Dear friends, Doc Society are so, so pleased to announce version three of the Impact Field Guide is live today. 

 

The latest edition, painstakingly edited over the past year by the indomitable Alison Byrne Fields and the Aggregate Crew. With a lush new look and feel by Sarah Nicholson from Involved Design. Thanks for the labor and the love guys.

 

The Impact Field Guide is THE source of real talk and real tools for a justice centered approach to filmmaking. It has never been more relevant. And it's free. Yours to take, to use, to pass on. 

 

On what has changed and how you can contribute to this latest edition - we are handing over to Alison Byrne Fields. 

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It was 2015 when Doc Society first launched the Impact Field Guide. Co-created with practitioners from around the world to share best practice and ‘help all of us who are working with film, make even more impact.’  

 

It would be another five years before a full revision and by that point the field had radically expanded. Real talk, version two was an absolute beast running at 381 pages - a beautiful and generous beast, but a beast that needed to be tamed. Well the wait is over. 

 

With the third edition, our goal was to make the guide more user-friendly. A true “field” guide you could pull up on your phone, on the fly. This means we’ve cut back on the Doc Society anecdotes ;) and distilled down to the essential principles for a justice centered practice to filmmaking, impact and exhibition. 

 

We knew we needed to diversify the sources of inspiration, platform more practitioners and cultural organizations from around the world so you can benefit directly from their experience and expertise. So central to the new guide is a massive collection of resources: tools, case studies, templates, research, regional networks and local partners, training schemes and much, so much, more. We have launched with 300+ entries - and hoping that number grows with your help so that the Impact Field Guide can reflect our growing community of practice.

 

Take a look and if there are resources, organisations, networks etc you’d like to see included, please use

the form on the site to make recommendations.  If you need the Impact Field Guide in another language, email us at impactguide@docsociety.org and we’d be happy to collaborate and get new versions online as soon as possible. Meanwhile the nine (!) language editions of Version Two are still available on the site so no need to panic. 

 

With users in over 100 countries, the Impact Field Guide is a mainstay of the independent creative community. Inviting us to work beyond the logic of the market. Learning from each other what a justice centered approach to independent filmmaking can look like. Reminding us what kind of transformation is possible. 

 

We have such deep gratitude and respect to the multitude of filmmakers and impact producers - who both this year and over the last decade - contributed time and energy and expertise to this collective project. 

 

Welcome to your Impact Field Guide

 

Yours, Alison Byrne Fields

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Thanks Alison! 

 

But what tune to spin for this occasion? We looked up some class Doc Soc playlists from 2015 and picked out this banger from the Chemical Brothers to power us through all the news. 

 

With love and rockets,

 

Team Doc Society

 

Following on from our impact theme of this month, on 2nd December, the Democracy Story Unit will host an intimate fireside chat with filmmakers Kimberly Reed and Twiggy Pucci Garçon

 

Together, they’ll explore Kimberly’s body of work and her impact-focused approaches to filmmaking, delving into past achievements and upcoming projects, while reflecting on the current landscape of queer storytelling in the United States and identifying the challenges and opportunities creators face today.

Live interpretation in Spanish will be provided. Register now to reserve your spot and be part of a conversation that celebrates and amplifies queer voices. Even if you can’t join us live, you can still register to receive a recording of the event.

We're thrilled to announce our 2025 Climate Story Fund grantees! This year, the Fund received 808 applications from 122 countries, submitted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, reflecting the rapidly growing international demand for ambitious, justice-centered climate storytelling.

This cohort of grantees are bringing stories that reveal the deep connections between climate action, justice, and community resilience—narratives that speak to our collective care for the planet and each other. Torres Strait Islanders taking their government to court, Barbudans defending communal land from billionaire developers, "seaweed sisters" navigating ecological change in India, and stories from Lebanon, Scotland, France, and the Balkans. Meet the 2025 Grantees:

 

Testimony
Dir. Maya Newell ❘ Prods. Alex Kelly, Barbara Ibuai, Lisa Sherrard, Sophie Hyde, Larissa Behrendt ❘ Writer. Aunty McRose Elu
Torres Strait Islanders take the Australian Government to court over climate inaction.

 

This Land of Ours
Dir./Prod. Ngardy 'Gaddy' Conteh George ❘ Prod. Alison Duke
A political and environmental thriller following Barbudans defending communal land from billionaire developers.

 

The God of the In-Between
Dir. Archana Phadke ❘ Prods. Aman Mann, Shaunak Sen
A poetic portrait of a community of "seaweed sisters" confronting ecological change.

 

The North Wind
Dir. Eliane Raheb ❘ Prod. Cynthia Choucair ❘ Impact Prod. Joelle ElKhoury-Serrano
A filmmaker follows a doctor and environmentalist whose work blends care for people and nature.

 

ours ~ againn
Dir./Prod. Hazel Falck ❘ Impact Prod. Flick Monk
Scottish communities harness community-owned wind energy to drive both survival and collective stewardship.

 

Soulèvements / Uprisings

Dir. Thomas Lacoste ❘ Prods./Impact Prods. Julie Paratian, Lucie Corman
A 16-voice, intergenerational movement resisting land and water grabbing and authoritarian pressures.

 

The Last Nomads (working title)
Dir./Prod. Biljana Tutorov ❘ Dir./Impact Prod. Petar Glomazić ❘ Prod./Impact Pro. Quentin Laurent ❘ Impact Prod. Bogdanka Ćudić Vilić
A semi-nomadic mother-daughter duo fight to defend their land from military encroachment. 

 

We can't wait to see these stories unfold. Learn more here 

More incredible opportunities coming your way from the BFI Doc Society team! We have opened applications for FUTURE PROOF, a lab for the development of new, formally innovative non-fiction cinema and immersive moving image works by emerging to mid-career UK-based directors and lead creatives. The lab is delivered by FACT Liverpool and Doc Society, supported by the BFI Creative Challenge Fund, awarding National Lottery funding. 

 

We are looking for participants working towards projects in line with the aims of the lab: investigating and/or working with new technologies, considering the cultural, environmental, and socio-political influences of these technologies and their impact on information ecosystems, trust, and the production of truth. The programme will consist of two in-person residential lab events in Liverpool (January) and London (March), attendance at CPH:DOX (Denmark), and virtual sessions.

 

Selected participants will receive financial support to help cover the costs of taking part including a daily rate as well as arrangement of travel, accommodation and subsistence costs. Applications open on 27th November and close 11th December at midday. Read all info and apply now here!

In collaboration with BFI, BFI Doc Society are hosting a Group Attendance of UK-based creative non-fiction producers to the next edition of Visions du Réel, Switzerland, in April 2026. We are now welcoming applications from producers with creative documentary projects in active development to take part in this opportunity.

 

Selected participants will have the opportunity to meet potential international partners, explore co-production opportunities, and gain wide industry insights through the festival's Industry Programme. 

Click here to read all info, eligibility criteria, and application form.

The deadline for applications is 10am on Thursday 11 December 2025.

Get ready NYC - Remaining Native will be at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema from November 21st to November 27th. Proudly supported by the Climate Story Fund & Threshold Fund. Make sure you grab your tickets here!

On Wednesday 10th December at 18:20, BFI Doc Society presents a selection of recent short documentaries funded through their Made of Truth Fund at Bertha DocHouse.

 

The films in this programme explore how the places we come from and the places we land make us who we are. Four films move through intimate recollections of family histories, the challenge of finding a new home in a new country, and the struggles of individuals caught up in social circumstances beyond their control. We will screen Adura Baba Mi (Juliana Kasumu), Folk (Noémi Varga), After 8 (Mos Hannan, Usayd Younis) and A Story Left Behind (Asma Kabadeh). The filmmakers will be in attendance for an extended post-screening Q&A. Tickets and more info here.

Built by Sound is a mixed-reality experience exploring how British South Asian communities in the 1970s and ’80s found joy in defiance, in community and in music – from the thump of dhol drums in community halls to pirate radio buzzing through bedroom walls.  

 

Created by No Ghost and Dialled In with support from our BFI Doc Society Fund and Bradford 2025, this immersive experience uses archival footage, personal testimonies and a stirring  soundtrack to recreate a momentous era for South Asian communities in the UK – and particularly in Bradford. It takes us back to a time when young South Asians carved out new space in society, soundtracked their resistance against oppression, and stood up to the fascist rhetoric of the National Front – not in silence but in celebration. Running from 21 November to 14 December 2025! Tickets are available here.

Yes yes yes - when you are sick and tired of the cheesy Christmas reruns, catch up on some great Doc Society supported docs on a platform near you. 

 

Apple TV - Nothing Compares 

Disney - The Territory 

POV -  Driver, Black Snow, unseen, Is There Anybody Out There? 

Independent Lens - And So It Begins, Greener Pastures, Razing Liberty Square

BBC iPlayer - The Librarians, The Battle for Laikipia, Your Fat Friend, If The Streets Were On Fire, A Bunch of Amateurs, Welcome to Chechnya, Queendom, Hollywoodgate, Against the Tide, Writing with Fire, Tish, Blue Bag Life 

BFI Player - Name Me Lawand, Scala!!!, Red Herring 

Channel 4 YouTube - Undercover: Exposing the Far Right,  The Shadow Scholars

Channel 4 Player - My Friend Lanre

Channel 5 (UK) - White Nanny, Black Child

SKY/Now TV - Great Photo Lovely Life, Nothing Compares, Fashion Reimagined, Harder Than The Rock, Poly Styrene: I am Cliche

Netflix - Yintah, Strike; An Uncivil War (UK & Ireland), Is There Anybody Out There (UK & Ireland), White Nanny; Black Child (UK & Ireland), Virunga, The Edge of Democracy, Apocalypse in the Tropics, Knock Down the House

MUBI - Grand Theft Hamlet, Against the Tide (India only)

HBO - Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project 

Guardian Documentaries - No Man Is An Island, Skyward, My Blonde GF, The Black Cop

Amazon / Film Movement Plus - Asog, Masie, Tish, The Taste of Mango 

Kinema - There are still VOD as well as in-person and virtual screenings available of several films from the Global Climate Playlist

It’s nearly closing time for applications for immersive non-fiction projects through the BFI Doc Society Fund. The fund is seeking applications for bold, independent immersive projects that will reach audiences in the UK and beyond. 

 

Eligible teams can apply for up to £150,000 per project, if they have a lead UK production company which is experienced in producing using a range of technologies such as VR, AR, MR and 360-degree experiences. The call is closing December 5th.

You asked, we answered! The tour is extended, folks! ⏰ The Indigenous Impact Alliance brings together the award-winning films Yintah, Singing Back the Buffalo, Sugarcane, Remaining Native, and Bring Them Home for community-led screenings across Turtle Island and beyond, proudly supported by the Doc Society Climate Story Unit. The tour now runs until December 31, 2025. Book a screening for your community here!

We’re bringing The Global Climate Playlist to a close with our final online screening event of the year: Nocturnes, a film that follows two curious observers as they illuminate the secret universe of moths in a remote ecological hot spot on the border of India and Bhutan. Their expedition reveals a world rarely seen and invites us to look more closely at the quiet interconnections that shape the natural world. 

 

Join us for a live Q&A on Wednesday, December 3 at 12 PM ET // 6 PM CET with co-director Anupama Srinivasan and co-director and producer Anirban Dutta, moderated by Megha Agrawal Sood, Co-Director of Doc Society. Nocturnes is available to watch for a limited time as part of the Climate Story Playlist, brought to you by Kinema and the Doc Society. RSVP here

Our friends at Film In Mind are launching low-cost monthly online guided sessions - 45 minutes of shared practice designed to sustain one another through the ongoing pressures of stress and burnout. These workshops centre joy, pleasure, ease and a collective spirit, offering a space to ground and reset together. 

 

Each month, Film In Mind practitioners will facilitate two sessions in a day, drawing on their own modalities to make the practice accessible across time zones and to the wider global community. More details here

It’s awards season and we’re excited to join in the celebration of a slew of Doc Society-supported wins and nominations. While noting that in this market, every single release is a huge feat. We have so much love and respect to all who took their film on the road this year.

 

Grand Theft Hamlet wins a Grierson Award! BFI Doc Society Fund supported Grand Theft Hamlet took home a Grierson Award for Best Popular Culture Documentary. Massive congratulations to the whole film team – Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane, Julia Ton, Rebecca Wolff, Mark Oosterveen and everyone who brought this bold and brilliant project to life.

 

IDA Awards Announced Nominations. Shout out to the Doc Society-supported films that have been recognized with nominations 🎉The ceremony will take place December 6, 2025 in LA.

 

For Best Feature Doc:

Apocalypse in the Tropics - Directed & Produced by Petra Costa, Produced by Alessandra Orofino

Seeds - Directed & Produced by Brittany Shyne, Produced by Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

Best Director:

Petra Costa - Apocalypse in the Tropics 

Brittany Shyne - Seeds 

Best Production:

Alessandra Orofino, Petra Costa -  Apocalypse in the Tropics 

Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Brittany Shyne - Seeds 

Best Writing:

Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker - Apocalypse in the Tropics 

Sasha Wortzel - River of Grass

 

It's time for the Cinema Eye Honors 2025 - and congrats to all the Doc Soc nominees ✨

 

For Best Feature

Seeds -  Directed & Produced by Brittany Shyne, Produced by Danielle Varga, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

For Direction

Brittany Shyne - Seeds

For Production

Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino - Apocalypse in the Tropics

For Cinematography

Brittany Shyne - Seeds

For Sound Design 

Daniel Timmons, Ben Kruse - Seeds

Outstanding Debut

Remaining Native - Directed by Paige Bethmann

Seeds - Directed By Brittany Shyne

Audience Choice Prize

Apocalypse in the Tropics - Directed By Petra Costa

The Librarians - Directed by Kim A. Snyder

 

And finally the BIFA Nominations are in. We’re so chuffed about BFI Doc Society Fund supported films recognised in this year’s BIFA nominations. Let’s cheer them on as we head toward the awards!

 

Raindance Maverick Award
Holloway
A Want in Her

Best Feature Documentary
A Want in Her

Debut Director
Myrid Carter -  A Want in Her

 

© 2025 Doc Society

 

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