Rochester’s home for documentary filmmakers. Whether you’re a first timer or a seasoned veteran, we have a simple mantra:
Make films. Share stories. Build community.
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Nothing on the calendar this minute — join the list and we’ll tell you first.
Rochester Documentary Filmmakers – Since 2013
A place for Rochester’s storytellers.
We’re a community of documentary filmmakers who screen each other’s works-in-progress, trade hard-won knowledge, and stay in it for the long haul. Bring a rough cut. Bring a question. Bring yourself.
120+
filmmakers in the community
90
works-in-progress screened
13
years of showing up for each other
Our mission
RocDocs brings Rochester’s documentary community together to share work, build skills, and support each other — so we can all tell the stories that need telling.
What it feels like to be here
Everyone belongs
Twenty years in or holding your first camera — the room is the same room.
Kind, candid notes
Feedback here is generous and specific. It’s how the cuts get better.
Nothing kept secret
Grants, gear, contacts, rates. What one of us learns, all of us learn.
In it for the long run
Docs take time. We’re the people still asking how it’s going when you think everyone’s forgotten it.
Made by members
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Digitizing Divinity
One church shares its challenges in dealing with COVID restrictions and balancing how to transform itself to stay connected in a virtual environment.
Directed by:
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The End of the Line – Rochester’s Subway
The story of the smallest city in America to build and abandon a subway
Directed by:
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Rebellion Becomes Duty
After decades of showing up to protests, Tallis finally steps up to help organize a demonstration against authoritarianism.
Directed by: