Hey y'all,
The Season 2 finale is a first for us: a live documentary editing competition.
EDIT VERZUS pits two post-production powerhouses against each other, cutting a fundraising sizzle from the same footage in real time with 40 minutes on the clock, hype crews and color commentary.
The audience picks the winner.
It's the kick-off event of the 2026 Southern Documentary Convening, and it goes down at The Fruit on Friday, June 5.
LOOK DIFFERENT S2 Finale / EDIT VERZUS
Friday, June 5 / 6:00 - 7:30pm
The Fruit, 305 S Dillard St, Durham, NC 27701
We need one filmmaker's project.
The whole format depends on a doc-in-progress we can build the night around. If you've got strong foundational interviews, a few compelling scenes, and up to 5 hours of material ready to share, this is your *shot.
You walk away with two professionally cut fundraising sizzles you can use however you want, plus a room of Southern producers, directors, and funders watching your story come together live. You need a short work sample or rough scene assembly to submit — just to get a sense of your project.
Submit your project →
(submissions close 5/15)
*selection will be made by 5/20, filmmaker will need to ship a drive by 2/26
A real first for us.
This one is not free, and that's worth being upfront about. Because EDIT VERZUS is part of the Convening, attending requires a Convening pass. Passes are currently $135 ($108 for SDF Members) and include 3 days of programming and networking with doc makers from around the South.
It's a step up from our usual at Mettlesome and the Queen Street Magic Boat. We're going for it because, as you’ve heard, we’ve been wanting to do this for a while.
We’d love to have our LOOK DIFFERENT crew in the room if you can swing it.
Grab a Convening pass →
(visit convening site for member pass)
Thanks y'all,
D.L. and Saleem
LOOK DIFFERENT is a quarterly meetup for Triangle documentarians, generously supported by The Southern Documentary Fund.
