A report from the field

As filmmakers, mental health professionals, and organizational field builders, we at DocuMentality have been aware for a long time that conditions in the documentary filmmaking industry are damaging to filmmakers well-being and are causing (often unacknowledged) mental health issues. We felt that addressing these issues was long overdue, but needed a comprehensive understanding of the problem in order to proceed.

Through twenty-one focus groups with documentary filmmakers we explored the individual and systemic mental health and well-being challenges for filmmakers in the documentary industry in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Alongside this, we also invited ideas for a brighter future, of which there were many!