The UK Feature Docs project was a three-year AHRC-funded study of the feature-length documentary film industry in the UK. Primarily a work of cultural history, the project explored how and why the UK’s feature docs sector has evolved into a distinct part of the UK’s film and television industries over the past two decades. We worked with a wide range of organisations across the industry and conducted more than fifty interviews with stakeholders past and present, and are currently writing much of this work up for publication.
The Feature Docs project also aimed to explore the challenges faced by those working in the sector today. In 2020-21, this strand of research expanded into a major policy-focused consulation – the findings of which were published in the Keeping It Real (2020) and Making It Real (2021) research reports – and led to a Follow-on Funding grant from the AHRC in 2022 to establish the Documentary Film Council, a new organisational infrastructure for the industry. For more information about the Feature Docs project, see the project website at https://ukfd.org.uk/ or email Dr Steve Presence.
