The Pacific Pioneer Fund supports emerging documentary filmmakers—those who have demonstrated commitment to the craft of making documentaries for a period of no more than ten years of practical film or video experience.

Funds are limited to US-based nonprofit organizations, certified by the IRS as "public charities," that undertake to supervise any project for which individuals receive funds, and control the selection of individual recipients of funds. The Fund does not provide support for endowments, building campaigns, accumulated deficits or ordinary operating budgets, or make grants to individuals. The fund does not support instructional or performance documentaries or student film projects. Filmmakers are eligible for only one grant from the Pacific Pioneer Fund during their careers.

Grants to support filmmakers are limited to filmmakers or videographers who live and work in California, Oregon and Washington. The grant range is $1,000-$10,000.

The board meets three times a year. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. The next application deadline is June 1.

Print out an application from this  website and send it, along with a VHS tape or DVD of up to 10 minutes of edited footage from the project for which support is sought, to PO Box 5775, Berkeley, CA 94705  For questions, e-mail Armin Rosencranz:armin@stanford.edu. 

Join us Sept 23-27, in the shadow of the Tetons!
Internationally recognized as the premier event of its genre, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival is an unparalleled industry gathering of more than 600 broadcast and media stakeholders, writers, leading scientists and conservationists. They converge from around the world to hone skills, explore emerging technologies and market opportunities, network with professional associates and honor notable achievements within the industry. The Teton Awards—a nature film equivalent to the Oscars®—honors top films selected from over 800 category entries.

This year, the festival launches its first Conservation Summit—a four-day conference that is timed to precede and join JHWFF—putting a special focus on the world's Great Apes.

Slated for Sept 21-24, The Great Apes Summit is a joint initiative of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP), and the Arcus Foundation.

Submission deadline: June 1.

Derek Freese Documentary Fund (DFDF) provides production support for feature-length documentary films that have both a strong narrative and a connection to Greater Philadelphia. This award is given biennially to an independent filmmaker and provides up to $35,000 in finishing funds.

DFDF helps support documentary filmmakers who are in various stages of the production and post-production process, and have a compelling story to tell and a strong vision for a finished film. Applicants must include a proposal and sample work that conveys the narrative and aesthetic visual for the final film, containing footage of no more than 15 minutes. We do not fund student films.

The Derek Freese Film Foundation was created in 1997 to honor the memory of Derek Freese, an aspiring filmmaker who passed away two days after arriving in Hollywood to pursue his dream of making movies. In January 2013, the Foundation launched Derek Freese Documentary Fund to honor Derek's love of film, a good story, and his hometown of Philadelphia.

Derek Freese Documentary Fund will start accepting applications on January 28, 2013. The application deadline for the 2013-2014 cycle is June 7, 2013, and final decisions will be announced in fall 2013. The completed application and supporting documents must be emailed to Joan@film.org.

For 14 years, the only annual gathering of the national Latino media field has been the NALIP conference. This event is organized as a creative and business event for Latino filmmakers and those interested in Latino content. NALIP's 14th conference will present top-level speakers who will provide analysis of the television, film and documentary industries while projecting future trends. Intimate conversations with artists will be held as well as workshops for emerging and mid-career filmmakers. There will be pitch and screening events, the annual Achievement and Estela Awards honoring past triumphs and rising talents, and running concurrently will be NALIP's eighth annual Latino Media Market. This will be a dynamic, unique and inspiring weekend filled with professional development and networking opportunities!

The conference committee has programmed an exciting and jam-packed weekend of plenaries, conversations, workshops and networking events, plus an exciting screening at the AMC Theater on Universal CityWalk on Friday, June 7-all at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City, CA, June 7-9.

They wiggled, they jiggled, they wore low cut gowns and short shorts, they kow-towed to the club owners and smiled at the customers...and they did it all, just to play the music they loved.  The Girls in the Band, by director/producer Judy Chaikin, tells the poignant, untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating, groundbreaking journeys from the late 30′s to the present day.  These incredibly talented women endured sexism, racism and diminished opportunities for decades, yet continued to persevere, inspire and elevate their talents in a field that seldom welcomed them.  Today a new breed of gifted young women are taking their rightful place in the world of jazz, which can no longer deny their talents.

The Girls in the Band opens June 7 at the Laemmle NoHo in North Hollywood, CA.

Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (debuting June 10), an official selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it received a World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award, tells the story of Nadia, Masha and Katia of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot. In February 2012, they performed a 40-second "punk prayer" inside Russia's main cathedral, which led to their arrest on charges of religious hatred, followed by a trial that reverberated around the world and transformed the face of Russian society. With unparalleled access and exclusive footage, this timely film looks at the real people behind the colorful balaclavas. Directed and produced by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin.

Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer Kicks off HBO's Documentary Summer Series on June 10, 2013 at 9:00 p.m.

From the filmmakers who brought you the award-winning documentary Spirit of the Marathon comes the highly anticipated sequel: Spirit of the Marathon II.

Featuring the personal journeys of a new cast of seven athletes as they run the iconic streets of Rome, Italy, the film also includes interviews with marathon greats such as Stefano Baldini, Paula Radcliffe, Frank Shorter and many others.

An entirely new running adventure, Spirit of the Marathon II expands on the first film, looking further into this legendary event, its significance in people's lives and ultimate impact on society.

Premiering in the United States in cinemas nationwide for only one night: Wednesday, June 12, 2013. Click here to find a list of participating theaters.

Spirit of the Marathon II was directed, produced and shot by Jon Dunham; produced by Gwendolen Twist and Megan Williams; and executive-produced by Mark Jonathan Harris.

Sheffield Doc/Fest brings the international documentary family together to celebrate the art and business of documentary making for five intense days in June. Now in its 20th Year, Sheffield Doc/Fest is one of the top three documentary festivals and markets in the world.

Over the past four years Sheffield Doc/Fest has massively expanded its marketplace activity, as well as its cross platform, interactive and digital program. These developments and the stunning film program and often controversial conference sessions are what attract over 2,600 delegates from around the globe and thousands of general public.

The Bridging Cultures through Film: International Topics program supports documentary films that examine international and transnational themes in the humanities. These projects are meant to spark Americans' engagement with the broader world by exploring countries and cultures outside of the United States. Proposed documentaries must be analytical and deeply grounded in humanities scholarship.

The Division of Public Programs encourages innovative nonfiction storytelling that presents multiple points of view in creative formats. The proposed film should range in length from 30 minutes to a feature-length documentary.

We invite a wide range of approaches to international and transnational topics and themes, such as

• an examination of a critical issue in ethics, religion, literature, or history, viewed through an international lens;
• an exploration of a topic that transcends a single nation-state;
• a biography of a foreign leader, writer, artist or historical figure; or
• an exploration of the history and culture(s) of a specific region, country, or community outside of the United States.

 Receipt Deadline June 12, 2013 for Projects Beginning January 2014

Questions?

Contact the staff of NEH's Division of Public Programs at 202-606-8269 or publicpgms@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.

Now in its nineteenth year, the Los Angeles Film Festival is widely recognized as a world-class cinematic event, showcasing the best in new American and international cinema and providing the movie-loving public with access to some of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers, film industry professionals and emerging new talent by bringing them together in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world.

The Festival, which runs June 13-23, features unique signature programs including the Filmmaker Retreat, several Outdoor Screenings, intimate Coffee Talks and more. Additionally, the Festival screens short films created by high school students and has a special section devoted to music videos.

The Los Angeles Film Festival is produced by Film Independent, a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting and supporting independent films and filmmakers. In addition to the Festival, Film Independent also produces the acclaimed Spirit Awards, honoring vanguard films that embody innovation and originality.

Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. Through its Human Rights Watch Film Festival, the organization bears witness to human rights violations and creates a forum for courageous individuals on both sides of the lens to empower audiences with the knowledge that personal commitment can make a difference. The festival brings to life human rights abuses through storytelling in a way that challenges each individual to empathize and demand justice for all people.

The festival, which runs June 13-23, is co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the OFC Center.

The award-winning documentary Call Me Kuchu—about David Kato's historic fight for gay rights in Uganda and his brutal murder that attracted worldwide attention—will open June 14 in New York and June 21 in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Music Hall.

One of the most acclaimed documentaries on the festival circuit over the past year, Call Me Kuchu has won nearly two dozen awards including both the Teddy Award for Best Documentary and the Cinema Fairbindet Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) and both the top jury award and a top audience prize at HotDocs in Toronto. The film is directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, who are recipients of the first Chaz and Roger Ebert Directing Fellowship and were named to the Filmmaker Magazine list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film.

SYNOPSIS: In Uganda, a new bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. With unprecedented access, the filmmakers follow David Kato-Uganda's first openly gay man-and his fellow activists as they work against the clock to defeat the legislation while combating vicious persecution in their daily lives. No one is prepared for the brutal murder that shakes their movement to its core and sends shock waves around the world. Call Me Kuchu depicts the last year in the life of a courageous, quick-witted and steadfast man whose wisdom and achievements were not fully recognized until after his untimely death, and whose memory has inspired a new generation of human rights advocates.

The UnionDocs Collaborative Studio (CoLAB) is a 10 month program for a select group of media artists from the US and abroad. Based in one of NYC's most exciting neighborhoods, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, CoLAB offers a platform for exploring contemporary approaches to the documentary arts and a process for developing an innovative collaborative project. Application Deadline is June 15, 2013 for The UnionDocs Collaborative Studio starting September 2013. International fellows encouraged, visa & residency options available. The program consists of weekly production meetings, seminars, screenings and other public programs, along with regular masterclasses and critiques with visiting artists. Key benefits include:

• Dynamic interaction among a network of talented peers.
• Direct exchange with visiting artists and industry experts.
• A structured environment for research and experimentation.
• Mentoring on the production of original work and regular group critique.
• Exhibition opportunities for the year's collaborative project.

CoLAB is a new and alternative fellowship model, offering residency and visa support for six participants coming from abroad and an equal number of spots for local, non-resident participants. It is designed to be affordable and, although participants are asked to make the CoLAB their primary creative focus, the schedule does accommodate full-time or freelance work. Rather than applying with a project proposal or rough cut, all participants are selected on the basis of previous work and enter the program at square one, open to discovery and fresh connections.

The CoLAB has presenting original work at premiere venues such as MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight, TEDxBrooklyn, BAMcinemafest, the Harvard Film Archive, the Visible Evidence Conference, Camden International Film Festival, Hot Docs, and Direktorenhaus, Berlin, among other venues.

AFI Docs Presented by Audi (formerly Silverdocs) is an internationally recognized event that honors excellence in filmmaking, supports the diverse voices and free expression of independent storytellers and celebrates the power of documentary to improve our understanding of the world. Now in its 11th year, the festival is embarking on a transformational chapter in its history with an expansion into landmark Washington, DC venues and with the AFI Catalyst Sessions which serve as stimuli for national public discourse and an opportunity to engage our nations leaders with filmmakers striving to shine a light on the greatest issues of today. The festival historically has attracted over 27,000 documentary enthusiasts, policy-makers and thought leaders.

Docs In Progress is partnering with AFI Docs and The D-Word to present Peer Pitch, a program for documentary filmmakers to get feedback from peers on their pitches and trailers. Constructive feedback in a nurturing environment can help to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Projects may be at any stage of development.

Experienced filmmakers, first time filmmakers, and even students have pitched in the past. Films presented at past Peer Pitch workshops when they were in their early stages have gone on to be funded by Sundance and ITVS; have been accepted into Independent Film Week, DocsBarcelona, PaleyFest, Good Pitch, and the HotDocs Forum; and have gone on to screen in festivals and on television. Peer Pitch Alums include Out in the Silence, Let the Fire Burn, The New Woman, The Lost Dream, and Uranium Drive-In.

Peer Pitch takes place all day Wednesday, June 19 at Docs In Progress in Silver Spring, MD -- walking distance from AFI Silver Theatre and the Silver Spring Metro. Space is limited, so registration is on a first come-first serve basis. A combination of Peer Pitch and an AFI Docs Festival Pass is available through Docs In Progress for the same price as the festival pass alone.

Established in 1947, the Edinburgh International Film Festival is renowned around the world for discovering and promoting the very best in international cinema - and for heralding and debating changes in global filmmaking. Intimate in its scale, ambitious in its scope, and fuelled by pure passion for cinema in all its manifestations, EIFF seeks to spotlight the most exciting and innovative new film talent, in a setting steeped in history.

This year the Festival, which runs from June 19-30, will showcase 146 features from 53 countries, including 14 World premieres, 6 International premieres and 10 European premieres—so it's a packed schedule!

Founded in 1977, the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival is the longest-running, largest and most widely recognized LGBT film exhibition event in the world. As a community event with an annual attendance of 60,000, the Festival is the most prominent and well-attended LGBT arts program in the Bay Area. Frameline also presents year-round exhibitions, including Frameline Encore, a free film series highlighting diverse, socially relevant works. Year-round programs also include members-only sneak previews and special events, as well as special screenings and events featuring directors, actors and other queer media icons.

Frameline's integrated programs provide critical support for emerging LGBT filmmakers, reach hundreds of thousands with a collection of more than 250 films distributed nationally, and create an international stage for the world's best queer cinema through the annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival and additional year-round screenings.

Open Call is going digital!

ITVS' Open Call provides completion funds for single nonfiction public television programs on any subject, and from any viewpoint. Projects must have begun production as evidenced by a work-in-progress video. Open Call funding is only available to independent producers who are citizens or legal residents of the US and its external territories.

Open Call accepts:

• Single programs of standard broadcast length (half-hour or one-hour). In rare cases, when a filmmaker's skills, subject, and story structure warrant it, ITVS will consider programs at feature lengths.
• Works-in-progress (for nonfiction submissions), i.e. projects that have already begun production
• Programs that can be completed within one year of contract

Open Call does not accept:

• Proposals for completed projects seeking distribution
• Series proposals or fictional dramas
• Projects intended solely for theatrical release

The entire proposal review process takes up to five months. Only one to two percent of Open Call applicants will receive funding.

Open Call is not a grant; ITVS provides a co-production investment in the program. All materials must be submitted to ITVS by 5:00 PM PST on Friday, June 28, 2013.

POV, public television's premier showcase for independent, nonfiction film seeks programs from all perspectives to showcase in its annual PBS series. All subjects, aesthetic approaches and lengths are welcomed.

All submissions must arrive by 6 pm, Friday, June 28, 2013. Please note: This is an arrival deadline, not a postmark deadline. All submissions received after June 28 will be considered for the following year's submission cycle unless an extension is granted by POV.

POV continues to accept digital content delivery via download-enabled links or content on flash drives. If you submit a link, the video MUST BE DOWNLOAD-ENABLED. If you don't feel comfortable enabling download, then please submit your film on a DVD. You can password protect to ensure the privacy of your link, but don't forget to send POV the password (look for the password field on the form).

Our updated Call For Entries Guidelines explain everything you need to know about how to submit to POV, no matter what format you choose. POV will still accept DVDs and flash drives this year for those who can't make the jump to streaming video.

From the Heart Production funds shorts, docs, and independent features that are budgeted under $500,000. They must be films that are unique and make a contribution to society. They fund compelling stories about little known subjects, historical films, and films that touch hearts. They like films that expose, and bring, important information to light; as well as films about little known people when there is a good story. They are story-tellers, and that is the main criteria for entering and winning a grants; stories that can change, heal, and enrich, our lives.

• Film and Video projects that are unique and benefit society.
• New projects.
• Works-in-progress.
• Length is not a consideration.

This grant is now available for shorts and low budget independents as well as documentary filmmakers. From the Heart has expanded to further our goals of creating films that are unique and make a contribution to society. Student filmmakers, independent producers, or independent production companies are all welcome.