Call for Applications: New Doc+ Summer Program for Undergraduates

Student with a microphone and Doc+ logo
Photo by Lauren Henschel, director of Doc+.

Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) announces Doc+, a new six-week summer program for undergraduate students focused on the documentary arts. The newest addition to Duke’s popular +Programs, Doc+ will provide students the opportunity to contribute to documentary fieldwork addressing critical issues and explore diverse mediums such as photography, film, audio and oral history. 

Through Doc+, students will work in small teams under the mentorship of a graduate student and a creative project partner who provide oversight and guidance. Each team will collaborate on a unique documentary project that supports their creative partner’s documentary work. Students will take on tasks such as logging footage, scanning images, conducting archival research, interviewing subjects, editing and more. Additionally, students will participate in hands-on workshops, building skills in areas like film editing and darkroom techniques. By the end of the program, students will have made significant contributions to a documentary project with real-world impact. 

“I’m thrilled to introduce this innovative summer program, where students will collaborate with accomplished filmmakers and documentarians for six weeks of immersive, hands-on learning," says Doc+ Director Lauren Henschel. "Doc+ promises to be an inspiring experience for students, fostering meaningful work and shaping the next generation of storytellers. I’m especially excited to see how this program will open doors and equip students with valuable skills to propel their documentary journeys at Duke and beyond.”

This summer, Doc+ will partner with Arts+, offering overlapping activities that provide unique arts experiences to students in both cohorts. Both programs will take place during Summer Session 1 and are open to all undergraduate students, with the exception of graduating seniors.

Call for Undergraduate Applications

This week CDS launched its call for Doc+ applications. Undergraduate students can apply here and must submit their applications by February 24, 2025. Accepted students will receive a stipend of $3,500 for their participation or room and board in on-campus housing. 

2025 Doc+ Projects

God Sent Us Alan

God Sent Us Alan image

Creative Project Partner: Rebekah Fergusson

Project Overview: When a young father in Tennessee tested positive for HIV in 1985, the diagnosis shook his family and divided his church. Forty years later, his daughter is piecing together the story. God Sent Us Alan is a hybrid documentary that blends real interviews and archival footage with fictionalized scenes to tell this deeply personal family history. Doc+ students will assist the film team in conducting archival, location and subject research, as well as logging and organizing existing footage to support the development of the film's fictional elements.

Students will gain skills in:

  • Archival research and organization
  • Logging, transcribing and selecting key footage and interviews
  • Interview preparation and creating subject dossiers
  • Story development, particularly in blending nonfiction and fiction within a film.

Just Space? Hardee Street & the Durham We Build

Hardee Street Apartments image

Creative Project Partner: Tinu Diver

Project Overview: This project documents the development and impact of one of DHIC’s newest affordable housing communities in Durham, NC, exploring how thoughtful design and community-driven approaches address the growing issue of housing affordability in a rapidly changing city. Doc+ students will produce multimedia pieces to help tell the stories of stakeholders and residents, emphasizing how affordable housing contributes to stability and inclusivity. 

Students will gain skills in:

  • Conducting interviews with stakeholders, residents and community members
  • Capturing and producing multimedia content
  • Researching the historical and socioeconomic contexts related to housing
  • Crafting narratives that connect documentary arts with social issues.

Student Action with Farmworkers

Student Action with Farmers image

Creative Project Partner: Jacey Anderson

Project Overview: Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) is a nonprofit organization focused on building bridges between students and farmworkers to foster mutual learning, improve farmworker conditions and build diverse coalitions for social change. This project is gathering oral histories from SAF’s past interns, exploring their journeys from SAF participation to their current roles. Students will collaborate with SAF and archivists to create a database of SAF campaigns and direct actions. Students will also conduct and transcribe oral histories, create interview highlights and design zine pages that will be incorporated into SAF’s programming materials.

Students will gain skills in:

  • Archival research and database creation
  • Conducting oral history interviews, including pre-interview research and transcription
  • Synthesizing and analyzing interview findings for public-facing projects
  • Creating professional-grade, bilingual materials such as zines.

Artificial Horizon

Artificial Horizon image

Creative Project Partner: Elizabeth M. Webb

Project Overview: Artificial Horizon is a feature-length documentary that explores the layered social and natural histories of former plantation land in Alabama, which serves as the origin for the filmmaker's family. The film examines how boundaries are created and offers plants as metaphors for resistance to these constructed divisions. Doc+ students will assist with editing and organizing interview transcripts, story mapping, identifying additional funding sources and planning for an impact campaign. 

Students will gain skills in:

  • Transcription and editing of interview materials
  • Story mapping and development
  • Identifying funding opportunities
  • Impact campaign planning and documentary post-production skills (including AfterEffects and Premiere Pro).