Documentary Development

Join FILM FATALES, DOCLANDS, and DOC NYC for a panel discussion about Documentary Development with filmmakers Daresha Kyi (Mama Bears), Iliana Sosa (What We Leave Behind), and Kristy Guevara-Flanagan (Águilas).

Filmmakers straight off their SXSW premiers discuss their creative and practical processes for developing documentary features. How do you choose a compelling subject and see it through with authenticity, creativity, and sensitivity? Where do you find funding and how do you build trust with your subjects and audience? How do we address implicit and explicit biases and make efforts to decolonize docs? Learn how to take action on your inspirations from these accomplished artists.

This public event will be accessible with live captioning and a video replay link will be available for 48 hours after. See you soon!

​​Daresha Kyi is an Emmy Award–winning director who also writes and produces film and television in Spanish and English. A graduate of NYU Film School, Mama Bears is her second feature documentary. In 2018 she was commissioned by the ACLU to direct Trans In America: Texas Strong, which garnered over 3.5 million views online, screened at SXSW, and won two Webby Awards and an Emmy for “Outstanding Short Documentary.” Texas Strong is a stand-alone short that also serves as a proof of concept for Mama Bears. In 2017 she co-directed and co-produced Chavela, a multiple award-winning documentary about iconic singer Chavela Vargas that was distributed domestically by Music Box Pictures, screened in over 40 countries, and was recently ranked the Number One Latin American Documentary of the Decade by CineArte magazine. She has also produced Dispatches From Cleveland, Kristina Wong’s How Not to Pick Up Asian Women, and Emmy-winning writer Kevin Avery’s comedies The Whizz and Thugs, The Musical. Daresha’s films have been funded by ITVS, NEA, NYSCA, the Jerome Foundation, and numerous others. A former fellow in the Firelight Media Documentary, Chicken & Egg Eggcelerator, Creative Capital, and A Blade of Grass programs, Daresha has an extensive background producing content for FX, WE, AMC, Telemundo, and FUSE, among other networks.

Iliana Sosa is a documentary and narrative fiction filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. She was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, by Mexican immigrant parents. A former Bill Gates Millennium Scholar, she holds an MFA in film production and directing from UCLA. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Steven Bochco Fellowship, the Hollywood Foreign Press Award, the Edie and Lew Wasserman Fellowship and the National Hispanic Foundation of the Arts Scholarship, among others. Iliana has directed short documentaries, fiction shorts and a narrative fiction feature, Detained In The Desert, which had its World Premiere at the 2012 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. In 2017, Firelight Media awarded her an Impact Producer Fellowship. In 2018, she was selected as a Berlinale Talent and co-directed a short documentary, An Uncertain Future, with Chelsea Hernandez. The short screened at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival and won a Jury Award for Best Texas Short. It also screened at the 2018 Aspen ShortsFest where it won the Youth Jury Award. She was a 2018–2019 Sundance Institute Development Fellow with her first feature documentary, Lo que dejamos atras. The film has received additional support from the Ford Foundation and participated in the 2019 True/False Catapult Retreat and the 2020 IFP Documentary Lab. Iliana has also participated in the Logan Nonfiction Residency and the Jacob Burns Residency with the project.

Kristy Guevara-Flanagan is an Associate Professor at UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television where she heads the MFA Directing Documentary concentration. She has been making documentary films that focus on gender and representation for nearly two decades, starting with a 1999 experimental documentary about a blow-up doll (which screened at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, among other venues). Guevara-Flanagan’s documentary and experimental films have screened at the Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, and HotDocs film festivals and the Getty Museum. Her work has been broadcast on PBS and the Sundance Channel, received numerous awards, and been funded by ITVS, the Sundance Institute, the Tribeca Institute, Latino Public Broadcasting and California Humanities.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Who is participating?

This public webinar is open to filmmakers and film lovers of all backgrounds.

Will this be recorded?

Yes, the panel discussion will be recorded and a video replay link will be shared the day after for those unable to attend live.

Will I need to turn my camera on?

No, it will not be possible to turn your camera on.

Will I be able to ask questions?

Yes, you can send in questions in advance or ask during the event in the Q&A box.

When will I receive the link to join?

You will receive the Zoom link upon RSVP and a reminder will be sent the day of the event.

Film Fatales organizes panel discussions, educational workshops and networking mixers focused on amplifying marginalized voices in film and television. Capacity is limited. The session will be recorded for those unable to participate in the live program. Your participation constitutes your consent to being recorded and photographed during the event and to Film Fatales sharing those recordings and photos with the world. Please contact us if you require an accessible accommodation.