With Netflix, HBO, and other digital outlets looking for top quality, half-hour documentaries, the short doc format has gained a new surge in interest from filmmakers and viewers alike. This year’s Oscar nominees in the Best Documentary Short category are grateful for it, telling the crowd at TheWrap’s Screening Series that making a documentary shorter has its advantages.
“For me, it’s really freeing actually to make something that’s pared down to fewer elements,” said Kate Davis, director of “Traffic Stop.” The documentary interviews Breaion King, a black schoolteacher in Texas who made headlines after a police dashcam video of her being violently arrested after a routine traffic stop went viral.