What lasts in XR once the first rush of premieres and new devices settles? This podcast brings you straight into a sharp, inspiring conversation between leading creators, funders, and curators from the UK and Germany. Together they unpack the real challenges behind building a sustainable XR field: long-term funding, meaningful collaboration, institutional responsibility, and the skills needed for the next decade of immersive arts.

This podcast is a recording of the live panel “What Lasts? Building a Future for XR and Immersive Arts”. It took place on 31 October in Leipzig during DOK Exchange XR, held in partnership with the British Council Germany. The episode also references the newest British Council report “Why Technology Needs Artists”.

Find the transcript of the episode here.

Language: English

Sound Design: Clemens Litschko

This podcast episode is produced in partnership with The British Council Germany.

The DOK Industry Podcast 2025 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective, What’s Up With Docs Podcast and Talking Shorts, and supported by film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.

The research of cultural workers Abhishek Nilamber (curator, filmmaker) and Laura Kloeckner (curator, film producer) of United Screens has been cited in the Distribution Advocates podcast, and spotlighted at the International Documentary Association’s Getting Real conference. In this conversation, listeners can hear how Laura and Abhishek’s experiences of thinking with and collaborating with cinephile spaces and cinema practitioners across the Global South have led them to identify the core challenges faced by filmmakers today. Out of this research and a series of gatherings called Think Wells, a network of networks called Meshdia emerged with aim of designing specific protocols for an alternative cinema circulation infrastructure. Hear them share their philosophy regarding a new way forward, a path that prioritizes shared learnings, leans into our interconnectedness and interdependence, and proposes collaborations across the film ecosystem in order to maximise access to cinema. Facilitated by Firelight Media’s Documentary Lab Director, Lucy Mukerjee.

Length: 46:04

Host and Curator: Lucy Mukerjee

The DOK Industry Podcast 2025 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective, What’s Up With Docs Podcast and Talking Shorts, and supported by film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.

What kind of XR worlds are we offering the next generation – and which ones are still missing? Our guests share their experience of the projects that reach youth today, the gaps that remain, and the ideas beginning to take shape. They reflect on how ethical design and thoughtful curation can spark critical thinking, influence memory and behavior, and strengthen digital literacy. At the heart of the conversation lie urgent questions: how do young people actually experience XR, and how might these encounters shape their understanding of the world and the design of immersive media itself? What responsibilities fall on creators, curators, and institutions when showcasing XR to youth? And, most importantly, what should the industry keep in mind if it wants to support works that not only inspire, but also equip the next generation to understand the media of tomorrow.

Main Guests

Voices of XR Community – Creators

Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts, and to the Onassis Foundation for partnering with us on this episode.

Language: English

Host and Curator: Weronika Lewandowska

The DOK Industry Podcast 2025 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective, What’s Up With Docs Podcast and Talking Shorts, and supported by film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

In an increasingly dark global climate, what does it mean for film festivals to platform and for filmmakers to produce ‘political’ work, particularly short films, with their particular space for immediacy and radical expression? When work is made with political or activist intent, what tensions arise when they encounter a Euro/Western centric and elite industry? Iranian filmmaker Saleh Kashefi, Brazilian curator Heitor Augusto, and Talking Shorts commissioning editor Sanne Jehoul discuss some thoughts and provocations around power imbalances, the damage of competition-driven programming practices, who sets aesthetic standards, and more. In collaboration with **Programmers of Colour Collective **and Talking Shorts. 

Films in discussion are:

Length: 62:09

Host and Curator: Sanne Jehoul

The DOK Industry Podcast 2025 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective, What’s Up With Docs Podcast and Talking Shorts, and supported by film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.

In this episode, host Toni Achebe Bell reunites with former producer Ranell Shubert, now Executive Director of the Disability Media Alliance (DMA), to discuss power, possibility, and breaking barriers in nonfiction film.

Ranell reflects on the research, lived experience, and movement-building that led to DMA’s formation from her groundbreaking work at the International Documentary Association (IDA), Getting Real, and the Direct Access Fund. Together, she and Toni explore the deep-rooted systemic challenges from inaccessible festivals to underfunded support networks and the transformative potential of centering care, community, and disability-led leadership.

The song for this episode is RuPaul’s “Star Baby,” because this episode highlights what’s possible when disabled creators are resourced, respected, and ready to shine.

To learn more or get involved, visit DisabilityMedia.org.

Here is the link to the transcript of the episode.

Length: 64:17

Host and Curator: Toni Achebe Bell

The DOK Industry Podcast 2025 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective, What’s Up With Docs Podcast and Talking Shorts, and supported by film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.

In this conversation, we explore how cultural work can exist in a time of industry crisis and political upheaval. We begin by defining—and redefining—the labour of care, considering how it can be mobilised to support and sustain artists and filmmakers, with a particular focus on the short film form. From there, we examine how radical work moves from collective labour into aesthetic expression—and what that looks like in the present moment. Throughout, we hold close the questions of where culture lives and how we can create together.

Length: 37:12

Host and Curator: Qila Gill

The DOK Industry Podcast 2025 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective, What’s Up With Docs Podcast and Talking Shorts, and supported by film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.

In this What’s Up With Docs episode, Toni Bell speaks with the filmmaking team behind Searching for Nora: Claudia Chavez and Christine Mladic Janney.

Their journey touches on the vital role of film archives, the significance of who holds them, and the broader challenges of being a documentary filmmaker and a mother. They also reflect on the past and present state of filmmaking in Peru, particularly in light of recent attacks on the National Film Law, which led to nationwide work stoppages and strikes.

Length: 72:32

Moderator: Toni Bell

The DOK Industry Podcast 2024 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective and What’s Up With Docs Podcast, and supported by Docs-in-Orbit and film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.

The arts are an integral part of national identity, but little film funding exists in most parts of Africa. Docubox, East Africa's first independent film fund started by filmmakers for filmmakers in 2013, was founded to support talented and passionate independent African documentary filmmakers with financial and knowledge-based support. The goal is to challenge ideas and assumptions about Africa and the world, engage local and international audiences, and provoke dialogue and debate.

Join Docubox’s founder, Judy Kibinge, as she speaks with three of the fund's very first grantees on a trip down memory lane. Together, Judy, Maia Lekow (The Letter, and the upcoming How to Build A Library), Toni Kamau (I Am Samuel, Softie, Battle for Laikipia), and Zippy Kimundu (Our Land, Our Freedom) will discuss the key factors that led to the fund's creation and more.

Through this lively and frank conversation, audiences will gain insight into the obstacles faced and get a glimpse of what a growing community of filmmakers, working together to collaborate, exchange ideas, and grow, can achieve.

Length: 53:43

Moderator: Judy Kibinge

The DOK Industry Podcast 2024 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective and What’s Up With Docs Podcast, and supported by Docs-in-Orbit and film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.

Open your ears to the space! In recent years, the production and distribution of spatial audio have accelerated, prompting an exploration of its role in our latest episode of the DOK Exchange XR podcast.

This episode is produced in partnership with Oliver Kadel and the [Immersive Audio Podcast](https://immersiveaudiopodcast.com/).

Length: 53:52

Moderator: Weronika Lewandowska, Oliver Kadel

The DOK Industry Podcast 2024 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective and What’s Up With Docs Podcast, and supported by Docs-in-Orbit and film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.

In this two-part conversation, American Documentary Executive Director and Executive Producer of POV and America ReFramed, Erika Dilday, sits down with four storytellers to discuss the power of creating documentaries by and for BIPOC communities.

In our first conversation, Erika Dilday joins artist and filmmaker Chloe Abrahams to dive into the creation of her first feature documentary, The Taste of Mango. Together the two discuss Chloe’s deeply personal portrait of her own family and the Sri Lankan British community.

In the second conversation, Erika Dilday sits down with director Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough, producer Dawne Langford and activist/doc participant Erricka Bridgeford, to discuss their film, The Body Politic.

Length: 48:21

Moderator: Erika Dilday

The DOK Industry Podcast 2024 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective and What’s Up With Docs Podcast, and supported by Docs-in-Orbit and film.macht.kritisch - Der Podcast über das andere Kino.

You can find out more about our collaborators here.