Nonfiction Works-in-Progress Series
Contribute to the creative process today to help shape the stories of tomorrow.
Film Independent’s Nonfiction Work in Progress Screening Series offers documentary filmmakers a place to share their projects to receive constructive feedback.
Audiences are invited to watch films as they enter the final stages of editing, offering feedback via in-depth surveys and a moderated discussion, helping to ready their projects for festivals and distribution.
Screenings are held throughout the year in our very own Film Independent Theater.
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Submit Your Film
Submit your application here. Applications submitted as a Word doc or via email will not be considered.
The program is open to filmmakers located anywhere, but the director and/or key members of the creative team must be able to attend the screening in person. We accept nonfiction projects with a minimum runtime of 40 minutes and no longer than 120 minutes.
What Will I Become?
Monday, April 14, 2025 | 7:00 pm PT
Film Independent Theater
Homecoming king Blake Brockington and soft-spoken Kyler Prescott were poets, musicians, and community advocates. The film traces their joys and challenges, their tragic deaths and resulting media attention, and the larger aftermath within their communities. What Will I Become? asks why the transmasculine+ community is particularly vulnerable to living and dying quietly.
Co-Directors: Lexie Bean (in-person) and Logan Rozos
Producers: Drew Dickler, David Sherwin, Geoff Pingree
Executive Producer: Ricki Stern
Editor: Miles Hill
Director of Photography: Fletcher Wolfe
Composer: Perigee Vitz-Wong (in-person)
Additional Music: MeiLi Carling and Fiona Chamness
Animation: Daniel Lobb and Juan Rozo
Moderator: Daniel Cardone
Admission is free. Please RSVP here.
Baby Doe
Monday, November 4, 2024 | 7:00 pm PT
Film Independent Theater
As a young woman in a conservative Christian community, Gail gave birth alone and left her newborn in the woods. Decades later, she’s arrested for murder, despite her claim that the baby was stillborn. As her trial approaches, Gail must confront her denial and shame to reconcile with her past.
Director/Producer/Cinematographer: Jessica Earnshaw
Producer: Holly Meehl Chapman
Moderator: Alana Waksman
in love, in memory
Monday, July 22, 2024 | 7:00 pm PT
Film Independent Theater
To preserve delicate memories of her son and buried histories of the city he was killed in, a mother composes an elegiac portrait of love, loss, and legacy with her community.
Director/Producer: Drew Swedberg (in-person)
Director/Producer: Shalon Buskirk (virtually)
Moderator: Daniel Cardone
Exodus Stories
Monday, May 6, 2024 | 7:00 pm PT
Film Independent Theater
Through intimate access, EXODUS STORIES follows the gripping high stakes journeys of three Central American immigrants who join the tumultuous 2018-19 mass migrant caravans fleeing threats, violence, and seeking refuge in the United States at a time when asylum is under siege. Their unwavering determination and resilience are tested, raising the crucial question: in a world where hope is scarce, can their immigrant spirit prevail?
Director/Producer: Ilse Fernandez
Producer: Michele Farinola
Moderator: Daniel Cardone
Untitled Wastewater Documentary
Monday, January 29, 2024 | 7:00 pm PT
Film Independent Theater
As America’s aging wastewater system begins to fail, one plant does all it can to stay afloat. Plant manager Dustin Price, together with his dedicated team, battle aging infrastructure, “forever chemicals” and the misconceptions of an odor-averse public to keep Portland, Maine clean and healthy.
Director/DP: Alex W Lewis
Director/Writer: Kaitlyn Schwalje
Producers: Rebecca Stern, Justin Levy
Editors: Katharina Stroh, Alexander Heringer
Moderator: Daniel Cardone