We’re excited that this year’s Documentary Fundamentals series centers on the kinetic and timely Emergent City by Kelly Anderson and Jay Arthur Sterrenberg—a film that follows a local story but whose message is far-reaching and broadly relatable. In this session, Kelly and Jay are joined by publicist and sales agent Sylvia Savadijan and Robert Salyer, Director of Outreach and Impact at American Documentary, Inc. | POV, who will share insights into educational distribution and audience strategy—exploring how documentaries find their viewers, build impact, and extend their life beyond the festival circuit.

This session will be all about releasing and publicising your next documentary. How can you find and reach audiences for your film?  How do you know if your film is best suited for theatrical, broadcast, or both? How do digital platforms affect “traditional” models of distribution and release? How can you best utilize your film festival campaign? Another can’t-miss session!

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DOCUMENTARY FUNDAMENTALS: A professional development series designed to give the emerging or intermediate documentary filmmaker an inside look at the filmmaking process from pre-production planning to post-production and distribution. Over the past few years, UnionDocs has developed this ongoing program for documentarians that desire a better foundation for navigating the modern landscape of independent filmmaking. This six-part program takes place over the course of one weekend at UnionDocs. Buy a SERIES PASS ($175) or choose to attend individual sessions ($35/each).

Instructors

Kelly Anderson is a Sunset Park based documentary filmmaker whose most recent film is Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square (w. Ryan Joseph and Kathryn Barnier). Her 2012 film My Brooklyn, about the hidden forces driving gentrification, was broadcast on PBS’ America ReFramed. Kelly produced and directed Every Mother’s Son (PBS, 2004, w. Tami Gold), about mothers whose children were killed by police, which won the Tribeca Audience Award and aired on POV. She produced and directed Out At Work (HBO, 2000, w. Tami Gold), which premiered at Sundance. Kelly chairs the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College (CUNY).

Jay Arthur Sterrenberg is a New York City based filmmaker, editor and co-founder of the Meerkat Media Collective whose work has screened at Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, CPH:DOX and broadcast on PBS, HBO, Netflix & Hulu.

Jay’s two decade documentary editing career began with collaborations with DCTV’s Jon Alpert & Matt O’Neil on the HBO documentaries Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery (2008), Wartorn (2010) and Oscar nominated Redemption (2012). He also edited the Oscar shortlisted films Dark Money (dir. Kimberly Reed, 2018) and After Maria (dir. Nadia Hallgren, 2019) and a has had a long collaboration with filmmaking duo Shaul Schwarz & Christina Clusiau – Narco Cultura (Sundance 2013), Emmy-winning Trophy (CNN Films, 2017), Emmy-nominated FLY (Nat Geo, 2024) and the 2020 Netflix doc series Immigration Nation, which won a Peabody Award and Best New Documentary Series at the Independent Spirit Awards.

As a director, his films find cinematic ways to explore process & democracy. A believer in collective filmmaking, he co-directed many independent films with the Meerkat Media Collective including Stages (2010), Consensus: Direct Democracy at Occupy Wall Street (2011) and Brasslands (2013). His solo directorial debut was the observational short film Public Money (POV, 2018) which paved the way for the feature-length collaboration with Kelly Anderson: Emergent City (POV, 2025).

Sylvia Savadjian is a New York based film publicist. Work includes festival PR for Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look, DOC NYC, Full Frame, staff roles at Kino Lorber, Maysles Documentary Center and HBO in publicity, marketing, acquisitions and programming.

Robert Salyer is Director of Outreach and Impact at American Documentary, Inc., leading national outreach campaigns and partnership development for award-winning films and impact initiatives. He spearheads the Our America: Documentaries in Dialogue project, a long-running effort that empowers PBS stations and local partners to foster meaningful civic dialogue around urgent social issues. To date, he has supported the impact campaigns of more than 70 POV films, encompassing a wide range of issues and engaging audiences across the country.

With more than 25 years of experience in documentary film and community media, Robert previously spent much of his career at Appalshop, Inc., where he directed and produced films focused on Appalachian culture. His credits include work with CNBC, HBO, Greenpeace, and Lost Nation Pictures, among others.  His films have screened widely in the U.S. and internationally, including at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight and Festival Film Dokumenter in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Robert has been deeply involved in media education and youth training. He taught documentary filmmaking at Kentucky State University, served as a longtime instructor with the Appalachian Media Institute, and facilitated a U.S. State Department–funded media exchange with Indonesian filmmakers. He has worked as a community organizer with the Virginia Organizing Project and mentored emerging filmmakers through NYU Tisch’s summer immersion program.