OPPORTUNITIES

Rolling Deadlines:

• NIO Ventures, an impact consulting firm headquartered in Valencia, Spain, aims to transform mental health through awareness, education, and healing by setting an objective to help produce 50 mental health documentaries in the next 10 years. If you're working on a doc project about mental health, send an email to impact@nioventures.com with your name, location, log line, description, and deck (if available).

• Calling all Indigenous artists! Toronto Art Council’s Indigenous Arts Projects program offers annual multi-disciplinary project grants to support your creative journey. Explore the diverse range of art practices and apply in one of four grant categories. Submissions are rolling—learn more here.

• The Black Artists Grant (BAG) is a £500 no-strings financial support to help UK-based Black creatives. Whether you’re in need of new equipment or to fund your latest project, learn more and apply here.
  

• Submit your documentary for Educational Distribution with GOOD DOCS! If your latest doc is based on education and engaging with students about rarely heard stories then this is where your next application should be. Find out more here.

• The Pulitzer Center provides grants to cover the hard costs of reporting projects. Grants are open to all journalists: writers, photographers, radio producers, and filmmakers; staff journalists as well as freelancers. Deadline is rolling, find out more here.

• Fall Filmmaking Workshops at DCTV: Ready to enhance your filmmaking skills? Explore discounted workshop packages at NYC's DCTV! The Adobe Premiere Package includes both Editing Fundamentals and Intermediate Premiere. With the Class Fundamentals Package, you can choose any two courses—Camera, Audio, or Lighting—or opt for all three. Sign up here.

Upcoming Funding Deadlines

• October 1: Breaking Through The Lens is a €10,000 Action Grant open to any feature film directors of underrepresented gender (women, non-binary, trans) to provide support in the financing stage of production. The winner will be announced at the Sundance Film Festival, with the five finalists becoming a part of BTTL’s 2025 Cohort, receiving guidance at festival markets, curated financier meetings and industry mentorship. Apply here.

• October 14: Working Films and Hayti Heritage Film Festival are teaming up for the 2025 Works In Progress Lab!
The HHFF Works-in-Progress (WiP) Lab supports social justice documentaries with a focus on Black storytelling. Apply for the lab here.

• October 14: The DocX Residency–Another World is Possible is an opportunity for three to five fellows to be selected for a residency and $20,000 each in funding to support their projects that are in a pivotal stage of late development or production. Fellows will be asked to reside in Durham, North Carolina, for a month, be offered a workspace at Duke University, and have access to campus resources to further their projects. Apply here.

• October 16: Earth Journalism Network, with support from Wikimedia Foundation, is offering reporting grants to Indigenous and tribal journalists of $2,500–$3,000 each. These grants will support the production of impactful investigative stories that highlight Indigenous perspectives on climate justice, land rights, environmental sovereignty and more. Apply here.

• October 20: Center for Asian American Media’s 2025 Documentary Fund is open for submissions. With support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, CAAM provides production funding to independent producers creating films that illuminate the Asian American experience for a national audience. Awards range between $10,000 to $50,000. Learn more here.

• October 25: Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center is offering a 2-week artist residency in April with a $900 stipend, up to $300 in artist fees, accommodations, up to $400 in travel support for non-local residents, up to $900 optional financial assistance for childcare and/or disability support. Apply here!

• October 25: Kartemquin Film's Diverse Voices in Docs Fellowship supports emerging filmmakers who identify as Black, Indigenous, or another person of color living or working on a project in the Midwest, and is committed to unflinching documentary filmmaking rooted in social justice. Learn more here.

• October 28: Filmmakers in Asia! Apply for VC's SSP: Asia program! During this year-long program, 16 Asian (born and based) filmmakers are paired with 16 inspiring nonprofit organizations and supported with robust resources, connections, and community to produce solutions-focused short documentary films that reach global audiences.

• [EXTENDED] October 30: The Mycoskie-UC Berkeley Psychedelic Documentary Fellowship aims to empower a new generation of filmmakers exploring the burgeoning field of psychedelics. We're looking for groundbreaking narratives fit for cinematic storytelling – untold stories that captivate audiences and shed light on the science, policy, business and culture of this new era of psychedelics. Learn more here.

• October 31: The NAC Artist Fellowship program provides a select number of established young professional artists with one year of full membership to the historic club, access to public programs, discounted private overnight rooms, and more. Learn more here.

• November 1: The Sandbox Films Science Pitch Prize, which includes a $25,000 cash award for the winning project, will be presented to a science documentary project presented at the CPH:FORUM that demonstrates exceptional innovation in the genre, artistic merit, and a commitment to inclusivity. The winning pitch will receive support from Sandbox Films to bring your project to life. Apply here!

• November 1: The William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar is Black Star Fest's seminar for Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists working in cinematic realms. Submit your proposal for a chance to present your topic at Stanford University, March 7-9, 2025.

• November 1: Mark your calendars: 2025 Big Sky Pitch is open for submissions! Only documentary feature length works-in-progress are eligible to apply. Documentaries may be in any phase of development, production, or post production, but must be in need of funding. Apply now.

• November 1: The Frameline Completion Fund provides grants up to $5,000 for the completion of films that represent and reflect LGBTQ+ life in all its complexity and richness. Apply here.

• November 3: Documentarians in Miami! Miami Film Festival just launched The Louies — a $100K fund for documentaries about South Florida, made by Miamians. The grant will be shared between six recipients producing short to full-length documentaries about the history and culture of South Florida. Get funded!

• November 4: California filmmakers! California Humanities wants to support your story about communities, regions, and individuals whose voices and perspectives have traditionally been excluded from the broader California narrative. Eligible applicants with early stage documentaries may apply for funding of up to $15,000.

• December 15: UpTilt Film Fest is awarding TWO $2,000 scholarships to women and/or gender-nonconforming filmmakers in 2025. One scholarship will be awarded to a North Carolina Resident and the other scholarship is open to anyone! Apply here.

• January 13: Year-long fellowship opportunity! Women in Film's flagship program welcomes Fellows from all areas of the entertainment industry for a year of mentoring, master classes, network building, and one-on-one career strategy sessions. Details here.

Upcoming Festival Submission Deadlines:

• October 10: The annual SIMA Awards celebrate achievements in social impact storytelling, honoring the most cutting edge filmmaking from around the world that inspires activism, compassion, and social transformation. Each year, projects are selected from 140+ countries, competing for awards, cash prizes, media features, and entry into SIMA’s worldwide distribution programs. Apply here.

• October 13: The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is seeking documentary film entries for the 22nd annual festival in February 2025. The festival accepts submissions of nonfiction films of all forms, lengths, subject matters and genres. Submit your doc.

• October 18: Third Horizon Film Festival is back for its 8th edition in Miami! This festival aims to uplift Caribbean and diaspora filmmakers, and films which center Caribbean experiences, plus they don’t charge submission fees. Submit your doc here.

• November 4: The Atlanta Film Festival is the area’s preeminent celebration of cinema. Our 11-day festival presents over 120 films from all over the world, representing 110+ countries. Enter here.

• November 14 (shorts) / December 12 (features): The 68th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 17–27, 2025) is now accepting submissions! SFFILM is an essential stop on the circuit for emerging storytellers and established filmmakers alike. Submit here.

• November 15: Central and Eastern European filmmakers! The East Doc Platform (based in Prague, Czech Republic) is the largest meeting place for the international documentary industry in Central and Eastern Europe. Enter your completed projects, or your works-in-progress here.

• December 9: The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) is now accepting submissions for the 43rd CAAMFest, held in the San Francisco Bay Area, May 7-11, 2025! CAAMFest is one of the leading showcases for Asian and Asian American talent in film, music, food, and ideas. Since 1982, the annual festival has been an important launching point for Asian American independent filmmakers. Submit your doc!

• December 15: The 9th annual UPTILT Film Fest (North Carolina's ONLY women-centered and gender non-conforming film festival) is happening March 21-23, 2025! The festival showcases short films from all over the world, plus they refund submission fees and pay a small screening fee for all accepted films. Submit your short doc today.

• December 15: Philadelphia Latino Arts & Film Festival is now open for entries! Submit your short or feature-length doc that showcases the Latino experience here.

• December 16: DOK.fest München, an International Documentary Film Festival held in Munich, Germany has two calls for entries! Submit your feature-length doc for the 40th anniversary of DOK.fest, or your short doc that’s for and about youth for their Film Education Programme.

• January 2: Grounded in the commitment to honor Island Cultures and our World Oceans, the Key Biscayne Film Festival screens captivating short films and feature-length films. An essential aspect of the Key Biscayne Film Festival is its commitment to environmental stewardship. Have a short or feature-length doc that fits the script? Submit here.

• January 3: The 49th Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) will take place March 27 - April 5, 2025 in person at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, OH. CIFF49 will consist of hundreds of films, post-film conversations and Q&As with filmmakers, balloting, and over $135,000 in cash awards. Enter your doc here!

• January 9: The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is ranked as one of the top festivals in North America, and is an Academy Award-qualifying festival for short films, presenting more than 260 features, documentaries, and short films to an audience of roughly 90,000 each year. Submit your doc to SIFF!

• January 10: Beirut International Women Film Festival (BWFF) is organized by Beirut Film Society and features films about women and/or executed by women highlighting the role of women as leaders in their societies. Do you have a doc that fits the script? Submit here.

• January 15 (features) / February 5 (shorts): Tribeca 2025 is happening June 4-15 in NYC and they want to hear YOUR voice! The feature-length deadline is January 15; the short film deadline is February 5. Share your story.

• January 26: New Zealand’s Doc Edge Festival is an Academy Awards® qualifying festival for feature and short documentaries made by talented storytellers from around the globe. Submit here.

• February 1: The Palm Springs ShortFest is one of the largest showcases of short-form cinema in North America. The seven-day festival is Academy Award, BAFTA and Goya-qualifying, annually screening hundreds of shorts from all over the world. Enter here.

• February 28: Submissions for Rooftop Film’s 2025 Summer Series are now open! The Summer Series runs annually from May to September, featuring daring new indie films, all screened outdoors, in front of big audiences, all around New York City. Submit here.

✌️ Have an exciting opportunity to share? Send an email or submit here.

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