Canada’s biggest documentary festival says it’s dying. Documentarians worry they’re next [Video]

A misunderstood and mistreated killer whale. An investigation into the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and American gun culture at large. An inconvenient truth about the future of planet Earth in the face of devastating climate change.

If you go by overwhelmingly successful films like Blackfish, Bowling for Columbine and An Inconvenient Truth, it might seem like documentaries are everywhere we look, affecting and influencing how we perceive society and the world at large. But even as audiences clamour for true stories on their screens, the documentarians that make them are sounding alarm bells about the future of documentary filmmaking.

“I think in every respect, it’s really more difficult. Streamers, broadcasters — there’s an attrition that is happening,” said Jennifer Holness, a documentary filmmaker and producer who’s worked in the industry for over 20 years. 

“That’s just dollars and cents — you know, less money — and that less money translates to less commissioning, which translates to smaller …