Join NYWIFT and The D-Word for co-hosted a panel discussion “Mental Health and Career Sustainability in the Documentary World” to explore what lessons can be learned from COVID-19 crisis that may help create a mind-shift in the industry. Moderated by Doug Block (The D-Word), panelists include Rebecca Day (Producer/ Psychotherapist), Kelsey Koenig (Impact Partner Films), Heidi Reinberg (Documentary filmmaker) and Chithra Jeyaram (Documentary filmmaker).
Documentary Producer
Rebecca Day is a qualified psychotherapist and freelance documentary producer. She founded Film In Mind in 2018 to address mental health in the film industry and has spoken at festivals such as IDFA, Getting Real Documentary Conference and Sheffield DocFest on the issue. She offers consultancies, workshops and therapeutic support to filmmakers working in difficult situations and with vulnerable people. more...
Chithra Jeyaram
Writer / Director / Producer / Editor
Chithra Jeyaram is a writer, director, producer, and editor who makes intimate films about identity, human relationships, race, art, and health. Her first exposure to filmmaking began with a failed attempt to fund a film about an explosive water-sharing dispute between two southern states in India. Deeply affected by that experience, she quit a decade-long career as a Physical Therapist and enrolled in film school.
Moderator
Doug Block is an Emmy, Peabody and Sundance award-winning producer-director who is internationally recognized as a master of the personal documentary form (51 BIRCH STREET, THE KIDS GROW UP, 112 WEDDINGS). His films have been released in theaters and screened at festivals throughout the world, and been broadcast by HBO, BBC, ZDF and Arte, among many others. He is also the founder and co-host of The D-Word, the leading online community for documentary professionals now in its 21st year. more...