Documentary Film Support

We support filmmakers and strategists for whom entrenched forces and systems are most apparent in their lives and communities, who can most acutely construct films and campaigns to respond.

We prioritize the following dimensions when assessing projects for Film Support:

  • Intentionality about identifying the key audience(s) needed to engage in an impact strategy; which editorial and production decision-making should reflect.

  • Developing clarity on how those relate to opportunities for distribution that may reach different/wider audiences, and the role of any associated rights-based financing.

  • Promoting decision-making power for members of directly affected communities to strategize and create, develop their personal practice, and consider film participant & key audience priorities in editorial, financial and ethical choices.

  • Incorporating expertise from knowledgeable and similarly accountable "issue area" stakeholders (including but not limited to film participants themselves where applicable), for the purposes of strategy and resource development.

  • Meaningful consideration of opportunities for shared learning and supported experimentation as the film makes its way into the world.

Image of a woman wearing a red shirt is shown behind a camera

We offer three primary areas of funding:

  • PRODUCTION

    To accelerate development, production, and/or post-production of documentary projects that align with other efforts for public awareness and advocacy on a particular issue, and that strive to offer insight into the ways that larger social forces both influence and are influenced by individual lives.

  • IMPACT PLANNING & CAMPAIGNS

    To support the planning and/or implementation of a documentary film’s social impact campaign, including strategy development, partner cultivation, audience identification and engagement, discussion guide and resource development, and screening events.

  • FILM PARTICIPANTS

    To compensate the contributions of the people whose stories are being told—and whose participation has been historically undervalued—by providing support to documentary subjects for event appearances, fees related to public speaking coaching, legal support, and/or psycho-social therapy.

Our Film Grantees

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description: a bald young man appears in-focus, amidst hazy figures surrounding him. he wears glasses while looking up to the endless bright sky above him, his expression pensive. the film’s billing block, logos, and festival laurel adorn the sky. as
And So I Stayed is an award-winning documentary about survivors of abuse fighting for their lives and spending years behind bars. This is the story of how the legal system gets domestic violence wrong.
The Neutral Ground documents New Orleans' fight over monuments and America's troubled romance with the Lost Cause. In 2015, director CJ Hunt was filming the New Orleans City Council's vote to remove four confederate monuments. But when that removal i
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India's only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India's biggest issues or within the conf
When housing that's on the lowest run of the American Dream is being devoured by the wealthiest of the wealthy, whose dream are we serving? A Decent Home addresses urgent issues of class and economic (im)mobility through the lives of mobile home park
The story of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is told through compelling, never-before-seen footage in this intimate documentary from Swedish director Nathan Grossman. Starting with her one-person school strike for climate action outside the S
For Sama is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in
Down the road from Woodstock in the early 1970s, a revolution blossomed in a ramshackle summer camp for disabled teenagers, transforming their young lives and igniting a landmark movement.
In a polarized America, where the dual forces of white supremacy and patriarchy threaten to further erode our democracy, a game-changing transformation is happening at the grassroots. As demographics shift toward a non-white majority, elections will
After two police killings, Black millennial organizers challenge a Chicago administration complicit in state violence against its Black residents. Told through the lens of Janaé and Bella, two fierce abolitionist leaders, Unapologetic is a deep look
When an unlikely duo discovers a pattern of illegal sterilizations in women’s prisons, they wage a near-impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. Filmed over seven years with extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently an
When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and then left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of St. Louis county. Grief, long-standing tension, and renewed anger bring residents together to hold vig
In New Rochelle, New York, a 24-hour daycare is a lifesaver for parents who work multiple jobs and odd hours to make ends meet. Through the Night follows a mother who works the overnight shift at a hospital; another holding down three jobs to support
The Nightcrawlers follows a determined group of photojournalists on their mission to chronicle the deadly battle being waged against the Philippines' drug epidemic - and the tragic cost of this brutal crusade.
In 2012, California amended its “Three Strikes” law—one of the harshest criminal sentencing policies in the country. The passage of Prop. 36 marked the first time in U.S. history that citizens voted to shorten sentences of those currently incarcerate
THE PUSHOUTS explores the remarkable story of Victor Rios’ evolution from school pushout and gang member to UC professor, author and thought leader on the school-to-prison pipeline via three narrative threads: archival footage of Rios and key mentors
The statistics are staggering. One in five women in college are sexually assaulted, yet only a fraction of these crimes are reported, and even fewer result in punishment for the perpetrators. From the intrepid team behind The Invisible War comes The
America is struggling with issues centering on justice. Youth and race are two big newsmakers because as bizarre as it might seem in this country, both are still grossly misunderstood and abused. Our justice system reflects cultural concerns based
A whistle-blowing blogger uncovers disturbing social media evidence documenting the gang rape of a teenage girl by members of the football team in small town Ohio. The incidents in this former steel town provoked international outrage. The moral impl
Former leaders of the "pray the gay away" movement contend with the aftermath unleashed by their actions, while a survivor seeks healing and acceptance from more than a decade of trauma.
The deadliest use of chemicals in the history of warfare continues to kill and deform. Madame Tran charges 26 corporations with knowingly poisoning Vietnam with Agent Orange. There has been no accountability for this 'ecocide'. By exposing the profit
After a 75 year-old immigrant mother gets fired without cause from her lifelong job as a hotel housekeeper, her son takes her on a bucket-list adventure to reclaim her life. As she struggles to find work, he documents a journey that uncovers the econ
An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.
Coded Bias explores the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini’s discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in th
In 2018, a coal miner’s daughter in West Virginia, a grieving mother in Nevada, a registered nurse in Missouri and a young bartender from New York are challenging powerful incumbents in Congress. None of these women has experience in political office
The “North-American Migrant Trail” extends for over 2300 miles, from Southern Mexico to the U.S.-Mexico Border. Under intense U.S. pressure to stem immigration from Central America, Mexico and the U.S. collaborate to crack down on the trail north, fo
College Behind Bars: The Bard Prison Initiative tells the untold story of a small group of incarcerated men and women in New York State struggling to turn their lives around in a rigorous and highly effective liberal arts college degree program – the
Jennifer Brea's Sundance award-winning documentary, Unrest , is a personal journey from patient to advocate to storyteller. Jennifer is twenty-eight years-old, working on her PhD at Harvard, and months away from marrying the love of her life when a m
Acclaimed director and photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders shines a light on transgender Americans, several of whom share their insights on trans rights, the fight for equality, and their personal struggles and accomplishments.
The Lavender Scare will be the first documentary to tell the story of how, over four decades, the U.S. government carried out an official policy to purge its workforce of LGBT individuals. This film will expose a largely hidden chapter in American hi
At a remote Mojave Desert high school, extraordinary educators believe that, more than academics, it is love, empathy and life skills that give at-risk students command of their own futures. This coming-of-age story watches education combat the cripp
The U.S. military faces a mental health crisis of historic proportions. Thank You for Your Service takes aim at our superficial understanding of war trauma and the failed policies that result. Along with interviews with top government officials such
the Pearl explores the raw emotional and physical experience of being a middle aged to senior transgender woman against the backdrop of post-industrial logging towns in the Pacific Northwest. The film leans into the struggle of those who were reared
There’s a new detective agency in Dallas Texas, started by three exonerated men with decades in prison served between them who look to free innocent people behind bars. True Conviction follows these change-makers as they not only try to rebuild their
As Baltimore and the nation struggle to come to terms with the bitter legacy between the police and the community, CHARM CITY will go behind the scenes as citizens and police officers reckon with one another. At a moment that is fraught with increase
After a contentious race, the 2017 runoff for mayor of New Orleans came down to two candidates: Desirée Charbonnet and LaToya Cantrell, two very different black women. The winner of this election would take office as the first female mayor of New Orl
Paper Children reveals America’s invisible refugee crisis through the eyes of one family that defies a broken system with their unwavering resilience. Deep in the everyday life of the loving and optimistic Gonzalez family, the horrific violence of ga
Boycott is a documentary film about three Americans' lawsuits against their state governments in response to anti-BDS laws which caused said governments to cancel their business contracts after they refused to pledge that they would not engage in a b
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