Since 1994, DocuClub’s “In The Works” program has offered filmmakers a safe environment to screen rough cuts of their documentaries before an audience of their peers and lovers of the form. The audience is encouraged to give constructive feedback about the structure, content, characters and clarity of the film in a post-screening discussion facilitated by an experienced filmmaker.

STAGES follows a group of older Puerto Rican women and youth of color who unite on New York City’s Lower East Side to create an original play based on their life stories. Reflecting on a range of issues that have colored and shaped their lives—immigration, infidelity, abuse—their stories inspire and empower others, and liberate the communities in which they are shared. They were first spoken across generations, and now they are performed for a sold-out show.

The plays were collaboratively directed by the Meerkat Media Arts Collective, an interdisciplinary group of artists dedicated to making media with a non-hierarchical and inclusive creative process. Only three years old, the collective has produced more than 20 short films, which have been screened across the country and broadcast internationally. STAGES, their first collaboratively-created documentary feature, is co-written, directed and produced by a team of 12 people.

—Sky Sitney