OPPORTUNITIES

Rolling Deadlines:

• NEW: 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).

• NEW: 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.

• September 15: The Mountain Workshops — the storied five-day visual learning experience, est. in 1976 — is now accepting applications for its 2024 Video Storytelling, Photojournalism and Picture Editing workshops. The Video Consortium has been a long-time partner of Mountain, where you can learn the skills needed to tell more meaningful stories while documenting the rural community of Williamsburg, Kentucky, on Oct. 22-26, 2024.

Upcoming Funding Deadlines

• September 1: The Pulitzer Center, the Financial Times, and One World Media have announced a new $20k film grant focused on climate change and labor. They’re looking for an experienced filmmaker who wants to explore how climate change is affecting lives and work in the Global South through a short documentary. Learn more and apply!

• September 6: NY Women In Film and Television has established the Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant for US-based, woman filmmakers working on projects about physical or developmental disability issues. The film completion grant is for $6,500. Directors and producers are eligible to apply.

• September 9: The 9th annual Verzió DocLab is a 5-day intensive editing workshop for directors and editors, organized during the 21st Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Budapest on November 5-9, 2024. This year, Verzió DocLab is looking for projects by first- or second-time feature directors. Find out more here.

• September 10: Each year, MacDowell awards fellowships to about 300 artists in seven disciplines, with the sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence. There are no residency fees, and need-based stipends and travel reimbursement grants are available as well. Creatives of any genre or form can apply here.

• September 15: The Women In Media Short Form Film Finishing Grants support completion of a short narrative, short documentary, or other short form projects with a running time of 30 minutes or less. Filmmakers receive grants between $500 – $3,000, as well as consultations, mentorships, and services for film finishing. More here.

• September 20: The Co-Pro Market pairs producers with a selection of 35 outstanding international documentary projects that are looking for creative and financial partners. Producers, claim your seat at the Dok Co-Pro Market!

• September 26: Are you a filmmaker with a mental health story to tell? The Voices With Impact Film Production Grant offers $7.5k USD to filmmaking teams (located anywhere in the world!) making transformative 5 minute films on the topic of mental health. Get funded today!

• September 30: Represent Justice is looking for films coming out in 2025 about the justice system and are directed, produced, or written by a person who is currently or formerly incarcerated. The grantee receives $20,000 in funding and an impact campaign led by Represent Justice. Apply here!

• 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 15: 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 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.

• 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.

• December 15: UpTilt Film Fest is awarding TWO $2000 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.

Upcoming Festival Submission Deadlines:

• September 16: Double Exposure Film Festival in Washington, D.C. celebrates investigative journalism mixed with documentary storytelling. Whether you have a short doc, feature-length doc, or both, submit here!

• September 23: The Sundance Film Festival brings together the most original storytellers and the most adventurous audiences for its annual program of dramatic, documentary, and short films from around the world. Be part of the lineup! Submit your documentary.

• September 27: The 7th edition of FIPADOC will be held in Biarritz, France from January 24-February 1, 2025 and their call for entries is open! Submit your French-language documentary here. For international documentaries, you have until October 11 to apply.

• September 27: The Beijing International Short Film Festival (BISFF) is a beloved short film festival in China. Got a short doc? Submit here!

• September 28: The South African Independent Film Festival is SA's biggest independent festival, featuring events across all of SA’s major cities. Get your film into the lineup here!

• September 30: Are you a student filmmaker? This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Students’ Platform at the Freiburger Filmforum. Submit your film here to be considered for the lineup of student and debut films!

• October 11: The Slamdance Film Festival is a showcase for raw and innovative filmmaking that lives and bleeds by its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.Filmmakers who first presented their work at the festival are now amongst the biggest names in the entertainment industry. Enter your film 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.

• 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.

• 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 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.

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

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