Sustainability in All Its Forms: A-Doc’s New Co-Directors Value Holistic Support

Before A-Doc (Asian American Documentary Network) formed its roots at IDA’s 2016 Getting Real conference, there was a decades-long history of Asian American filmmakers speaking truth to power through their work. About a decade ago, the inequality that permeates the documentary industry became obvious in the era of #DecolonizeDocs and #OscarsSoWhite. In response, A-Doc co-founders S. Leo Chiang and Grace Lee—along with a core group of Asian American film leaders—began organizing. 

Today, A-Doc is a national network of more than 1,700 members—and growing—that works to increase the visibility and support of AAPIs in the documentary field. The term Asian Americans is porous, evolving, and expansive, and A-Doc’s intention is to foster inclusivity and solidarity between communities.

As Chiang noted, in 2022 A-Doc was “at a moment of pivotal transition,” when leadership grappled with questions of staffing, structure, and sustainability. Currently, A-Doc’s programs are led by paid staff (including co-directors, an operations director, a communications manager, and coordinators), a steering committee consisting of nine members in our documentary field, and freelance project managers. Our leadership and staff typically make decisions together and through consensus. That transition has now come full circle in 2024, as we, A-Doc’s new co-directors, pick up the baton from outgoing Co-Directors Chiang and Lee.

We come from different sides of the documentary industry geographically and professionally. Pallavi is based in Oakland and Cindy is in New York; Pallavi is an independent director with a background in youth media, and Cindy is a trained oral historian with a focus on arts and social justice. Before A-Doc co-directorship, Cindy worked for years leading development and communications strategies for Chicken & Egg Pictures. Pallavi joined A-Doc’s staff in 2020 to coordinate organizational activities and quickly honed in on series producing for A-Doc’s Storytelling Initiative, including our latest microdocs series, Our Stories, Our Voices. 

We are both committed to supporting A-Doc’s mission to nurture and uplift AAPI folks in the field through advocacy, mutual support, and mentorship. In the coming months, we hope to deepen engagement and openness with both our A-Doc membership and our larger doc community. So we sat down in conversation to begin the process of welcoming others into our lives, and to share what’s in store for A-Doc.

CINDY CHOUNG: You were (and still are) a filmmaker before you got into field-building work. What made you decide to dive into A-Doc co-leadership?

PALLAVI SOMUSETTY: The doc field is competitive, with few spaces where people support each other with no guarantee of return. A-Doc is that space for me. Shout out to BGDM, which is also that space. One of A-Doc’s greatest strengths is its emphasis on mutual exchange between generations and experience levels. Some of that reciprocity is supported by A-Doc’s existing programs, and some things blossom organically in our Slack community. I was hired prior to the 2020 lockdown, and A-Doc really became a lifeline for my career. My role prior to co-directing was to shepherd filmmakers through the microdocs production process and through supporting others. I got as much as I gave. 

Seeing how our co-founders and steering committee demonstrated leadership during the toughest of times, I began reflecting on how I myself might cultivate community. Turns out, down the line was actually this year. So when I was approached for this Co-Director position, and learning that you were on the other end of it, I jumped in. What about you? How did you come to realize that you might want to work at  A-Doc? 

CC: I stepped away from the doc industry for a bit, after a family tragedy that snowballed into some heavy family responsibilities. When the dust settled, I had this very different set of criteria for what I was looking for in my career. When I first started in the field, I was only looking to work somewhere that aligned with my values, and where I could consume and connect to real stories. I quickly realized how complex these desires really are, especially as they relate to my values. Lots of things about this very beautiful and justice-minded industry can breed fear, rivalry, and isolation.

I thought less about what I’d be doing in the work and more about the environment I wanted to surround myself in, and just like you, I always associated A-Doc with warmth and support. After going through a traumatizing experience, I really needed that. I think that’s where a lot of people in the doc world are these days, especially after the pandemic.

PS: Yes, the pandemic shifted a lot of our priorities. I know for me, job sharing with you as another working mom has answered an unspoken prayer. It may not have been a factor in A-Doc’s leadership choosing us, but I’m grateful for the compatibility. And now we’re seeing our kids through kinder together! It’s really special that we get to share in these milestones. 

CC: Speaking of compatibility, the first time we met was on a blind date set up by Grace and Leo at Getting Real this year. We knew a little bit about each other and had a coffee meeting to see if we were compatible. What were you looking for in a co-director? And, not to be fishing for compliments, but do you think you found it? 

PS: A blind date! But on another level, like an arranged marriage, where we go in on faith. I guess I was looking for someone who it felt easy to connect with and with whom there is values alignment. You innately know how to tell A-Doc’s story in a way that really speaks to the people who are invested in A-Doc’s success. One more thing, I was digging for details with a colleague on what it was like to work with you, and she mentioned that you had asked for her working hours so as not to contact her outside of them. It gave me an inkling that you appreciate work-life balance and respectful communication, and that very much felt like my vibe. And you were all that and more.

CC: The arranged marriage thing is spot on because you really need the right balance of similarities and differences to be compatible. We got each other’s CVs before we met and I thought, “oh yes, this makes sense” in terms of your filmmaking background and my artist nonprofit background. The feature you’re directing right now is about a woman of color mentoring BIPOC girls and nonbinary kids to thrive in the outdoors. Your values and personality kind of jumped off the page, and I felt an immediate kinship with you. Plus, you were a doula. My good friend Sabine has often said that filmmaker advocacy is like doula work. You are helping people to bring their creative babies into the world, and they need multifaceted support and sometimes even protection.

PS: Do you see or anticipate the ways that we’re not aligned? 

CC: You and I come to this job from different sides of the industry—and that’s by design. You are a career filmmaker; my background is in arts nonprofits. When I’m thinking about A-Doc membership, I am not always considering the career directors first. I think of those that work in film and digital media at large, but perhaps are hungry for a connection to other AAPI folks; or those that are in adjacent fields like journalism, academia, audio storytelling, etc.; or people like me, who love being filmmaking adjacent, but do not make films. I am also thinking of all those people who have that one great story to tell but won’t make another documentary afterward. I think there are a lot of people in these categories that make up the doc industry, but they are a bit on the periphery. Maybe I’m being presumptuous, but I think you think a lot about filmmakers’ career sustainability, which is absolutely crucial to A-Doc’s mission. Our different perspectives allow us to consider the doc ecosystem from multiple angles and serve our community in different ways. Would you say that’s fair? 

PS: I think that’s right. Between the two of us I think we’re wanting to cultivate a community that supports and empowers everyone involved in nonfiction storytelling, and we can offer perspectives where the other might have a blind spot. 

CC: Both in fiction and nonfiction, Asian American storytelling has been getting quite some attention these days. Where do you think A-Doc fits into that? 

PS: The recent spotlight is encouraging, though there are underlying challenges that limit our ability to tell nuanced stories—from traditional funding sources overlooking narratives that don't fit a certain mold to having an invisible quota of stories from our communities. We should advocate for representation and be in active conversation with industry decision makers to help them think more expansively about what it means to be an Asian American storyteller. 

CC: I also think A-Doc is ripe to engage with partners outside of the doc ecosystem, so that we can expand the pool of resources and thought partnerships that pave the way for these stories. 

This strategy can help us think about sustainability beyond when popular media bestows “a moment” on Asian and Asian American storytelling. 

PS: In terms of sustainability, there’s A-Doc as a network and there is career sustainability for our members. We are now preoccupied with both. Filmmaker and member support is really the heart of our programs at A-Doc. What do you think we need to be shifting, either in the industry or the way we do things at A-Doc, that will leave our members feeling more supported and resourced?

CC: There are so many things, but if I had to choose one, it’d be a stronger focus on audience. Making art is communicating a message and if, as an industry, we want to be more effective with that, we have to think about who we want to communicate with. Not all documentaries belong on big streamers, but then where do they belong and how do we get them there? I love that impact work is asking these questions very early on in the filmmaking process, but I also see that the answers they come up with are not so easy to bring into fruition. That’s where field-building work comes in. That’s my preoccupation these days. What about you?

PS: I want to bring more care into conversations about filmmaking and storytelling. DocuMentality’s findings on the impact of doc work on our mental health were so relatable. We can see from our membership and from the findings how burnout is a real and pervasive issue in our industry. We need to support the mental health of our members and rethink the way we approach productions. I’m really heartened by the ways that people are building these supports into their film budgets. Yet that leaves the onus on the filmmakers. We need to advocate to shift practices and standards in our industry so that they're more human-friendly. So that we’re leaving room for all parts of us to exist. 

CC: Yeah, more holistic support.

PS: Showing care makes room for the truth that we are more than our professions. And if we do that, I predict we’ll see some really powerful, beautiful, creative stories come out, nurtured by these practices.

Cindy Choung, co-director of A-Doc, lives in Staten Island, New York. She previously worked as the director of external relations at Chicken & Egg Pictures. 

Pallavi Somusetty, an independent documentary filmmaker and co-director of A-Doc, lives in Oakland, California. She has previously worked as a series producer for A-Doc, and in nonprofit youth media.