Skip to main content

Alex Morelli

A person with fair skin and thick dark short hair, eyebrows and a short beard sit at a table looking gently at the camera with a smile. They cross their arms, in front of them is a 16mm camera.

Alex Morelli is an artist, filmmaker, and educator based in Chicago, IL. Drawing on personal, observational, and archival practices, he makes films that examine intergenerational memory, carceral landscapes, and the relationship between place and identity. His shorts have screened in RiverRun, Indie Grits, Athens International Film and Video Festival, and Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival. He was a 2017-18 Harvard Film Study Center Fellow, a 2019 Flaherty Film Seminar Fellow, a 2021 LEF-CIFF Fellow, and a 2021 Gotham Documentary Feature Lab participant. In 2022, Filmmaker Magazine named him one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. He has taught filmmaking in university and community settings and frequently works as a cinematographer and editor.

Articles

Kristal Bush, right, a Black woman with large earrings, and her nephew, Nyvae Scott, a Black teenager. Image from Lisa Riordan Seville and Zara Katz’s ‘A Woman on the Outside.’ Photo courtesy of the flmmakers
The Feedback: Lisa Riordan Seville and Zara Katz's 'A Woman on the Outside'
Column
Read More
Teenagers living with disabilities enjoying their afternoon out on a field at Camp Jened. From James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham's 'Crip Camp.' Courtesy of Netflix.
Screen Time: Week of July 18 2022
Blog
Read More
Alice Diop is a Senegalese-French woman wearing a multicolored jacket. She is sitting in a library, speaking to Pierre Bergounioux, an older white French male writer. They're both being filmed. From Alice Diop's 'Nous.' Photo by Sarah Blum. Courtesy of Mubi.
'Not Just the Filmer Filming the Filmed': The Ethical Softness of Alice Diop's Documentaries
Online Feature
Read More
An Asian man, wearing a protective hood and mask, holds his newborn baby. From Yung Chang's 'Wuhan Wuhan." Courtesy of Stars Collective Films Entertainment Group, Inc.
Screen Time: Week of July 11, 2022
Blog
Read More
The eyes of a Black male driver reflected in a car's rearview mirror. From Geeta Gandbhir and Sam Pollard’s 'Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power.' Courtesy of Tribeca Festival.
Tribeca 2022: Cheerful, Creative Cacophony
Online Feature
Read More
Margaret is a white woman wearing all black, filming Angela, a woman of color, wearing a black tank top and blue jeans. Behind-the-scenes shot from Margaret Byrne's 'Any Given Day.' Photo by Anjanli Pinto.
Doc Star of the Month: Margaret Byrne, 'Any Given Day'
Column
Read More
Daniel is a Black male sitting on a brown couch in his apartment in Cicero, IL. He is wearing a gray sweatshirt and brown pants. From Margaret Byrne’s ‘Any Given Day.’ Photo by Margaret Byrne.
Screen Time: Week of July 4 2022
Blog
Read More
An archival black-and-white photo from the sets of SOUL!, the first nationally broadcast all-Black variety show on public television. From Melissa Haizlip's 'Mr Soul!'. Courtesy of PBS.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of June 27, 2022
Blog
Read More
Jessica Devaney is a white woman with shoulder-length brown hair. She is wearing a rust jumpsuit and speaking into the mic at Doc 10's awards ceremony. Photo by Barry Brecheisen.
Liberation Isn't Something That We Arrive At
Online Feature
Read More
A Q&A after a 2017 screening of 'Jewel's Catch One' at QDoc, featuring, from left to right, Deb Kemp, C. Fitz, Jewel Thais Williams and Molly King. Courtesy of QDoc.
Looking Back and Moving Forward: QDoc, America's Only LGBTQ+ Documentary Festival
Online Feature
Read More
A black-and-white image of the members of the underground network of abortion providers, the Janes, from August 1972. Image from Emma Pildes and Tia Lessin’s ‘The Janes.’ Courtesy of HBO.
Screen Time: Week of June 27 2022
Blog
Read More
Cover Image of 'Kill the Documentary: A Letter to Filmmakers, Students, and Scholars' by Jill Godmilow. Columbia University Press, 2022.
'Kill the Documentary': Jill Godmilow's Manifesto Takes on the Nonfiction Form
Column
Read More
BeBe Zahara Benet is a Black drag queen preparing for a show in her dressing room in Minneapolis. She is wearing a very large brown wig and false eyelashes, while looking into a mirror. From Emily Branham’s ‘Being BeBe.’ Courtesy of the filmmaker.
Doc Star of the Month: Marshall Ngwa aka BeBe Zahara Benet, 'Being BeBe'
Blog
Read More
Hollyn Patterson and Colie Moline are two white women wearing cowboy hats and shirts. We can see their backs as they ride horses against the lush greenery of rural Idaho. From Emelie Mahdavian’s ‘Bitterbrush.’ Courtesy of Alejandro Mejia/Magnolia Pictures.
Screen Time: Week of June 20 2022
Blog
Read More
Margaret Ratliff is a white woman. Her back faces the camera as she looks at a billboard advertising the TV series ‘The Staircase.’ From Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall’s ‘Subject.’ Photo courtesy of Susan Norget Film Promotion.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of June 13, 2022
Blog
Read More
Four men doing the Dabkha dance in front of a screen showing their footage of the Syrian revolution. From Rami Farah's 'Our Memory Belongs to Us.' Courtesy of Hot Docs.
An In-Person Hot Docs 2022: Of Memory, Longing, Reconstructing, Questioning
Online Feature
Read More
Filmmaker Hao Wu is a Chinese American male. Seen here sitting eating at a table with his child, his family members, and partner. From Hao Wu’s ‘All in My Family.’ Courtesy of Netflix.
Screen Time: Week of June 13 2022
Blog
Read More
Actors Mona Maris and David Newell in a production still from the 1934 film ‘White Heat.’ From Anthony Banua-Simon’s ‘Cane Fire.’ Courtesy of Cinema Guild.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 30, 2022
Blog
Read More
A line of uniformed policemen silhouetted against streetlights. From Mike Shum’s ‘Police on Trial.’ Courtesy of FRONTLINE (PBS).
Screen Time: Week of May 30, 2022
Blog
Read More
A Black woman with a megaphone raises her arm and shouts in a crowd of people. From Sabaah Folayan's 'Whose Streets?', a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Documentaries To Watch on Guns and America
Blog
Read More
Harry Chuck is an Asian American man with glasses, black hair and a blue shirt. Courtesy of ‘America Reframed’/World Channel
Doc Star of the Month: Harry Chuck, 'Chinatown Rising'
Column
Read More
Detail from a black stone statue in Paris’ Père-Lachaise Cemetery, showing enclasped fingers of a figure. From Heddy Honigmann’s ‘Forever.’ Photo by Cobos Films, BV. Courtesy of Icarus Films.
Screen Time: Week of May 23, 2022
Blog
Read More
A set of trophies from the 34th Annual IDA Documentary Awards.
IDA Documentary Awards Team Shares What Submitters Need to Know for 2022
Blog
Read More
Still from Super 8mm video footage of a young Jasmin Mara López held by her mother, Sandra. From Jasmin Mara López’s ‘Silent Beauty.’ Courtesy of Hot Docs.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 16, 2022
Blog
Read More
Luma is a female cow with black-and-white spots on her body. From Andrea Arnold’s ‘Cow.’ Courtesy of Kate Kirkwood. An IFC Films release.
Andrea Arnold's 'Cow': The Searing Romance and Reality of Nature
Online Feature
Read More
Akuol de Mabior is a South Sudanese female filmmaker, whose film ‘No Simple Way Home’ played at SFFILM 2022. Courtesy of SFFILM.
New Voices Stand Out at SFFILM, America's Longest-Running Film Festival
Online Feature
Read More
​A woman wearing a hat and glasses, with shoulder-length hair, stands on a street and holds a sign that reads "LA Jails are the largest mental health institutions in the country." From Kenneth Paul Rosenberg’s 'Bedlam.' Courtesy of 'Independent Lens.'
Screen Time: Week of May 16, 2022
Blog
Read More
Luma is a cow with black-and-white patches on its body. She is standing in a cowshed and we can see only the front portion of her body. From Andrea Arnold’s ‘Cow.’ Courtesy of Cow Films Ltd. An IFC Films release.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 9, 2022
Blog
Read More
Headshot of John Zaritsky, a white male filmmaker, with gray hair. He is wearing a purple sweater and tan jacket. Photo courtesy of Matt Carr/Getty Images.
Death Comes for the Filmmaker: John Zaritsky, Oscar-winning Documentarian
Online Feature
Read More
A middle-aged Filipino male activist sits on a fallen tree trunk; he is wearing shorts and a blue t-shirt that says "Palawan para-EnviFORCER." . Photo from Karl Malakunas' 'Delikado.' Courtesy of Hot Docs.
Screen Time: Week of May 9, 2022
Blog
Read More
Claude Motley, a middle-aged Black man, sits in front of a bookcase speaking to a woman who is sitting with her back to the camera. A BTS shot from Brad Lichtenstein’s ‘When Claude Got Shot.’ Courtesy of the filmmaker.
Crime & Punishment: The Sentencing Scene in 'When Claude Got Shot'
Column
Read More
A silhouette of a woman holding a child against a sunset sky. From Hnin Ei Hlaing’s 'Midwives,' which recently played at Hot Docs. Courtesy of Hot Docs.
Essential Doc Reads: Week of May 2, 2022
Blog
Read More
Young Afghani boys, Afshin and Benjamin, sit with their backs to the camera looking out at the city of Kabul. From Aboozar Amini’s ‘Kabul, City in the Wind.’ Courtesy of Movies that Matter.
Movies that Matter Spotlights New Documentaries by Afghan Filmmakers
Online Feature
Read More
An image of a woman holding a cigarette, but her face is blurred. From Carl Elsaesser’s ‘Home When You Return,’ which is playing at Prismatic Ground. Courtesy of the festival.
Poetics and Politics Define Prismatic Ground Festival
Online Feature
Read More
Pro-choice clinic escorts hold hands and stand in front of pro-choice posters, gathering to pray at Reproductive Health Services in Montgomery, Alabama. From Dawn Porter’s 'Trapped.' Courtesy of the film team.
Screen Time: Week of May 2, 2022
Blog
Read More
A camera person films a Black man and a Black woman walking together at a protest. A behind the scenes shot from 'Untitled Baltimore Documentary Project' by Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough
A Brief History of the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund
Blog
Read More
AC Coppens, wearing a Black suit, speaks to the audience at the 2022 CPH: Conference while standing in front of a digital screen. Courtesy of CPH: Conference.
Shaping Change in the Documentary 'Golden Age': CPH:CONFERENCE 2022
Online Feature
Read More
A black and white photo of several women holding signs at a protest. A still from '9to5: The Story of A Movement'. Courtesy of Steve Cagan
Labor Documentaries to Watch for International Workers Day
Blog
Read More
Blue background with white text that reads fast foreword The Editor's Column.
Fast Foreword: The Editor's Column, Spring 2022
Column
Read More
Projectionist Tim White is a white man working a film projector at a Flaherty Film Seminar. Photo by Anne-Katrine Hansen; courtesy of The Flaherty.
Film Festival Workers Unite!
Feature
Read More
A collection of signs that state “Writers Guild of America: Without Us, There’s Only Reality.” Courtesy of Shutterstock
The Guilds and Documentary Indies: Trying to Form a More Perfect Union
Feature
Read More
The DGA emblem at its New York office entrance. Photo by DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock.
DGA's Documentary Committee: Empowering Filmmakers As They Empower the World
Feature
Read More
Participants in a panel at DOC NYC about the ADE Guidelines and the BIPOC Editors Database pose in front of a screen with text on it. Courtesy of DOC NYC.
Alliance of Documentary Editors Unveils Scheduling Guide
Feature
Read More
The Color Congress logo uses colorful, modern sans serif text.
A Kaleidoscope Coming Together: An Introduction to Color Congress
Feature
Read More
A group of Indian children and adults are gathered together outside at night, watching a film from the People's Film Collective.
India's People's Film Collective and Its Fight to Keep Documentary Free and Independent
Feature
Read More
Cinemateca workers protest outside the Cinemateca Brasileira. They’re holding signs and cardboard cutouts of film reels. Photo by Benedito Faga / Alamy Stock Photo.
The Brazilian Cinematheque's Fight for a New Start
Feature
Read More
A black-and-white image of a woman with dark skin and dark curly hair holding an early Sony video camera. Courtesy of DCTV
DCTV Celebrates 50 Years of Media Activism and Training
Feature
Read More
Thomas Allen Harris is a Black male filmmaker, seen here wearing a blue shirt, glasses, and a surgical mask. He is taking a selfie, and his students are visible in the background. Courtesy of Thomas Allen Harris.
Thomas Allen Harris Launches Institute for Inclusive Storytelling at Yale
Column
Read More
Gerardo del Valle stands outside a migrant house in Acuña, Mexico. He wears a black hat, an olive military jacket and is carrying a video camera and a lens bag. (Photo by Monica Gonzalez)
IDA Member Spotlight: Gerardo del Valle
Blog
Read More
Welsh actor Adam O'Brian is a white male lying on a bed, wearing a hooded jacket—playing Fredric Bourdin. From Bart Layton’s ‘The Imposter.’ Photo by Erik Wilson.
Playback: Bart Layton's 'The Imposter'
Column
Read More