NeXt Doc is a year-long national fellowship that brings together emerging non-fiction storytellers from diverse backgrounds with award-winning non-fiction filmmakers to learn, share, and build their skills. Opening with a week-long in-person retreat, NeXt Doc fellows are invited to not only explore and challenge their understanding of the turbulent history, frameworks, and practices of Documentary, but to envision a new one!
Throughout the year, fellows are presented with numerous opportunities to expand their networks and amplify their voices, while forming deep relationships and fostering community amongst their cohort. Year-round programming include peer-to-peer screenings, masterclasses, skill-sharing workshops, mentorship, and numerous opportunities to explore project development, narrative structure, treatment writing, budgeting, documentary history and critical explorations of core values for ethical and accountable non-fiction filmmaking as presented by the Documentary Accountability Working Group.
As a program of Youth FX, NeXt Doc fellows intrinsically gain access to a rich and diverse staff, community, and network of artists that center a bold, liberatory, radically inclusive intergenerational filmic experience and landscape for emerging non-fiction storytellers. NeXt Doc is funded in part by JustFilms Ford Foundation, Perspective Fund, MacArthur Foundation, The Academy for Arts and Motion Pictures Sciences, New York State Council on the Arts, NoVo Foundation, and the Sundance Institute.
Amplifying the Voices of Diverse Filmmakers
NeXt Doc gathers a dynamic community of emerging documentary filmmakers aged 21-25 and provides an inspiring eight days of learning, sharing and building community. We especially encourage Black, Brown, Indigenous, women and other people of color to apply..
Industry Professionals + Emerging Film Makers
Documentary filmmakers wear many hats; producer, director, cinematographer and editor, not to mention often working alone and with limited resources. From concept, budgeting, shooting and editing, to marketing and distribution, NeXt Doc provides an intensive look into the endless possibilities of non-fiction film from the perspectives of award-winning story-tellers currently challenging long-standing frameworks in form and praxis within documentary..
Our Approach
NeXt Doc is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for emerging nonfiction storytellers, offering a year-long fellowship experience that opens with a week-long in-person convening designed to build community and build their capacity to succeed at the beginning stage of their careers, and continues with virtual masterclasses and tailored mentorship throughout.
The NeXt Doc approach is built around four core principles:
EXPANDING SKILLS & ACCESS
Through a series of master classes with non-fiction filmmakers and hands-on workshops with Youth FX filmmaker/educators, participants engage in topics ranging from concept development, filming and editing, to marketing and distribution, and ethical and accountable practices that should be present at the onset of ideation. In addition to master classes NeXt Doc also features year-round workshops curated specifically to meet the needs of each individual within the cohort, and building long-standing, sustainable relationships across our diverse networks of former NeXt Doc fellows, industry, and community-based supporters.
CREATIVE EXPLORATION
The week-long NeXt Doc opening retreat includes outdoor excursions to boost creativity and time for self-reflection in an inspiring environment. This processes enhances master class discussions and informal exchanges, encouraging NeXt Doc fellows to be fully present while facilitating the forming of deep relationships and community building.
PEER-TO-PEER KNOWLEDGE SHARING
Through scheduled screening sessions of their work and informal exchanges, NeXt Doc challenges young filmmakers to talk about their work, give and receive critical feedback, learn from each other's experiences and brainstorm new ideas. These opportunities not only help to build skills and strengthen their storytelling techniques, but also create community, and provide a foundation for future collaborations as they develop careers.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Equitable access to resources is a barrier to diversity in documentary filmmaking. Networking with others in the field and supporters of a divergent documentary praxis is critical to securing resources. NeXt Doc connects young filmmakers to potential mentors and advisors already established in their own unique creative practice. These connections form the beginning of their professional network providing a foundation to build upon after each NeXt Doc cohort’s cycle ends.