Duke Alum Receives Oscar Nomination for Documentary

Ryan White speaking on stage with two people
Ryan White, director of “Come See Me in the Good Light” speaks during a Q&A alongside Producer Jessica Hargrave and Full Frame Co‑Director Sadie Tillery following a screening of the film.

The following is a summary of a story that originally appeared on the Center for Documentary Studies website.

Ryan White, a graduate of Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and an alum of the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS), has earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Documentary Feature for his 2025 film “Come See Me in the Good Light.”

Apple TV is streaming the film, calling it a “a poignant and unexpectedly funny love story about poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley facing an incurable cancer diagnosis with joy, wit and an unshakable partnership.” The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Festival Favorite Award; it later received the Iris Tillman Hill Audience Award-Feature at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, a program of CDS.

White traces his path as a filmmaker directly to his undergraduate experience at Duke. “My freshman year, I saw an Agnès Varda film on campus, and it blew me away,” he says. “I immediately enrolled in all the CDS classes that I could. I basically lived at CDS, learning from so many mentors there that shaped me.” 
 
Tom Rankin, one of White’s first instructors at CDS, says White showed “a keen eye and ear for compelling and timely stories” early on, along with an understanding of both the creative and organizational demands of filmmaking.

White earned a Certificate in Documentary Studies and served as a Full Frame Fellow. Since graduating, he has directed and produced documentaries for major platforms. 

“None of us ever dreamed it would have led to an Oscar®-nominated film,” says White. “I’m thrilled mostly because I know so many more people will watch the movie now and hopefully be moved.” 

To read the full story, go to the Center for Documentary Studies website.