About Doc Society
We are Doc Society, an innovative non-profit working with the boldest and the most inspiring filmmakers all over the world. Beyond the right to self-expression, we are focused on the right to access media in the public interest — and building the global ecosystem that makes that possible.
We back independence.
We back storytelling by artists, journalists, and filmmakers who have creative and editorial control. Not dictated by governments, by corporate interests or the algorithm.
We believe independent media is an essential ingredient in any functioning democracy and is the last line of defense against rising autocracy. Providing a plurality of visions, reflections on the world we’ve made and the world we want to build. Driving accountability and speaking truth to power. Deepening our humanity and connection to one another.
We champion the makers of independent media — the tenacious, the curious and the bold — making work because they must, engaging audiences by any means necessary. From community cinemas to public broadcasters, social media platforms to global streamers. Influencing the mainstream from the margins and creating personal and collective transformation.
We reject the insidious notion that “mass audiences” only want simple ideas, explained quickly. We reject the monoculture of bread and circuses, of endless true crime and celebrity helmed content dictated by market logic. We are all human after all. Hungry for nuance, for complexity, for authenticity, for the personal and the profound. And never more than now, at this critical moment in history.
After 20 years in the field, we know that funding independent artists, storytellers, filmmakers, journalists works. Yes, the distribution mechanisms have been disrupted by tech, market forces, and politics. But let's not confuse this with some notion that citizens don’t want or desire a pluralism of ideas.
It is time to build back a richer and more resilient public square and we know that if we feed the system at the grassroots, with increased direct funding to artists and local cultural organisations in every region, then the ecology of public and corporate media upstream will be transformed.
This is reconstruction time, but we are multitude. Doc Society is proud to work alongside a constellation of cultural allies and legacy institutions, networks of practitioners and cultural activists who together are dedicated to building a better future for independent media in every region, imagining a new global media ecosystem that is decolonised and decentralised.
We are all in.