Docs in Progress

Docs in Progress is a film organization based in Washington DC which showcases works in progress by up-and-coming and established documentary filmmakers.

History

Docs in Progress is a 501c3 non-profit arts organization. It was founded in 2004 by documentary filmmakers Adele Schmidt and Erica Ginsberg. It started as a small-scale series of screenings of works-in-progress by Washington DC-area independent documentary filmmakers first at the Warehouse Theater and later at the Jack Morton Auditorium on the campus of George Washington University. It then grew to include workshops in other cities and partnerships with film festivals and organizations such as The Documentary Center. It has also spawned a blog, Docs Interactive. It is located in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland at "The Documentary House" where workshops, classes, screenings, consultations and networking events are held. It also provides fiscal sponsorship to documentary filmmakers.

Docs in Progress screens two or three unfinished documentaries at every workshop. Following each screening, the audience participates in an interactive feedback session with the filmmaker(s). Films have been shown by everyone from students to well-established documentary filmmakers like Nina Seavey and Aviva Kempner. Workshops are open to the general public so that filmmakers can get feedback from the kind of audiences they are trying to reach. In 2006, Docs in Progress co-sponsored with DocuClub a work-in-progress screening of Ken Burns’ The War at the Silverdocs Film Festival.

External links

• Docs in Progress Official Site
• Docs Interactive Blog

References

• So you wanna be a film critic?, Washington Post, November 11, 2005
• [1], Documentary Magazine, June/July 2006
• The Doc Blogs: Part of a Thriving Online Film Community, indieWIRE, March 2007
• [2]