XTR is Making Big Promises to Documentary Filmmakers, But Some Feel Betrayed

On November 15, at a DOC NYC panel called "Balancing Storytelling and Financial Stability," South African filmmaker Milisuthando Bongela, director of the acclaimed 2023 Sundance film Milisuthando, recounted her unfortunate story of funding gone wrong--and how powerhouse nonfiction studio XTR offered her production hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money last November to help her deliver her documentary for its Sundance premiere, and then, five weeks later and after repeated attempts to f...