Documentary Film Program

🎬 Submissions are open for the 6th Annual NYU Sports Film Festival!🍎🎥

Short films exploring the meaning, emotion, and culture of sport are invited from filmmakers worldwide.

Professional and student filmmakers outside of NYU are invited to submit in the Open Documentary and Open Narrative categories.

Submit your project on Film Freeway by March 6th: https://filmfreeway.com/NYUSFF?utm_campaign=NYU+Sports+Film+Festival&utm_medium=External&utm_source=Submission+Button

#SportsFilm #FilmFestival #CallForSubmissions #DocumentaryFilm #SportsStorytelling

🎬 Learn from filmmaker Rebekah Fergusson!

We’re excited to share upcoming ways to engage with and learn from filmmaker Rebekah Fergusson @rebajonesjr Our students have greatly benefitted from her expertise and teaching, and we encourage others to take advantage of what’s coming up.

✨ Free Talk
Access to Audience: Case Studies in Documentary Producing
📅 Thursday, March 5
⏰ 6:00–7:30 PM
🔗 https://documentarystudies.duke.edu/events/free-talk-access-audience-case-studies-documentary-producing

🎓 Continuing Ed Course
Documentary Film Producing
📅 March 31 – May 5, 2026
⏰ Tuesdays, 6:00–8:00 PM
📍 Duke Center for Documentary Studies, Durham, NC
💲 $700 | 6 weeks
🔗 https://rsvp.duke.edu/event/8952f32d-302e-447e-8541-2e4c7e8c48cd/summary

This course is ideal for filmmakers with some experience who want to sharpen their producing skills—whether pursuing a career in producing or strengthening their own directing projects. Rebekah will be bringing in guest speakers, digging into case studies, talking about the current state of the industry, and tailoring exercises for participants` existing projects.

We’re beyond thrilled to share that BACK ON TRACK has been officially selected for the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival in Hollywood, CA! 🎉👏

Directed by Peter Tkac, (MA ’25) @tictkac10 the film follows three members of the Triad Trackers Wheelchair Basketball Team—Chris Rivera, Tamirat Ives-Rublee @ivesrublee and Bri Solomon—capturing both their 2025 season and their powerful personal journeys. 🏀✨

🎟 Catch BACK ON TRACK at Slamdance:
📍 Sunday, Feb 22 — Directors Guild of America, Theater 2, 2:30 p.m.
📍 Tuesday, Feb 24 — Landmark Sunset Hollywood Theater 4, 7:45 p.m.

🎫 Festival passes are on sale now: slamdance.com/festival-passes

Can’t make it to LA? The Virtual Film Festival runs Feb 24 – Mar 6 💻

A celebration of emerging filmmaking talent from around the world, @slamdance_filmfest continues to champion bold, industry-changing voices. This year’s lineup was selected from over 10,000 submissions and features 141 films from more than 50 countries. 🌍🎬

Huge congratulations to Peter and the entire @backontrackfilm team!

#triadtrackers #slamdance @wfuniversity #wfudocfilm #wakethearts

❄️ Snow day stylings of DFP student & triathlete Pun Pun Pattrakulchai! 🏂

From pavement to powder! When snow arrives, wheels come off the skateboard, and snowboarding commences! ❄️

Photo credit to @winstonsalemjournalnow. Thank you for capturing this snow day fun!

#snowday #wfudocfilm #winstonsalemjournal

Two must-see screenings this week spotlight the cinematography of DFP Professor of Practice Peter Gilbert.🎥

📍 MoMA Screening
@themuseumofmodernart in New York is screening a 4K restoration of Michael Apted’s 1989 documentary THE LONG WAY HOME on January 28.

Gilbert served as cinematographer on the film which chronicles Soviet underground rock legend Boris Grebenshchikov’s first journey to the West and his attempt to make an album in 1988, shortly after Glasnost. The new restoration includes a newly added epilogue.

You can check out the new trailer in this @idaorg article: https://www.documentary.org/exclusive-news/exclusive-trailer-michael-apteds-remastered-and-expanded-long-way-home

📌 MoMA, Floor T2 – Titus Theater 2
🗓 Wednesday, Jan 28 at 7:00 PM
Introduced by Steven Lawrence, Susanne Rostock

Thursday, Jan 29, 4:30 p.m.
MoMA, Floor T2/T1, Theater 2

🎬 Heading to the Sundance Film Festival?
Barbara Kopple’s AMERICAN DREAM—also shot by Gilbert @pmgilbs —will screen as part of the Park City Legacy program at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival @sundanceorg, which highlights landmark films from the Festival’s history through restored screenings and special events.

Originally premiering at Sundance in 1991, AMERICAN DREAM won the Audience Award, Filmmaker Trophy, Grand Jury Prize, and later the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

This new 4K restoration, supervised by @barbarakopple and completed by @janus_films and @criterioncollection, marks the film’s 35th anniversary.

📍 Library Center Theatre, Park City
🗓 Jan 28 at 2:15 PM MST

#museumofmodernart #sundancefilmfestival #wakeforestuniversity #wfudocfilm

Had a great time at Riverrun Film Festival’s meet and greet for its new Executive Director, Michael C. Morin @dgkoproductions last night! 🎬✨

Morin is a producer, writer, and festival executive with more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of film, music, and live events. For the past seven years, he’s been a driving force behind the Slamdance Film Festival.

It was inspiring to hear his ideas for @riverrun and we’re excited about what’s ahead for the festival!

Thanks to DFP friend and filmmaker Diana Greene @lookout__girl and Riverrun Board Chair Denise Gunter for joining in on the photo op!😊

Welcome to Winston-Salem, Michael! 👋🎉

#riverruninternationalfilmfestival #wfudocfilm #wakethearts

🎉 Congrats to our friends at the 2026 Carrboro Film Fest!

Great to see sold-out film blocks as they celebrate their 20th anniversary! 🎬✨

The festival takes place January 23–25 at the new Drakeford Library Complex in downtown Carrboro, North Carolina.

🎟️ While all film blocks are sold out, a standby line will be available for each screening. Ten minutes before showtime, any remaining seats will be released to the standby line on a first-come, first-served basis. (Standby does not guarantee a ticket.)

👉 Check out the full lineup at carrborofilm.org

#carrborofilmfest #southernfilm #southernfilmmakers #wfudocfilm

🎬 Now Streaming: ON THEIR FIRST TRI! 🏊‍♂️🚴‍♀️🏃‍♂️

You can now stream ON THEIR FIRST TRI, a film directed by DFP alum Ed Foster @edfosterfilms (MFA ’20) on FAWESOME.

The film recounts how a group of endurance athletes from Wilmington decided to stage their own, shortened version of the Hawaii Ironman—marking the first triathlon on the East Coast and the beginning of a lasting legacy.

Through intimate interviews with original racers and rare archival photographs, ON THEIR FIRST TRI transports viewers back to September 9, 1979—when 94 athletes entered Banks Channel and unknowingly created history.

👉 Stream it, share it, and celebrate a defining moment in sports history! https://fawesome.tv/movies/10745692/on-their-first-tri

#wfudocfilm #wilmingtontriathlon

🎬That’s a wrap on the fall semester!

From thesis pitches to observational shorts, the first-year students showed off the storytelling, cinematography, and editing skills they’ve built this semester. Great work from everyone! 👏

As Finals Day tradition dictates, the day wrapped up with DFP hats awarded for all their hard work. Check out the new design! 👀🧢

We are looking forward to what the New Year brings! ❄️✨

#wfudocfilm

A great day of final screenings in Archival Storytelling—thought-provoking insights, creativity, and craft were evident in every project.

A huge thank-you to Emily Harrold @e16dance for co-teaching this semester and for guiding the class with her expertise and passion for archival storytelling!

#wfudocfilm #archivalstorytelling

Just a few of the DFP folks who turned out for the screening of THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM, directed by DFP program director Chris Zaluski. 🎬✨

Also great to see the work of Professor Christina Soriano’s @christinatsoriano Art & Advocacy students on screen as well.

Thanks again to @aperturecinema for hosting and to event co-sponsors: @wakethearts and the Office of Civic and Community Engagement @communitywfu.

Grateful for a night that celebrated art, community, and meaningful filmmaking. 💛✨

#wfudocfilm #wakethearts #wfugradschool

📽Please join us for a special screening + discussion of THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM, directed by DFP program director Chris Zaluski @aperturecinema!

📅 Thursday, December 4
⏰ 6:00–8:30 PM
📍 a/perture cinema (311 W. Fourth St.)
🎟 Free tickets

Exploring the intersection of poverty and portraiture, this powerful documentary follows the creation of a rare contemporary fresco mural inside a small mountain church in North Carolina.

After a strong film festival and community screening campaign, THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM made its broadcast debut on the WORLD Channel in April 2022. It has since been broadcast more than 1,200 times on PBS stations around the country.

This free community screening is sponsored by @wakethearts, the Office of Civic and Community Engagement @communitywfu, and the Documentary Film Program.

Stay after the film for a post-screening discussion with director Chris Zaluski.

✨ All are welcome! ✨

🎉These smiling faces took home an Audience Award win!

Huge congratulations to DIALING SCOTTIE filmmakers Isaac Weinberg @zickweinberg (MA ’25) & Leo Geneser (MFA ’26) and film participant George Grunditz on their recent win at the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Fest. So well deserved! 👏🎬

🎬We’re excited to partner with Carrboro Film Fest @carrborofilm for a special screening and discussion of the documentary short FALLOUT by Durham, NC-based filmmaker Madison Hill. Please join us on Wednesday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m.!

The 20-minute film tells the story of three residents of a rural Appalachian town who experienced illnesses after exposure to contamination from a nearby U.S. Army Ammunition Plant. Considered the largest polluter in Virginia, the facility releases millions of pounds of toxic pollutants each year through the open burning of waste. The film incorporates contaminants from the facility into 1,200 feet of 16mm film.

DFP Program Director Chris Zaluski will moderate a discussion with filmmaker Madison Hill @maddieehill and Carrboro Film Fest Director Bryan Reklis about the film and the role festivals play in elevating independent storytellers.

📅 Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 7 PM
📍 Room 302B, The Graduate School at Brookstown, @brookstowninn, 200 Brookstown Avenue

We look forward to seeing you there!

#wfudocfilm #carrborofilmfest #falloutfilm

🎥It`s a great week for documentary film screenings at Wake Forest! Next up: AMERICAN COUP: WILMINGTON 1898--followed by a Q&A with coordinating producer Josh Clinard and Wake Forest University faculty.

📅 Thursday, November 6th
🕔 5:00 PM
📍 Z. Smith Reynolds Library Auditorium (Room 404)

The film tells the story of the only successful coup d’état in US history, when in 1898, self-described white supremacists used intimidation and violence to destroy Black political and economic power and overthrow Wilmington’s democratically elected, multi-racial government. Black residents were murdered, and thousands were banished. The story of what happened in Wilmington was suppressed for decades until descendants and scholars began to investigate. Today, many of those descendants — Black and white — seek the truth about this intentionally buried history.

This event is part of a statewide effort by PBS NC @mypbsnc and @workingfilms to share the story of the Wilmington massacre, its place in U.S. history, and its lasting impact.

#Wilmington1898 #AmericanCoup #wfudocfilm #wakethearts #PBSNC #WorkingFilms

We are looking forward to a special screening of PATH OF THE PANTHER on Wednesday, November 5 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in Carswell 111, Annenberg Forum.

PATH OF THE PANTHER is the 2024 Emmy winner for Outstanding Nature Documentary, which takes viewers deep into the swamps, forests, and grasslands of Florida in search of one of the most endangered creatures in North America. This powerful film explores the intersection of environmental conservation, human impact, and the future of the Florida panther.

After the screening, stay for a Q&A with Andrew Brown @andrewhbrown , award-winning filmmaker and editor of PATH OF THE PANTHER. This is a unique opportunity to ask questions about the making of the documentary and to hear his perspectives on how to make a difference in an increasingly complex world.

Make plans to join us!

#wfudocfilm #wfuleadershipandcharacter #wildlifeconservation #pathofthepanther

🎬 More good festival news!

Congrats to Isaac Weinberg @zickweinberg (MA ’25) & Leo Geneser (MFA ’26) — their film DIALING SCOTTIE is an official selection of the Chicago International REEL Shorts Film Fest @chicagoreelshorts!

📞 In 2014, Bulls legend and NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen changed his phone number. Shortly after, George - a then 14-year-old middle school student with no ties to the Chicago Bulls or Scottie Pippen - unknowingly claimed Pippen`s old phone number. In the years following, George has had plenty of people reaching out to him looking for Pippen. DIALING SCOTTIE looks at the humorous and unexpected consequences of having the old phone number of an NBA hall of famer.

Catch DIALING SCOTTIE on the big screen in Chicago on Friday, November 7th at 9 PM!

#wfudocfilm #chicagoreelshortsfilmfestival #NBA