Join Us for an Advanced Essentials workshop on Story Structure in Documentaries!

Overview

How do you shape a compelling documentary without forcing real life into a rigid structure? In Unstructured: Breaking Form in Documentary Filmmaking, award-winning filmmaker Laurie Townshend (A Mother Apart, Charley) examines alternative storytelling frameworks that embrace complexity, nuance, and real-world unpredictability. Through case studies, hands-on exercises, and an interview with a guest filmmaker, this three-hour course will challenge traditional narrative models and help filmmakers craft authentic, dynamic stories.

Laurie brings her unique perspective as a writer, director, and educator whose work explores acts of courage that spark quiet revolutions. Her acclaimed documentary A Mother Apart—a Top 3 Audience Favorite at Hot Docs 2024—exemplifies her approach to structure, centering emotional truth over imposed arcs. Join her for a thought-provoking session designed to reshape how you think about storytelling in documentary filmmaking.

GOTHAM MEMBERS: Enroll in this class through your Member Dashboard to receive your 20% discount.

Instructors

Laurie Townshend

Laurie Townshend is a writer, director, and educator from Toronto, Canada. Raised by a Jamaican mother—the family’s eloquent griot—she learned early on that stories shape us as much as we shape them.

Her work explores human acts of courage that spark quiet revolutions, including The Railpath Hero (2013) and Charley (2016), a documentary linking civil rights activist Charles Roach to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Her latest feature, A Mother Apart (Top 3 Audience Favourite, HotDocs ‘24; Best First Feature, Best Canadian Feature, Audience Award, Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival ‘24), follows acclaimed poet-performer Staceyann Chin as she confronts the trauma of maternal abandonment and its impact on raising her own daughter.

Laurie was recently selected for UnionDocs' Pod intensive to develop an audio project that continues her exploration of identity, resilience, and the ways human connection shapes our lives.