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With more outlets than ever before for documentary filmmakers to showcase their work, the Documentary School’s section looks at the different demands faced by working documentary filmmakers while providing a foundation in the essentials of documentary filmmaking through how-to guides, Q&A’s and interviews, and articles on industry trends.
5 Quick Techniques for Better On-Camera Interviews
October 18, 2019On-camera interviews with subjects are often key parts of a documentary film. They go beyond just simply asking your interviewee one question after another, however. ...
10 Documentary Essentials
January 9, 2018Today’s 21st century documentary filmmaker has more tools than ever available to them. The cameras are smaller and offer higher resolution. The audio equipment is ...
How to Reconcile Personal Bias in Your Documentary Film
April 21, 2017Is your bias getting in the way of your documentary? In documentary filmmaking, your opinion can enrich your creation with information and insight, but it ...- How to Prepare and Conduct a Documentary Interview
November 26, 2016You’ve got the story of the century and some great subjects willing to bare all on camera. It’s a one-time opportunity to make some great ... 
How to Shoot a Documentary
April 2, 2015As we’ve covered previously, 2014 was a solid year for documentary filmmaking, and this raises a question…
… are you going to be part of 2015’s legacy?Whether ...
7 Films To Watch During SAAM
March 31, 2020Each April, we observe Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), an annual campaign to raise public awareness about sexual assault and educate communities and individuals on ...
6 Environmental Documentaries to Watch on Earth Day
April 20, 2019For nearly fifty years, Earth Day has been celebrated worldwide to demonstrate a commitment to environmental protection. Originally, environmental issues ranged from cleaning up air ...
2019 Oscars: Best Documentary Feature Nominees
February 15, 2019The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the nominees for the 91st annual Academy Awards, to be given out during ABC’s televised ceremony ...
Oscars 2019: The Best Documentary Short Nominees
February 15, 2019The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the nominees for the 91st annual Academy Awards, to be given out during ABC’s televised ceremony ...
When is it Right to Expand Your Documentary to a Docuseries?
October 26, 2018There’s no denying the growth in popularity of documentaries in the last 20 years. From Morgan Spurlock’s fast food adventures in 2004’s Super Size Me ...
IDA: Window to the World of Filmmaking
March 2, 2018by Sanora Bartels
https://youtu.be/e9322XoghOQ
When students ask me what’s the best thing they can do when starting out as a documentary filmmaker, I always tell them: “Join ...
6 American Documentary Film Funding Programs to Consider
August 25, 2017Documentary films are generally far less expensive than fiction, but they do have a price tag.
Luckily, funding opportunities abound for the documentary filmmaker. Crowdfunding is ...
4 Groundbreaking Documentary Films to Note
June 30, 2017Most of us consume quite a lot of TV and Netflix, and we tend to think of cinema as a means of entertainment. But the visual ...
How Netflix Documentaries Are Changing the Industry
April 28, 2017It’s hard to imagine that almost 20 years ago, you could find a red envelope nestled in the depths of your mailbox. There’s a chance ...
HBO Documentaries: Which Ones Make the Cut?
March 31, 2017HBO is known for their premium television shows like “Game of Thrones,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and “True Blood.” But the network has also produced some riveting ...
5 Social Justice Documentaries to Watch on Netflix
March 24, 2017Whether you call it the Civil Rights Movement of the millennial generation or however you prefer to phrase it, there’s no denying that the world ...
Are Food Documentaries Changing the Food Industry?
November 29, 2016While the purpose of a documentary film can vary, most documentaries are made with the intention of promoting one thing: change. By uncovering hidden truths ...
Change the World: 5 Documentaries That Made a Difference (for Better or Worse)
October 1, 2016To change the world is a big goal, and yet documentary film can sometimes bring this goal within reach. One of the greatest strengths of the ...
7 Of The Best (And Most Disturbing) War Documentaries
December 11, 2015Perhaps as an unfortunate reflection of the times, the theater of war has been the focus of some excellent (if harrowing) fictional movies in recent ...
Cinéma Vérité Vs. Direct Cinema: An Introduction
November 20, 2015From its very beginnings in 1877 when Eadweard Muybridge took sequential photographs of moving horses and animated them with the zoópraxiscope—a device he invented two ...
The Best Documentaries: The Films Of Jehane Noujaim
November 12, 2015
Although female names among the incessant list of filmmakers in a male-dominated industry seem as scarce as hen’s teeth, there are quite a few females ...
The Best Documentaries: The Films Of Werner Herzog
November 11, 2015If there’s ever a documentarian that hires cast and crewmembers whose endurance levels match their professional skills, it’s German filmmaker, Werner Herzog. Born on September ...
The Feminist Cinema Of Kim Longinotto
October 29, 2015Oprah, Beyoncé, Emma Watson, Angelina Jolie; when talking feminism, art, and pop-culture, these are the names that immediately spring to mind. But what about the ...
5 Fallen Musical Idols Immortalized in Documentary Form
August 25, 2015It’s a sad fact of life and with way too much precedent that some of the finest musicians bow out early, leaving the rest of ...
5 Essential Documentaries To Watch This Summer
August 4, 2015It’s been something of a banner year for documentaries so far, with many feature-length releases already being touted as candidates for the best non-fiction releases ...
5 Of The Best Space Documentaries Now Streaming
June 16, 2015What lies beyond the confines of our own atmosphere is mind-boggling in the truest sense of the word, so it’s little wonder that space—and the ...
6 Female Documentary Filmmakers To Watch
May 26, 2015While the number of female directors in Hollywood is depressingly few and far between, the state of play is a lot more balanced in the world ...
6 of the Best Environmental Documentaries
April 28, 2015Documentaries have the power to change perceptions about the world around us on both a personal and societal level, and as we’ve seen time and ...
The Best Documentaries – Nine Films of Alex Gibney
April 2, 2015On the short list of current documentary filmmakers that can create a world of buzz with a new film, Alex Gibney is near the top. ...
New Eminem Documentary – Watch ‘Not Afraid’ Now
March 6, 2015The music documentary industry has never been better or more prominent. From 2012’s flawless Searching for Sugar Man to the DJ essential Scratch ten years ...
Q&A with New York Film Academy (NYFA) Documentary Filmmaking Alum Mollie Moore
June 17, 2020While traveling all over the world working on multiple film sets, New York Film Academy (NYFA) Documentary Filmmaking alum Mollie Moore knew she wanted to ...
A Q&A With New York Film Academy Documentary Instructor Denise Hamilton on Creative Circles Forum
February 8, 2018New York Film Academy Documentary Instructor Denise Hamilton has made her career by producing incredible films on the history of Broadway. She is a member ...