Breaking Boundaries: Pushing Form in Nonfiction

Documentary has a unique power to change minds and move hearts around big issues that affect people’s lives in adverse ways. It is a difficult craft to tell underrepresented stories and to share tough truths on screen. But when the burden of sharing trauma is placed on those most affected by injustice, is this the only way to inspire change, and who does it serve?

How can we work to tackle tropes in nonfiction, particularly around darker subject matter – to allow pride and defiance to shine? How do we break away from the expected to f*ck with form and push formats further? Pat Abboud (Only Human/Dreamchaser Studios) leads a timely conversation with Sundance award-winner and Grammy nominee D. Smith, whose 2023 documentary Kokomo City, became a global sensation thanks to its honest and unflinching insight into the lives of four glamorous Black trans sex workers. Joining D. and Pat on the panel are John Harvey, whose radical archive documentary Still We Rise won Best Documentary / Factual Single at the 2023 AIDC Awards, as well as Sally Aitken, whose visionary documentary Every Little Thing recently competed in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

 

Image Credit: Liyah Mitchell in KOKOMO CITY, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures