At a time when documentary filmmakers face extreme fundraising difficulties, documentary budget expert Robert Bahar pivots from his usual workshop to address the elephant in the room: How do you protect your creative vision when the financial ground keeps moving?
In this workshop, Robert will break the filmmaking process into discrete production stages, guiding participants through a workflow for maintaining your full vision for a project while making necessary adjustments to the budget as fundraising realities come into focus, one stage at a time. Practical and empowering in equal measure, this approach helps filmmakers plan ahead, avoid compromise, and ensure their work can be completed.
Supported by Wrapbook
Moderator: Lisa Valencia-Svensson (Getting Real '26)
Facilitator: Robert Bahar (You Are Not Alone: Fighting the Wolf Pack)
Biographies (submitted by the speakers):
Robert Bahar is a Peabody, duPont-Columbia, Goya and three-time Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker. He produced and directed, with Almudena Carracedo, “You Are Not Alone”, which was a global success on Netflix, won a duPont-Columbia Award, and was nominated for a Goya (Spain’s Academy Award), Grierson, and a BAFTA (TV). They produced and directed “The Silence of Others”, which won a Goya, Peabody, two Emmys, the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award, Berlinale Peace Film Prize, Sheffield Grand Jury Prize, and was shortlisted for an Oscar. They also won an Emmy for their film “Made in L.A.” Robert teaches at NYU Madrid and at Documentary Campus, and is the author of the “Introduction to Documentary Budgeting and Scheduling” articles and templates for IDA’s magazine and website. He is a Creative Capital Fellow and a member of the European Film Academy, Spanish Film Academy and AMPAS, where he serves on the Documentary Branch Executive Committee.
Lisa Valencia-Svensson is an Emmy award winning producer and Acting Industry Programs Director at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. She was previously Head of Operations at Multitude Films, where she co-produced PRAY AWAY (Tribeca 2020), CALL CENTER BLUES (Academy Award Best Short Documentary shortlist 2021), and ALWAYS IN SEASON (Sundance 2019, Independent Lens). She produced CALL HER GANDA (Tribeca 2018, POV), which The Hollywood Reporter called “heartbreaking and inspirational.” Her first documentary HERMAN'S HOUSE (Full Frame 2012, POV) won an Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming. Her second feature MIGRANT DREAMS (Hot Docs 2016, TVO) won the Canadian Hillman Prize and was a Top Ten Audience Favorite at Hot Docs. Other credits include THE WORLD BEFORE HER (Tribeca 2012, POV) and LAILA AT THE BRIDGE (CPH:DOX 2018).
At a time when documentary filmmakers face extreme fundraising difficulties, documentary budget expert Robert Bahar pivots from his usual workshop to address the elephant in the room: How do you protect your creative vision when the financial ground keeps moving?
In this workshop, Robert will break the filmmaking process into discrete production stages, guiding participants through a workflow for maintaining your full vision for a project while making necessary adjustments to the budget as fundraising realities come into focus, one stage at a time. Practical and empowering in equal measure, this approach helps filmmakers plan ahead, avoid compromise, and ensure their work can be completed.
Supported by Wrapbook
Moderator: Lisa Valencia-Svensson (Getting Real '26)
Facilitator: Robert Bahar (You Are Not Alone: Fighting the Wolf Pack)
Biographies (submitted by the speakers):
Robert Bahar is a Peabody, duPont-Columbia, Goya and three-time Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker. He produced and directed, with Almudena Carracedo, “You Are Not Alone”, which was a global success on Netflix, won a duPont-Columbia Award, and was nominated for a Goya (Spain’s Academy Award), Grierson, and a BAFTA (TV). They produced and directed “The Silence of Others”, which won a Goya, Peabody, two Emmys, the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award, Berlinale Peace Film Prize, Sheffield Grand Jury Prize, and was shortlisted for an Oscar. They also won an Emmy for their film “Made in L.A.” Robert teaches at NYU Madrid and at Documentary Campus, and is the author of the “Introduction to Documentary Budgeting and Scheduling” articles and templates for IDA’s magazine and website. He is a Creative Capital Fellow and a member of the European Film Academy, Spanish Film Academy and AMPAS, where he serves on the Documentary Branch Executive Committee.
Lisa Valencia-Svensson is an Emmy award winning producer and Acting Industry Programs Director at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. She was previously Head of Operations at Multitude Films, where she co-produced PRAY AWAY (Tribeca 2020), CALL CENTER BLUES (Academy Award Best Short Documentary shortlist 2021), and ALWAYS IN SEASON (Sundance 2019, Independent Lens). She produced CALL HER GANDA (Tribeca 2018, POV), which The Hollywood Reporter called “heartbreaking and inspirational.” Her first documentary HERMAN'S HOUSE (Full Frame 2012, POV) won an Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming. Her second feature MIGRANT DREAMS (Hot Docs 2016, TVO) won the Canadian Hillman Prize and was a Top Ten Audience Favorite at Hot Docs. Other credits include THE WORLD BEFORE HER (Tribeca 2012, POV) and LAILA AT THE BRIDGE (CPH:DOX 2018).
