This course equips students with the research skills, ethical awareness, theoretical grounding, and practical experience necessary to conceive, plan, and develop socially conscious documentaries. A socially conscious documentary is a non-fiction film that investigates pressing social issues with the intention of fostering critical awareness, ethical reflection, and informed dialogue. Rather than prioritizing production polish, the course emphasizes conceptualizing, researching, and ethically framing projects that highlight the moral, political, and cultural dimensions of social life. Students will work collaboratively in teams, combining rigorous research with thoughtful storytelling to investigate issues of moral and social significance. They will learn to formulate research questions, apply analytical and theoretical frameworks, observe and reflect on filming locations, design surveys and interviews, and plan production timelines, while consistently interrogating the ethical dimensions of their choices. Particular emphasis will be placed on ethical challenges such as representation, consent, power dynamics, and the filmmaker’s own positionality. The course culminates in a class mini film festival, where students present their documentaries to peers and reflect critically on the ethical, conceptual, and social implications of their work.