DOK Industry Podcast

Immersive media keeps evolving – but what will endure once the novelty fades? This UK–Germany conversation examines the forces shaping XR’s future, from sustainability and long-term structures to new creative practices. For anyone curious about where immersive media is truly heading, this episode offers rare insight, honest debate, and real inspiration.

In this conversation, cultural workers Abhishek Nilamber and Laura Kloeckner speak with film curator Lucy Mukerjee about their research with United Screens, sourcing the experiences of filmmakers and mapping pathways to audiences in the Global South, as well as their latest project Meshdia, which proposes a collaborative infrastructure for circulating cinema.

What kind of map do creators and institutions need to navigate, select, and support meaningful XR experiences for the next generation? Our guests discuss what exists, what is missing, and how ethical design and curation can foster imagination, agency, and digital literacy – while strengthening critical thinking in an era where real and fake constantly blur.

Iranian filmmaker Saleh Kashefi, Brazilian curator Heitor Augusto, and Talking Shorts commissioning editor Sanne Jehoul discuss what tensions and challenges they encounter in making, programming and viewing political short form work in the context of a Euro/Western-centric and elite festival circuit.

Host Toni Achebe Bell talks with Ranell Shubert, Executive Director of the Disability Media Alliance (DMA), about reimagining nonfiction film through a disability justice lens. From research to reality, they unpack how disabled media makers are building power and shifting resources.

How do we navigate intercultural exchange for short films in the current political climate? Cultural workers Nihan Sivridag, Puiyee Leong, and Qila Gill sit down to discuss how care, collaboration, and radical practice shape short films in times of crisis and change.

In this episode of What’s Up With Docs in collaboration with DOK Industry Podcast, Toni Bell sits down with Claudia Chavez and Christine Mladic Janney, the creative forces behind Searching for Nora, a film honoring Nora de Izcue, Peru's pioneering filmmaker. The conversation delves into their journey to recover Nora’s lost film prints, exploring the significance of film archives and cultural preservation. They also share insights into the unique challenges of documentary filmmaking, particularly in Peru, where recent attacks on the National Film Law have ignited passionate responses from the filmmaking community.

Docubox is East Africa's first independent film fund, started by filmmakers for filmmakers. Its goal is to challenge ideas and assumptions about Africa and the world, engage local and international audiences, and provoke dialogue and debate. Join Docubox’s founder, Judy Kibinge, as she speaks with three of the fund's first grantees on a trip down memory lane. Through this lively and frank conversation, audiences will understand what a growing community of filmmakers can achieve

How our ears perceive space can transform storytelling! Weronika Lewandowska and Oliver Kadel engage with experts Aili Niimura and Ana Monte to explore spatial audio's role in visual narratives, XR, and dome experiences. They discuss inclusivity in sound design and share tips for crafting immersive soundscapes. Discover the creative processes behind this technology and its impact on storytelling.

How can BIPOC filmmakers uplift the stories of the communities from which they come? In this episode American Documentary’s Executive Director, Erika Dilday, sits down Chloe Abrahams, the filmmaker behind POV’s The Taste of Mango, and Dawne Langford, Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough and Erricka Bridgeford, of POV’s The Body Politic, to explore the nuances and importance of community storytelling.

Oppositional film is becoming more critical in resisting the pervasive influence of neoliberal values across the globe. Join filmmakers Jean Marie Teno, Pratibha Parmar, and curator Inney Prakash as they reflect on their oppositional film practices and the challenge to sustain them in an increasingly market-driven world.

Join us for a conversation with producer Apoorva Bakshi, director Selvamani Selvaraj and social impact pioneer Srishti Bakshi, who delve deep into two compelling and groundbreaking Indian stories. Hear Part 2 of the episode with Srishti and Apoorva Bakshi on WOMB: Women of My Billion.

Join us for a conversation with producer Apoorva Bakshi, director Selvamani Selvaraj and social impact pioneer Srishti Bakshi, who delve deep into two compelling and groundbreaking Indian stories. Hear Part 1 of the episode with Selvamani Selvaraj and Apoorva Bakshi on The Hunt for Veerappan today. Part 2 with Srishti and Apoorva Bakshi will be coming soon.

This conversation is a celebration. It’s a dive into creative liberation and the possibilities with the right resources and validation delivered with care. Join Lanaa Dantzler, Contessa Gayles, and Shakira Refos for an investigation of pipeline programs and different types of mentorship methods.

How can we create a discursive way of thinking to achieve disruptive practices and creations in the face of the dominant Western aesthetic, to finally achieve a Plural World Cinema in the image of our Humanity? Indeed, by placing the question of Aesthetics at the centre, we raise the question of Imaginaries: is there one and the same type of Imaginary, one canvas of symbolism, language and values?

Step into the captivating realm of AI-driven storytelling creations. In conversation with Mads Dambso, the producer and creative technologist behind the groundbreaking film “About a Hero”, we explore the essence of AI-human creative exchange and learn how we can go beyond the limits of our imagination with new generative tools.

Filmmakers Carlos Hagerman & Jorge Villalobos and Camrus Johnson & Pedro Piccinini share their thoughts on creativity, truth, intentionality, chance and the magic that happens when making a film as a gift takes on a life of its own.

In this episode, Toni Bell speaks with filmmaker, mentor, activist, and co-founder of Re-Present Media, Jennifer Crystal Chien. They chatted about how Jennifer got into docs, her commitment to advocacy, and the field-building and changing work at Re-Present Media.

The usual documentary filmmaking is no longer applicable in Hong Kong since the new national security law. Filmmakers who still believe in the power of documentary need to be creative to overcome all newly added obstacles — funding, subjects’ consent and distribution. Three experienced documentary filmmakers share with us their insights into the journey of overcoming this huge mountain.

The politics of museums is very much in the contemporary global zeitgeist. In this episode, documentary filmmakers Sameer Farooq and Marley McDonald together in conversation with Aisha Jamal contemplate what their films bring to the conversation of objects, collections and the encyclopedic museum. How can documentary uniquely contribute to this burning issue?

A conversation on the American Non-Profit Industrial Complex and interrogating how these organisations “mission wash” their role in maintaining a status quo within the documentary ecosystem, harming its labour force. Bedatri Datta Choudhury in conversation with Shakira Refos and Hansen Bursic. DOK Leipzig in collaboration with Programmers of Colour Collective POC2.

Filmmaker and archivist Jihan El-Tahri and creator, host of The What’s Up with Docs podcast, and archival researcher Toni Bell chat once more one year into Jihan’s multi-disciplinary project, “People’s Stories – Past & Present: Bridging the Silenced and Liminal Spaces of African Imagery”. Toni Bell in conversation with Jihan El-Tahri. DOK Leipzig in collaboration with What's Up With Docs.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion are the buzzwords that litter program initiatives in the entertainment industry as of late. This podcast will discuss ongoing efforts by change makers in the Festival space to close and challenge the systemic access gap for programmers of color. Irene Soriano in conversation with Lucy Jane Mukerjee and Faridah Gbadamosi.

“The Culture of Film Curating” shines a light on outstanding curators and explores the unique cultural practices that they bring to their work. The discussion will focus on collaborating with various types of institutions while working to preserve a plurality of international film cultures. Greg de Cuir Jr in conversation with Alia Ayman and Matthew Barrington.

Moderated by Claire Diao, a conversation with Jihan El-Tahri, Jean-Marie Téno, Femi Odugbemi. DOK Leipzig in collaboration with POC2, Programmers of Colour Collective.

A comedic look at recent pop-culture documentaries exposing abuse practices wrapped in positivity culture. Curated and moderated by Shakira Refos, a conversation with Cate Stuart and Jawara Gordon. DOK Leipzig in collaboration with POC2, Programmers of Colour Collective.

The Caribbean has traditionally been dominated by Hollywood, and the kinds of films made by the region’s filmmakers often tends to reflect that dominance. Might there be room for other, more experimental approaches to filmmaking? DOK Leipzig in collaboration with POC2, Programmers of Colour Collective.

In the larger mainstream cinematic space, or even film festival space, there is an acute shortage of both narrative and documentary films made and exhibited with brown LGBTQ+ stories at its center. Curated and moderated by Sridhar Rangayan, a conversation with Sonal Giani, Kalki Subramaniam and Arshad Wasi Khan. DOK Leipzig in collaboration with POC2, Programmers of Colour Collective.

During this conversation, the creator and host of the What’s Up with Docs Podcast and archival researcher Toni Bell will speak with artist, writer, filmmaker, and teacher Mariam Ghani about her latest project “What We Left Unfinished” which is executive produced by Alysa Nahamis. DOK Leipzig in collaboration with The What’s Up With Docs Podcast.

Filmmaker and archivist Jihan El Tahri and creator, host of The What’s Up with Docs podcast and archival researcher Toni Bell talk about the manifesto “Liberate the Image” which was a call to action to make archives more accessible to content creators living in the Global South.

Reflecting on current calls to decolonise documentary film practices and to expand filmic canons, filmmaker Rosine Mbakam and festival founder and director Mahen Bonetti discuss the particulars of community-oriented production and exhibition practices with independent programmer Abby Sun.

In this podcast episode, Chioma Onyenwe and Theresa Hill tell us about some of their favourite African documentaries made by African filmmakers.

Let’s start by having an honest conversation about whiteness and the role arts administrators play on the self-perception of Black kids through the media culture we curate.

From the Oscars to the Césars, the needle of French cinema has been brought forward by a series of public debates on gender parity, inclusion and the representation of Black and other marginalised groups onscreen. In the 33 years which span the awards handed down to both Black French women filmmakers, has their filmmaking gaze changed?

This conversation explores the many ways in which alliances, solidarities and joint platforms are being formed in Latin America between Indigenous-led film organizations and those led by Afro-descended peoples.