2025 DOC CHICAGO
Fri, Dec 5– Sat, Dec 6, 2025
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Doc Chicago invites the regional documentary community to come together, share ideas, and learn from each other. Doc Chicago is rooted in a spirit of mutual aid and we are so grateful to the many local filmmakers who are contributing their expertise and time as speakers, moderators, and volunteers this year – we couldn't do this without you! And much gratitude to the Chicago Film Office/DCASE for hosting us again at the beautiful Chicago Cultural Center!
Join us on Friday, Dec 5th for a great lineup of locally produced short docs at Chicago Filmmakers (separate admission applies) and on Saturday, Dec 6th for a free gathering that features panels, speakers and opportunities to mingle with other filmmakers at the Chicago Cultural Center. |
Chicago Cultural Center, Studio Theater, first floor,
78 E. Washington Street, Chicago Randolph Street entrance recommended for easier access |
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FRIDAY, Dec 5, 2025, 7pm
Chicago Filmmakers DOC CHICAGO SHORTS – Filmmakers in attendance! We're excited to kick off this year's Doc Chicago conference with a showcase of recent short documentaries that highlight the diversity of concerns, stories and styles shaping Chicago's vibrant documentary scene. The program features several brand-new works, including A Little Graffiti This Morning (2025, 14 min), veteran producer Fenell Doremus's offbeat yet tender portrait of her 85-year-old dad's weekly graffiti cleanup. In Magic Brown Artist (2025, 13 min), filmmaker Dinesh Sabu and visual artist victor yañez-lazcano are drawn into a surreal hybrid documentary that explores what it means to make art while being brown. From Icelandic filmmaker Gríma Irmudóttir–who has made Chicago home for several years–comes the award-winning Minningaspor (Memory Traces) (2025, 19 min), a deeply personal and poetic meditation on loss and grief. Festival favorite Broken Flight (2024, 18 min) by Erika Valenciana and Mitchell Wenkus follows Chicago Bird Collision Monitors as they rescue injured birds, presenting a lens of environmental change that impacts every landscape. Truth & Documentary’s Kidnapping is Not a Career (2025, 5 min) observes what happens at the Chicago Job Fair where U.S. Customs and Border Patrol had a recruitment table. Rounding out the program is a special sneak-preview of Paloma Martinez' Ricky Leaves (26 min), in which her brother Ricardo prepares to move out of his childhood home just as their parents plan to return to their native Mexico. When the siblings watch their long-forgotten home movies, what they discover is not quite what they remember. Total program runs approximately 90 minutes, followed by a Q+A with the artists. Chicago Filmmakers 1326 W Hollywood Ave, Chicago, IL 60660 Tickets can be purchased via Chicago Filmmakers' website. |
SATURDAY, DEC 6, 2025, noon-5pm
Chicago Cultural Center
Studio Theater, first floor – entering from the Randolph Street entrance is recommended
78 E. Washington Street
DOC CHICAGO
Join us for a day of informative panels, small group discussions, short flash presentations, and opportunities to meet other documentary filmmakers, share what you're working on, and potentially find new collaborators.
Tip: Bring a refillable water bottle – a bottle refilling station is located on the first floor close to our meeting space.
Chicago Cultural Center
Studio Theater, first floor – entering from the Randolph Street entrance is recommended
78 E. Washington Street
DOC CHICAGO
Join us for a day of informative panels, small group discussions, short flash presentations, and opportunities to meet other documentary filmmakers, share what you're working on, and potentially find new collaborators.
Tip: Bring a refillable water bottle – a bottle refilling station is located on the first floor close to our meeting space.
What's on the program?
"Ask Me Anything" Circles
Join our topic-driven version of “speed-dating”! Each corner of the room will have one or two experts who will engage in small group conversations about a specific topic, be it documentary producing, editing, cinematography, or sound. This will be a fun way to meet new people while learning from accomplished filmmakers like Margaret Byrne (Beti Films), Eric Seals and Donnie Seals Jr. (Digifé), Leslie Simmer, Judith McCray (Juneteenth Productions), Kayo Williams (Kayquarii Productions), Rich Pooler, and Risé Sanders-Weir.
Flash Presentations
Interspersed throughout the afternoon, these brief presentations will cover topics ranging from archives to AI to the DPA's ethics resource library. Presenters will include Ashley Dequilla, Alexandra Halkin, Risé Sanders-Weir, among others.
"Ask Me Anything" Circles
Join our topic-driven version of “speed-dating”! Each corner of the room will have one or two experts who will engage in small group conversations about a specific topic, be it documentary producing, editing, cinematography, or sound. This will be a fun way to meet new people while learning from accomplished filmmakers like Margaret Byrne (Beti Films), Eric Seals and Donnie Seals Jr. (Digifé), Leslie Simmer, Judith McCray (Juneteenth Productions), Kayo Williams (Kayquarii Productions), Rich Pooler, and Risé Sanders-Weir.
Flash Presentations
Interspersed throughout the afternoon, these brief presentations will cover topics ranging from archives to AI to the DPA's ethics resource library. Presenters will include Ashley Dequilla, Alexandra Halkin, Risé Sanders-Weir, among others.
Case Study: You Don’t Know Chi
What goes into producing a successful short form series? In this case study, we'll learn about You Don’t Know Chi, an Emmy Awards winning series created and hosted by Chicago historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, taking viewers on a journey through Chicago’s rich history and diverse neighborhoods. Directed by Eric D. Seals and Donnie Seals Jr. for their production company Digifé. Moderated by Cindy Martin.
What goes into producing a successful short form series? In this case study, we'll learn about You Don’t Know Chi, an Emmy Awards winning series created and hosted by Chicago historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas, taking viewers on a journey through Chicago’s rich history and diverse neighborhoods. Directed by Eric D. Seals and Donnie Seals Jr. for their production company Digifé. Moderated by Cindy Martin.
Panel 1: Documentary Storytelling and Media Activism
Chicago became an unexpected epicenter of America’s immigration story – a sanctuary city in the crosshairs of the Trump Administration's immigration policy. While CBP and ICE were patrolling the city and suburbs to often times violently abduct immigrants, neighbors came together to protect one another. This panel will explore how documentary storytelling and media activism address this crisis, delving into issues of filmmaker safety, subject protection and care, and the pitfalls of social media. The panel features Arise Chicago organizer Jorge Mújica alongside award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Carlos Javier Ortiz and producer and Director of Americas Media Initiative, Alexandra Halkin, who will discuss their work-in-progress feature documentary El Sueño/The Dream. Moderated by Alex Morelli.
Panel 2: DIY Distribution
The speakers on this panel will share valuable experience about how they've approached educational distribution, setting up film tours, impact producing, and navigating the PBS system with their independent docs. Panelists will include filmmaker and New Day member Kyle Henry (Time Passages), veteran PBS producer Dan Protess (In Their Hands, From Rails to Trails), and Naomi Walker (Global Impact Producers Alliance). Moderated by producer Risé Sanders-Weir.
Chicago became an unexpected epicenter of America’s immigration story – a sanctuary city in the crosshairs of the Trump Administration's immigration policy. While CBP and ICE were patrolling the city and suburbs to often times violently abduct immigrants, neighbors came together to protect one another. This panel will explore how documentary storytelling and media activism address this crisis, delving into issues of filmmaker safety, subject protection and care, and the pitfalls of social media. The panel features Arise Chicago organizer Jorge Mújica alongside award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Carlos Javier Ortiz and producer and Director of Americas Media Initiative, Alexandra Halkin, who will discuss their work-in-progress feature documentary El Sueño/The Dream. Moderated by Alex Morelli.
Panel 2: DIY Distribution
The speakers on this panel will share valuable experience about how they've approached educational distribution, setting up film tours, impact producing, and navigating the PBS system with their independent docs. Panelists will include filmmaker and New Day member Kyle Henry (Time Passages), veteran PBS producer Dan Protess (In Their Hands, From Rails to Trails), and Naomi Walker (Global Impact Producers Alliance). Moderated by producer Risé Sanders-Weir.
Discussion: The Road Forward
We’ll close out our day in small group discussions reflecting on the challenges our field faces, dreams and responsibilities we share, and actions we can take locally. We invite you to share the issues you face and bring your own ideas about the future of documentary to these conversations with other filmmakers.
Find out what we do throughout the year and sign up for our mailing list here.
We’ll close out our day in small group discussions reflecting on the challenges our field faces, dreams and responsibilities we share, and actions we can take locally. We invite you to share the issues you face and bring your own ideas about the future of documentary to these conversations with other filmmakers.
Find out what we do throughout the year and sign up for our mailing list here.