Find Your Filmmaking Home
With an established track record of success in documentary film production and education, the Documentary Film Program at Wake Forest University offers you two graduate degree options:
We are currently accepting applications for your 2023 start!
Deadline is April 15
A Home to Documentary Film Experts
The Documentary Film Program (DFP) is not only the home to full-time faculty members with decades of industry experience! The DFP is proud to have accomplished visiting filmmakers every semester that offer students education in the latest industry knowledge and trends. Learn more about current and past program visitors.
A Home to Award-Winning Student Work
Our graduate programs in documentary film are hands-on experiences where students learn the technical aspects of filmmaking and storytelling as they craft short films as part of the curriculum. These thesis films have consistently achieved success in film festivals and within the industry. To see the variety of films that have been made at the DFP, please read more here.
Latest News
- DFP Hosts Artsist in Residence Safyah Usmani
We are very excited to welcome back Safyah Usmani (MFA ’15) as an artist-in-residence from March 20-24. Usmani is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose documentaries and […] - DFP Professor Zaluski Screens Theirs is the KingdomJoin us Tuesday in the ZSR Auditorium (Floor 4) to watch Associate Professor Christopher Zaluski’s most recent film, Theirs Is The Kingdom. The film […]
- Broadcast Debut for DFP Thesis Film!We are excited to announce that Chicken Soup for the Soil, a Documentary Film Program thesis film directed by Brandon Gaesser (MFA ’21), will […]
- LaCalle Earns Best Documentary Short Award!
We are thrilled to share that Will LaCalle’s (MFA ’21) film festival debut led to his first Best Documentary Shorts win at the Cinema on […]
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"When we talk about the early years of cinema, there is no separating `the history of women in film` from `the history of film.` Women have been there from the beginning, and have shaped the medium in transformative ways." — Maryann Johanson
An oldie but a goodie, if you`re interested learning more about women`s important role in the history of doc film, this article from @independentlens + @pbs is a great place to start.
Link in our story for the next 24 hours: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/from-alice-guy-blache-to-barbara-kopple-the-pioneering-women-of-documentary-film/
#WomensHistoryMonth #FemaleFilmmakerFriday
"When we talk about the early years of cinema, there is no separating `the history of women in film` from `the history of film.` Women have been there from the beginning, and have shaped the medium in transformative ways." — Maryann Johanson
An oldie but a goodie, if you`re interested learning more about women`s important role in the history of doc film, this article from @independentlens + @pbs is a great place to start.
Link in our story for the next 24 hours: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/from-alice-guy-blache-to-barbara-kopple-the-pioneering-women-of-documentary-film/
#WomensHistoryMonth #FemaleFilmmakerFriday
The Documentary Film Program (DFP) is not only the home to full-time faculty members with decades of industry experience, but also proud to have accomplished visiting filmmakers every semester that offer students education in the latest industry knowledge and trends.
To learn more about the current and past program visitors—including several Oscar and Emmy award winning and nominated filmmakers—visit https://documentary.wfu.edu/visiting-filmmakers/.
To take full advantage of the unique opportunities offered by the Doc Film Program at Wake Forest, please join us! 🎥 🎞️ We are now accepting applications for our 2023 semester (regular deadline is March 15).
Learn more and APPLY NOW → documentary.wfu.edu
The Documentary Film Program (DFP) is not only the home to full-time faculty members with decades of industry experience, but also proud to have accomplished visiting filmmakers every semester that offer students education in the latest industry knowledge and trends.
To learn more about the current and past program visitors—including several Oscar and Emmy award winning and nominated filmmakers—visit https://documentary.wfu.edu/visiting-filmmakers/.
To take full advantage of the unique opportunities offered by the Doc Film Program at Wake Forest, please join us! 🎥 🎞️ We are now accepting applications for our 2023 semester (regular deadline is March 15).
Learn more and APPLY NOW → documentary.wfu.edu
Another FREE DOC SCREENING is coming to @aperturecinema tomorrow night! Don`t miss @mamabearsdoc on Wednesday, March 8 at 7 PM, showing as part of this year`s South Arts’ Southern Circuit Tour! 📽️
Spread across the country but connected through private Facebook groups, over 30,000 mothers in America—many from conservative, Christian backgrounds—fully accept their LGBTQ+ children. 🏳️🌈 And they call themselves “mama bears” because while their love is warm and fuzzy, they fight ferociously to make the world kinder and safer for all LGBTQ+ people. MAMA BEARS explores the journeys of two mama bears and a young lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance exemplifies why the mama bears movement is vitally important.
Following the screening will be a special Q&A with the film’s editor, Durham-based filmmaker Kelly Creedon, moderated by filmmaker Andrew Harrison Brown.
The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers connects US-based documentary filmmakers with communities throughout the South for screenings and conversations around important stories and the art of filmmaking. They prioritize featuring Southern filmmakers and stories and are committed to presenting films by filmmakers of color, LGBTQ+ filmmakers, and filmmakers with disabilities.
Past Southern Circuit Tours have included films from DFP alum including @properpronounsfilm, the thesis film of Meg Daniels and Manie Robinson (both MFA `19), and @atthereadyfilm from producer Hillary Pierce (MFA ‘13).
Free to the public; advanced registration at aperturecinema.com is encouraged.
Another FREE DOC SCREENING is coming to @aperturecinema tomorrow night! Don`t miss @mamabearsdoc on Wednesday, March 8 at 7 PM, showing as part of this year`s South Arts’ Southern Circuit Tour! 📽️
Spread across the country but connected through private Facebook groups, over 30,000 mothers in America—many from conservative, Christian backgrounds—fully accept their LGBTQ+ children. 🏳️🌈 And they call themselves “mama bears” because while their love is warm and fuzzy, they fight ferociously to make the world kinder and safer for all LGBTQ+ people. MAMA BEARS explores the journeys of two mama bears and a young lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance exemplifies why the mama bears movement is vitally important.
Following the screening will be a special Q&A with the film’s editor, Durham-based filmmaker Kelly Creedon, moderated by filmmaker Andrew Harrison Brown.
The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers connects US-based documentary filmmakers with communities throughout the South for screenings and conversations around important stories and the art of filmmaking. They prioritize featuring Southern filmmakers and stories and are committed to presenting films by filmmakers of color, LGBTQ+ filmmakers, and filmmakers with disabilities.
Past Southern Circuit Tours have included films from DFP alum including @properpronounsfilm, the thesis film of Meg Daniels and Manie Robinson (both MFA `19), and @atthereadyfilm from producer Hillary Pierce (MFA ‘13).
Free to the public; advanced registration at aperturecinema.com is encouraged.
We are very excited to welcome back Safyah Usmani (MFA `15) as an artist-in-residence from March 20-24.
Usmani is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose documentaries and multimedia work foster discourse on the rights of marginalized individuals. She also explores the concept of identity – how it is shaped and its correlation to societal status.
Her visit includes a screening of her award-winning film, A Life Too Short (2021), on Tuesday, March 21 from 5-6:30pm in the ZSR Auditorium. The film – which premiered on MTV – tells the story of social media superstar Qandeel Baloch who pushed boundaries in conservative Pakistan. In 2016, high on her newfound celebrity, Qandeel exposes a well-known Muslim cleric–with tragic results.
We are very excited to welcome back Safyah Usmani (MFA `15) as an artist-in-residence from March 20-24.
Usmani is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose documentaries and multimedia work foster discourse on the rights of marginalized individuals. She also explores the concept of identity – how it is shaped and its correlation to societal status.
Her visit includes a screening of her award-winning film, A Life Too Short (2021), on Tuesday, March 21 from 5-6:30pm in the ZSR Auditorium. The film – which premiered on MTV – tells the story of social media superstar Qandeel Baloch who pushed boundaries in conservative Pakistan. In 2016, high on her newfound celebrity, Qandeel exposes a well-known Muslim cleric–with tragic results.
REMINDER! @properpronounsfilm from DFP alum Meg Daniels (MFA `19) is screening this Saturday, March 4th, at 3 PM at @ElonUniversity`s @turner_theatre. Stay put for a Q&A featuring the film`s subjects to follow! Hope to see you there.
REMINDER! @properpronounsfilm from DFP alum Meg Daniels (MFA `19) is screening this Saturday, March 4th, at 3 PM at @ElonUniversity`s @turner_theatre. Stay put for a Q&A featuring the film`s subjects to follow! Hope to see you there.
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