Connecting Bold Films with Visionary Giving

The DocList educates and empowers philanthropists to invest in culture-shifting stories.

Founded by four women with decades of experience producing, funding, and directing award-winning non-fiction content, The DocList makes bespoke connections between philanthropists and documentary films seeking funding.

We connect philanthropic capital to documentary films with aligned impact

The DocList is a curated slate of documentary projects seeking funding. We match individual donors to film projects based on their specific interests and passions. Once there’s a match, tax deductible contributions are made through our 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor. We handle the diligence, the matchmaking and the process so donors can confidently support films on issues they care about most. And, filmmakers are empowered to produce stories that might otherwise remain untold.

HOW IT WORKS

CURATE   

Through deep industry ties, we hand-select projects with strong creative and social impact potential.

MATCH     

Selected films are matched with philanthropic funders whose interest areas align with the film’s themes.

FACILITATE

After a funder expresses interest, The DocList facilitates a connection to the filmmaker, supporting transparent discussions and confirming commitments, including agreed upon film credit and funds donated.

SUPPORT  

We steward the process end-to-end, retaining a consulting fee for executing the match, managing tax-deductible donations, and offering guidance to ensure success.

"I have been an independent filmmaker for over 30 years and philanthropic dollars have significantly contributed to nearly every one of my documentary projects.  Whether it is for development that gets an idea off the ground, a grant at a critical moment during production, or finishing funds that get a project across the finish line - raising philanthropic funding means our mission aligns with someone who knows the project can effectuate change. The DocList was built to bring together people across multiple sectors and tell stories that can make a tangible impact.”

-MELANIE MILLER, Oscar winning filmmaker, Navalny

SUPPORTED FILMS

Art Spiegelman: Disaster is my muse

Explores the life and career of cartoonist Art Spiegelman and the creation and ground-breaking impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, Maus, the story of his parents’ survival of the Holocaust and his own struggle to come to terms with this legacy.

Learn more

Plan C for Civilization

Physicist David Keith, a leading and controversial figure in solar geoengineering, seeks to test his planetary-cooling technology after decades of research and theorization. His journey unfolds amid fierce debates over the ethical, political, and environmental implications of reflecting sunlight to slow global warming.

Learn more

Speak.

Follows five American teens as they spend a year crafting spoken word performances with the dream of winning the Super Bowl of public speaking competitions: the NSDA Nationals.

Learn more

All the Walls Came Down

When award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner left her Altadena, CA home for a shoot on January 4th, 2025, she could not have predicted that she would be leaving it for the last time. “ALL THE WALLS CAME DOWN” shares a deeply personal story in the aftermath of the 2025 LA fires, as Ondi turns the camera on her community ravaged by climate catastrophe and finds Altadena's remarkable resilience which rallies in its wake.

Learn more

If you’d like to learn more about our current project slate, please contact us below or email us at info@thedoclist.org

“I donated to three films over the last few years. Each one touched a subject important and meaningful to me. Being able to see the messaging come to life and shared with millions has been very rewarding. I see The DocList as a tool to enhance this philanthropic work.”

-HOWARD FISCHER, Philanthropist / Chief Evangelist, Gratitude Railroad

Our Founders

  • MAGGIE CONTRERAS is a multiple award-winning documentary filmmaker, with a distinctive ability to connect with anyone in front of her camera with remarkable ease. Her critically-acclaimed feature documentary MAESTRA premiered in competition at Tribeca 2023 where it won an audience award. Executive Produced by David Letterman, the film went on to garner multiple awards on the festival circuit, was nominated by the 2024 IDA Awards for Best Music Documentary and is streaming on Netflix.

  • LAUREN LEXTON is an Emmy-winning producer, who founded Authentic Entertainment, a highly successful non-fiction production company. During Lexton's 18-year tenure at Authentic, she oftentimes had more than 10 series on-air concurrently on networks including Bravo, Food Network, TLC, Sundance, History and Discovery. Currently she is a producer on five documentary films that are winning awards in festivals, being shown in theaters, and are available on streaming platforms.

  • JULIE MORRIS is a development strategist, film producer, and philanthropist who is committed to creating impactful investments that build a lasting legacy. As a founder of March Fourth Consultants, she connects impact multimedia creators with investors and foundations, fostering partnerships to address society's pressing challenges. In recent years, she has supported several documentary films that have premiered at festivals around the world.

  • RISHIKA ADVANI is a creative executive and documentary producer whose projects explore a diverse range of issues, from mental health and climate change to human rights and politics. She served as the VP of Documentary Films and Series at Participant, a global media company that pioneered socially conscious storytelling. Prior to Participant, she was the Director of Current Programming at CNN Original Series. Rishika has spent many years as a producer in the unscripted space, and has served on multiple juries and panels.

Advisors

  • A Peabody Award-winning director and producer Senain is known for Hulu's Muslim Matchmaker and acclaimed documentaries like ESPN's The Diplomat and Project Kashmir. Kheshgi is a Sundance, Tribeca, and Rockefeller Fellow. She founded MAJORITY, a production company supporting women filmmakers, and VISTA HOUSE, an artist-led nonprofit. Kheshgi also programs for the Indian Film Festival and speaks regularly at major industry events.

  • JL Pomeroy is a media executive, producer, and entrepreneur.  As the former Global CMO for IMAX, she produced a first-of-its-kind, live-action IMAX short, Infinite Worlds, which anchored a brand campaign spanning 80 countries, 1,700 theaters, and 39 languages. She founded Behind The Line, with credits including Live From New York!, which opened Tribeca Film Festival, Canary, and Space Oddity. Her directorial debut, the documentary short Die Laughing, was selected for 9 international film festivals, winning 2 audience awards. She serves as an advisor to media & tech companies, and leads bridgeLine media, orchestrating partnerships at the intersection of storytelling and capital.

  • James Costa is the Co-President of Los Angeles based Bird Street Productions. He is an award winning film producer with over fifty titles to his credit. His most recent projects include The Dating Game, All The Empty Rooms, Apocalypse In the Tropics, and the upcoming films Cookie Queens and The Disciple. He is on the National Council of The Roundabout Theatre in New York, as well as The Vice President for the Board of Directors for Sea Shepherd USA. He is a member of The Producers Guild of America and BAFTA/LA.

  • Deirdre Haj serves as an independent film producer and consultant to festivals, filmmakers and art houses. Haj currently serves as Vice President of the Art House Convergence was the founding Vice President of the Film Festival Alliance. She was Executive Director at Film Streams Cinemas, and led the acclaimed Full Frame Documentary Film Festival for over a decade.

  • Melanie Miller is an Academy Award-winning producer and co-founder of Fishbowl Films. Her films include INVENTING TOMORROW (Peabody award), MAESTRA, ON THE DIVIDE, STUTZ and NAVALNY which won the Festival Favorite at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and awarded a DuPont, PGA, BAFTA, and the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Other credits include TRIAL BY MEDIA, EQUAL, MARVEL 616 and THE PROGRAM: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping (7+ million views in its first week on Netflix) and launched a Senate Finance Committee investigation.

  • Howard Fischer is the former CEO and Founder of Basso Capital Management a hedge fund company. He is currently the Chief Evangelist of Gratitude Railroad - an impact investment business he co-founded after his two fellowship years (2013&2014) at the Advanced Leadership Initiative of Harvard University. Gratitude Railroad’s mission is to inspire , catalyze and activate allocations of capital into businesses whose product or service benefits the environment and/or social justice issues.

  • Nathalie Seaver's career began with research for Terrence Malick and an internship with Francois Truffaut, leading to creative executive roles at Universal, MGM, Warners, and Showtime. As EVP of Foothill Productions, she curates films that have premiered at Sundance for six consecutive years and garnered several Oscar short-listed or nominated titles, including Death by Numbers,The Martha Mitchell Effect, Lead Me Home; Desperate Souls, Dark City, the legend of Midnight Cowboy. Recent releases include: Art Spiegelman, Disaster is My Muse; James Carville, Winning is Everything, Stupid and Maestra. Upcoming titles are: Coexistence My Ass, SPEAK.,‍ and Women Laughing.

  • Ben Fowlie is a film executive, producer, and curator with over twenty years of documentary experience in the US and UK. He founded LDNDOCS and the prominent Points North Institute / Camden International Film Festival, serving as Executive and Artistic Director for two decades. Previously, he was VP of Sales and Partnerships for Original Content at Universal Pictures Content Group in London, helping to greenlight feature documentaries. Ben serves on the Advisory Board of Vista House and is the former Nominations Committee Chair for the Cinema Eye Honors. He has served on numerous film festival and awards juries globally, including IDFA, CPH:DOX, and the Spirit Awards.

  • Alexandra Hannibal (Alex) is a seasoned film executive who most recently served as Senior Creative Executive for the documentary division at A24. Prior to A24, Hannibal had an extensive tenure at CNN Films, where she held various positions, including Vice President. During her time at CNN, she was instrumental in the development and acquisition of over twenty documentary projects, most notably the Oscar- and BAFTA-winning feature Navalny.

Let’s work together

Let’s talk! Please fill out the form or email us at info@thedoclist.org if you would like to learn more.

We are currently accepting tax deductible donations through our 501(c)(3) Fiscal Sponsor. These funds will help us grow The DocList so we can get important films made.

Please note, we are not accepting unsolicited film projects right now.