International Documentary Association

In this interview, Getting Real ’26 keynote speaker Petna Ndaliko Katondolo discusses the practice of ancestral ecology storytelling and using documentary’s capacity to create and rethink community. Read more at .

“A Way of Listening”: Knowledge-Keeper Petna Ndaliko Katondolo Talks About Documentary’s Capacity to Rethink Community In this interview, Getting Real ’26 keynote speaker Petna Ndaliko Katondolo discusses the practice of ancestral ecology storytelling and using documentary’s capacity to create and rethink community

In this interview, directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal break down the platform release strategy for ‘Steal This Story, Please!,’ which has yielded a box office gross of more than $1 million already. Read more at .

“We Wanted More Than a One-Day Release”: Directors Tia Lessin and Carl Dean on Building The Box Office Success of ‘Steal This Story, Please!’ In this interview, directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal break down the platform release strategy for Steal This Story, Please!, which has yielded a box office gross of more than $1 million already

In this interview, ‘Jackass: Best and Last’ director Jeff Tremaine talks about mining and shaping the original MTV show’s vast digital archive to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Read more at .

“We Don’t Want Mom’s Approval”: ‘Jackass: Best and Last’ Director Jeff Tremaine Talks Stunts, Digital Cameras, and the Infamous MTV Series at 25 In this interview, Jackass: Best and Last director Jeff Tremaine talks about mining and shaping the original MTV show’s vast digital archive to celebrate its 25th anniversary

Get ready to get real with one of our keynote speakers, Mandy Chang, who has sat on both sides of the desk: pitching as a filmmaker, greenlighting as a commissioner at the BBC and ABC. So when she says the foundations of documentary are under attack, she’s describing what she watched happen to the system that built her career.

Her argument at Getting Real ’26: what needs defending is bigger than any individual film or filmmaker. It’s the idea of documentary as a public service… because lose that, and everything downstream goes with it.

Tickets available now! https://documentary.org/gettingreal26/attend

We’re thrilled to welcome Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, Founder and Artistic Director of Yolé!Africa, as one of our two keynote speakers at Getting Real ‘26.

Based in Goma, D.R.C., Yolé!Africa is a community-centered cultural and educational organization that produced the country’s first ever international film festival. In addition to its film programs, Katondolo and Yolé!Africa also developed AgroLiberation, an agricultural initiative that centers ancestral farming practices and decolonial principles to build food sovereignty.

In his personal film practice, Soul-full Soil Cinema, Katondolo approaches film as a form of listening to land, community, and history.

Mandy Chang (Getting Real ’26 Keynote Speaker), recently appointed chief executive officer of the Documentary Film Council, on leveraging her decades-long experience to move beyond diagnosing problems and organizing around them instead. Read more at .

Thoughts and Actions: A Conversation With Mandy Chang on Being Appointed the First Chief Executive Officer of the Documentary Film Council Mandy Chang, recently appointed chief executive officer of the Documentary Film Council, on leveraging her decades-long experience to move beyond diagnosing problems and organize around them instead

China’s first documentary Oscar submission, ‘The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru,’ demonstrates how “independent” can become an economic designation divorced from aesthetic or political risk-taking. Read more at .

Main Melody, Private Key: In ‘The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru,’ Economic Independence Plays a Safe Tune China’s first documentary Oscar submission, The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, demonstrates how “independent” can become an economic designation divorced from aesthetic or political risk taking

‘American Factory’ co-director Steven Bognar talks to Barbara Kopple about her seminal labor docs—’ Harlan County, US’ and ‘American Dream’—and organizing in the 21st century. Read more at .

“We Need to Be Militant, Not Violent”; Barbara Kopple Looks Back at ‘Harlan County, USA’ at 50 and Discusses Modern-Day Labor Struggles American Factory co-director Steven Bognar talks to Barbara Kopple about her seminal labor docs—Harlan County, USA and American Dream—and organizing in the 21st century

In this interview, Demos fellow Sameer Padania talks about the need for trust and independence in public media ahead of the BBC’s 2027 charter renewal. Read more at .

Public Safeguard: Demos Fellow Sameer Padania on “Epistemic Security” and the Need for the BBC’s Independence Governance In this interview, Demos fellow Sameer Padania talks about the need for trust and independence in public media ahead of the BBC’s 2027 charter renewal

There’s more to the story than national PBS. American public TV remains a vital distribution channel for documentaries. Led by Emily Abi-Kheirs, Programming Manager at GBH, a renowned public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content, and Nicole Tsien, Emmy-nominated independent producer, this Getting Real workshop helps you untangle the decentralized system of local outlets to map your own path.

Join us on July 21, 2026, at 2:15 PM PT, at the Japanese American National Museum, Forum Theatre. Register at https://documentary.org/gettingreal26.