A signed release isn’t where consent ends. It’s where it starts. In partnership with the Programmers of Colour Collective, What’s Up with Docs sits down with Jennifer Huang (THE LONG RESCUE), Stephanie Palumbo (formerly with Peace is Loud), and Margie Ratliff (SUBJECT) to unpack what real, ongoing participant care looks like.
If art comes from a deeply personal place, can filmmaking ever be too personal? Talking Shorts commissioning editor Savina Petkova is joined by Dutch director Ollie Launspach to discuss what radical intimacy means when it comes to documentary filmmaking and his short film kiss kiss bang bang showing at DOK Leipzig.
Two projects pitched at the DOK Exchange XR Showcase, two journeys from early ideas to internationally presented works. Chloé Lee – Inter(mediate) Spaces – and Lucy Hammond – Ôl (Haunts) – explore how XR can transform 2D archival materials into new immersive forms, sharing their creative methodologies and the challenges of working with archives in XR.
Immersive media keeps evolving – but what will endure once the novelty fades? This UK–Germany conversation examines the forces shaping XR’s future, from sustainability and long-term structures to new creative practices. For anyone curious about where immersive media is truly heading, this episode offers rare insight, honest debate, and real inspiration.
In this conversation, cultural workers Abhishek Nilamber and Laura Kloeckner speak with film curator Lucy Mukerjee about their research with United Screens, sourcing the experiences of filmmakers and mapping pathways to audiences in the Global South, as well as their latest project Meshdia, which proposes a collaborative infrastructure for circulating cinema.
What kind of map do creators and institutions need to navigate, select, and support meaningful XR experiences for the next generation? Our guests discuss what exists, what is missing, and how ethical design and curation can foster imagination, agency, and digital literacy – while strengthening critical thinking in an era where real and fake constantly blur.
Iranian filmmaker Saleh Kashefi, Brazilian curator Heitor Augusto, and Talking Shorts commissioning editor Sanne Jehoul discuss what tensions and challenges they encounter in making, programming and viewing political short form work in the context of a Euro/Western-centric and elite festival circuit.
Host Toni Achebe Bell talks with Ranell Shubert, Executive Director of the Disability Media Alliance (DMA), about reimagining nonfiction film through a disability justice lens. From research to reality, they unpack how disabled media makers are building power and shifting resources.
How do we navigate intercultural exchange for short films in the current political climate? Cultural workers Nihan Sivridag, Puiyee Leong, and Qila Gill sit down to discuss how care, collaboration, and radical practice shape short films in times of crisis and change.
In this episode of What’s Up With Docs in collaboration with DOK Industry Podcast, Toni Bell sits down with Claudia Chavez and Christine Mladic Janney, the creative forces behind Searching for Nora, a film honoring Nora de Izcue, Peru's pioneering filmmaker.
The conversation delves into their journey to recover Nora’s lost film prints, exploring the significance of film archives and cultural preservation. They also share insights into the unique challenges of documentary filmmaking, particularly in Peru, where recent attacks on the National Film Law have ignited passionate responses from the filmmaking community.
