Film Independent selects filmmakers for 2022 documentary lab

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organisation that produces the Spirit Awards, announced the 12 filmmakers and 6 projects selected for its 2022 Documentary Lab.

The Lab is an intensive program designed for filmmakers currently in post-production on their feature-length documentary films and provides creative feedback. The program advances the careers of its Fellows by introducing them to film professionals who can advise on both the craft and business of documentary filmmaking.

“The films selected for this year’s Lab represent fierce, unapologetic storytelling,” said Lisa Hasko, director of artist development. “From personal to political, and everywhere in between, these boundary-pushing filmmakers will move audiences in the most creative and immersive ways.”

During the Lab, filmmakers will work with Lead Creative Mentors Chris Shellen and Jeff Malmberg (Mickey: The Story of a Mouse, Marwencol) and Anayansi Prado (Maid in America, The Unafraid). Additionally, Fellows will be introduced to advisors and guest speakers on both the craft and business of documentary filmmaking. This year’s Documentary Lab Mentors and Guest Speakers include Sara Dosa and Shane Boris (Fire of Love), Academy Award nominee Jessica Kingdon (Ascension), Matthew Radecki (Founder, Different By Design), and Emmy-winning producer Ali Johnes and Sundance Institute’s Carrie Lozano, Emmy nominated writer/editor Kathryn Robson (Circus of Books), editor/writer and Sara Newens (On the Record, Allen v. Farrow), along with industry partner the UCLA Doc Law Clinic.

Film Independent Artist Development programs promote unique independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work through Project Involve, Filmmaker Labs (Directing, Documentary, Episodic, Producing and Screenwriting), Fast Track Finance Market and Fiscal Sponsorship, as well as through Grants and Awards that provide over one million dollars annually to visual storytellers.

The Documentary Lab is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Notable past Documentary Lab supported projects include Academy Award-nominated films Ascension, by director Jessica Kingdon, and Minding the Gap from Fellows Bing Liu and Diane Quon; Sara Dosa and Shane Boris’ Seer and the Unseen; Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra’s A Suitable Girl; Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown’s United Skates; and Ann Kaneko and Jin Yoo-Kim’s Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, which recently premiered on POV.

For more information on the Documentary Lab and the projects supported through the program, please contact Lisa Hasko, Director of Artist Development, at lhasko@filmindependent.org. Additional information and an application form can be found at filmindependent.org.

The 2022 Documentary Lab projects and Fellows are:

Breaking the Blue Wall (working title)

Director/Producer: Alissa Figueroa

Logline: Two women from Baltimore City take on the Fraternal Order of Police and the politicians wary of crossing it as they push to repeal one of the oldest and strongest police shield laws in the country, Maryland’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights.

In love, in memory

Directors: Shalon Buskirk and Drew Swedberg

Logline: In the wake of her son’s murder, Shalon Buskirk assembles intimate memories and intergenerational stories to reframe her loss within her city’s haunting legacy of displacement.

Land of Women

Director: Nada Riyadh

Director/Producer: Ayman El Amir

Logline: In a conservative village in south of Egypt, dominated by patriarchy and full of despair, a lively group of Coptic girls refuse the traditional roles forced upon them by forming an all-female street theatre troupe. A coming-of-age portrait of girls at the crossroads of their lives.

Red Herring (working title)

Director: Kit Vincent

Producer: Ed Owles

Logline: After a young filmmaker is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he enlists his family on an intimate and darkly humorous journey to help them come to terms with his illness.

Untitled Helen Project

Director: Alix Blair

Producer: Lauren Kushner

Producer: Elise McCave

Logline: For years, Helen balanced being a rebel and a politician’s wife. Now that her much older husband depends on her, she grapples with tension between love for her partner and herself. 

Without Arrows

Directors: Jonathan Olshefski and Elizabeth Day

Logline: Filmed with vérité intimacy over the course of twelve years (2011–2022), Without Arrows chronicles the choices, events and relationships that shape a Lakota family’s legacy.