There are lots of great documentaries out there but, sadly, few of them make it to the big screen. You'll find plenty of reviews of them on this site but finding out more using an ordinary search engine can be tricky. That's where the Documentary Guide comes in. We spoke to one of its creators (who prefers to remain anonymous as they stress that they speak with one voice) about how it works, who it's aimed at and how it aims to make a difference.
"There is a tremendous need to have a curated, comprehensive indexed platform that can give a complete up-to-date library of films by tags and topics, and and act as education, awareness and social impact platform," says the team member, who describes the Guide as a search and discovery platform. "I have been a documentary fan for years. We watched films on Sundance Channel, IFC and also loved streaming documentaries. We realised that there are so many docs in the world that if we made this easily accessible the audience could use it as a personal awareness and transformation venue.
"We wanted a clean platform. Curated with tags, options and a way to keep the search results like a play list. We embarked on building this in January and now can claim one of the largest documentary indexes in the world."
"One of the primary motivations behind the Guide is to provide an educational resource. "Films are the best medium to learn about history, science, events, world and culture at large," the team member states boldly. "Documentaries are based on facts; they have intellectual and intuitive perspectives. It is interpreted and back by research. When one wants to learn about issues like slavery or a conflict in Sierra Leone, there is no better place than documentaries to learn about it.
"It is aimed at Journalists, Educators of films, students, documentary lovers; the audience of PBS, the BBC, Al Jazeera; and also researchers looking for deep subject research from films. Because we know that our intent is to provide learning, we allow people to store their searches and come back to them.
"Being a person with affinity for film, I believe I would only build something I would use. If it can’t make my life better or serve my purpose, I think it would be not appropriate for me to build it since I am working with assumptions and not understanding of use."
You can explore the Guide for yourself here.
