The Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI) is an innovation lab and research center that studies, s
The Center for Media & Social Impact at American University, formerly the Center for Social Media, is an innovation incubator and research center that creates, studies, and showcases media for social impact. Focusing on independent, documentary and public media, the Center bridges boundaries between scholars, producers and communication practitioners across media production, media impact, public p
03/16/2026
CMSI’s 2026 State of the Documentary Field reports are officially available on our website now + We are partnering with the Global Impact Producers Alliance to launch The Documentary Influence: A Social Science Investigation of Film Impact Campaigns, featuring the research leads behind four powerful new studies. More details and registration links here in our latest newsletter here - https://mailchi.mp/american/march-2026
03/06/2026
Last panel of ! Thank you to our group for Challenges and Opportunities in Entertainment and Tech for Social Good. The vibes here have been great, even in the face of some tough topics. Thanks to everyone who joined us on site, or online.
Bringing it all home, our last speaker Nima Shirazi (nimashirazi.com) VP of Spitfire Strategies (spitfirestrategies.com) pulls it all together to tell us the story of storytelling; historically, politically, dynamically, in a humanistic and personal way.
Julie Ann Cromwell () defines “creative abrasion” and gives us the tools to navigate it to positive collaboration.
Winning most charts in a presentation, Andrew deWaard () walks us through the research that went into his book Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture.
After lunch we opened up the mic for the “fishbowl” when audience members can tell the room a little bit about themselves.
03/06/2026
Huge thank you to our fantastic panel on Documentary Storytelling and the Future (Distribution, Production, Ethics). We’ll be back after lunch!
Chris Hastings () President and CEO of WXXI Rochester () presenting on the state of public media after govt defunding.
Lisa Leeman () took us on a journey exploring the intersection of documentary filmmaking and AI. The ethics, the fears, and the innovation happening now and what’s coming for us in the near future.
Wing Har explains how jolt.film () is changing the way documentary films are finding audiences by teaming with influencers.
CMSI Executive Director Caty Borum () revealing key points on the state of documentary filmmaking today. Inspiration in the face of difficulties navigating distribution.
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