Documentary Film Council Releases Open Letter on State of Independent Documentary Industry
The newly established Documentary Film Council, whose board is chaired by Roisín Geraghty, has released an open letter warning of the existential crisis facing the documentary film industry. Published on 9 October 2023, it states:
“An open letter to the UK screen industries: independent documentary is at risk
This is an open letter from the UK’s independent documentary film industry. We are raising the alarm about the very serious challenges facing our sector and the urgent need to support the Documentary Film Council (DFC), a new national organisation for UK documentary that launched at Sheffield DocFest in June.
Owned and run by and for its members, the DFC has been developed in consultation with hundreds of filmmakers working in collaboration with UKRI-funded researchers. It was co-designed with all the major organisations in the field – Doc Society, Sheffield DocFest, the Grierson Trust, The Whickers, Scottish Documentary Institute, Docs Ireland, BBC Storyville and others – and is based on the recognition that independent documentary in the UK faces an existential threat and that there is urgent need for coordinated, long-term interventions across the sector.”
