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Press Contact: Seanna Hore, Ginsberg/Libby
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Gladys Santos, Ginsberg/Libby
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LOS ANGELES (April 30, 2025) — Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced today the seven filmmakers and six projects selected for its 2025 Documentary Story Lab, kicking off May 5. Natalie Baszile, Emily Cohen Ibañez, Bobby Herrera, Julia Hunter, Nadav Kurtz, Daniel Lombroso and Hyacinth Parker were chosen for this one-week intensive program that helps nonfiction directors craft the best story possible for their film.

Fellows will be paired with an experienced Editing Advisor and Directing Advisor, who will provide one-on-one support during and after the Lab. The week-long program will culminate in a final pitch event that offers an opportunity for individualized feedback and discussion with experienced industry executives.

“This year’s Documentary Story Lab Fellows are not united by geography or genre, but a fearless and tenacious commitment to telling the truth,” said Daniel Cardone, Senior Manager of Nonfiction Programs & Fiscal Sponsorship at Film Independent. “Whether exploring identity, justice, legacy or the fragility of our environment, these filmmakers aren’t just documenting the world—they’re questioning it and reframing it, helping us see it anew.”

Now in its second year, the Documentary Story Lab, an expansion of Film Independent’s long-running Documentary Lab program, connects filmmakers with Editing Mentors, including Pablo Proenza (Fahrenheit 11/9), Christy Denes (Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult), Sara Newens (Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields), Claire Didier (Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed) and Mikaela Shwer (Allen v. Farrow). Directing Mentors include Smriti Mundhra (Indian Matchmaking), Anayansi Prado (Uvalde Mom), Kirsten Johnson (Dick Johnson Is Dead), Ted Passon (Patrice: The Movie), Alysa Nahmias (Art and Krimes by Krimes) and Tracy Droz Tragos (Plan C).

Guest Speakers include sound designer and director Midge Costin (Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound), composer/music supervisor Andrew Gross, composer Gil Talmi (Konsonant Music), Kristin Feeley (Sundance Institute) and Orly Ravid (The Film Collaborative).

The Cayton-Goldrich Family Foundation Fellowship is a $10,000 grant that is awarded to a Jewish filmmaker accepted into a Film Independent Artist Development Program. This unrestricted cash grant is awarded to 2025 Documentary Story Lab Fellow Emily Cohen Ibañez, participating in the program with her film Orquídea.

Notable projects supported by Film Independent’s Documentary Lab include the Academy Award-nominated Ascension by Jessica Kingdon, the Academy Award-nominated and Film Independent Spirit Award-winning film Minding the Gap from Bing Liu and Diane Quon, Alina Simone and Kirstine Barfod’s Black Snow; Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra’s A Suitable Girl, Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo’s Rich Hill, and Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown’s United Skates. Filmmakers supported by the program include Academy Award winner Shane Boris (Navalny), Academy Award nominee Sara Dosa (Fire of Love) and Emmy Award winner Lana Wilson (Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby).

Film Independent Artist Development programs promote unique, independent voices by helping filmmakers create and advance new work through Project Involve; Filmmaker Labs (Directing, Documentary, Episodic, Producing and Screenwriting); Fast Track Finance Market; Imaginar Producers Residency, Amplifier Fellowship and Fiscal Sponsorship, as well as through Grants and Awards, which provide over one million dollars annually to visual storytellers.

The Documentary Story Lab is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information on the Documentary Story Lab and the projects supported through the program, please contact Daniel Cardone, Senior Manager of Documentary Programs and Fiscal Sponsorship, at dcardone@filmindependent.org. Additional information and an application form can be found at filmindependent.org.
 

The 2025 Documentary Story Lab projects and Fellows are:

 
Harvest
Directors: Hyacinth Parker, Natalie Baszile
Logline: The Nelson brothers are determined to be the USA’s biggest farmers, but after two years of poor harvests, the new year brings much opportunity as uncertainty. This season the brothers farm more land than ever, facing the headwinds of climate change, equipment failures, racism and familial tension along the way.

Orquídea
Director: Emily Cohen Ibañez
Logline: From Colombia’s Amazon River Basin to the top of a volcanic mountain, guerilla ex-combatants, Indigenous elders, and biologists safeguard orchids and the forests they inhabit. Just as a wandering filmmaker in search of home seeks them out, a glacier melts and throws nature out of balance.

The Seven Ages of Olajuwon
Director: Bobby Herrera
Logline: Told on stage and through 16+ years of intimate and powerful footage, a gifted Black performer struggles to exist as he stares down a defining journey towards purpose when met with unreal expectations, risks to his livelihood and injustice when the FBI ensnares him in a deadly terrorist plot.

This Is Me Loving You
Director: Julia Hunter
Logline: Sydney, a gregarious heroin user, moves into a Chicago recovery home and befriends Julia, an alcoholic filmmaker. When Sydney gets pregnant and returns to her abusive boyfriend, both women re-enter a world of abuse and addiction where they must choose between protecting those they love and saving themselves.

Untitled Sam Project
Director: Nadav Kurtz
Logline: When film producer Kaz Bader was sentenced to 24 years in prison, his brother Malik helped raise Kaz’s 8-year-old son Omar. Now, 14 years later, Omar struggles finding his own path. As the family confronts its unspoken past, Omar gains the courage to pursue his artistic dreams.

You’ll Be Happier
Director: Daniel Lombroso
Logline: You’ll Be Happier follows a year in the life of Bill Moore, a gay businessman in Dallas striving to make penis enlargement as common as Botox. This darkly funny and deeply empathetic film is a frank exploration of how men are navigating new standards of masculinity and beauty in the age of Trump.
 

ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT

For 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling in all its forms and foster a culture of inclusion, in support of a global community of artists and audiences who embody diversity, innovation, curiosity and uniqueness of vision.

In addition to producing the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the organization supports creative professionals with Artist Development programs, grants and labs. Signature mentorship program Project Involve fosters the careers of talented filmmakers from underrepresented communities. Weekly Education events and workshops equip filmmakers of all ages and experience levels with tools and resources. International programs provide cultural exchanges and career-building opportunities for film professionals around the world. And year-round screening series Film Independent Presents offers a robust program of unique cinematic experiences, including screenings, conversations, Live Reads and Bring the Noise musical events.

For more information or to become a Member, visit filmindependent.org.