Dear Friends, 

 

Apologies - this month is shamelessly UK focused. We've just opened the next chapter of the BFI Doc Society Fund and the whole team has been feeling rather sentimental about UK documentary. Luke and Shanida have put pen to paper on what eight years of this work has meant, and we couldn't think of a better way to kick things off. Over to them: ⬇️

 

There’s a line that we often come back to: documentaries help us understand who we are. Not in some abstract way, but the real, lived, and complicated sense. Documentaries do something quietly radical: they connect the dots of the world we live in, lay bare the systems that shape our lives and in doing so remind us that our stories are worth telling, our struggles matter, our wonder matters and bearing witness matters. 

 

Since 2018 our delegate partnership with the British Film Institute has been built on exactly that conviction. Together we have funded 90 independent UK non-fiction cinema features  at various stages of production and 86 shorts and watched these remarkable films by remarkable filmmakers and artists make their way into the world. When narratives about who we are can feel pre-determined, these films expand our view  - from Grand Theft Hamlet, which found joy and community inside the chaos of a virtual landscape, The Flats which traced the scars of the Troubles through Belfast’s New Lodge Estate, A Want in Her, Myrid Carten’s tender portrait of family and addiction, to the rebellious roar of Tish Murtha’s photography in Paul Sng’s triumphant film, and Andy Mundy Castle’s White Nanny Black Child, which holds a mirror to the racial dynamics in the foster care system. It lives in the short form too, in the archival reclamation of The Archive: Queer Nigerian Project, the searing intimacy of The Black Cop or The Walnut of Knowledge, and the joy in community of Riding Time and We’ll Go Down in History. 

 

We’re proud to lead a third delegation of the BFI Doc Society Fund with a belief that a new generation of UK non-fiction cinema and immersive talent are at the forefront of cultural conversation to enable audiences to be inspired, face these current times of socio-political adversity, celebrate joy and better understand the world we collectively live in. 

 

The newly restructured funds foreground the need to support feature documentary filmmakers and artists at all stages of their career; whether emerging and finding a voice, or established and pushing their cinematic vision into new territories. We also know how hard it is to take a leap into a new production without trust and support for freedom of expression, so we’ve carved out a space for further film research and development funding, and investment in formal innovation through new immersive technologies of storytelling with the Expanded Screen Fund. As ever, we’re the friend of the independent filmmaker - aiming to centre, nurture and elevate the plurality of their vision.

 

For your ears this month - Stand By Me by Ben E. King. Because we absolutely do! 💚

 

With love and rockets, 

 

Team Doc Society

BFI Doc Society Funds, Reshaped

Friends, the wait is over. We've been quietly reassembling the  BFI Doc Society Funds jigsaw, pulling them apart and putting them back together - features, shorts, immersive, all of it. The first two programmes of this new strategy are open now, with the BFI Doc Society Made of Truth Short Film Fund due to open on Monday 18th May, and more news on Research and Development to come very soon. Don’t blink!  👀

 

The BFI Doc Society Expanded Screen Fund supports ambitious immersive non-fiction made for festival showcases, cultural spaces and platforms beyond the cinema. The fund can support development, prototyping, production and completion with awards between £25,000 to £150,000. Deadline: Monday 22 June 2026, 1pm BST. Apply here!

 

The BFI Doc Society Features Production Fund backs expansive, director-led non-fiction from UK filmmakers, with two routes: Directions for first and second-time feature directors, and Momentum for directors with two or more feature doc credits. Production or completion award amounts are between £25,000 to £150,000. Open on a rolling basis: Apply here!

The BFI Doc Society team are restarting the kettle for their virtual coffee mornings. Come along if you have questions about BFI Doc Society funding, want advice on filmmaking challenges you are dealing with, or to connect with other filmmakers. More info on our website here.

There's a week each year when the steel city becomes a city of documentary. Pitch rooms, screening halls, terraced pubs, conversations that start on a panel and finish at last orders. Here’s our lay of the land:

 

MeetMarket: Three BFI Doc Society RAD-funded projects participate: The Contract, Before Our Diaspora, Flesh and Flamingoes. Find the teams in the market and say hello!

 

BFI Team Drop-in Day - The BFI Doc Society Fund invites all non-fiction film talent to join us at our open-access drop-in day followed by a happy hour. The BFI Doc Society Fund invites all non-fiction film talent to join us at our open-access drop-in afternoon. Come along to register for a roundtable or 1-2-1 meeting and find out anything you’d like about our funds and talent development activities, or use our space to connect with like-minded creatives and potential collaborators. Open to all, limited capacity. More details will be listed on this page nearer the time. This event is open to all audiences, industry and public. Find out more here and sign-up for events on the day. Venue is TBC!

 

New Terrains: Sheffield DocFest Delegation - The BFI Doc Society Talent Development programme is proud to support the New Terrains: Sheffield DocFest delegation of Black and Global Majority UK based directors and producers in their participation at the festival. Ashton John, Diana Cheung, Juliana Kasumu, Riad Arfin, Ryushi Lindsay, Sara Saini and Tatenda Jamera will be attending this year’s festival to connect with industry, collaborators and contemporaries. If you’d like to meet up with the delegation or invite them to your event drop us an email at hellobfi@docsociety.org 

 

Alternate Realities Summit - Luke W. Moody will speak about the BFI Doc Society Expanded Screen Fund in a morning session of the Alternate Realities Summit. 

 

If you’re heading to Sheffield for the festival and need some local tips for food, drink and walking try the unofficial guide: Moody’s Menu

Sheffield DocFest - We are super stoked to shout out the films we have supported that will be screening at Sheffield this June 10-15, 2026! Big claps to all the filmmakers, we see you! Dive into the screen timings and tickets here. 

 

We, The Hated (BFI Doc Society Fund) - Opening Night World Premiere 

WOLF (BFI Doc Society Fund) - World Premiere & First Features Competition

All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea (BFI Doc Society Fund) - UK Premiere & Youth Jury Award Competition

RAP BABY (BFI Doc Society Fund) - World Premiere

Tŷ Unnos (A House in One Night) (BFI Doc Society Fund) - World Premiere

Colors of White Rock (CSF) - European Premiere & International Competition

Matininó (Good Pitch Puerto Rico) - International Premiere

Two films we've championed are about to have their world premieres in New York. Colors of White Rock, shaped through our Climate Story Fund, and Matininó, born out of Good Pitch Puerto Rico, both arrive on Tribeca screens this year. We're proud to be co-presenting alongside the festival. Programme is here.

Fire, Water, Earth, Air is in Danish cinemas nationwide, with event screenings, panels and Q&As across the country. The film is a poetic journey through climate change in Denmark and the Nordic countries, where science and everyday life intersect. As local communities confront wildfires, rising seas, violent storms, and shifting landscapes, they rediscover ancient bonds to nature, bonds we must relearn to face the future together. Directed by Phie Ambo, Rógvi Rasmussen, Janne Lindgren and Ewa Cederstam. Supported by the Climate Story Fund. Massive love to the team! Find your nearest screening.

Attention NYC friends! On Monday, May 18th How to Build a Library will be screening in a very special venue - the NY Public Library. Come immerse yourself in all things libraries and stay after the screening for the Q&A with film protagonist and Book Bunk co-founder Angela Wachuka. Learn more and snag a free ticket here.

The Impact Field Guide is our living toolkit for filmmakers pushing for change. Aflamuna's new video case study unpacks the impact campaign behind Lift Like a Girl, Mayye Zayed's film following Zebiba, a young weightlifter in Alexandria pushing back against what female athletes in Egypt are told they can be. The case study shares the campaign's outcomes, the lessons learned, and why the field needs more support to grow the next generation of impact producers. Watch the Aflamuna case study, explore the guide, and suggest a resource.

This month, the GIPA team dropped a new provocation by Suryani Liauw reflects on why she still returns to the term impact distribution as opposed to impact campaign. This is not out of resistance, but because of what the word holds: history, context, and a different way of seeing what it means to bring a film into the world. This isn’t about choosing the “right” term, rather it’s about being precise with the work we’re naming. Enjoy the read and do share your thoughts!

There are some brilliant opportunities circulating across the field at the moment, from development funding to labs and festival calls. Dive in and explore what might be a fit for your project!

 

✨ Future Art Ecosystems R&D Fellowship Open Call: Art x Convergence

Serpentine Arts Technologies has launched the inaugural Future Art Ecosystems (FAE) R&D Fellowship: Art x Convergence. This six-month, low-residency programme will support four practitioners and broader ecosystem development in art and advanced technologies. Find out more here.

 

✨ CPH:LAB

CPH:LAB is CPH:DOX’s talent development programme that encourages creative risk taking, celebrates raw talent, facilitates collaboration across borders and business sectors and supports visionaries to push the existing boundaries of documentary filmmaking. Find out more here.

 

✨Working Films and Race Forward - Call for Films 

Working Films and Race Forward are open for submissions to Race Flicks, the micro film festival inside the Facing Race Conference in Raleigh this November. They're looking for story-driven racial justice documentaries up to 75 minutes, with priority for filmmakers from the US South. Selected filmmakers get an All-Access conference pass, lodging, travel support and a panel slot. Deadline: 22 June 2026. More info & apply here. 

 

✨Undercover: Exposing the Far Right - How Not to Get Sued, Arrested or Killed

A free online session on Wednesday 17 June, 12–1pm GMT, unpacking how the team behind Grierson-nominated Undercover: Exposing the Far Right navigated the legal terrain of high-risk investigative documentary. Media lawyer Prash Naik (Creators Counsel) joins producers Natasha Dack and Havana Marking (Tigerlily Films). Bring your questions! Register for the session.

 

✨ The Grierson Awards 2026
Open to UK and international documentaries first screened to a UK audience between 1 June 2025 and 31 May 2026, across 16 categories including Best Digital Documentary, Most Entertaining Documentary, and Best Constructed and Formatted Documentary Series. Deadline: Friday 22 May, 2026. More info and apply here