The Rutgers Filmmaking Center houses the Documentary Film Lab, our professional documentary unit, which partners with scientists, artists, researchers, and community leaders within the university and around the world to create dynamic nonfiction films that reach a large audience. Uniquely creative and intentionally interdisciplinary, the lab team produces professional broadcast-ready documentaries while involving students at every level of production.

Filmmaking opportunities within the Documentary Film Lab allow students to gain professional experience and production credit. Recent graduates have been accepted to esteemed graduate film programs and have gained employment as associate producers, editors, and cinematographers. The lab is run by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Thomas Lennon.

Documentary Film Lab Films

Our collaborative partners

Our collaborative partners span a wide range of disciplines across the university and beyond, reflecting the interdisciplinary films our Lab produces—projects that integrate the arts, sciences, engineering, public policy, health research, and emerging technologies. Within Rutgers, we have worked closely with the Mason Gross School of the Arts—including the Departments of Dance, Music, Theater, and Art & Design—as well as the Department of Philosophy, the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, particularly its Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences. Outside the university, our partnerships have included projects involving VR films for health and technological research, collaborations with the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, and Johnson & Johnson. We have worked with national organizations such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation, which have helped support and extend the impact of our creative and research initiatives.