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From Reflection to Release: Framework for Values, Ethics, and Accountability in Nonfiction Filmmaking

July 17, 2023 BY admin

The Documentary Accountability Working Group considers values, guiding principles and ethics that inform the practices of filmmakers, and shape their relationship to the story, the participants, the audience, funders and other stakeholders.

The working group grew organically out of a common series of questions around the future of documentary filmmaking, and the exponential growth of the documentary film industry. As the industry and the world navigate social constructs that could mitigate the documentary ecosystem, do filmmakers need a foundational set of best practices? Would industry-wide agreement on best practices help non-fiction storytellers work in ways they and their peers understand as responsible and ethical?

Our working group has elected to lead a discovery process, in order to source guiding principles that can support equitable and just filmmaking.  An essential pillar of this work is to conduct open dialogues with filmmakers, funders, festivals and foundations who make up the documentary film system.

Download DAWG’s Framework for Values, Ethics, and Accountability in Nonfiction Filmmaking.

 

Download DAWG's Framework for Values, Ethics, and Accountability in Nonfiction Filmmaking

 

This Framework is endorsed by:

Alliance for Media Arts + Culture

Black Public Media

Detroit Narrative Agency

Double Exposure Film Festival

Giovanna Chesler (they/them), Professor of Film and Video Studies at George Mason University

ITVS

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Kartemquin Films

Kendeda Fund

Perspective Fund

Points North Institute

Redford Center

Robeson Taj P. Frazier, Ph.D. (he/him/his), Associate Professor & Director of Doctoral Studies, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California

Southern Documentary Fund

University Film and Video Association

NeXt Doc

Working Films

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