BGDM was founded the Fall of 2015, when a dozen black female documentary professionals gathered for an impromptu drink after an industry event. It was rare for a doc event to have this number of diverse attendees, and they were surprised that many of them didn’t know each other already. The deep knowledge that many of them had spent their careers feeling isolated, tokenized, and undervalued suddenly rose to the surface. This kismet meeting helped them realize that they weren’t alone, and they rejoiced in the connection. After an inspiring photo of the group went viral on Facebook (top right), and after conversations with a sister group of South Asian women filmmakers, they banded together to create Brown Girls Doc Mafia. (Read more on our origin story in the FAQ!)

Ever since, their mission has been to bolster the creative and professional success of women and non-binary people of color working in the documentary industry, and to challenge the often marginalizing norms of the documentary field. They convene online and in person to provide a nourishing atmosphere where their members and their projects can incubate, and where their careers can evolve in a safe place.

Their members are a diverse network of filmmakers and industry stakeholders ranging from veterans with long resumes to newly emerging professionals. Many members work in production as directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, and more, and others work on the institutional side as executives, funders, curators, administrators, academics, and more. Their community is populated by documentary film professionals who self-identify as both a person of color and as a woman or non-binary individual.