DOC NYC HIRES MALIKKAH ROLLINS AS DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION

DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, announced the hiring of Malikkah Rollins in the role of Director of Industry & Education, part of the festival’s core leadership team. The festival also opened nominations for its annual Documentary New Leaders and 40 Under 40 honors.

Rollins will lead the expansion of the festival’s mission to develop filmmaker careers and become a global destination for the documentary industry to congregate. She will oversee initiatives such as the DOC NYC PRO Conference and Only In New York meetings for works-in-progress that will take place during this year’s festival, November 10-18, 2021. She will also supervise online education programs that the festival runs year-round for a global audience and industry-facing initiatives such as Documentary New Leaders and 40 Under 40.

“I am delighted to harness my experience as an educator, counselor, and community builder to grow DOC NYC’s essential work,” said Rollins. “I look forward to deepening opportunities for filmmakers from around the world to benefit from DOC NYC’s online education and to welcome industry gathering in person at the festival in November.”

Rollins brings a background in film and education working with organizations such as Sundance Co//ab, D-Word and Women in Film and Video (Washington, DC). Over the past year, she co-developed 46 workshops and 9 retreats for the global nonprofit Humentum. She holds master’s degrees from Tufts University in International Affairs and from Smith College in Social Work. Rollins will start at DOC NYC on August 2. 

Caitlin Boyle, DOC NYC’s previous Director of Industry & Education, will transition to the role of Director of Filmmaker Development for the organization. “I’m thrilled to collaborate with Malikkah as she grows DOC NYC’s industry and educational offerings, and to continue my work to support filmmakers through DOC NYC’s unique career development initiatives,” said Boyle. 

In her new role, Boyle will launch a new DOC NYC mentorship program in collaboration with The Video Consortium, the Storytelling Incubator, for emerging filmmakers from marginalized perspectives. She will also continue to work on the Only In New York, Documentary New Leaders, and 40 Under 40 initiatives. Prior to her work at DOC NYC, Boyle was the founder and executive director of Film Sprout, a grassroots distribution and audience engagement company specializing in documentary.

“We’re coming off our most successful year in serving filmmakers from around the world,” said DOC NYC Executive Director Raphaela Neihausen. “Now we have a dream team with Malikkah and Caitlin to grow our industry and education programs further.”

DOC NYC also announced an Open Call for nominations for two of its industry programs: 

• Documentary New Leaders puts a spotlight on rising documentary industry stars whose work brings greater inclusion and equity to the field. The initiative is co-presented for its second year by A&E. The nomination deadline is August 30, 2021. For more information, see https://www.docnyc.net/new-leaders/. 

• 40 Under 40, now in its fourth year, honors prominent young documentary directors, producers, editors, cinematographers and other creative talent and is co-presented for the second year by HBO Documentary Films. The 40 Under 40 nomination deadline is August 15, 2021. For more information, see https://www.docnyc.net/about-us/40-under-40/.