At Camden International Film Fest, Doc Filmmakers Seek Solutions: ‘The Shackles of Our Past and Our Present Do Not Define The Possibilities of Our Future’

Documentaries that expose truth and challenge misinformation are more vital than ever before, but finding funding and securing distribution for social issue and political docs has become a grueling, formidable undertaking.

On Saturday at Maine’s Camden International Film Festival, documentary filmmakers, executives, and producers came together for the third edition of “Re:Distribution | A Documentary Town Hall” to discuss building a more resilient, inclusive nonfiction media ecosystem that enables truth-telling, democratic discourse, and civic engagement.

There are several reasons for the current documentary crisis.

One is that he major streamers have made significant cuts to their documentary budgets and doubled down on celebrity and true-crime fare in the last five years. More recently, the streamers, along with television networks, have made it clear that they stay out of Donald Trump’s crosshairs, which means that their appetite for political doc fare is at an all-time low.

Another blow to the doc community came in April,…