Filmmakers Collaborative

08/29/2025

This documentary is a tribute to all the early childhood educators out there! Your work is undeniably valuable to society! Here’s hoping your pay will one day reflect that!

Make a Circle Film airs 9/1 on PBS and our Making Media Now podcast chat with the husband/wife co-directors is now live on all podcast platforms!

08/29/2025

Sending out big congratulations to everyone behind Gone Guys Film for taking home Best Documentary Feature at the Vermont Film Festival!

AwardsWe are so excited to have awarded the following films special recognition at our festival. Keep an eye on the future of these filmmakers and their amazing work! 2025 Award Winners Best Doc FeatureGone GuysDirector: Chad Ervin Most Vermont-yError 404: Books Not FoundDirs: Lily Doton, William Sm...

08/28/2025

"...After a recent infusion of venture-capital money and a $3.5-billion valuation, its production budgets and commercial ambitions have grown. It now has a music label and an Off Broadway theatre, and has just created a division, A24 Labs, to explore A.I. tools."

The studio is brilliant at selling small, provocative films. Now it wants to sell blockbusters, too.

08/27/2025

Television critic Mike Hale of The New York Times gets it. As does celebrated filmmaker Stanley Nelson: American Experience | PBS has been unrivaled in historical documentary filmmaking since its inception. Through the stories it told--with unflinching precision and a commitment to scholarship--viewers came away feeling more informed and proud to be in a country that valued such storytelling.

"...The loss of new installments of 'American Experience' will not cause the outcry that a sudden interruption in the 'Real Housewives' franchise would inspire. But as an ongoing, serious examination of American history on TV, the show is unrivaled. The documentarian Stanley Nelson, who has produced seven films for 'American Experience,' said in an online statement in response to the hiatus, 'There is quite literally no replacement for this series.'..."

The documentary series “American Experience” begins an abbreviated schedule this week. A victim of the federal funding take-back, it has suspended production and laid off its staff.

08/27/2025

NEW EPISODE: Joining us on this episode are Jen Bradwell and Todd Boekelheide, the married co-directors of Make a Circle Film, a new documentary that offers a rare inside look at the lives of child care providers and early educators — the backbone of a child care system on the brink.

The film premieres Monday, September 1 streaming nationally on PBS.org the PBS app and on PBS TV stations (check local listings) across the country. (Check out the trailer in the Comments)

As Jen Bradwell says: “Make A Circle is a love letter to early educators and a portrait of a child care system in crisis. The film delves into one of the greatest disconnects in American society: the importance of a child’s first five years versus how the work of early care and education is valued.”

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode are Jen Bradwell and Todd Boekelheide, the married co-directors of "Make A Circle," a new documentary that offers a rare, inside look at the lives of child care providers and early educators — the backbone of a child care system on the brink. The film p...

08/26/2025

"...As the summer blockbuster season winds down, cinephiles are already turning their attention to the fall film festivals — where some of the year’s most anticipated and awards-worthy titles will begin to make their mark (or, in the case of plenty of gems from Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes, get a second wind).

The trifecta of Venice, Toronto, and New York (and, of course, that wily and secretive Telluride) once again promises a compelling lineup of international auteurs, breakout discoveries, and major studio contenders."
https://www.indiewire.com/features/best-of/2025-fall-film-festival-preview-tiff-venice-nyff-1235146754/?fbclid=IwY2xjawMa7idleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFqVmpSblpDTW5ZSGhSU2FxAR7ZzzmfqS_bO3CMJ1PYN8ZdWVXrDo-cvnDDZ27JNX7ZTFiAtKLu5KiFZQEtmw_aem_Htt2iDtHh0ydACLOX9jjBw

Your guide to the must-see films at this year's fall film festivals.

08/25/2025

"...On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, leading to breaches in New Orleans flood prevention; 80 percent of the city was submerged in water. The cost of the damage from the hurricane was $125 billion, and though it’s been difficult to get an accurate death toll, it is estimated to be about 1,800.

In 2006, Spike Lee directed the documentary “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,” which detailed, straight from mouths of New Orleans residents, the preparation, crisis and aftermath, and now he is back as an executive producer of a new three-part series “Katrina: Come Hell and High Water.”

In his first documentary, many residents were still in the throes of the tragedy, but now Lee is giving people a chance to reflect on the past 20 years. Lee directed one of the episodes — Geeta Gandbhir and Samantha Knowles directed the others. Streaming Wednesday, August 27 on Netflix." (NY Times)

This is the story of a brutal coastal hurricane turned cataclysmic through human error and neglect. Over the course of a gripping and emotional three episode...

08/24/2025

Distribution can feel like the most confusing (and intimidating) part of the filmmaking process—but it doesn’t have to be!

Join us for a lunchtime webinar on Distribution on Tuesday, 9/9 at 12pm ET.

This will be the first in a three-part series, covering a subject that can be overwhelming to many filmmakers — and crucial to understand, if you want your films to be seen, and make money!

We will kick it off with award-winning documentary filmmaker Kathryn Dietz, who will talk us through how film distribution works, which markets to consider, how to be eligible for these markets, and much more.

In subsequent weeks we will dig down on self-distribution, and how to work with distributors.

Come with your questions and we hope to see you there!

Distribution can feel like the most confusing (and intimidating) part of the filmmaking process—but it doesn’t have to be!

08/22/2025

"...With the defunding and impending closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, independent documentaries have become the latest targets of the Trump Republican Party’s relentless attacks on local economies, small businesses, and public information.

In the short term, many documentaries in production have been affected, either left unfunded or adrift in terms of their future distribution. In the long term, as early-career filmmaker Rebecca Zweig notes, 'we’re going to be losing an entire generation of films.'..."
https://www.documentary.org/online-feature/minding-gaps-how-cpbs-closure-fragments-us-documentary-ecosystem?fbclid=IwY2xjawMT9d9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFKeExBN0QzR05ic0VES3A4AR5QIEaqzwg5fJk8oMP9aaUrpJGa0nVf83r6H9ogvXZpBluCU-sxtnc_bmxexw_aem_GuYqmptIFNjut_VJ-vzeCw #

In this investigation, independent documentary filmmakers and public media executives describe the far-reaching effects of federal funding cuts

08/20/2025

"The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Pivotal, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today announced that they will commit nearly $37 million to provide immediate relief to public media stations at risk of closure following federal funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)."

Ford Foundation and other funders join forces to support local public radio and television stations after loss of federal funding

08/20/2025

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW

Commune the Movie: 20th Anniversary Restoration

🎙️ In this episode of Making Media Now, filmmaker Jonathan Berman joins host Michael Azevedo to talk about the newly restored documentary Commune—a vivid look at one of the most radical social experiments of the 1960s.

🏔️ Commune tells the story of Black Bear Ranch, a remote goldmine turned countercultural haven, supported by icons like The Doors and Frank Zappa. It was wild. It was idealistic. And it wasn’t always easy.

🎬 With interviews, home movies, and raw honesty, the film dives into everything from free love to co-parenting to the very real struggle of sustaining community.

📽️ Commune is back—with restored picture and sound—and screening in theaters across the U.S.

🎧 Listen now to hear the story behind the story: https://fcmakingmedia.podbean.com/e/free-land-for-free-people-jonathan-berman-presents-a-restored-commune/

08/20/2025

"...On the occasion of what would have been Matthew Perry‘s 56th birthday, the late actor’s foundation has announced a new partnership with a Kentucky music festival.

The Matthew Perry Foundation is teaming with Hope in the Hills’ sixth annual Healing Appalachia to become the official sponsor of the festival’s Camp Grindstone.

The partnership will see the Matthew Perry Foundation provide housing and amenities for more than 400 volunteers camping on-site, alongside 500 additional day volunteers drawn from recovery facilities across Appalachia."

The family-friendly event was founded by Tyler Childers and his team at WhizzbangBAM! and has since distributed more than $1 million to provide a spectrum of prevention, recovery and wellness aid.