lavine fellowship

Established in 2021, The Better Angels Lavine Fellowship supports compelling documentaries that represent the full range of U.S. history and are well-positioned to benefit from customized membership. The fellowship creates a community where filmmakers gain expertise from seasoned industry leaders and share skills to collectively deepen their craft. 

The Fellowship is focused on feature-length projects in post-production and offers focused workshops and mentorship that support their completion and distribution. Each selected film receives a $5,000 prize, and filmmakers meet in a virtual cohort setting over the course of several months to advance their projects to the next stage.

Past cohorts have participated in workshops focused on packaging and pitching films, archival producing, marketing and distribution, self-distribution, and the PBS programming process. In 2025, workshop mentors included PBS Executive Sylvia Bugg, Distribution Executive Alexandra Hannibal, Distribution Advocates’ Co-founder Amy Hobby, Archival Producer Stephanie Jenkins, Producer Caroline Waterlow, and other industry experts.

Participants have also worked one-on-one with editing mentors who offer targeted feedback on rough and fine cuts of their films. In 2025, editing mentors included Salimah El-Amin (The Vietnam War), Amy Foote (Fauci), Flavia de Souza (Eyes on the Prize II) and Tyler Walk (Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus).