About Us

Celebrating what is innovative, interesting, and inspiring in documentary, The DocYard is a bi-weekly film and discussion series at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. Every other Monday from June through August, and from January through May, we will gather together to be introduced to films and filmmakers and connect with one another.

For decades, Boston has been a center for documentary filmmaking. It is a place where students come to learn and experiment, where some of documentary’s giants are teaching and creating new work, and where the craft is continuously nurtured and expanded. Today’s filmmakers are breaking new ground that has its foundation, more often than not, in Boston’s rich documentary legacy.

Awarded a Special Commendation in 2011 by the Boston Society of Film Critics for “presenting a vibrant forum for the Boston documentary community to see important new non-fiction works and to have meaningful discussions with the filmmakers.”

DocYard Team:

Sara Archambault – Co-Founder and Programmer

Ben Fowlie – Co-Founder and Programmer

Chanel Kong – Audience and Outreach Manager

Nellie Kluz – Get er Done Manager

Erin Trahan -Discussion Moderator

The DocYard Founders

Sara Archambault – Program Manager, LEF Foundation

With 15 years experience in the media and non-profit communities, Sara Archambault’s support of the filmmaking community includes roles in funding, exhibition, teaching and making. In 1997, Sara founded the Picture Start Film Collaborative where she was Creative Director for 6 years. Named “most influential in the RI Film Community” by the Providence Phoenix, Picture Start brought original, undistributed, independent film to Providence in a non-competitive environment, in addition to providing a space for local artists to share their work. In funding, Sara served as the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities(RICH). Among her many duties, she managed the media grant making process and developed innovative programs including a partnership with RI PBS creating a film series with grants to local filmmakers.

Sara was Managing Director/Producer for Ebb Pod Productions, producer of Emmy-nominated Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, and worked as a Producer for Christopher Lydon’s online radio show Open Source. Currently, Sara is the Program Manager at the LEF Foundation in Cambridge, MA. The goal of LEF New England is to fund the work of independent film and video artists in the region and broaden recognition and support for their work locally and nationally. In addition to their core grantmaking program, LEF is a founding partner in The DocYard, a documentary film and discussion series at the Brattle Theatre.

Sara has a BFA in filmmaking from Syracuse University, an MA in Communications/Cultural Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and completed a seminar in radio production at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Sara is currently working on an audio archive project called Rhode Island Lost Landscapes and volunteers with a variety of film festivals, the Women’s Fund of RI and Girls Rock! RI.

Benjamin Fowlie – Founder/Director, Camden International Film Festival

Ben Fowlie is an independent film programmer with over 10 years of experience. He is the founder and director of the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF), a documentary festival recognized as one of the top 25 documentary film festivals in the world, and one of the 12 best “small town” film festivals in the US. He is also the founder of the Points North Documentary Forum, a conference component of CIFF which has hosted dozens of key industry decision makers from the BBC, HBO, A&E, The New York Times, Vimeo, PBS, POV, ITVS, ZDF, Arte, the Tribeca Institute, the Sundance Institute and Channel and Cinereach, among others.  He is also a co-founder and programmer for the award winning DocYard screening series in Cambridge, MA. Ben has been honored as a member of the Thom Powers “20 under 40: Industry Leaders To Watch Out For” and  currently sits on the Industry Advisory Board and Nominating Committee for the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking. A frequent panelist and juror at film festivals including the Silverdocs Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, SXSW and Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK, Ben also works with filmmakers as an independent consultant.

Sean Flynn – Independent Producer/Director and Director, Points North Documentary Forum

Sean Flynn is a documentary producer, director and programmer. During eight years at the Boston-based production company Principle Pictures, Sean helped raise nearly $500,000 for a variety of film projects through grant writing and public pitching forums like Hot Docs and IFP Independent Film Week. He was an Associate Producer and Co-Director of Photography on BEYOND BELIEF and a Producer of THE LIST, both of which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in the Documentary Feature competition. Sean has worked in 16 countries, including conflict zones like Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma and the West Bank. Currently, he is the Director of the Points North Documentary Forum, and is a co-founder of the popular DocYard screening series in Cambridge, MA. Recently, he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to develop a film and interactive media project in Mumbai, India.

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Q&A Moderator Bio

ERIN TRAHAN 

Erin Trahan has a particular interest in facilitating public dialogue about arts and culture and has led discussions for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston Public Library, Mass Poetry Festival, the DocYard, and several area film festivals. Her writing includes film and travel journalism, essays, and poems. She currently edits and publishes The Independent, an online magazine about film, reads poetry submissions for AGNI Magazine, and juggles assorted freelance projects, such as helping to produce the personal documentary LOVE AND OTHER ANXIETIES. She earned an MFA in poetry from Bennington College in 2010.