The International Documentary Association’s Getting Real conference is a one-of-a-kind industry event for nonfiction storytellers who want to take their careers to the next level. The theme of Getting Real 2016 was Focus on Art, Diversity, and Sustainability.

Kindling Group Associates Rachel Pikelny and Meggie Cramer shared these takeaways from the three-day experience.

The Themes of Transparency and Community:

In an age when we can find most answers through a Google query, or connect with someone on social media, it's amazing just how little information is shared among documentary filmmakers, and how unconnected we are to one another. Getting Real was unique in that it brought stakeholders into the same room to voice common concerns & solutions. [The conference] inspired, at least for me, a drive to continue these efforts from Chicago. In her recap of the conference, Pat Aufderheide so accurately stated that "isolation is a real problem. Even if you’re in one of the cities where you have plenty of community, you can tunnel down into your own projects and lose sight of community when you come up for air." Meeting and sharing experiences with like-minded documentary folks re-cemented my decision to enter this field and inspired me to do my part in improving it. -Rachel Pikelny

I walked in knowing I would absolutely learn things - the line-up of panels was fantastic - but I had no idea that I would also walk away with a renewed sense of community, excitement, and dedication to not only our films but the documentary community as a whole. It's often hard, being isolated both in Chicago and in an office, to see the forest through the trees, as they say. The day to day of making films, of creating engagement, of sustaining an organization is arduous and often exhausting. IDA allowed me the opportunity to take a breath and refocus. To see the countless other filmmakers facing the same struggle and feeling the same exhaustion - yet we all keep doing it. - Meggie Cramer

The Panels:

Every panel I attended was stellar - from risk management (or, Up Sh*t Creek...) with BritDoc to the Creative Producers Panel to the impact panel with our partners on Radical Grace, the Fledgling Fund - but I was left most buoyed by Esther Robinson's From Survive to Thrive [panel]. Instead of focusing on the financial aspect of sustainability, it focused on the interpersonal, community pieces that are often overlooked - because who cares about how you feel if you're not getting paid?

Esther framed the conversation around four key points:

Purpose - We do this crazy filmmaking thing, and this even crazier documentary thing, because we're called to. Because we feel some weird, sometimes counterintuitive call to create content that tells a story that needs to be told. If we didn't have the purpose, we'd be doing something easier.

Validation - Documentary filmmakers especially live in a land of no. We are constantly rejected from grants, turned down by distributors, and face more no before we ever hear a yes. This is a fact of our entire careers, just because you're further along doesn't mean you stop hearing no. We as documentary filmmakers need to find ways to continue to be validated and sustained by our work even when we're constantly being denied.

Community - It often feels like we're doing this documentary thing in a vacuum. We're alone in our offices, writing grants; we're with our small crew, shooting subjects; we're in our own heads, being critical. Yet, there is an entire, amazing, dynamic group of filmmakers around the world doing the same thing. Reach out to them! Use them! Support each other!

Gratitude/Generosity - The fact that we have this amazing opportunity to make films isn't easy, but being grateful helps remind us it's pretty damn cool. If your film gets rejected from a film festival? Drop a line to that up and coming filmmaker who approached you after a screening and offer to get coffee - be generous with your time. Funder said no...again? Email a fellow filmmaker and tell them how great their film is, just for the hell of it. Say thank you to your team, your family, and your collaborators - the more we pay it forward, the better we'll all be.

Esther kept reminding the audience, while this journey never get's "easier" it's the joy we get from working our assess off to see a reward that keeps us doing it. We shouldn't look for "easy" but we can look to those four aspects of our greater filmmaking process to keep us grounded when it gets really hard. Onwards and upwards - not only for Kindling Group but for all us crazy doc folks around the world!

Thanks to IDA for hosting such an important event! We can’t wait to attend next year.

For more info on the International Documentary Association and the Getting Real Conference, go to http://www.documentary.org/