How Documentary Orgs Serving People of Color Are Coming Together to Survive and Thrive

Two years ago, documentary impact strategists Sahar Driver and Sonya Childress launched Color Congress to build a coalition among doc organizations that serve filmmakers and/or audiences of color.

Today, Color Congress has published a new report that lays out how solidarity among these groups has impacted the field for them all. “The People of Color Documentary Ecosystem: Engines for a New American Narrative” notes that in 2023, the 100-plus organizations collectively served 15,000 filmmakers and more than 10,000 doc film professionals and reached more than 20 million audience members – even though 24 percent of the groups operated on less than $50,000 annually and 17 percent had no staff, full- or part-time, at all.

The impact of such organizations has been seen all the way at the very top – all five Oscar-nominated documentary shorts this year came from directors who had passed through Color Congress member groups. Going forward, the coalition will continue to amplify their impact through solidarity via in-person gatherings (such as its inaugural National Convening in Atlanta last fall), financial support (Color Congress is looking to raise $300,000 annually for its Field Building Fund) and creative ways to meet each other’s needs.

The top need, as identified by the members, is distribution for their independent docs. As such, Color Congress is planning to use Field Building Fund dollars to build an infrastructure that supports collective marketing and distribution, step one of a multiphase initiative to support a slate of films from the coalition in 2024-25.

“Behind every documentary that transforms our understanding of the world is a talented filmmaker – and behind them, an ecosystem that supports their creative vision,” Driver and Childress said in a joint statement. “Color Congress members play a pivotal yet often-invisible role providing culturally-rooted spaces where filmmakers of color can nurture and sharpen their stories and reach diverse audiences. After two years of growing and deepening this incredible network of POC-led filmmaker- and audience-supporting organizations, we are so thrilled to share this report about who Color Congress members are, and the collective vision and bold solutions they are leading with.”