Following DOC’s AGM we will be hosting our annual DOC Member Party to celebrate all of your wonderful contributions to this amazing community of doc-makers!
We will be serving bite-sized snacks 🙂
Be sure to add the party event to your calendar so that you don’t forget!
Meet DOC’s National Board, hear from DOC’s six regional Chapters, get the Executive Director’s report, and participate in important discussions about the organization. This year DOC’s AGM will be in-person only.
DOC is inviting members to vote using a web-based platform during the AGM. Members participating will be able to easily click-and-vote with no registration required. Should you be participating but don’t have access to a smartphone with internet capabilities, let us know! We will be happy to accommodate you.
Be sure to add the event to your calendar so that you don’t forget!
DOC’s session as part of Hot Docs 2024 Industry Conference and Market
Info:
The Documentary Organization of Canada begins its 41st year in the midst of some seismic shifts across our sector: massive cutbacks at Canadian broadcasters and American streamers, restructuring at the NFB, the explosion of artificial intelligence, and a complete overhaul of Canada’s audiovisual policy. All under the shadow of a federal election in fall 2025. Needless to say, there is the potential to get an enormous amount done over the next year and a half. Join DOC’s Executive Director Sarah Spring for a roundup of DOC’s advocacy work and everything documentary-policy related.
Our popular pre-Hot Docs and DOXA Mixer is back for another year!
Join us for a pre-festival season mixer to celebrate our members with films premiering at Hot Docs and DOXA.Â
Cost:
DOC Members – Free entry with 1complimentary drink ticket
Non-Members – $15 with 1 complimentary drink ticket
Festival information:
Hot Docs film festival, April 25 to May 5, 2024: https://hotdocs.ca/#hot-docs-festival
DOXA film festival, May 2 to May 12, 2024:
https://www.doxafestival.ca/
Presented by DOC Northwest, Knowledge Network & CMPA.
DOC QuĂ©bec is pleased to invite you to a special screening of the documentary “Sisters: Dream and Variations” by Catherine Legault, in partnership with CinĂ©ma Moderne.
The screening will take place on March 27, 2024, at 6:30 PM (Original Version with French Subtitles). Join us for a drink before the screening starting at 5:00 PM!
In the presence of the director, a Q&A session will follow the screening, hosted by Olivier D. Asselin, filmmaker and president of DOC Québec! Information and tickets available on the Cinéma Moderne website.
DOC Institute is excited to partner with OYA Black Arts Coalition on this networking event. Join us at the CSI Annex and meet and mingle with participants of the OYA Career Leap program and other industry professionals! Come enjoy the open bar and complimentary snacks!
DOC is thrilled to bring a Business Leap delegation to this year’s Getting Real conference in Los Angeles!
Getting Real is the International Documentary Association’s biennial conference, designed for and by documentary practitioners and focused on the business and art of nonfiction storytelling. This four-day event provides a space for the field to hold constructive conversations, build lasting relationships, and tackle the ethical, creative, sustainability, production, and distribution challenges facing our growing community. The core of the conference programming connects participants who hail from diverse independent filmmaking sectors, geographic regions, and professional status, platforming the most exciting new and established voices dialoguing with each other.
Thank you to Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada for sponsoring DOC’s delegation at Getting Real ’24!
About DOC’s Business Leap Program
DOC’s Business Leap program is designed to help production companies “leap” to the next level. Six Canadian documentary producers are supported in growing their production companies and their slate of projects through regular one-on-one consultations in the key areas of legal, accounting, producing, and mental health. Each company is owned by a producer whose community has historically been under-represented and under-served by Canada’s production sector. Over the course of one year, the cohort benefits from sessions that serve to strengthen each company’s production accounting systems, provides them with tailored legal consultations, regular sessions with a producer-mentor, and subsidized therapy – a key recommendation from DOC’s 2023 study on mental health in the documentary sector, “DocuMentality.”
Thank you to the Canada Media Fund for sponsoring the Business Leap program!
TO KILL A TIGER, directed by 2022 DOC Vanguard Award recipient Nisha Pahuja, has been nominated for an Academy Award!
JoinDOC Institute for a conversation with the team behind the film’s Oscar campaign: Nisha Pahuja (Writer, Director, Producer), Geeta Sondhi (Executive Producer, Impact Producer), Archana Misra Jain (Film Campaign Strategist, Product of Culture), and Annalisa Shoemaker (Theatrical Distributor). The conversation is moderated by Ina Fichman (Producer, Fire of Love, 2022 Oscar Nominee)
In To Kill a Tiger, Ranjit, a farmer in Jharkhand, India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the survivor of sexual assault. In India, where a rape is reported every 20 minutes and conviction rates are less than 30 percent, Ranjit’s decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
DOC Institute’s Meet the Funder series is back!
Join DOC Institue for a virtual conversation with Natasha Negrea (Head of Programming) and Alexandra Roberts (Commissioning Editor, Documentaries Programming and Content).
The session will be free to attend. Stay tuned for registration details!
đź“… Wednesday, February 21st
đź•’ 5:00pm ET
đź“Ť ZOOM
The Documentary Organization of Canada welcomes all to this no-charge event to help us celebrate our 40th Anniversary as an organization and the massive impact we have had in the documentary community for decades.
This “All Are Welcome” event will feature food, beverages, music, and plenty of networking time with a small interlude for a speaking panel with industry experts (speakers to be announced), moderated by DOC Alberta Board Chair, Kelly Wolfert. The panel will reflect on how far DOC has come in 40 years, its impact in the community, and how, as the major voice for documentary across Canada, we are the organization best able to assist those starting out in the documentary industry.
After the panel, we will all be able to connect again and network. This event is perfect for experienced creators and DOC members to celebrate our successes over the past 40 years but it is an amazing opportunity for film/tv students, independent creators, emerging filmmakers, and scripted crew and technicians alike to meet and create lasting relationships.
DOC Members will receive 1 complimentary drink ticket with registration.
If you are interested in becoming a DOC Member head to docorg.ca/join-doc. DOC is currently offering a free two year membership to all new members that identify as BIPOC.
The CRTC is moving forward with its work to modernize Canada’s broadcasting sector. Now that the hearings have concluded, there are several next steps before the CRTC decides how much streamers need to contribute to the Canadian content system, and where that money should go. DOC has advocated for specific funding for feature documentaries, among other advocacy issues important to our community.
We invite all members to join Monique Lafontaine Communications lawyer and media executive, and DOC’s ED Sarah Spring on February 6th at 3pm ET for an open session to talk through the CRTC’s process and what this means for documentary creators.
Please note that there is no registration link. Zoom link will be opened when the session starts. You can add the event to your calendar, which has the zoom link, so that you don’t forget!
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DOC members now have access to a 20% discount with Set Protect! Check out the DOC Member Benefits page for the discount code.
Set Protect is a services company based in Vancouver BC, that provides affordable, accessible, and innovative mental health supports to the arts and entertainment industry in Canada.
Join us for “Coffee with… Set Protect!” on January 24th at 3pm ET to learn about how Set Protect can support DOC members across Canada.
Please note that there is no registration link. Zoom link will be opened when the session starts. You can add the event to your calendar, which has the zoom link, so that you don’t forget!
About Set Protect
Originally created in 2021 to provide COVID-19 compliant services to the film industry in BC, Set Protect now supplies technology to connect workers to mental health professionals wherever and whenever they need, as well as on set support and workshops led by our in-house team of mental health professionals, and consulting services to guide on psychological safety best practices.
Our services are created from lived experience within the film industry paired with industry input, research, and statistical data to back the need for this support.
We are also committed to reducing mental health stigma through educational content, public speaking at film festivals and events, as well as establishing industry standards for psychological safety by creating the research to instigate this change.
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DOC members now have access to a 30% discount with Kinema! Check out the DOC Member Benefits page for the discount code.
Kinema is a social cinema platform for filmmakers and community builders.
Join us for “Coffee with… Kinema!” on January 16th at 3pm ET to hear all about how Kinema supports you in curating and showcasing films, both online and in person, fostering community and generating income.
Please note that there is no registration link. Zoom link will be opened when the session starts. You can add the event to your calendar, which has the zoom link, so that you don’t forget!
About Kinema
Movies are better when we watch them together. We help anyone curate and show films — online or in person — to build community and make cash.
We do this by offering a platform for filmmakers to manage their non-theatrical exhibition (aka screening tours) both online and offline, and through developing partnerships with creative cinema spaces, organizations and community leaders to host their own screening events.
We call it human-centered distribution. It starts with an individual and extends to their community. An influencer with a following, a pastor with a church, or an activist with a mission, all can leverage the magic of moviegoing within their spaces — online and off — to build community and connection.
By showing films through Kinema you’re bringing art to creative & communal spaces, and supporting new and independent filmmakers.
Launch your own movie house today to support the filmmaking you want to see.
DOC and POV Magazine have come together to commemorate DOC’s 40th anniversary!
To celebrate this milestone, POV has created a special edition of the magazine dedicated to highlighting DOC’s rich history with features about DOC’s Chapters, our advocacy over the years, conversations with members of our community, and other features that highlight together forty years of Canada’s documentary filmmakers across the country.
The evening will showcase two film screenings by DOC members:
Witness directed by Yasmin Mathurin and produced by Amar Wala
Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffrey Thomas by Ali Kazimi
Following the screening, POV editor Marc Glassman will moderate a discussion about DOC’s past, its present and its future with Ali Kazimi, Yasmin Mathurin, and Amar Wala.
This event is free for DOC members. Login and visit the DOC Member Benefits page for the discount code.
About the films:
Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffery Thomas (1997, 56 minutes)
Spanning over a decade, from 1984 to 1996, Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffery Thomas is an ironic documentary journey full of quiet insights and surprising twists. Starting the film as a foreign student in 1984, Kazimi begins to unravel the hidden history of the land that he has chosen as his home. At one level, Shooting Indians is a portrait of Jeffrey Thomas, an Iroquois photographer. The film explores the influences on his life which led him to his career. It was the work of an American photographer from the turn of the century, Edward Curtis, which forced Thomas to closely examine how Native people had been photographed in the past. Thomas views Curtis’ monumental work as a “mountain which must be crossed”.
Witness (2023, documentary series)
Witness revisits some of the most impactful viral videos in our history through the eyes of the people who captured them. It’s a show about everyday people who chose to document something and share it with the world, and the personal and social outcomes that stem from that decision.
You are cordially invited to the 10th Annual DOC Institute Honours Celebration, taking place on December 5 at The Great Hall. Join us in honouring two outstanding members of the Canadian documentary community as we present the 2023 Rogers-DOC Luminary Award and DOC Vanguard Award.
This year’s Rogers-DOC Luminary Award recipient is Industry veteran Janice Dawe and the DOC Vanguard winner is acclaimed filmmaker Noura Kevorkian. Learn more on our website or download the press release.
This year’s event is special as we will also be celebrating 40 years of DOC and 10 years of DOC Honours! The evening will feature complimentary hors d’ouerves, a silent auction, a live DJ set, and perhaps even some impromptu karaoke.
The event is open to members and non-members. We invite you to bring a guest to celebrate with us. Please note that each attendee must register individually.
