Doc Camp - Spring 2026
April 10-12 Portland, OR
25 filmmakers are invited to join us for screenings, discussions, community building, and the following incredible programming:
A Screening OF BARBARA FOREVER
On Friday, April 10th, you’ll attend a screening of BARBARA FOREVER, presented in partnership with the Portland Panorama Film Festival.
On Saturday, April 11th, although we won’t have her in person, we’ll watch an exclusive Doc Camp Q & A with the Brydie..
Brydie O’Connor’s work activates archives through queering storytelling structures within the nonfiction space. Brydie’s work has been supported by Creative Capital, Hot Docs, New York Foundation for the Arts, Frameline, and the Stonewall Foundation, and has been presented at The Museum of Modern Art, BFI, & DOC NYC, among other festivals and galleries worldwide. Her debut feature documentary, BARBARA FOREVER, premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and internationally at the 2026 Berlinale, where she was awarded the prestigious Teddy Award for Best Documentary.
An in-depth conversation about
editing in the documentary world
On Saturday, April 11th, you’ll do a deep dive into the world of documentary editing with award-winning editors Andrew Gersh, ACE and Steven Golliday.
Andrew Gersh, ACE is an award-winning documentary film editor based in Portland, Oregon. His work on CRIP CAMP earned an Oscar® nomination for Best Feature Documentary, wins at the IDA Awards, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and the Sundance Audience Award. His editing on RETROGRADE earned a 2023 Emmy® Award for Outstanding Editing. His work has screened on Netflix, HBO, Disney, Hulu, National Geographic and PBS, among others and been seen at museums and festivals worldwide. A two-time Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab Fellow and active member of American Cinema Editors, Andrew is also a dedicated mentor across several documentary and film editing programs.
Steven J. Golliday is an award-winning editor of films such as Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney (2023), King in the Wilderness (Emmy, Outstanding Historical Documentary), The First Step (Tribeca 2021), and Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street (2021).
Steven is also a musician and producer, blending influences of soul, jazz, post-rock and hiphop, and heavily informed by the stories and knowledge he’s accumulated through editing. Similarly, he credits the lyricism, rhythm and structure from his music background as strong influences his approach to editing films.
His work has encompassed a range of styles; from archival-based to vérité, providing him with cherished experiences, insights and collaborations that continue to guide him as an artist and human being.
A Case Study with acclaimed filmmaker
Beth Harrington
On Sunday, April 12th, you’ll participate in a case study with Beth, exploring her career, films and life lessons.
Beth Harrington is an independent producer, director and writer, born in Boston and transplanted to the Pacific Northwest. Her work most often explores American history, art and culture. Her music documentary Welcome to the Club – The Women of Rockabilly, a look at the pioneering women of rock and roll, was honored with a 2003 Grammy nomination. This and other works reflect a long-standing involvement in music which includes a stint as a singer in the band Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers.
In 2015 her film The Winding Stream – The Carters, the Cashes and the Course of Country Music premiered at SXSW later appearing in over 30 film festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Harrington has worked with public television stations WGBH in Boston and OPB in Portland producing, researching, and developing shows for both national and local air on series such as Nova, Frontline, History Detectives, Oregon Art Beat and Oregon Experience, earning her two regional Emmy awards.
Her latest films concern artists and their impact on community: Our Mr. Matsura, currently on the film festival circuit; and Beyond The Duplex Planet which premiered at SXSW in March of this year.
A Documentary Essentials Workshop with
Courtney Hermann
On Saturday, April 11th, you’ll have the opportunity to learn directly from Courtney as she shares highlights and essential ideas from her upcoming edition of Directing the Documentary.
Courtney Hermann (she/they) is a documentary filmmaker with decades of experience directing, producing, and shooting short and feature-length documentary films. Courtney is co-author of the 7th edition and forthcoming 8th edition of the foundational textbook Directing the Documentary with Michael Rabiger. Her full-length documentaries include Outliers and Outlaws (a part of the public, multi-platform Eugene Lesbian History Project); Standing Silent Nation (nationally broadcast on POV/PBS and programmed at the Smithsonian Institution); and Exotic World and the Burlesque Revival (selected for dOCUMENTA 15 and featured daily at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Museum).
Courtney’s many short films include Burton Before and After (multiple festival award-winner); Uprooted: Japanese American Farm Labor Camps during World War II (a part of a traveling exhibit of photographer Russell Lee’s documentation of Japanese American farm labor camps in the Northwestern United States); and There’s Heart Here (featured at the United States Conference on AIDS and at the World Professional Association for Transgender Health conference). Courtney is an Associate Professor of Film at Portland State University.
Work-in-progress screenings moderated by
Enie Vaisburd
Throughout the weekend, 10 filmmakers will have the opportunity to share a work-in-progress for feedback from the group. Those not selected to share during Doc Camp will be able to do so online with attendees following the event. Submit yours with your registration form ASAP.
Enie Vaisburd is Professor of Film & Video at Pacific University Oregon. Prior to her start at Pacific in 2008, she was Lead Faculty at the Northwest Film Center in Portland, OR, for more than a decade. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she received an MFA in Cinema from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois.
Enie’s film work integrates characteristics of experimental and documentary forms. Language, translation, cultural identity, and dislocation are themes in her work. Enie is especially interested in creating internal geographies and spaces within film. She is an award-winning filmmaker, and her latest project was a collaboration with the late filmmaker Bushra Azzouz and Ellen Thomas in the documentary Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison.
Industry Lunch Sponsored by
Nine Muses Law
On Sunday, April 12th, we’re offering something new, an Industry Lunch with a number of fabulous local professionals from the film industry, including Intellectual Property expert Marc Mohan and veteran arts lawyer Kohel Haver.
Nine Muses Law is an artist-friendly law firm that was founded by Marc Mohan in 2024. Marc, a Portlander for 35 years, came to a legal career after decades as an arts journalist and critic, providing a unique appreciation of the intersection between creativity and intellectual property law. Marc is a 2020 graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School with a specialization in IP law, and has worked with 40-year veteran arts lawyer Kohel Haver to help a wide array of filmmakers, authors, artists, people in the recording industry, and others in the Portland area and beyond. Together they have a particular interest in copyright issues, free speech and "fair use" in documentary filmmaking.
