“Comrade’ has the same Latin root as the word ‘Camera’. They both derive from ‘in the same room’ — those that are in it together.” Jess Search - Co-Founder, Doc Society.

 

Last month we called for creative resistance from filmmakers and journalists, from commissioners and curators and funders. For more soft and slow and strange and punk and queer and beautiful and Black and kind storytelling. Storytelling that does not conform to platform logic. 

 

In this confluence of privitised and corrupted information systems, rising authoritarianism and growing nationalism - it is more important than ever that independent filmmakers are able to explore delicate and complex narratives without fear or favour. The current campaign of threats and intimidation against Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, directors of NAZA are a case in point. If you have not done so yet, please consider joining your voice to the petition organised by the IDA.

 

At Doc Society, we are determined to help keep a pipeline open.  Alongside the UK focused BFI Doc Society Fund, the global Climate Story Fund - we delighted to announce the Doc Society Love & Rockets Fund. Supporting cinematic non-fiction features in service of better futures. Films that deconstruct systems of oppression with courage, passion and tenderness. Films that reveal architectures of power and illustrate alternate realities. Films that create connection and trigger deep discourse over hot takes. 

 

We are committed to direct outreach, and to finding filmmakers where they are. Attending and scouting forums and markets, festivals and labs. Once a year we will conduct an open call to ensure that we’re also considering work by artists outside of these industry initiatives. 

 

Know that we are here in service - to add rocket boosters to filmmakers' visions with creative collaboration and fierce camaraderie. Whether part of a global movement, national reckoning, or local transformation. We’re all in. ❤️ & 🚀

 

The first six projects have already been selected. Meet them below. 

 

With love and rockets, 

 

Team Doc Society 

 

PS. This month's track is I Like It Hot by Honey Dijon in the spirit of our new Love & Rockets fund because it is pure rocket fuel. Turn it up, folks.

Untitled New York Project

 

We have lift-off! Meet the first slate of the new Doc Society Love & Rockets Fund. Backing bold cinematic non-fiction features and hybrids from independent filmmakers anywhere in the world, with grants of up to USD 150,000, non-recoupable. Direct outreach year-round, with an annual open call. Here they are folks: 

 

🚀 Blackest Ever Black, dir. Roisin Agnew, prods. Alison Millar, Callum Roberts, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, and Roisin Geraghty.

 

♥️ How to Be a Woman in Iran, dirs. Mahnaz Mohammadi, Vanessa Bowles, exec. prods. Ben de Pear, Maziar Bahari, and Nevine Mabro.

 

🚀 Nuestra Tierra (Our Land), dir. Lucrecia Martel, prod. Benjamin Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Matias Roveda, Joslyn Barnes, Javier Leoz, and Julio Chavezmontes.

 

♥️ Untitled New York Project, dir. and prod. Julia Bacha, prod. Suhad Babaa, Tiffany Fisher-Love, and Rula Salameh.

 

🚀 Untitled Watermelon Pictures Project. 

 

♥️ With Time, dirs. Noah Schaumus and Brit Fryer, prod. Jesse Miller.

 

Read more about these brilliant projects here! ❤️ & 🚀

 

Calling all short documentary film directors and producers, this one’s for you! The BFI Doc Society team is taking a delegation of UK-based filmmakers to the Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival, the world’s largest short film festival and market. 

 

If you have a short non-fiction film that’s nearly finished, this is your chance to get accredited, meet programmers, sales agents, distributors and buyers and give your project its best shot at the international festival circuit. Accommodation, travel (up to £300 from the UK), and accreditation all covered. Delegation runs Sunday 31st January to Thursday 4th February 2027. Deadline to apply: Friday 9th October, 5 PM BST. Supported by the BFI Doc Society Fund, awarding National Lottery funding. More details and apply here!

The BFI, in collaboration with the BFI Doc Society Fund, are welcoming applications from UK producers with feature film documentary projects in active development, production, or post-production to take part in a Group Attendance to EFM DocSalon, between 11-16 February 207.

 

Selected producers get access to the DocSalon industry programme, documentary-specific networking events, the EFM conference programme, and a dedicated UK Documentary Showcase open to all EFM-accredited industry. This activity will help further their knowledge of the international documentary landscape and connect them to a wide range of international producers and potential partners. The BFI will cover return economy travel from the UK, five nights of accommodation, and EFM accreditation. 

 

Open to UK producers with at least one lead producer credit on a completed feature film or TV project released or broadcast commercially in the past five years. Deadline: Tuesday 27 October, 10 AM GMT. Apply here.

Big congrats to the 15 UK based writers, directors, and producers selected for this year’s BFI NETWORK@LFF cohort! An early career programme we are proud to support, delivered with BFI NETWORK, supports bold new filmmakers working across narrative and documentary as they build the connections and craft to make their debut features. 

 

Running during the 70th BFI London Film Festival, this year’s cohort will get stuck into private sessions, screenings and networking with the teams behind LFF films and industry leaders from the UK and beyond. Made possible with National Lottery funding. Meet this year’s cohort here!

You’ll find us at LFF this year, and we’d love to see you there! Two events, both on Tuesday 13 October, both open with warm welcomes and honest conversation.

 

Industry Roundtables for Working-Class Filmmakers

Join the BFI Doc Society Fund team and friends from across the documentary industry for free, open-access roundtables. Meet the teams behind the BFI Doc Society Fund, British Council, Documentary Film Council, Tull Stories, and Sheffield DocFest. Bring your questions, connect with fellow filmmakers. Open to all, with a warm welcome especially to working-class filmmakers and those underrepresented in the UK industry. 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM BST, Somerset House. More details and register here!

 

Happy Hour

Are you heading to LFF with an Industry Pass? Come raise a glass with us to UK independent documentary film. Proudly co-hosted with our friends at the British Council, the Documentary Film Council, the Grierson Trust, the Scottish Documentary Institute, Screen Scotland, and Sheffield DocFest. 5 PM - 6:30 PM BST, Picturehouse Central. Advanced booking advised, walk-ups welcome subject to capacity. Register through the industry platform. See you there, folks!!

The Doc Society team is co-hosting an Industry Day at Folkestone Documentary Festival with Screen South on Friday 23 October, at Folkestone Quarterhouse this year. A packed day of panels, case studies on distribution, archive, editing, and funding. This will be followed by a networking drinks and 1:1s with industry experts across Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Tickets are £5! Full programme and booking here!

 

Seven Doc Soc supported films will also be screening across the festival weekend, 22-25 October. Four features (All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea, Magilligan, We, The Hated and Colors of White Rock) and three shorts (Tŷ Unnos, Rap Baby and Riding Time). Head to the Folkestone Documentary Festival programme for screening details, times and tickets here!

We're excited to join our comrades at this year's Durban FilmMart, in partnership with our friends at South x Sul Network, Climate Story Labs Africa, Plexus Films, University of Cape Town - Centre for Film and Media Studies, Docubox, Earth Alliance, UMI Fund, Sunshine Cinema, NEWF and many more.

 

Come join us for a lineup of activities, starting with the Climate Cinebar, an interactive creative gathering where filmmakers and activists share excerpts and film shorts that have moved beyond the screen to connect people and movements, reach communities in new ways, and create space for dialogue, solidarity, and action.

 

We'll also be joining our friends at DOCA (Documentary Africa Fund) for a full-day program of impact case studies, hackathons and discussions exploring the evolving role of impact production in African documentary filmmaking. These sessions bring together filmmakers, impact producers, funders, civil society organisations, broadcasters and industry leaders to examine thirdspaces and robust public squares where films activate audiences, build community and support movements.

How Deep Is Your Love, dir. Eleanor Mortimer, prod. Jacob Thomas, opens in UK cinemas today (October 2nd)!  Make sure you grab your ticket and check out the list of screenings here!  Supported by the BFI Doc Society Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.

While the film continues to be available through the PBS app, on Kanopy, on the PBS YouTube channel for a 30-day Emmys window, and in theaters, The Librarians will make its digital streaming release on Apple and Amazon during Banned Books Week (October 6).

All Rivers Spill their Stories to the Sea, (dir.& prod. Jeanie Finlay, prod. Charlie Phillips) hit UK cinemas on 23rd October, with preview screenings already running across the country! Supported by the BFI Doc Society fund, awarding National Lottery Funding. Grab a ticket and dive in here.

Climate Story Fund grantee Dhashen Moodley (Radio Workshop) has released Copper Town, a new documentary episode about young people preparing for mining careers in Zambia, alongside a six-part YouTube tutorial series pulling back the curtain on the making of the show. 

 

Audio Storytelling - Step by Step: Learn the Craft of Narrative Podcasting is designed for aspiring audio storytellers, developed with DW Akademie and audio educator Kerry Donahue. As the team puts it: “The work isn’t done when you finish the mix. Dive into the series here.

Queer Now is more than convenings; it's a strategic intervention: against rising anti-gender movements, we're moving the story away from "survival" and towards collective power, narrative sovereignty and unapologetic joy. 

 

Our latest Queer Now reel is live on Instagram. Dashawn Harris explores how we work in tandem, from journalists to documentarians, to keep eyes on our stories. As Dashawn puts it: “Community is more than a label; it’s a space for connection. Without that space, building power becomes a barrier.” The power resides inside the collective. When we find our community, we become an unstoppable force in shaping our own narratives. 

 

If you need a dash of queer storytelling magic, dive into our LGBTQIA+ film playlist.

Our Climate Storytelling Collaboratives are building cultural infrastructure for climate action across India, Kenya, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico. Four Collaboratives, one shared belief: that the people closest to the crisis are the ones who should be telling its stories. 

 

Crias Pelo Clima puts filmmaking in the hands of young people from the outskirts of Santos.

The Woman Farmer Project documents the lives, labour and knowledge of women farmers across India’s food landscapes. 

 

Impact Frames turns film screenings into leadership

 

El Sur Se Proyecta carries Indigenous and Afro-descendant climate stories across Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico. 

 

Read more about The Collaboratives here. Proudly supported by the Climate Story Unit.

We have an oldie but goodie resource for you this month from the Impact Field Guide!

 

This month's addition is a classic worth revisiting: back in 2024, Dr. Paul Zak wrote about why our brains love good storytelling. The short version? Character-driven narratives with emotional tension cause our brains to release neurochemicals like cortisol, oxytocin and dopamine, the very things that drive empathy, connection and action. 

 

Friends, read the long version, dive into the other resources we've gathered, and suggest a resource (including your own!) that we should add to the site!

 

Explore the Paul Zak's Resource, dive into the guide, and suggest a resource.

GIPA is proud to hold space in this month’s edition of Impact Producer Provocations to Ola Salama, Executive Director of Filmlab: Palestine. The number of screenings hosted around the world for Palestine Cinema Days over the past 3 editions may have made it the biggest film-related impact campaign in history. Ola encourages us to look beyond the numbers and see a different story. 

 

"In impact work, we are used to numbers. We count screenings, audiences, cities, partners, and countries. And of course, those numbers matter. But this time, the number meant something different to me; it meant that people were still choosing not to look away."

 

You can still sign up to host a screening for Palestine Cinema Days 2026. Learn more here!

Read Ola’s full piece here and share with your communities!

Celebrations this month! 🎉🎉🎉

 

First up: the Grierson British Documentary Awards 2026 nominations are in, and Molly vs THE MACHINES has been included for Best Single Documentary – Domestic category. Massive congratulations to the team and be sure to watch the award ceremony taking place on

 

Queer Edward ll won a Queer Lion award! The Queer Lion is the trophy awarded to the “Best Movie with LGBT Themes & Queer Culture” among those presented during the Venice Film Festival. Big love and well done to the team!

 

There are some brilliant opportunities circulating across the field at the moment. Dive in and explore what might be a fit for your projects.

 

SIMA 2027 Call for Entries

SIMA is celebrating 15 years of documentary storytelling that moves the world. Categories include feature documentaries, shorts, impact videos, XR and interactive projects, Impact Ai, and production companies. Winning films join SIMA’s all year round distribution network, reaching classrooms, universities, communities, and cultural institutions across 140+ countries. Final deadline is 9 October. Submit here!

 

Northern Film Network Film Exhibition Fund

Northern film exhibitors: the Film Exhibition Fund is open for proposals. Organisations can apply for up to £10k to support bold screenings and audience development projects that bring communities together and reach new people. Deadline: 23 October 2026. 

 

IGNITE-Docs 2026 - 2027

Emerging Irish and Northern Irish filmmakers: applications are open for a new cross-border talent development initiative from Cork International Film Festival and Docs Ireland, for filmmakers on their first or second non-fiction feature. Participants get training days at Cork International Film Festival in November 2026 and Docs Ireland in June 2027, monthly online sessions, plus a delegation trip to Sheffield DocFest in June 2027. Applications close: 9 October, 5 PM BST. Full guidelines and application here. 

 

DFC: Membership & Communications Officer

The Documentary Film Council is hiring its first ever Membership & Communications Officer to support its growing membership of nearly 1,000 members and strengthen its comms across the UK documentary community. A key moment for the DFC as its moves from volunteer-run to paid team. Applications close Thursday 1 October 2026. Find out more and apply here.