Mediamaker

Colette Ghunim, a 2020 BAVC MediaMaker Fellow, will premiere her feature documentary Traces of Home at DocNYC on Friday, November 14. The film represents the culmination of a nine-year production, exploring belonging and identity across generations. In our conversation, Ghunim reflected on the process of bringing the film to life, the importance of intentional audience outreach, and the impact of building an advisory board of more than 200 nonprofit partners. Traces of Home follows Ghunim as she joins her parents in searching for the ancestral homes they were forced to flee as children in Mexico and Palestine. What begins as [...]

Earlier this month, our 2025 MediaMaker Fellows gathered at the 21st Camden International Film Festival (CIFF). Brittany Réaume, BAVC Media's Associate Director of Artist Development, shared a behind-the-scenes look at the Fellows’ time at the festival, where several MediaMaker alums also screened their work. We also caught up with Paige Bethman, director of Remaining Native, and producer Jess Epstein about their screening experience and the community-building fun run they organized around the film. Brittney’s Recap: What a special year at CIFF! Between seeing films and pitches from MediaMaker alum in packed houses, gathering with supporters and friends new and old [...]

BAVC Media celebrates the latest cohort of participants in its longstanding MediaMaker Fellowship. Filmmakers in the annual documentary development program will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funding, mentorship, industry access, feedback sessions, and workshops during an immersive 9-month experience. [The announcement was first made exclusively by Documentary Magazine on April 17th, 2025. Read their article here]  This year’s fellows are: Alex J. Bledsoe (OAKLEAD), Luca Capponi (What Lies Over the Mountain), Joua Lee Grande (Spirited), Anna Clare Spelman (Meant to Be Maddie), Thanh Tran (Finding Má), and Hao Zhou (All Fixed Up). The 2025 program will kick off with an in-person [...]

We're excited to announce the latest cohort to take part in our longstanding documentary film fellowship program. Participants in the 2025 BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funding, mentorship, industry access, feedback sessions, and workshops during an immersive 9-month experience.  This year’s fellows are: Alex J. Bledsoe (OAKLEAD), Luca Capponi (What Lies Over the Mountain), Joua Lee Grande (Spirited), Anna Clare Spelman (Meant to Be Maddie), Thanh Tran (Finding Má), and Hao Zhou (All Fixed Up). Learn more about the fellows and each of their projects below. Alex J. Bledsoe Alex J. Bledsoe is a director, producer and [...]

Remaining Native follows Ku Stevens as he retraces his great-grandfather’s 50-mile escape from an Indian boarding school, a journey that explores memory, resilience, and the ongoing impact of this history on Native communities. For director Paige Bethmann, the story was personal—her great-grandmother attended a Catholic-run boarding school in New York, shaping her family’s history in ways that still resonate today. With the support of the BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship, Bethmann navigated the challenges of independent filmmaking, finding mentorship and a network of peers to help bring Remaining Native to life. In this interview, producer Jess Epstein discusses the collaborative process, the [...]