Join us for conversations from noted funders tracking new trends and offering insights into funding your films.
In the NBC News Studios Lounge, the day starts with Breakfast (9-10 AM) and ends with a Happy Hour (4:30-5:30 PM) co-presented by Frankfurt Kurnit.
10am – 11:15am
Fund Yourself: New Models of Revenue Generation
In the ever-challenging funding landscape, alternative models for funding can be as innovative as they are necessary. Join filmmaker Yael Melamede ((Dis)Honesty, The Truth About Lies), distribution and branding consultant Brian Newman of Sub-Genre Media and filmmaker Sian-Pierre Regis (Duty Free) as they share new and expansive practices learned in the process of funding their doc projects with moderator and documentary film funding strategist Tracie Holder.
Yael Melamede – Filmmaker. Yael Melamede is the co-founder of SALTY Features – an independent production company based in New York City whose goal is to create media that is thought-provoking, vital, and enhances the world. Melamede’s documentary credits include the Jigsaw Productions/Amblin Entertainment six-part series WHY WE HATE (2019), STRAIGHT/CURVE (2017), WHEN I WALK (News & Doc Emmy Award Winner, 2015), (DIS)HONESTY – THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES (2015), DESERT RUNNERS (2015), INOCENTE (Academy Award Winner, Best Doc Short, 2013), and MY ARCHITECT (Academy Award Nominee, 2004). Yael was an architect before becoming a filmmaker and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Sian- Pierre Regis is a filmmaker who directed, produced and self-distributed his debut feature documentary DUTY FREE. Called a “tender love poem from son to mother” by CBS News, the film was released in 30 theaters over Mother’s Day 2021 and fast-became a press magnet garnering coverage from CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, MSNBC, The Tamron Hall Show, AARP; the film was also a #1 Apple News story through the weekend. It will have its debut broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens on November 22 at 10pET.
Prior to filmmaking, Regis was a journalist and on-camera contributor to CNN, HLN, and MTV and founded Swagger, an online lifestyle magazine for millennials with over 1.5 million fans. He is a Firelight Media fellow and Film Independent Documentary Lab Fellow.
Brian Newman, founder of Sub-Genre, consults on content strategy, distribution and marketing for some of the top brands in the world. Current and former clients include: The Climate Pledge (Amazon), GoDaddy, IBM, New York Times, Oatly, Patagonia, Purina, REI, Stripe, Sundance, Unilever, and Yeti Coolers. Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute, and writes a popular weekly newsletter on film.
Tracie Holder is a filmmaker, consultant, producer and U.S. film funding specialist. A 2016 Sundance Creative Producers Fellow, Holder leads workshops, tutors and serves on juries at international pitching and training sessions. She is widely regarded as a “go-to” person and all-round resource for artists seeking U.S. funding having raised more than $3 million in grant funding for her own projects. Clients include: Documentary Campus, IDFA, EDN, Ramallah Doc, Lisbon Docs, Firelight Media, DOC NYC, Chicken & Egg, Black Public Media, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Creative Capital, Unions Docs, and Gotham Film & Media (formerly IFP), among others. Holder was a longtime consultant to Women Make Movies and served as the Development & Funding Strategist for Abby Disney’s Fork Films. She is a former board member of NY Women in Film and grant panelist for national and local funders. She co-directed/produced Joe Papp in Five Acts, (Tribeca Film Festival, PBS/ American Masters). Producing credits include Grit, (Hot Docs/POV) and The Quiet Zone, and One Person, One Vote? in production. She is currently developing The People’s Will, for which she was recently awarded a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities production grant.
11:30am – 12:45pm
The Sales Agent Story: New Trends in the Funding and Acquisitions Landscape
How are projects strategically acquired and sold? And what kinds of deals will trend in 2023? Sales agents have their fingers on the pulse of industry trends and the ever shifting funding and sales terrain. Led by Kevin Iwashina (Fifth Season), Charlotte Lichtman (CAA), Josh Braun (Submarine Entertainment) and Maggie Pisacane (WME Agency), these experts hone in on the direction funding and sales is headed.
Kevin Iwashina is Head of FIFTH SEASON Documentary, a global leader in the production, distribution, financing and sales of premium film, television, and audio content. In his role, Iwashina identifies financing opportunities, handles sales and provides advisory services for media companies, global corporations and content creators in the premium non-scripted space.
Formerly known as Endeavor Content, FIFTH SEASON finances, packages and sells over 100 feature films and television series a year. In premium non-scripted, recent film and television projects include: Chef’s Table, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, The Elephant Queen, The Apollo, Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, We Are Freestyle Love Supreme and Hamilton, among others.
Maggie Pisacane is a partner at WME and runs the agency’s Documentary Group. In her role, she focuses on premium non-fiction and documentary projects, representing renowned filmmakers and some of the most prolific production companies in the non fiction space.
Pisacane began her career as an associate at Sloss Eckhouse LawCo and transitioned to Frankfurt Kurnit where she became a partner, specializing in non-fiction television and documentaries, before joining WME as an agent and partner.
Josh Braun is the co-president of Submarine Entertainment, a hybrid sales, production and distribution company. Mr. Braun recently executive produced the Netflix documentary series The Andy Warhol Diaries, the Sundance feature competition documentary Fire of Love, the Netflix untitled Pamela Anderson documentary as well as recent titles Circus of Books, Crip Camp and Apollo 11. Other series titles include Lenox Hill, Sons of Sam, Evil Genius, The Keepers, The Devil Next Door and Wild Wild Country for which Mr. Braun won the Emmy for best documentary series in 2018. Recent sales titles include The Untitled Elton John documentary, Fire of Love, The Return of Tanya Tucker, Untitled Martha Stewart Documentary, Untitled Pam Anderson documentary, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, Velvet Underground, Boys State, Social Dilemma.
Charlotte Lichtman is an agent in the Media Finance Group at CAA, focusing in premium documentary and docuseries. As an agent, Charlotte represents documentary filmmakers and producers, working to package, source financing for, and sell their films and series. Prior to her time at CAA, Charlotte was an agent at ICM Partners in their Independent Film division, working across both narrative and documentary content. Charlotte is from the metro Detroit area and graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in film.
1:45pm – 3pm
International Co-Productions
Curious how to expand your project’s reach and find new collaborators abroad? Our expert panelists will discuss ways to lead an international co-production and the factors that contribute to a successful international collaboration. Klara Nilsson Grunning (Norwegian Film Institute) leads a panel of producers and executives, including producer Cynthia Kane (Dilemma of Desire), Igal Svet (discovery+) and Mandy Chang (Fremantle) to illuminate and educate.
Igal Svet serves as Vice President of Documentaries at discovery+ where he oversees documentaries for the streamer. Svet shaped the programming and overall documentary strategy for the streamer since launch. He is responsible for acquiring, commissioning and EP’ing premium docs with A-list talent behind and in front of the lens. In his tenure so far, discovery+ successfully launched over 50 award-winning and subscriber-driving docs including Unprecedented,A Radical Life,Introducing Selma Blair, Francesco, Lily Topples the World, Dear Mr Brody, Rebel Hearts and many more. Svet most recently commissioned and EP’d January 6th, screening at this year’s DOC NYC. He’s currently EP’ing the highly anticipated Shaun White docuseries, which is set for next year.
Producer (Disappointment Valley: A Modern Day Western)
Cynthia Kane
Producer (Disappointment Valley: A Modern Day Western)
Cynthia Kane co-created Sundance Channel’s DOCday and brought Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and Denis Poncet’s documentary series, The Staircase (2006-Peabody-Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards) to U.S. television. At ITVS, she shepherded 150+ international and U.S. co-productions for public media. At Al Jazeera America, she commissioned documentaries and series (Albert Maysles’ final work, In Transit and duPont Award-winning series, Kartemquin Films’ Hard Earned). Recent work includes Raj Patel and Zak Piper’s The Ants and the Grasshopper (2021), Carl Gierstorfer and Antje Boehmert’s The River Between Us (2021), NC Heikin’s Life & Life (2021), Maria Finitzo’s The Dilemma of Desire (2020-Showtime), Kim A Snyder, Maria Cuomo Cole, Lori Cheatle’s Us Kids (2020), and Maia Lekow and Chris King’s The Letter (2019).
Commissioning Editor/Film Commissioner, Norwegian Film Institute
Klara Nilsson Grunning
Commissioning Editor/Film Commissioner, Norwegian Film Institute
Klara Nilsson Grunning is an Emmy Award winning producer, currently assigned as the film commissioner at the Norwegian Film Institute for documentary features, shorts and digital formats. She has been commissioner at the Danish and Swedish Film Institutes where she has commissioned films like Queen of Versailles, Children of the Enemy, Transnistra, Nelly & Nadine, Hidden Letters, Swedish Theory of Love, and The Raft. She is currently funding Margreth Olin’s next film Songs of the Earth and Victor Kossakovski’s Fish Scale Garden. In the past she was supervising producer at ITVS for nine years, working with projects like Lion in the House, The New Americans and My Country My Country.
Mandy Chang is Fremantle’s Global Head of Documentaries, with over 20 years of experience working across multiple genres and platforms as a respected commissioner, Exec producer, writer and filmmaker. She joined Fremantle to create a slate of world class international documentaries and series globally. For 4 years she ran legendary BBC global feature doc strand Storyville, commissioning and overseeing acclaimed international feature docs and series, such as Writing with Fire, Collective, Welcome to Chechnya, The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea, Locked In: Breaking the Silence and The Fourth Estate.
Mandy brought her own vision to the much-loved strand, curating a slate of talked about documentaries, extending Storyville’s breadth and diversity and guiding exciting new talent into the industry.
3:15pm – 4:30pm
Warhol Foundation vs. Goldsmith: A New Test for “Fair Use” by Filmmakers?
Join entertainment lawyers Lisa E. Davis, Caren Decter,Melissa Georges and Andrew Rossi(The Andy Warhol Diaries) for a discussion of this current US Supreme Court court case that threatens to alter the “fair use” landscape. Learn how changes in “fair use” affect selection of footage, your ability to obtain insurance for a project, and so much more.
Lisa E. Davis is a partner in the Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit. Lisa represents businesses and celebrities in the film, television, publishing, music, theatre, and sports industries. She advises on a full range of transactional matters – focusing on film (both feature and documentary), television, publishing, live stage and branded entertainment. Lisa has been ranked as a New York-area “Super Lawyer” since 2007 and was featured on the cover of Super Lawyers magazine in a piece on her career and advocacy for racial justice. Best Lawyers in America, Crain’s New York Business, The Hollywood Reporter, The Legal 500, and Variety have all included Lisa on their lists of leading entertainment lawyers.
Caren Decter is a partner in the Litigation Group at Frankfurt Kurnit, focusing on commercial and intellectual property litigation, and white collar defense. Named to Benchmark Litigation’s 2019 and 2021 40 & Under Hot List and listed as a 2022 Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers magazine, Ms. Decter represents clients in civil and criminal matters pending in state and federal courts around the country. In addition, she advises clients in the finance, legal, consumer goods, advertising, art, and media and entertainment industries — on “business divorces”, contract, fraud, copyright, trademark, false advertising, ADA compliance and other matters.
Melissa Georges is counsel to the Entertainment Group and Chair of the Content Review & Clearance Group at Frankfurt Kurnit. For more than 20 years, she has helped award-winning film and television producers, directors, actors, writers, animators, and comedians resolve complex legal issues to get their projects cleared and distributed. Ms. Georges assesses all forms of entertainment content for legal risk. She regularly studies film footage, television shows, podcasts, internet content, webisodes, scripts, screenplays, manuscripts, live performances, animated programs and other executions for potential claims, and suggests revisions and edits with an eye to reducing or eliminating risk.
Writer, director and executive producer Andrew Rossi was recently nominated for three Emmy awards for his series, The Andy Warhol Diaries. The Netflix series was a hybrid of scripted recreations and non-fiction, penetrating the myth around one of the most influential cultural figures of our time. This is a consistent theme in Andrew’s work, including his award winning documentaries Page One: Inside The New York Times about the NYT’s media desk and Ivory Tower, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; The First Monday in May following the annual Met Gala, and the short film he produced about the legacy of Sigmund Freud, Hysterical Girl, which was short-listed for the Academy Award.
Co-presented by:
To experience the DOC NYC PRO lineup, purchase an individual PRO Day Pass (via the Buy Ticket button) to hone in on a specific subject, or benefit from discounted pricing when you purchase Multi-Day Pass Packs to an assortment of topic strands.
All guests & staff will be required to comply with our Health & Safety protocols while attending DOC NYC events. For the latest information, please review our policies here.
Unpacking the nuts and bolts of creating, selling, and distributing a doc series. Hear from both leading executives and filmmakers.
Doc Series Day is co-presented by:
In the NBC News Studios Lounge, the day starts with Breakfast (9-10 AM) and ends with a Happy Hour (4:30-5:30 PM).
10am – 11:15am
Making the Leap from Feature Directing to Doc Series
With increasing regularity, documentary feature directors are now helming documentary series. Our panelists will prepare you for that potential career leap by sharing honest and concrete advice from their experiences. What are the differences between directing features and episodic projects? And how do you break into the documentary series landscape as a director? Moderated by Amelia Hanibelsz (ABC News Studios), filmmakers Neha Shastry(The Murdochs: Empire of Influence), Geeta Gandbhir (HBO’s Black and Missing) and Ben Selkow (Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller) talk about their transition from the feature to episodic world and the challenges faced along the way.
Neha Shastry is an award winning documentary filmmaker. She has produced and directed films across 5 continents for clients like CNN, Amazon Studios, National Geographic, Netflix and Vice News. Because of her background in journalism, she is known for taking nuanced and balanced approaches in her storytelling, letting the truth reveal itself in her films.
She produced All In: The Fight For Democracy, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award and nominated for a Peabody. Her next project, The Murdochs: Empire of Influence, is currently airing on CNN and HBO Max.
She is one of 9 directors who have been selected to participate in Netflix’s inaugural Nonfiction Producer and Director Fellowship in collaboration with Ghetto Film School.
Filmmaker (Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power)
Geeta Gandbhir
Filmmaker (Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power)
Geeta Gandbhir is an mutiple award winning filmmaker over 25 years of experience in the industry. Her latest film, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, will premiere on Peacock in 2022. Her short film from the HBO series Through Our Eyes won a 2022 Emmy Award.
Amelia is an Award-Winning Executive Producer, Primetime Emmy-Nominated Supervising Producer, Genesis Award-Winning Producer-Director, and most recently, Executive Director of Development at ABC News Studios -Disney, where she focused on developing premium documentary specials and series for Hulu and ABC Broadcast.
Over the past 20+ years, Amelia has acquired extensive experience in discovering, and cultivating new talent for content initiatives on leading media networks such as Hulu, ABC, Discovery, A&E, National Geographic, Animal Planet, The Smithsonian Channel, MTV, and VICE World News.
She is the Founder and Executive Producer of Tell2C Productions, a global collective of award-winning female filmmakers for change. An active member of the Television Academy, Global Impacts Alliance, IDA, and a proud member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
A global nomad, having lived and worked in over 10 Countries, Amelia is passionate about empowering diverse voices through authentic storytelling.
Ben Selkow is an Emmy-nominated documentary film & television director, showrunner, and executive producer with over twenty years of experience making prestige docu-series, such as HBO’s Emmy-nominated “Q: Into the Storm” and “The Invisible Pilot”, Netflix’s “Rapture”, international hosted travel series like Nat Geo’s Emmy-nominated “Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller” and CNN’s Emmy Award-winning “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” and “Believer with Reza Aslan”. Currently, Ben is producing the definitive feature documentary on Mary Tyler Moore “GIFTED & BLACK” both with Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad and through his production company Good Trouble Studios, which he co-founded with creative partner James Adolphus.
11:30am – 12:45pm
The Art and Business of Doc Series Storytelling
Senior development and production creatives from ESPN’s decorated 30 for 30 team, Marsha Cooke,Adam Neuhaus and Marquis Daisy engage in conversation with Malikkah Rollins (DOC NYC) on the art and business of documentary storytelling. Gain an in-depth understanding of what it means to develop, pitch, sell, produce and distribute a documentary series. The discussion will provide an in-depth look at what the marketplace looks for in a pitch, finding the thematic essence and ideal format of a project, crafting surprising new angles to familiar stories and understanding the distribution realities and trends of the broadcast and streaming business.
Senior Director of Development, ESPN Films and ESPN+
Adam Neuhaus
Senior Director of Development, ESPN Films and ESPN+
Adam Neuhaus is the Senior Director of Development for ESPN Films and ESPN+ leading creative development for original content on the award winning 30for30 documentary series across feature films, shorts and the 30for30 Podcasts. Adam has served on the Board of Directors and currently serves on the Advisory Board for The Ghetto Film School. Additionally, Adam is on the Board of Directors of the Bushwick Film Institute and is on the NY board of HRTS.
Vice President & Executive Producer, ESPN Films and 30 for 30
Marsha Cooke
Vice President & Executive Producer, ESPN Films and 30 for 30
Marsha Cooke currently serves as vice president & executive producer for ESPN Films and 30 for 30. She is responsible for overseeing development, production, distribution, branding and strategy of all projects under the ESPN Films umbrella, including the 30 for 30 series.
Cooke joined ESPN from VICE Media Group, where she served as senior vice president of global news and special projects. In her role at VICE, Cooke developed and produced special news and entertainment projects across VMG digital and broadcast platforms, leading the youth media company in pushing the limits of broadcast news formats and playing a key role in integrating VICE’s forward-thinking values with its award-winning content.
Marquis Daisy, co-director of “Baltimore Boys,” is a producer for ESPN Films. Among his most notable work includes Rand University, a 30 for 30 film on the often-turbulent career of former NFL great Randy Moss and Black Hoosiers, a Spike Lee Lil’ Joint on the high school years of NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson. Daisy’s 2021 project, “The March on Washington: Keepers of the Dream,” debuted on NatGeo and is available on-demand from Hulu.
As the new Director of Industry and Education at DOC/NYC, Malikkah will oversee a portfolio of projects includingDOC NYC PRO, the festival’s line-up of educational courses and industry networking opportunities;Only In New York industry meetings for filmmakers with works-in-progress; and the40 Under 40 list. Malikkah brings 15 years of experience in education, counseling, and professional development to the role. As a freelance doc producer, WIFV/DC board member, Sundance Collab Community Leader and D Word Ambassador, Malikkah’s passion is rooted in connecting people and building stronger, more collaborative film communities.
Co-presented by:
1:45pm – 3pm
Digging Through the Archives
Archival material can illuminate a story and provide a vivid foundation for the narrative. But knowledge about the legal considerations in using such footage is key to your project’s successful production. Join Fox Rothschild entertainment attorneys Marc H. Simon, Daniel Benge and Daniel Spencer and producers of the critically acclaimed HBO Max documentary The Last Movie Stars, Emily Wachtel and Lisa Long Adler, as they discuss legal issues arising from the use of archival materials in documentary projects.
Daniel Benge is a Partner in Fox Rothschild’s Entertainment & Sports Department who works advises clients in the documentary space and the live performance and digital media industries. He has experience counseling writers, producers, agents and corporate clients on a broad range of media projects, including acquisition and entertainment financing, production and distribution.
Daniel Spencer is an Associate, Entertainment and Sports, at Fox Rothschild’s Entertainment and Sports Department who advises clients in traditional and emerging media, including narrative, unscripted and documentary films, episodic series, podcasts, literary publishing, advertising and other digital media content. In the film and television sectors, Daniel counsels clients in all stages of project development, rights acquisition, financing, production and distribution. Daniel represents production companies, producers, financiers, on-camera talent, directors, writers, and other content creators, as well as businesses in the digital, gaming and new media industries. With experience on both the business and creative sides of the entertainment industry, Daniel provides clients a collaborative approach while obtaining favorable terms at the bargaining table. He is passionate about connecting key players with creatives to help bring projects to life.
Emily Wachtel is a producer and screenwriter. She originated and produced The Last Movie Stars, a six-part documentary film purchased by CNN Films that aired on HBO Max in July 2022. The film, which chronicles the lives and careers of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, was directed by Ethan Hawke and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. It was presented as a Cannes Classics selection at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022 and was a Special Presentation at SXSW in March 2022.
Emily is a member of the Actor’s Studio, SAG/AFTRA and the Writer’s Guild of America (East). She has been a guest lecturer in film at the University of Denver and Sacred Heart University and has participated in producer panels worldwide on women in film.
Lisa Long Adler is a seasoned marketing and production executive with over 20 years’ experience creating domestic and international brand recognition with a focus on marketing, public relations, special event production, and promotions.
Adler began her career overseeing publicity for feature films including Dances with Wolves, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and The Fugitive, among others. As Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for Planet Hollywood, she managed relationships with celebrities, film industry executives and brand partners to produce over 45 star-studded events for the brand across the globe. Adler most recently produced The Last Movie Stars documentary series, directed by Ethan Hawke.
Co-presented by:
3:15pm – 4:30pm
Case Study: Couples Therapy
Go behind the scenes of one of the most tender and vulnerable doc series on tv, Showtime’s Couples Therapy, with creators and executive producer Josh Kriegman and producer Maya Seidler. Lead by moderator Eric Kohn (Indiewire), Kriegman and Seidler discuss the challenges encountered and discoveries made in the process of filming the very private space of a couples therapy session. They explore the hard questions and difficult discussions that informed the making of the award-winning series.
Josh Kriegman created, produced, and directed Couples Therapy, The Fight and Weiner, for which he was nominated for a DGA award and named one of Variety’s “Top Ten Documakers to Watch.” In a previous life, Josh was a political consultant and campaign advisor.
Maya Seidler is currently Head of Production at Edgeline Films. She directed/produced Season 3 of COUPLES THERAPY and produced Season 2. She also produced THE FIGHT (Sundance 2020 Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking) and co-produced the BAFTA-nominated CITY OF GHOSTS, plus the ESPN 30 for 30 short THE THIRD MAN.
Executive Editor and VP, Editorial Strategy at IndieWire
Eric Kohn
Executive Editor and VP, Editorial Strategy at IndieWire
Eric Kohn is the New York–based Executive Editor and VP, Editorial Strategy at IndieWire, where he has worked since 2007. Kohn travels to film festivals around the globe, interviews filmmakers, and managed IndieWire’s network for professional film critics, the Criticwire Network. Prior to joining IndieWire, Eric contributed to the New York Times and other outlets.
To experience the DOC NYC PRO lineup, purchase an individual PRO Day Pass (via the Buy Ticket button) to hone in on a specific subject, or benefit from discounted pricing when you purchase Multi-Day Pass Packs to an assortment of topic strands.
All guests & staff will be required to comply with our Health & Safety protocols while attending DOC NYC events. For the latest information, please review our policies here.
A deep dive into various aspects of cinematography including case studies from noted DP’s.
Cinematography Day is co-presented by:
In the NBC News Studios Lounge, the day starts with Breakfast (9-10 AM) and ends with a Happy Hour (4:30-5:30 PM) co-presented by Fever Content.
10am – 11:15am
Case Study: The Territory
The Territory is an intimate look into the ongoing fight between the indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people of the Brazilian Amazon and encroaching deforestation brought about by farmers and illegal settlers. Join moderator and producer Liz Nord (formerly of Sundance and No Film School), director Alex Pritz and producer Gabriel Uchida as they discuss the award-winning cinematography featured in the documentary film. Special aspects of the filmmaking process will also be shared: trust building with powerful yet vulnerable people and shaping your film into a true collaboration with the participants.
Alex Pritz is a documentary filmmaker focused on human’s relationship with the natural world. Recently, Alex directed The Territory, which premiered in the World Cinema competition at Sundance 2022 where it won both the Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Documentary Craft. IndieWire described the film as, “Gorgeously and sometimes ingeniously conceived, painting an intimate first-hand portrait of joy, pain, and community.” The Territory is being distributed by National Geographic Documentary Films. Alex also worked as a cinematographer on the feature documentary The First Wave (dir. Matt Heineman), as a cinematographer and field producer on Jon Kasbe’s feature documentary, When Lambs Become Lions (Tribeca 2018), and as co-director, cinematographer, and editor on the documentary short, My Dear Kyrgyzstan (Atlanta 2019).
Liz Nord is an Emmy-winning producer and documentary filmmaker who has created and shown work across the globe. She is Head of Programs and Creative Development at the NYU Production Lab, where she runs the Feature Film Development Studio. She recently served as Director of Content at Sundance, where she helped develop Sundance Collab into the premiere global learning destination for emerging filmmakers. Previously, she served as the Editor-in-Chief and Lead Producer at No Film School. Liz is also an advisor for several artist development programs including Latino Public Broadcasting’s Emerging Filmmaker Fellowship and the Jewish Writers’ Initiative. She has presented extensively on creative practice and the film and TV industry, notably at TEDx and SXSW.
11:30am – 12:45pm
In Search of the Poetic Image: Creative Choices in Documentary
Learn about the creative process of non fiction filmmaking from four extraordinary directors that created very distinct affective and poetic worlds within the confines of their formal aesthetic decisions. How to convey beauty, innocence, abstraction, a spiritual connection, the essence of violence, or the creation of music? Join DOC NYC 2022 filmmakers Diana Bustamante (Nuestra Pelicula),Tania Ximena (White Night) and James Carson (Cabin Music) in a conversation led by DOC NYC senior programmer Ruth Somalo about how to capture or locate the right images to crystallize the intangible.
Pianist and filmmaker James Carson has developed a new form of music and for the last eleven years has been producing and directing Cabin Music, a documentary feature film having its world premiere at DOC NYC 2022. While attending the New England Conservatory in Boston, studies with Joe Maneri, Cecil Taylor, and the poet Robert Creeley led James to walk away from music and backpack and farm overland from Spain to Japan. On his return to Northern Alberta, Canada, he then spent five years designing, building, and practicing in a remote strawbale cabin. The musical result was multilayered, detailed, meditative, and harmonious. Cabin Music is his first film.
Tania Ximena was born in 1985 in Cd. Sahagun, Mexico. She is a visual artist and filmmaker who graduated in Visual Arts from ENPEG La Esmeralda. Her video work has been presented in museums around the world and received multiple awards. Since 2011, her works have been oriented towards the sensory study of volcanic landscapes. She has also participated in the Flaherty program of the Ambulante Documentary Festival. She has been part of individual and group exhibitions both in Mexico and abroad. Currently, she is living on the slopes of the Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl volcanoes and finishing her second feature film.
Diana Bustamente Escobar is a filmmaker and programmer that studied cinema and fine arts at the National University of Colombia. As a producer, she is known for supporting authors with or without experience whose vision and voices explore new perspectives. She has produced films like Ciro Guerra’s Journey of the Wind and La Tierra y La Sombra by Cesar Acevedo. She also produced the film Memory by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Cannes 2021 Official Competition, Jury Prize. In 2020, she received the creative grant from the Ministry of Culture to create a documentary piece based on archives, with the project “El Leon”. Nuestra Película is her first feature documentary, supported by the Colombian Film fund and the Cinema Fund from Aquitane Region in France.
Ruth is a programmer, curator and filmmaker. She has programmed for DOC NYC since 2011 and works for the Architecture and Design Film Festival and Documenta Madrid. She also curates independent nonfiction programs for institutions like Union Docs and Cineteca Matadero de Madrid. As a filmmaker her work has been shown in theaters, festivals and museums internationally, she holds a PhD. by Autonomous University of Madrid and works as a mentor, seminar Instructor and as advisor of non fiction projects. She was the President of the Flaherty Board of Trusteesand currently serves as the chair of the Programming Committee for the Flaherty Seminar.
1:45 – 3:00pm
Getting the Shot
National Geographic’s reputation for non-fiction filmmaking is unparalleled. In a conversation moderated by veteran producer Jane Root(Limitless), join cinematographers Michael Cheeseman (Life Below Zero), Jim Jolliffe (Limitless), Tim Grucza (Retrograde),Kimberly Jeffries (Planet Sharks)and Janet Han Vissering (National Geographic) who will share stories on how they got THE shot and discuss their filmmaking tools and techniques. Become immersed in their worlds, learn how they face cinematic challenges and gain insights that will elevate your filmmaking, and hear how Nat Geo is working to expand representation in the field with their Field Ready program.
In 2008, Jane Root founded Nutopia. Known for award-winning documentary series on a global scale, Nutopia created a new genre of television, the “mega-doc,” which combines epic cinematography and action-driven drama with A-list talent.
Nutopia has become synonymous with high-quality content for a diverse group of broadcast and streaming platforms, including Netflix, Disney+, CNN, National Geographic, BBC, PBS, HBO Max and A+E Networks. Prior to founding Nutopia, Root was president of Discovery Networks and controller of BBC2, where she commissioned shows such as “The Office” and “Shark Tank”. Root was a co-founder of Wall-to-Wall Television, where she guided the company through its first 10 years.
Upcoming projects include LIMITLESS with Chris Hemsworth and WELCOME TO EARTH with Will Smith for Disney+. Nutopia has also produced National Geographic series ONE STRANGE ROCK, A WORLD OF CALM for HBOMax, THE LAST CZARS for Netflix, and Emmy® Award-winning series HOW WE GOT TO NOW and AMERICA: THE STORY OF US for PBS.
SVP of Development & Production, National Geographic
Janet Han Vissering
SVP of Development & Production, National Geographic
As SVP of development and production at National Geographic, Janet Han Vissering oversees the natural history slate and animal content across the channel and Nat Geo on Disney+. She is responsible for hundreds of hours of programming commissioned each year across platforms worldwide, including the Emmy-Award winning Secrets of the Whales.
Vissering manages the development teams, working with the world’s leading independent producers, distributors, creative agencies and strategic broadcast partners.
Born and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia, I fell in love with cameras and filming early on. I found the passion through the action sport of skateboarding. I loved the deconstructed aspect of finding the perfect angle to tell the best story. While attending Shepherd University I started my first production business. I filmed, produced and edited my own skateboarding content and sold DVD’s to local shops in the surrounding towns. Gaining enough money from that business I quickly moved to Los Angeles to start my career. Now after 17 years working on dozens of television shows and 10 years working with Life Below Zero and the 3 spin off shows, I still have that same passion I did while filming skateboarding. At 36 years old and 6 Emmy’s later I am still pushing my own boundaries to make the best show(s) I can.
Kimberly Jeffries, a Hawaii-based cinematographer and technical dive instructor, specializes in underwater cinematography with a focus on charismatic megafauna. Her recent credits include Emmy award-winning productions like Chasing Coral, World’s Biggest Great Whites, and Amazing Animal Adventures, where she tells compelling stories about our connection to nature.
Jim Jolliffe started his career in film working his way through the ranks of the camera department, working on films and TV commercials. After learning composition and storytelling from many years as a Camera Operator he progressed to become a Cinematographer.
Jim quickly established his own look shooting hundreds of TV commercials. His cinematic documentary style earned him many accolades and awards in the world of TV commercials. His work has taken him all around the world, from shooting with the eagle hunters of the Altai mountains in Mongolia, to living with a Masai Mara tribe in northern Tanzania, to learning artic survival skills from the Sami tribes people of northern Lapland.
Recently Jim has moved away from TV commercials into more long form work, recently shooting the finale episode of ‘Limitless’ starring Chris Hemsworth and Executive Produced by Darren Aronofsky.
3:15pm – 4:30pm
Case Study: All That Breathes
Directed by Shaunak Sen, All That Breathes follows two brothers who run a bird hospital dedicated to rescuing injured black kites, an at-risk bird of prey essential to the ecosystem of New Delhi, India. Grace Remington (Story Syndicate) guides the conversation with director Sen and cinematographer Ben Bernhard as they talk about the poetic photography that defines the relationship between the birds and the brothers, and the challenge of working with three cinematographers who together create a singular visual language in this film.
Grace Remington is a producer and director who has worked in documentary film and television in the United States, Mexico, and Peru. Her work has screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and HotDocs, among others, and has broadcast on POV, Netflix, and National Geographic.
Shaunak Sen is a filmmaker and film scholar based in New Delhi, India. Cities of Sleep (2016), his first feature-length documentary, was shown at various major international film festivals (including DOK Leipzig, DMZ Docs and the Taiwan International Documentary Festival, among others) and won 6 international awards. Shaunak received the IDFA Bertha Fund (2019), the Sundance Documentary Grant (2019), the Catapult Film Fund (2020), the Charles Wallace Grant, the Sarai CSDS Digital Media fellowship (2014), and the Films Division of India fellowship (2013). He was also a visiting scholar at Cambridge University (2018) and has published academic articles in Bioscope, Wide screen and other journals.
Ben Bernhard graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Camera) before he started his Masters degree in Cinematography at the Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb). Since then he realised various fiction and documentary films as Director of Photography. In 2014 he received a scholarship at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.
Since 2009, Ben has been working with renowned director Victor Kossakovsky. Their project Aquarela got shortlisted for the Oscars 2020. In 2022, his feature with Annika Pinske Talking About the Weather premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival and New Directors/New Films Festival New York, the series Neymar – The Perfect Chaos was released on Netflix, and documentary All That Breathes by director Shaunak Sen won among others the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival and the L’Œil d’or “Golden Eye” in the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival.
To experience the DOC NYC PRO lineup, purchase an individual PRO Day Pass (via the Buy Ticket button) to hone in on a specific subject, or benefit from discounted pricing when you purchase Multi-Day Pass Packs to an assortment of topic strands.
All guests & staff will be required to comply with our Health & Safety protocols while attending DOC NYC events. For the latest information, please review our policies here.
Scheduling for Documentary (Tuesday, July 19 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm ET) This step-by-step seminar, taught by Columbia University professor and veteran documentary producer Maureen A. Ryan (Man on Wire), focuses on what you need to know to create a script breakdown and schedule for documentary feature films. Using a case study film, we will discuss general scheduling principles and break down a written treatment to create an overall schedule using a simple Excel spreadsheet. One week before class you will be sent a short treatment to read ahead of the seminar.
Budgeting for Documentary (Wednesday, July 20 from 2:00pm – 4:30pm ET) As a follow-up to Day 1, this session zeros in on how to create a first draft budget for documentary feature films. Using the same case study film schedule, we will discuss general principles for budgeting documentary feature productions using a simple Excel spreadsheet.
Tickets are $100 for the two-day seminar. Tickets are non-refundable.
This event was recorded live on Wednesday, August 10, 2022.
Now more than ever, documentary teams are shifting to virtual tools for successful collaboration. Director/editor Derek Boonstra (The Invisible War)will walk you through his Miro brainstorming boards along with editor Sara Newens (On The Record) on their current collaboration to nail down the story structure of their documentary. Then director/editor team ChezikTsunoda & Claire Ave’Lallemant (Drowning in Silence) will showcase how they used Trello as a visual storyboarding device and organizational tool without ever stepping into the same room.
Tickets are $19 ($14 for IFC Center members). Tickets are non-refundable.
All registrants may participate in the live session, and will also receive access to the recorded event, a written transcript, and a copy of any slide presentation after the livestream.
If you have questions about registration, please email ticketing@docnyc.net. For questions about accommodations and accessibility, including requests for live ASL interpretation, please email accessibility@docnyc.net.
DOC NYC PRO is co-presented by Apple Original Films
This event was recorded live on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.
Join our fishbowl conversation between Jannette Napoli, Manager Content and Initiativesat ITVS, and two independent filmmakers, Ursula Liang and Kevin Shaw. Ursula and Kevin were both awarded funding from ITVS and the conversation will focus on the hard work that goes into developing an idea, the grind of pitching and applying for funding, how ITVS identifies potential at different stages, and what working with a funding partner may look like.
Tickets are $19 ($14 for IFC Center members). Tickets are non-refundable.
All registrants may participate in the live session, and will also receive access to the recorded event, a written transcript, and a copy of the slide presentation after the livestream.
If you have questions about registration, please email ticketing@docnyc.net. For questions about accommodations and accessibility, including requests for live ASL interpretation, please email accessibility@docnyc.net.
This event was recorded live on Monday, May 2, 2022.
Grants! So many growth opportunities exist for doc filmmakers but researching and applying can be overwhelming. Academy Award nominated producer Kira Kennedy-Simon (Ascension), who has been awarded over $1 million in grant funding, hosts this two-part workshop along with funders and special guests. Day 1 includes funders and “gate openers” Keri Archer Brown of ITVS and Jon-Sesrie Goff from the Ford Foundation who will address transparency in the applications and process as well as give concrete tips and notes for filmmakers to consider in approaching different funders. They will demystify the application processes to help you shift through the noise and hone in on which programs are best for you and your film. Day 2 is an interactive workshop with time to review actual successful grant applications and receive application feedback from peers or mentors while working in small groups.
All registrants may participate in the live sessions, and will also receive access to the recorded events, written transcripts, and a copy of the slide presentations (if applicable) after the livestream. Tickets are non-refundable. If you have questions about registration, please email ticketing@docnyc.net. For questions about accommodations and accessibility, including requests for live ASL interpretation, please email accessibility@docnyc.net.
For this workshop, a limited number of subsidized tickets are available for those facing financial hardship. To request a subsidized ticket, please email accessibility@docnyc.net with a brief explanation of your situation.
This event was recorded live on Wednesday, April 6, 2022.
Creating sizzle reels is an art that not only opens funding doors but also showcases your directorial and cinematic vision. But how do you craft a sizzle that gets your message across? Sizzle reel veteran and director of Wheelhouse Creative Rob Lyons demonstrates what makes a stand-out sizzle. Special guests include Sundance award winning directing/producing team Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Eiselt (Aftershock) who will describe their process using Aftershock as a case study.
Tickets for this event are $19. If you are interested in purchasing a Spring 2022 Season Pass, which will include live and recorded access to all April and May 2022 PRO programs, click here.
All registrants may participate in the live session, and will also receive access to the recorded event, a written transcript, and a copy of the slide presentation after the livestream. Tickets are non-refundable. If you have questions about registration, please email ticketing@docnyc.net. For questions about accommodations and accessibility, including requests for live ASL interpretation, please email accessibility@docnyc.net.
You’ve spent years making your film. Publicizing your project is the next step in bringing it to the world, but hiring a publicist can be beyond the budget of many indie filmmakers. Come learn step by step advice on how to DIY your publicity campaign from noted publicists (and veterans of dozens of doc releases and awards campaigns) Julia Pacetti of Verdant Communications and Rachel Allen of Cinetic Media, along with Academy Award-winning producer Joanna Natasegara (White Helmets, Virunga, The Edge of Democracy).
Tickets for this event are $19. If you are interested in purchasing a Spring 2022 Season Pass, which will include live and recorded access to all April and May 2022 PRO programs, click here.
All registrants may participate in the live session, and will also receive access to the recorded event, a written transcript, and a copy of the slide presentation after the livestream. Tickets are non-refundable. If you have questions about registration, please email ticketing@docnyc.net. For questions about accommodations and accessibility, including requests for live ASL interpretation, please email accessibility@docnyc.net.
This event was recorded live on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.
You’ve tracked down amazing material for your project, but how do you pull everything together to make the best use of it? Learn tools and tips for organizing your archival footage into a coherent system from producer and archival producer Tammy Chu (And She Could Be Next) and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker and Wesleyan professor Tracy Strain (Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart). They will walk you through their systems to create a less stressful and more organized research process.
Tickets for this event are $19. If you are interested in purchasing a Spring 2022 Season Pass, which will include live and recorded access to all April and May 2022 PRO programs, click here.
All registrants may participate in the live session, and will also receive access to the recorded event, a written transcript, and a copy of the slide presentation after the livestream. Tickets are non-refundable. If you have questions about registration, please email ticketing@docnyc.net. For questions about accommodations and accessibility, including requests for live ASL interpretation, please email accessibility@docnyc.net.
