Resources

The Doc Society's Impact Field Guide database is a collection of tools, organizations, trainings, case studies, templates, funding opportunities, and more to support your efforts to have an impact.

United States of America
Collective Wisdom: Co-Creating Media for Equity and Justice
MIT: Open Documentary Lab
How to co-create — and why: the emergence of media co-creation as a concept and as a practice grounded in equity and justice
Topic: Narrative Change/Cultural Strategy
Thought Piece Book BIPOC
Collective Wisdom: Co-Creating Media for Equity and Justice
United Kingdom
Doc Society: Our Theory of Change
Doc Society
Theory of change
Topic: Narrative Change/Cultural Strategy
Thought Piece Website
Doc Society: Our Theory of Change
United States of America
A Question of Ethics: The Relationship between Filmmaker and Subject
International Documentary Association
At the heart of documentary production is the relationship between filmmaker and subjects--not often an equal balance of power. And for the most part…
Topic: Participants
Thought Piece Website
Independent Media vs Authoritarianism
Doc Society
Argument for free independent public media access as a cornerstone of democracy
Topic: Independent Media
Thought Piece PDF
Independent Media vs Authoritarianism
United States of America
Beyond Empathy
Firelight Media
Sonya Childress argues for more strategic uses of documentary film that don't normalize whiteness
Topic: Narrative Change/Cultural Strategy
Thought Piece Website BIPOC
Beyond Empathy
United States of America
Beyond Resilience
Firelight Media
Series of screenings, essays, and curated conversations that explore the challenges, strategies, and experiences of creating and distributing work du…
Topic: Narrative Change/Cultural Strategy
Thought Piece Website
Beyond Resilience
United States of America
Considering a Trauma-Informed Process In Documentary Filmmaking
International Documentary Association
"Too often, it’s the folk whose stories make documentaries possible who are the last to be considered when a film project is conceived and pursued."
Topic: Ethics
Thought Piece Website
Considering a Trauma-Informed Process In Documentary Filmmaking
Kenya
Docubox: An African Filmmaker's Manifesto
Docubox
"We are all Africans. Every last one of us."
Topic: Independent Media
Thought Piece Website
Docubox: An African Filmmaker's Manifesto
United States of America
We Must Activate the Archive
Color Congress
Lorie Limbal of Firelight issues a call to action to filmmakers to be creative in getting their films to their intended audiences and for funders to …
Topic: Distribution
Thought Piece Website
We Must Activate the Archive
United States of America
8 Above with Jon Reiss
8 Above
Tips on independent distribution
Topic: Distribution
Thought Piece Website
8 Above with Jon Reiss
United States of America
The Evolution of Impact: The Future of Social Change and Nonfiction Storytelling
Color Congress
By Sahar Driver and Sonya Childress
Topic: Narrative Change/Cultural Strategy
Thought Piece Website
The Evolution of Impact: The Future of Social Change and Nonfiction Storytelling
United States of America
The Crisis Isn’t Cinema. It’s the Industry.
Distribution Advocates
"As global systems unravel—from media monopolies to cultural institutions—the world of film mirrors the instability, but it also carries within it th…
Topic: Distribution
Thought Piece Website