In Advisor Studio sessions, film and television industry professionals share field experiences and insights into their specific areas of craft, including writing, directing and producing for TV and film. 


The growth of generative AI poses a wealth of questions, dilemmas, and opportunities for documentary filmmakers.


Since its formation in 2023, the Archival Producers Alliance (APA) has released two publications to help archival producers navigate this new terrain. In September 2024, the APA released Best Practices for Use of Generative AI in Documentaries, a detailed account of the legal and ethical considerations of incorporating AI-generated material into your documentary.


More recently, the alliance released its GenAI Best Practices Tool Kit, a practical guide for documentary producers on how to harness AI technology in a responsible fashion.


In this session, APA co-founder Rachel Antell (Crip Camp) and producer Briana Bierman (Becoming Cousteau) will present the tools within the tool kit and discuss how filmmakers can use them going forward.


Whether you’re an AI adopter or a cautious skeptic, this event will offer constructive takeaways from experts in the field of documentary film production.



About the Archival Producers Alliance


The Archival Producers Alliance was founded in 2023 as a way for independent archival producers to come together, create community and develop best practices around their unique role within the film industry. The group represents over 500 archival producers – and counting – from across the US and internationally. As individuals, their work has appeared on cable, public and network television, streaming platforms, as well as in theaters and festivals around the world. As a group, they are taking their unique collective knowledge and using it to develop best practices and do advocacy work. Their first initiative addresses the impact of generative AI on the field of documentary film and archival work.


If you would benefit from an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please complete this form, contact us at (435) 776-7790, or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to discuss your specific requests. Every effort will be made to accommodate advance requests; requests made within 5 days of the event may not be guaranteed.


Live event registration for Sundance Collab Advisor Studios is free of charge. A recording of this event will be posted to our Video Library the next business day following the event. All registered attendees can watch the recording for two business days after it is posted. After that, on-demand access to the recording can be purchased for $10.

Briana Bierman
Briana Bierman is a New York-based archival producer and researcher who works creatively and collaboratively through all stages of production to bring stories to life using archival materials. She has worked on projects ranging from feature films to multi-part series to nightly news that have aired on Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, PBS, and HBO. Her archival credits include ENDURANCE (2024, National Geographic Documentary Films), BECOMING COUSTEAU (2021, National Geographic Documentary Films), THE INNOCENCE FILES (2020, Netflix), and VICE News Tonight on HBO. Briana also works as an archival consultant to build organizational systems and workflows that are tailored to a given project’s story and archival needs. As a member of the Archival Producers Alliance (APA), Briana collaborated on developing the GenAI Best Practices Tool Kit, part of the APA’s GenAI Initiative. more...
Rachel Antell
Rachel Antell has worked in documentary film production for over 25 years, but found her true passion in archival producing. In 2014 she co-founded Sub-Basement Archival, where she’s had the honor of being archival producer on dozens of documentaries that have screened worldwide, and garnered FOCAL Awards, and an Emmy nomination for research and use of archival footage. In 2023, Rachel co-founded the Archival Producers Alliance (APA) with Jen Petrucelli and Steph Jenkins. The APA was created to organize archival producers, educate the film community about the craft, and advocate to make archival materials accessible and affordable to independent filmmakers. The APA's first initiative addresses Generative AI’s impact on documentary film and archival work. Last year, the APA published the first industry-wide guidelines, Best Practices for Use of Generative AI in Documentaries, with endorsements from over 50 organizations, foundations, production companies, and film festivals, as well as dozens of filmmakers. more...
Soheil Rezayazdi
Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer
Soheil Rezayazdi is a Digital Course & Event Producer at the Sundance Institute, where he produces multi-session courses, master classes, filmmaker Q&As, and other digital programs for Sundance Collab. Prior to Sundance, Soheil served as the Nonfiction Programs Manager at the Gotham Film & Media Institute. He oversaw the Gotham’s core documentary programs: the Documentary Feature Lab, the Spotlight on Documentaries project market, and the Documentary Development Initiative in partnership with HBO Documentary Films. Soheil has worked with emerging filmmakers since 2015, when he began a seven-year tenure at the Columbia University MFA Film Program. At Columbia he managed the Columbia University Film Festival (CUFF), the Dr. Saul and Dorothy Kit Film Noir Festival, and the Carla Kuhn Memorial Speaker Series. Soheil is also a freelance writer on film and pop culture with articles in Indiewire, McSweeney’s, Vice, Filmmaker Magazine, Documentary Magazine, Paper, Paste, and elsewhere. He has also served as an external reviewer for artist programs operated by Creative Capital, Kartemquin Pictures, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and the International Documentary Association. A native of Iran, he holds an MA in journalism and a BA in film studies from the University of Iowa. more...

Join the Discussion