Fledgling is committed to strengthening the social issue documentary field and to sharing what we have learned from our grantees, our partners and our work. Our goal is to build the capacity of our grantees and social issue documentary filmmakers working on projects designed to educate, engage and achieve positive social change. We believe it is important to:

• Raise the profile of social issue documentary film
• Provide platforms to test and deepen audience engagement ideas
• Foster connections among diverse stakeholders
• Build outreach and audience engagement skills among our grantees and others interested in using film to advance change
• Assess and communicate documentary film’s impact on individuals, communities, corporations and policymakers

FLEDGLING'S RECENT FIELD BUILDING

Film Festival and Events

We have supported a number of festivals and events, such as Good Pitch, Rooftop Films, True/False Film Festival, Environmental Film Festival and Silverdocs, all of which provide strong platforms for social issue documentaries. Our funding has supported panels and discussions, created space for cross-sector convening, as well as tested new approaches to audience engagement.

Filmmaker Residencies

In partnership with Chicken and Egg Pictures and Working Films, we have supported a number of thematic grantee residencies: 
Reel Girls, Reel Power, Reel Education, Reel Food, Reel Economy. Each residency brought together a group of filmmakers all working around a similar issue and provided opportunities for them to strengthen their audience engagement plans and learn from others and share their projects with nonprofits, activists and funders.

Trainings and Institutes

We support institutes and training programs, open to the social issue filmmaking field, that are designed to build skills and provide space to share lessons and push new thinking in social issue storytelling and engagement. Funding has supported programs such as Firelight Media’s Producer’s Institute, Bay Area Video Coalition’s Producers Institute and our own Reel Change, launched in partnership with Working Films, that provides an opportunity to explore and deepen expertise in outreach and audience engagement.

Documenting and Communicating Impact

We believe that it is critical to track and share the impact of social issue documentary film. We support our grantees in their efforts to document and assess the impact of their projects. We also provide support for the development of tools, like Sparkwise, that we believe can strengthen efforts to capture and share the film’s impact.

Research Papers and Case Studies

We are committed to sharing what we have learned with our grantees and with the field. We have authored papers and also share case studies that focus on the work of our grantees and what they have learned. Check out our Resources page for more information.