Finding Your Compass:
A Documentary Ethics and Accountability Workshop
Presented by the Ethics Squad and the Emory Center for Ethics, in partnership with the Atlanta Film Society, Video Consortium, and the Documentary Accountability Working Group.
Join us for a two-day in-person workshop on Saturday, December 6, and Sunday, December 7, 2025, at The Plaza Theatre and The Supermarket in Atlanta, Georgia.
DATE: 12/6/25 & 12/7/25
LOCATION: Plaza Theatre & The Supermarket
PRICE: STANDARD REGISTRATION: $100 NON MEMBERS – Now until December 6th (Day of first event) | DAY OF REGISTRATION: $125
Save $25 if you register by Friday, November 17, 11:59 PM EST with discount code: accountability25atlfs
College Students receive free entry with proof of enrollment. Apply for a student ticket here.
ATLFS Member discounts applied at checkout
Do you wonder about what responsibility documentary filmmakers have to their participants throughout the filmmaking process and beyond? Should filmmakers compensate participants? When we use AI to create images, what could go wrong?
This interactive workshop invites filmmakers to grapple with the real-world ethical challenges of documentary filmmaking. Together, we will:
Explore the nuances of ethical responsibility to film crews and participants (past and present) through disseminating multiple ethical frameworks
Discuss and analyze dilemmas from contemporary documentary filmmakers
Workshop participants’ own projects in facilitated small groups
While documentary ethics rarely offer simple answers, engaging with case studies and peer discussions can offer guidance as you wrestle with dilemmas from your own projects. This event is designed for filmmakers at all stages of their careers and offers concrete tools, resources, and community support to strengthen your filmmaking practice.
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Saturday 12/6
10:00 AM - 2:30 PM at Plaza Theatre
2:45 PM - 4:45 PM at The Supermarket
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM Happy Hour location TBD
Sunday 12/7
10:00 AM - 12:45 PM at Plaza Theatre
1:45 PM - 4:00 PM at The Supermarket
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Plaza Theatre - 1049 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30306
The Supermarket - 638 N Highland Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30306
Happy Hour TBD
WHAT TO EXPECT
Explore ethical frameworks from The Documentary Accountability Working Group (DAWG) and Markkula Center of Applied Ethics.
Interrogate generative AI with the Archival Producers Alliance, who will conduct an interactive discussion and presentation.
Hear from and discuss real-life examples of ethical challenges from invited documentary filmmakers.
Workshop and brainstorm conference participants’ projects in small, facilitated groups.
We ask guests to bring a compassionate and open mind as we explore these sensitive and complex case studies.
Refund request must be emailed to boxoffice@atlantafilmsociety.org 7 days prior to the date of event unless specified in the event description.
FACILITATORS AND SPEAKERS
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Anjanette Levert is a Peabody Award-winning documentary producer, filmmaker, curator, and professor based in Atlanta. Her work centers Southern Black life and amplifies underrepresented voices through powerful nonfiction storytelling. She produced The Only Doctor (Hot Doc Film Fest, PBS Reel South, Al Jazerra Witness), and has led documentary education as a professor at Spelman College, where she received Presidential Awards for Teaching and Mentorship. A frequent speaker, moderator, and cultural strategist, she brings decades of experience connecting art, activism, and media across platforms, classrooms, and communities.
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Molly Murphy (she/her) is Director of Partnerships and Innovation at Working Films. She has spent the last two and a half decades connecting filmmakers and changemakers, positioning documentaries to advance social and environmental justice. She is a founding member of the Documentary Accountability Working Group and serves on the board of Justice for My Sister, which are both advancing care-centered, trauma-informed, and accountable approaches to storytelling. Molly also serves as board chair of Encore Magazine, a beloved source of news, arts, culture, and community connection in Southeast North Carolina.
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Sarah Rachael Wainio is a film and television producer with 15 seasons across WEtv, MTV, TLC, Food Network, and Magnolia Network. She field produced THE LOST KITCHEN Season 2 (HBO Max), winner of Realscreen's 2023 Best Lifestyle Docureality Food Show. Her filmography includes THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON (Netflix) and 32 PILLS: MY SISTER'S SUICIDE (HBO Max). A 2023 DOC NYC and A&E Documentary New Leader, Sarah co-chairs the Documentary Producers Alliance Ethics Subcommittee and debuted the Ethics Resource Library at 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.
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Natalie Bullock Brown is the director of the Documentary Accountability Working Group, a collective she co-founded in 2020, which has produced a values-based framework for documentary filmmakers, and a syllabus to teach that framework. Natalie is also a documentary film producer and emerging director; treasurer of the board of Multitude Films; a 2023 Harvard Kennedy School, Shorenstein Center, Documentary Film in the Public Interest Fellow; a 2023 DOC NYC New Leader; and a 2021 Rockwood Institute JustFilms Fellow. Her favorite and best productions are her children, EJ and Mimi.
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Laura Asherman is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, stop-motion animator, and educator based in Atlanta, Georgia. Interested in the boundaries of documentary and fiction, Laura’s recent work takes a hybrid approach to address social issues with a sense of humor. In 2023, she earned an MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University. Currently, Asherman serves as Director of Ethics and the Arts and teaches in the film department at Emory University, and as an organizer for Video Consortium’s Atlanta Chapter.
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AX Mina consults on impact and engagement at the Archival Producers Alliance. Mina has led exhibitions in spaces such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Mozilla Festival Open Artist Studio (curated by the V&A Museum and Tate Modern), and the Museum of the Moving Image, and she produces FIVE AND NINE, a podcast about magic, work and economic justice. Her most recent book, HANMOJI HANDBOOK, co-authored with Jason Li and Jennifer 8. Lee, is a Kirkus Best Book of 2022 and teaches the Chinese language through emoji. She is a Senior Civic Media Fellow at the USC Annenberg School for Journalism and Communications and member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia and the Asian American Documentary Network. She is directing RUBBISH: THE QUEER KINGDOM OF LEILAH BABIRYE.
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Stephanie Jenkins has been making historical documentaries for fifteen years, primarily as an archival producer and producer with Ken Burns. She has also contributed research to multiple outlets, including The New York Times, Radiolab, This American Life, as well as independent films. In 2023, she co-founded the Archival Producers Alliance, and co-wrote Best Practices for Use of Generative AI in Documentaries. The APA is working closely with non-fiction mediamakers and archivists to protect the historic record in the age of Generative AI.