About Us

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.

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, we will gather together to be introduced to films and filmmakers and connect with one another.

Our goal is to grow a vibrant, creative community for Boston’s filmmakers, film students and film lovers through each of these special events.

 

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 a film programmer living in Somerville, MA.  He is the founder and director of the Camden International Film Festiva (CIFF), a documentary exclusive event that takes place along the coast of Maine each Fall. The CIFF has been recognized as one of the top 25 (#19) film festivals internationally for documentary film and filmmakers.  He is also the founder of the Points North Documentary Forum.  Running in conjunction with CIFF, Points North has hosted dozens of key industry decision makers from the BBC, HBO, A&E, PBS, POV, ITVS, ZDF, Arte, the Tribeca Institute, the Sundance Institute and Channel and Cinereach, among others.  Ben was included in Thom Powers’ list “20 Under 40: Industry Leaders To Watch Out For.”  He currently sits on the Industry Advisory Board and Nominating Committee for both features and shorts for the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking.  Ben is also a programmer for The DocYard and a frequent panelist and juror at festivals, including most recently at the Silverdocs Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, SXSW and Sheffield Doc Fest.

 

Sean Flynn – Producer/Director, Principle Pictures

Sean Flynn is a documentary producer, director and cinematographer based on Boston, MA. Working with Principle Pictures since 2003, Sean has been involved in every aspect of the development, production, outreach and distribution of both feature-length and broadcast documentaries. Through grant-writing and pitching forums, he helped the company raise nearly $600,000 from some of the country’s most prestigious documentary funders, including ITVS, NEH, Cinereach, Fledgling Fund and Tribeca Film Institute. As a producer and cinematographer, he has shot in 15 countries, including conflict zones like Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma and the West Bank.

Sean was an Associate Producer and Co-Director of Photography in Afghanistan on the award-winning film BEYOND BELIEF, which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and aired on the Sundance Channel. Most recently, he directed and co-edited the short documentary DIVIDING LINES, a film about the lives of Israeli and Palestinian journalists. He is also a producer and cinematographer on the ITVS-funded feature THE LIST.

In 2008, Sean was a filmmaker resident at the Content + Intent Documentary Institute at Mass MoCA, where he focused on harnessing the power of documentary film as a tool for social change. In 2011, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to research a film about urbanization in India. Before joining Principle Pictures, Sean studied film and political science at the University of Southern California and the University of Otago in New Zealand.