BFI Doc Society

Creative Non-Fiction Playlist

Applying to the Made of Truth Fund and keen to get some more inspiration or insight into the wider short film landscape?

We've put together a selection of freely available, great short films that have been successful at international festivals, across forms and approaches. Worth a watch, and there are a few Made of Truth funded titles in there too!

Find them all here.

Webinar: Features & RAD Funds

BFI Doc Society Webinar: Features & RAD Funds
Wednesday 7 May, 12:00 - 13:00 // online

Join our team for this open access webinar about our Features and RAD (Research & Development) Funds for independent UK feature documentary, addressing key criteria, guidelines and often-asked questions.

This session will be BSL interpreted.

Register here.

Open City Documentary Festival: Long Visions

Open City Documentary Festival
Long Visions: Developing an Artist’s Feature Documentary
Thursday 8 May, 11:00 - 12:30 // Rich Mix, London

Join BFI Doc Society and artist filmmaker Rhea Storr for an open conversation about Rhea’s new moving image installation work Subjects of State, Labours of Love and her current path to developing her feature-length film Freedom Dreaming. We will discuss the production processes and interconnectedness of the two works, as well as wider approaches in Rhea’s practice. This will be an extended conversation with opportunity for attendees to ask questions and participate.
This conversation will be hosted by Luke Moody, Head of the BFI Doc Society Fund. Tickets are £5, or free if you have a festival Rich Mix Venue Pass.

Find out more info and book tickets here.

Flatpack Festival 2025 Panel

BFI Doc Society is pleased to support two documentary panels at Flatpack Festival 2025 in Birmingham, alongside hosting a number of 1-2-1 meetings on 13 and 14 May. We will soon open booking for the 1-2-1 slots in the Advice Sessions section above.

Mirror Images: A Conversation on Personal Filmmaking
Tuesday 13 May, 18:00 - 19:15 // The Mockingbird Cinema (Screen 2), Birmingham

The Flatpack programme includes a few features docs in which filmmakers point the camera at their own family, as well as themselves. In this panel we delve into this phenomenon a little further, in conversation with directors Duncan Cowles and Victoria Mapplebeck, who will explore the ethical considerations and lasting legacies of asking family members to don a clip-on mic and talk candidly into a video lens.
Tickets (free)

Desert Island Docs
Saturday 17 May, 16:45 - 18:00 // The Mockingbird Cinema (Screen 2), Birmingham

You’re stranded on an island with nothing but a screen, a DVD player (remember them?) and 5 DVDs. There’s one caveat though - the DVDs have to be documentary films.

This is the proposition we’ll be giving a panel of documentary filmmakers including Dorothy Allen-Pickard (her short We Did Not Consent is in competition in the ‘Stay in Control’ programme). Expect clips and lively conversation.
Tickets (free)

Independent Tax Credit Webinar

Independent Film Tax Credit Webinar - November 2024

In November 2024 BFI Doc Society and Documentary Film Council hosted a webinar with Chantel Burrell and Anna Mansi from the BFI Certification Unit, to shed light on the new Independent Film Tax Credit for UK film productions. The session was tailored to documentary productions and fully recorded. You can now watch it back here, and read more in this document.