Students in the yearlong documentary film production program gained behind-the-scenes access to Durham’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, one of the world’s leading showcases for nonfiction cinema.
With an hour after watching “The Oldest Person in the World” open the 2026 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Elon University students were talking with the film’s director, Sam Green, at the festival’s opening night party. It is a moment that captures the access and immersion of the students’ experience as Full Frame Fellows.
Each spring, elondocs students participate in the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival as Fellows, joining one of the nation’s leading documentary gatherings. Accompanied by Nicole Triche, professor of cinema and television arts, 11 Elon students spent four days last week attending film screenings, panels and social events, interacting with filmmakers and networking with industry professionals.
Throughout the festival, students attended screenings at the Carolina Theatre and Durham Convention Center, moving between venues to experience a wide range of films and engage in conversations with filmmakers and audiences. For many, the opportunity to interact directly with filmmakers – including conversations with Green – offered a deeper understanding of how documentaries are conceived, structured and brought to life.
“The Full Frame Fellows experience gives students a chance to see documentary as both an art form and a profession,” said Triche, who serves as faculty director of elondocs. “They are engaging with filmmakers, hearing how stories come together, which will help them with their own projects.”
Inside packed theaters, students experienced the collective energy of audiences engaging with documentary storytelling in real time.
“One of the most important takeaways was the fact that people are still excited and engaging with documentary as an art form,” said Trista Panagakos ’28, a journalism major from Staten Island, New York. “It brings me hope for my future when I see a theater full of people enjoying a documentary.”
For Sandy Orozco-Rosaldo ’28, a double major in cinema and television arts and strategic communications from Burlington, the experience also highlighted the power of cultural representation on screen.
“A personal highlight for me was seeing parts of my Mexican culture represented in a different light,” Orozco-Rosaldo said. “The film ‘Jaripeo’ by Efrain Mojica and Rebecca Zweig was something I had never seen in a cultural sense and in a cinematography sense, both beautifully executed.”
Orozco-Rosaldo also said the festival expanded her understanding of the documentary landscape.
“I learned how vast of a documentary community there is here in North Carolina and beyond. I feel confident that there are people out there waiting to see great works not so far from my home and campus.”
– Sandy Orozco-Rosaldo ’28
Beyond the screenings and formal events, the fellowship also fostered connections within the elondocs cohort, as students reflected on films and shared insights throughout the experience.
“I really enjoyed spending time with the elondocs cohort,” Panagakos said. “Many of us drove to and from Full Frame together and watched the same movies. This brought us closer and allowed us to break down films together and experience each other outside of our meetings.”
For Triche, that connection between academic preparation and professional exposure is central to the program’s mission.
“When students can see themselves in these spaces, engaging with filmmakers and contributing to the conversation, it helps make their goals feel tangible,” she said.
In addition to Orozco-Rosaldo and Panagakos, other Elon students in attendance included Evan Lukacs, Mary Finch, Julia Chan, Lily Gooding, Kaitlyn Dicataldo, Ashley Metzger, Alice Morrissey, Amalia Zucker and Sean Greenberg.
The 2026 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival featured 49 films from 31 countries, selected from more than 1,100 submissions.