The UnionDocs Collaborative Studio (CoLAB) will span 6 months, inviting a select group of media artists from the US and abroad to come together for a unique opportunity in one of NYC’s most exciting neighborhoods, Ridgewood, Queens.
The CoLAB offers a platform for exploring contemporary approaches to the documentary arts and a process for developing an innovative collaborative project with this group.
The program consists of weekly production meetings, seminars, screenings and other public events, along with regular critiques and encounters with visiting artists.
Program Dates & Deadlines
Jan 10—Jun 24, 2024
Collaborative Studio Program Dates
Oct 13, 2023
Applications Open
Nov 19, 2023 11:59pm ET
Final Application Deadline ($15 fee)
Oct 30, 2023 11:00am ET
Information Session
Hear about the Collaborative Studio from past fellows.
The UnionDocs Collaborative Studio (CoLAB) represents a new and alternative model of collaborative documentary production and professional development.
Rather than applying with a project proposal or rough cut, participants are selected on the basis of previous work and enter the program with a blank slate, open to discovery and fresh connections on new projects. The group of twelve emerging artists and filmmakers chosen to participate each year is international. UnionDocs offers residency and visa support for six participants coming from around the world with an equal number of spots reserved for local, non-resident participants. CoLAB is designed to be affordable and, although participants are asked to make it their primary creative focus, the schedule does accommodate full-time, part-time or freelance work.
UnionDocs is not simply the host for this activity, it takes an active role producing the collection of short documentary works that comprise the collaborative project, leading the group through an incremental process where new ideas and new partnerships form; each participant finding their own avenues of creative contribution. A carefully selected group of accomplished Program Mentors from diverse backgrounds across the film industry will offer input and guidance throughout the production and editing process alongside the UNDO team.
The group’s collection of work will take shape around a shared thematic focus, which for the next iteration will be grounded geographically in UnionDocs’ new neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens and nearby communities. Each team of collaborators will be asked to research locally to explore the cultural histories and present-day realities of our nearest surroundings. Building off UnionDocs’ history of doing groundbreaking community-based projects like Living Los Sures, we’re excited to invite engagement here in our new location. Our proximity to the borough boundary of Brooklyn and Queens is notable and leaves open many questions around what the New York Times has called a, “historic interborough murkiness” and with a wave of media attention calling Ridgewood one of the hippest neighborhoods in the world, the never-ending rise of median rents in Brooklyn, these demarcations and questions of neighborhood and borough identity are brought into sharper relief.
The Brooklyn Rail summed it up with the title of their feature article: “UnionDocs Brings Auteurs Together.” For some, participation in the program may lead to further study. For others, it may lead to independent projects and strengthened careers within the industry. For all, it is an unparalleled immersion in the expansive field of documentary art.
Over 20 Guest Artists and Experts
Participants attend intimate sessions with more than twenty visiting experts; artists, curators, producers, critics, and academics who represent some of the most exciting voices in the documentary field.
Visiting Guest Artists will often share detailed history of a particular project from both a practical and a theoretical perspective, and then enter into an extended discussion with the group about the different creative and practical aspects of project development. For a Seminar, a visiting expert will generally present a short lecture and then engage the group in a close reading of the week’s assigned media and texts.
Past & Current Guests
Abigail Child (The Future is Behind You)
Abigail E. Disney (The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales)
Akosua Adoma Owusu (Kwaku Ananse)
Alan Berliner (First Cousin Once Removed)
Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief)
Amie Siegel (Black Moon)
Andy Bichlbaum (The Yes Men)
Angelo Madsen Minax (North by Current)
Barbara Hammer (Artist)
Ben Russell (A Spell to Ward off the Darkness)
Benjamen Walker (Theory of Everything Podcast)
Bill Daniel (Who Is Bozo Texino?)
Bill Ross and Turner Ross (Contemporary Color)
Caspar Stracke (Artist and Curator)
Cassim Shepard (Urban Omnibus)
Caveh Zahedi (I Am a Sex Addict)
Craig Baldwin (Filmmaker, Founder of Other Cinema)
Dan Streible (Orphan Film Symposium)
Deanna Bowen (The Paul Good Papers)
Deborah Stratman (Last Things)
Derek Howard (Cinematographer, The Hottest August)
Diego Echeverria (Los Sures)
Dominic Gagnon (Of The North)
Doug Block (112 Weddings)
Elisabeth Subrin (Maria Schneider, 1983)
Ernst Karel (Sound Artist)
Eryk Rocha (Sunday Ball)
Felix Endara (unseen)
Fred Ritchin (International Center of Photography)
Frederick Wiseman (National Gallery)
Gabriela Monroy (Artist and Curator)
Heidi Ewing (Detropia)
Hussain Currimbhoy (Sundance Film Festival)
Iva Radivojevic (Evaporating Borders)
Jackie Raynal (Two Rémi, Two)
Jad Abumrad (Radiolab)
Jem Cohen (Counting)
Jenni Olson (Curator and Historian)
Jennifer Fox (Film producer)
Joe Richman (Radio Diaries Podcast)
Jon Alpert (DCTV)
Jonas Mekas (Filmmaker, Founder of Anthology Film Archives)
Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation)
Jonathan Harris (Network Effect)
Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing)
Judith Helfand (Chicken and Egg)
Kazuhiro Soda (Campaign)
Kelly Sears (Phase II)
Kenneth Goldsmith (Ubu Web)
Khalik Allah (Field Niggas)
Laurel Nakadate (Performance Artist)
Lu Olkowski (Love Me Podcast)
Lynne Sachs (Your Day is My Night)
Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich (Footnote to the West)
Malika Zouhali-Worrall (Video Visit)
Marie Losier (The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye)
Marin Karmitz (MK2)
Martha Wilson (Artist, Founder: Franklin Furnace)
Nan Goldin (Photographer)
Nathan Kensinger (Black Mayonnaise)
Pacho Velez (Searchers)
Pamela Yates (Granito: How to Nail a Dictator)
Patricia Aufderheide (Author: Reclaiming Fair Use)
Paul Dallas (Invisible Beauty)
Pawel Wojtasik (Single Stream)
Pejk Malinovski (Sound Artist)
Penny Lane (Confessions of a Good Samaritan)
Rodrigo Reyes (Sansón and Me)
Rosa von Praunheim (City of Lost Souls)
Sally Berger (Film Curator)
Samuel Gursky (Colorist)
Sarah Nelson Wright (Shifting Sands)
Sean Cole (This American Life)
Sierra Pettengill (Riotsville, U.S.A.)
Su Friedrich (Gut Renovation)
Thom Powers (DOC NYC, Hot Docs)
Tirtza Even (Chronicle of a Fall)
Vincent Moon (Híbridos - The Spirits of Brazil)
And many others…