, dok.incubator Reveals Selections, Tribeca Film Festival Announced 2022 Lineup
April 18, 2022: Goodbye 14-Hour Day, Peabody Awards Nominees, A-List Festivals on How Docs Can Play in the Big League
April 11, 2022: IDA Recognizes Employee Union, Firelight Media Announces Spark Fund Recipients, 2022 Full Frame Award Winners
April 4, 2022: Doc Filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius Killed, Question of Consent when Shooting in Traumatic Situations, Poh Si Teng on True Equity in Docs
March 28, 2022: Summer of Soul, Queen of Basketball Win Doc Oscars, Pure Nonfiction Returns to IFC Center, IDA Announces New Staff
March 21, 2022: IDA Recognizes Employee Bargaining Unit, SXSW Award Winners, Visions du Réel Program Unveiled
March 14, 2022: R.I.P. Michelle Materre & Brent Renaud, Summer of Soul Wins Best Doc at Independent Spirit Awards
March 7, 2022: 2022 Cinema Eye Honors, IDA Staff Exodus Continues, Roger Graef Dead at 85
February 28, 2022: Solidarity with Ukraine, CPH:DOX Reveals Music Program, TIFF Unveils New Programmers
February 21, 2022: DOC NYC Announces Search For New Artistic Director, Sundance Addresses JIHAD REHAB Controversy, Berlinale 2022 Award Winners
February 7, 2022: The Case of of JIHAD REHAB, How Archive Content is Shaping the Music-Doc Renaissance, Cinema Eye Honors Sets New Date
January 31, 2022: Sundance Award Winners, VR Docs, Chicken & Egg Award Recipients
January 24, 2022: Sundance, Sundance, Sundance + PBS Partnership with Firelight Media, Retrospectives on Nanfu Wang, Jonas Mekas and NY City Symphonies
January 17, 2022: Color Congress Launches, ATTICA Streaming for Free, Slamdance Starts New Streaming Service
January 10, 2022: A Tribute to NYT Op-Docs, In-Person Sundance Cancelled, IDA Awards Go Virtual
January 3, 2022: 2022 Has Arrived! Oscar Shortlists Revealed, Cinema Eye Postponed, Sundance COVID Safety Precautions

2021

December 13, 2021: The End (of ’21) is Nigh – Best of Lists, Awards, Sundance ’22
December 6, 2021: How the NY Times Built Its Op-Docs Series Into an Awards Pipeline, Firelight Media Doc Lab Fellows, On Alan Berliner’s Home-Movie Collage
November 29, 2021: Oscars Doc Race Gets 100 Fewer Than Last Year, IDFA Award Winners, Get Back Reaches Audiences
November 22, 2021: DOC NYC Award Winners, Who Killed Malcolm X? Leads to Exonerations, IDA Doc Awards Nominees, Variety Documentary Day Lineup
November 15, 2021: Alliance of Doc Editors Release Edit Schedules, Cinema Eye Announces Nominees, IDA Awards Name Honorees
November 8, 2021: DOC NYC 40 Under 40 List, Cinema Eye Honors Unforgettables & Audience Award Noms, IDFA Unveils Opening Film & Main Competition
November 1, 2021: DOC NYC & IDA Awards Shortlists, BIFA Doc Longlist, and a Report on Nonfiction Storytelling on Gun Violence
October 25, 2021: Cinema Eye Honors & Critics’ Choice Doc Nominees, Tributes to Diane Weyermann, Sabaya Consent Controversy Summarized
October 18, 2021: Diane Weyermann Dead at 66, Field Of Vision Launches Global Apprenticeship Program, Redford Center & IF/Then Shorts Announce Finalists
October 11, 2021: SABAYA Consent Controversy, Paris Theater’s ‘New Directions in Documentary’, Thai Cave Rescue Footage
October 4, 2021: News & Doc Emmy Awards, LGBTQ+ Doc Banned in Kenya
September 27, 2021: IndieWire’s Doc Influencers, Double Exposure Program Unveiled, TIFF Doc Reports
September 20, 2021: ‘The Jinx’ Led to Robert Durst’s Murder Conviction, New Digital Security Platform & Clinic, End of Oscar & Emmy Double-Dipping Era
September 13, 2021: Who is Holding Documentary Accountable?, How the Doc Community Can Help Afghan Refugees, TIFF ’21 Begins
August 30, 2021: Announcing Black Film Archive, Programming Team at Sheffield Doc/Fest Ousted, Spike Lee Re-Edits HBO Sept. 11 Series
August 23, 2021: Afghanistan & Documentary Cinema, Cíntia Gil Leaves Sheffield Doc/Fest, IDFA Previews 2021 Edition
August 16, 2021: Truth and the Ethics of Doc Filmmaking, Cat Videos & Various Doc Festival Award Winners
August 9, 2021: Sundance Institute Turns 40, Independent Doc Filmmakers Want New & Improved Funding Models, 2021 TIFF Docs Program Announced
August 2, 2021: Fire at Cinemateca Brasileira, Comedy Doc Series Go Off the Beaten Path, News and Documentary Emmy Nominations
July 26 , 2021 : 2021 Grierson Awards Shortlist, TIFF to Honor Alanis Obomsawin with Tribute Award, Inaugural Truth Seekers Summit Program Unveiled
July 19 , 2021 : ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’ Wins L’Œil d’Or, Doc Festivals Report 22% Drop in Selected Films During Pandemic
July 11, 2021 : Watching True Crime, Erika Dilday Talks POV, Mania for Long Docuseries Ebbing
July 5 , 2021 : Queering Documentary, New Academy Members, AFI DOCS Award Winners
June 7, 2021: RIP editor Lewis Erskine, Alliance of Documentary Editors Launch BIPOC Doc Editors Database
May 17, 2021: DOC NYC’s Inaugural Spring Showcase, IDA Appoints Richard Ray Perez as Executive Director, AFI DOCS 2021 Announces First Wave of Films
May 10, 2021: POV Season 34 Lineup Revealed + Can a More Equitable Doc Field Emerge Post-Pandemic?
May 3, 2021: Docuseek & Women Make Movies Partner on Streaming Venture, Hot Docs Kicks Off
April 26, 2021: How to Fix the Oscars
April 19, 2021: Erika Dilday is New Executive Director at AmDoc, Microaggression in the Documentary Business, CPH:DOX ’21 Set to Kickoff
April 12, 2021: AXS Film Fund Launches, IF/Then Shorts Announces Finalists, Catapult Film Fund Announces Latest Development Grantees, Upcoming Director-Producer Partnership Event
April 6, 2021: Beyond Inclusion Calls Out PBS For A Lack Of Diversity, Opal H. Bennett Named Co-Producer at POV
March 29, 2021: Prismatic Ground Announced, Actors in Documentaries and Hot Docs 2021 Lineup
March 22, 2021: Spring Festival Fever Begins!
March 15, 2021: Oscar Noms, RIP Leon Gast, Cinema Eye Honors Winners
March 8, 2021: Theaters Are Reopening, NFB & POV Spark Launch Otherly Instagram Series
March 1, 2021: Outlining Amazon’s Decision to Stop Accepting Docs, Telluride Planning In-Person 2021 Edition, Brett Hendrie Leaving Hot Docs
February 22, 2021: Amazon Prime Video Direct Locks Out Docs, On True Crime and Abolition, and No Crying At The Dinner Table
February 8, 2021: Sundance 2021 Wraps, BAFTA Unveils Longlist, Field of Vision & Lawyers for Reporters Launch Free Legal Clinic
February 1, 2021: New Streamer Documentary+ Launches, Sundance 2021 Kicks Off, and An Open Letter On Filmmaker Moms
January 25, 2021: Covering the Capitol Riot; Doc Filmmaking After Trump; Black Frame at Full Frame
January 18, 2021: 2020 IDA Documentary Awards Winners, MLK/FBI Released, Laura Poitras Fired by First Look Media
January 11, 2021: RIP Michael Apted, IFP Rebrands as the Gotham, Oscar Doc Feature Submissions Will Break Record
January 4, 2021: Michelle Latimer’s Indigenous Identity Under Scrutiny, Khashoggi Doc Unwanted By Streaming Services, Village Voice Rises From the Dead

2020

December 21, 2020: IDA’s Docs of the Decade, Sundance 2021 Program Revealed, 2020 National Film Registry Selections Announced
December 14, 2020: 14th Annual Cinema Eye Honors Nominations, Obomsawin & Latimer Receive DOC Institute Honours, Docs on Public Servants Soothing in 2020
December 7, 2020: The Whickers Cost of Docs Survey 2020, Sundance Offers Robust Online Platform, RIDM Award Winners
November 30, 2020: ‘Decolonize’ The Documentary?, IDFA Awards, and the Rise of COVID Docs
November 23, 2020: DOC NYC 2020 Wraps Up, Simon Kilmurry Stepping Down From IDA Post, Valentina Pedicini Dead at 42
November 16, 2020: DOC NYC Documentary New Leaders, IDA, Gotham & Grierson Awards, Festival Circuit Rundown
November 9, 2020: DOC NYC Reveals Short List, Distributors on Selling Through COVID-19, Peabody Awards Adds Arts Category
November 2, 2020: IDA Awards Shortlists, IDFA Competition Lineup Revealed & Art of the Real Goes Online
October 26, 2020: Quibi Shutters After 6 Months, True Story Launches, IDA Enterprise Production Grant Recipients Announced
October 18, 2020: RIP James Redford, New IDFA plans, $100k prize for Alanis Obomsawin & more
October 12, 2020: Justine Nagan to Exit AmDoc, Nanfu Wang Awarded MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant, AFI Fest & DOK Leipzig Lineups Unveiled
October 5, 2020: Field of Vision Launches Online Journal, DOC Releases COVID19 Best Practices & IDFA Reveals Best of Fests Lineup
September 28, 2020: Where Does Independent Documentary Go From Here? Plus, International Emmy & Grierson Awards Noms, DOK Leipzig Competition Lineup
September 21, 2020: Hajooj Kuka Jailed in Khartoum, Documentary Producers Alliance Release Guidelines, ‘Inconvenient Indian’ Wins TIFF Doc Audience Award
September 14, 2020: Carrie Lozano Joins Sundance Institute, BFI London Unveils Program & MIT Doc Lab Announces Fall Lecture Series
September 7, 2020: PGA Releases COVID Safety Protocols, 41 International Festivals Call For Relief, Kartemquin Leadership Transition & more
August 31, 2020: Fall fest news from TIFF, NYFF, IDFA & more
August 24, 2020: Staged Docs, a New Study of Film Critics and Gender & NY Movie Theaters Remain Closed
August 17, 2020: Behind the Editing Team Resignation, Black Girls Doc Mafia director Iyabo Boyd on Pure Nonfiction, NYFF & Open City Reveal 2020 Programs
August 10, 2020: Brazil’s Film Archive Faces Wipeout, New Partner to Diversify Nonfiction Production Talent, Sundance Shrinks for 2021
August 3, 2020: TIFF & Venice Lineups Unveiled, Universal & AMC Shorten Theatrical Window, 2020 Primetime Emmy Nominations Announced
July 27, 2020: Doc Editor Jonathan Oppenheim Dies at 67, Maysles Doc Center Launches Online Series, TIFF to Open With Spike Lee/ David Byrne Concert Doc
July 20, 2020: Tiger Production Controversy Breaks Out Over Representation, Telluride Cancelled Due to COVID19 & IDFA Forms Filmmaker Support Department
July 13, 2020: A Call for Accountability, UK Cinemas Test the Waters After Lockdown & Fall Film Festivals Vow To Collaborate
July 6, 2020: Kevin Rafferty Dead at 73, Academy Invites 819 New Members, and a Question: How Does Film Shape the Fight for Racial Justice?
June 29, 2020: Fall Festivals are Making Big Plans, Others are Asking if Movie Theaters are Safe
June 22, 2020: AmDoc Announced ‘Artist Mental Health Fund’ for BIPOC, North American Queer Festival Alliance Founded, Grasshopper Launched Projectr
June 15, 2020: Black Defiance at the Movies, Academy to Develop “Representation” Standards, AFI DOCS & Sheffield Doc/Fest Announce Lineups
June 8, 2020: Firelight Launches Beyond Resilience, Human Rights Watch Film Festival & More
- Monday Memo Highlight Reel
June 1, 2020: Street Protests, RIP Christo, HOT DOCS & More
- Monday Memo Highlight Reel