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Documentary Distribution in the Time of COVID-19

  • 26 May 2020
  • 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Virtual event

Registration is closed

Documentary Educational Resources and WIFVNE present

Documentary Distribution in the Time of COVID-19


So, you made a film! Congratulations! Now...who's going to see it? And where? Women in Film & Video New England and Documentary Educational Resources have come together to bring experts from the field to jointly discuss the robust world of documentary film distribution:  Film Festivals, Public Media, Digital Distribution, and Educational Distribution.


How do filmmakers find the right audience for their film?  What are the possibilities for broadcast on public television?  What is happening with festivals these days?  

Filmmakers, distributors, and festival organizers alike are grappling with how to support one another. Join us for this real discussion about documentary distribution in a virtual space. Introduction by Emily Abi-Kheirs, Board member, WIFVNE.


Moderated by Alice Apley

Executive Director, Documentary Educational Resources

As Executive Director of DER since 2011, Alice oversees all aspects of the organization. She has led DER’s infrastructural efforts, DERs 50th anniversary and other special screening and events, and is engaged in visioning the organization for the next 50 years. Alice instituted the John Marshall Award at the Camden International Film Festival to recognize new works in ethnographic film, and Filmmaker Pitch sessions in conjunction with the Society of Visual Anthropology. Recognized as one of 40 women leaders in ethnographic film at the Margaret Mead Film Festival’s 40th Anniversary, she regularly serves on juries, distribution panels and meets with filmmakers at filmmaker convenings and festivals. Prior to coming to DER she was a co-coordinator of the SVA Film Festival and jury member for three years, produced short films for educational and non-profit organizations and worked as a consultant for film and museum clients conducting rough cut screenings, formative evaluations, and impact studies.  Alice has a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and Certificate in Culture and Media from NYU.

Meet the Panelists

Sara Archambault is a Creative Producer dedicated to the craft of artful nonfiction storytelling. She has an extensive professional history in production, programming and foundation work, including 10 years as Program Director at the LEF Foundation, and 9 years as Head Programmer/Founder of the award-winning documentary film series The DocYard. Past producing credits include Emmy-nominated documentary Traces of the Trade (Sundance, POV 2008), Sundance-supported Street Fighting Men (IFFBoston 2017, OVID 2020), award-winning short Community Patrol (Big Sky, T/F 2018, The Atlantic Selects 2019) and Truth or Consequences (Rotterdam 2020). Sara's work has received support from Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance Film Institute, SFFILM, Hot Docs International Pitch Forum, Film Independent, Stella Artois/Women in Film Finishing Fund and IFP Spotlight on Documentaries among others. Sara is an Impact Partners Producing Fellow for 2020; she was a Sundance Creative Producers Lab Fellow and sited among the "Ten to Watch" by The Independent in 2013.

As WGBH’s Senior Director of Programming, Ron Bachman oversees programming for the Boston station’s slate of six public television channels, including its two primary channels, WGBH 2 and WGBX 44, as well as channels in Springfield, MA and New Hampshire.  He was instrumental in the creation and launch of WGBH’s digital channels in 2004—the largest expansion of the station’s television services since 1967—including the non-fiction/documentary WORLD Channel, which is nationally distributed to 74 markets across the US, representing 72% of US TV households.  He is a past board member, vice president and president of the Public Television Programming Association (PTPA), a professional development organization.  In 2010, the PTPA presented him with an Outstanding Leadership Award “for exemplary leadership and commitment to public television programmers,” and in 2013, American Public Television honored him with its annual “Most Valuable Player” award. He has served on the editorial committees of the public television series P.O.V. and Reel South, and from 1990 to 1995, as a sideline, he wrote host Diana Rigg’s commentary for the PBS series Mystery!

Born in Los Angeles, Maori Karmael Holmes is a curator, filmmaker and writer. She founded BlackStar Film Festival in 2012 and serves as its Artistic Director and CEO. Included in Essence Magazine’s 2019 Woke 100 List, she is also a 2019 Soros Equality Fellow. She has organized programs in film at a myriad of organizations including Anthology Film Archives, Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), The Underground Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art—where she most recently organized screening programs in conjunction with the 2019 Biennial. As a director, her works have screened internationally including her feature documentary Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip-Hop (2006). She has also directed and produced works for Colorlines.com, Visit Philadelphia, and singer-songwriter India.Arie. Maori received her MFA in Film & Media Arts from Temple University and her BA in History from American University. She currently serves on the board of American Documentary (POV), the advisory boards of Ulises, Vidiots, and Lightbox Film Center, and was a juror for the 2019 Full Frame Film Festival and the 2019 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. Maori also serves as Mediamaker-in-Residence at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Curator-at-Large at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and a Creative Strategist with Blackbird.   

DER is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that distributes, produces, and supports documentary & ethnographic media for cross-cultural understanding.  



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