Mission: The Collective of Documentary Women Cinematographers (CDWC) aims to support and encourage women cinematographers working primarily in documentary film. Our focus is organizing Master Classes, offering peer to peer support, resources & job sharing, knowledge transmission, and raising each other up.
Background: This collective grew from documentary directors and cinematographers Alix Blair & Jen Gilomen in early 2018. Frustrated at the lack of mid-level and advanced cinematography classes taught by women, Alix & Jen decided to form a collective, after learning that many other Bay Area women cinematographers felt the same. In January 2018, we hosted our first Master Class with renowned DP Nadia Hallgren. At IDA’s Getting Real Conference in September 2018 we hosted the Female Cinematographers Convening with Alexandria Bombach, Shuling Yong, Ashley Mills, and Rita Baghdadi; this convening spurred the formation of a handful of sister groups. Since then, we have hosted numerous virtual and in-person activities.
Membership: We ask that our members are based in the San Francisco Bay Area and have at least one DP/cinematographer credit on a documentary film (short or feature) that has been completed and distributed. (Distribution can be in pretty much any medium, inclusive of festivals, except for purely self-distribution online.) At this time, this group is not appropriate for students or beginners, but for people actively working in documentary cinematography at a professional level — for your own films and/or for others. If you don’t fit this criteria, but still feel like you should be part of this group, please send us a note or consider joining our International Facebook Group where we can share resources and gigs. (Local membership is temporarily on hold until we resume in person activities, but feel free to review our guidelines and fill out our Intake Form so we can get in touch when we’re adding new members again.)
For women and nonbinary DPs based outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, California, we invite you to join our International Community Facebook Group, and/or to start up a sister group in your area. There are already sister groups in Chicago, Hawaii, and North Carolina. The founders are happy to share our collective model with you and stay in touch for any opportunities for collaboration; just send us a message.
Resource: Please see our California AB5 Resources for Indie Film Folks here.