Greentopia | FILM is a collection of films that inspires and transforms, and ultimately empowers the audience to create sustainable changes in their own lives and communities. Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Greentopia | FILM represents the work of a diverse group of independent filmmakers that will initiate conversation on the most important topics of the day.

Greentopia is a premier gathering of thought leaders and visionaries using film, music, art, fashion and innovation to share our message to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink. Based in Rochester, NY, there's no other festival like it in the entire northeast. Festival dates are September 10-16, 2012; Greentopia | FILM runs September 12-14.

The 2012 edition of the festival features three days of primarily non-fiction films followed by engaging, challenging, and stimulating panel discussions.

Those interested can apply directly on their website.

The CBGB Festival will be a fantastic mixture of emerging artist showcases, music business conferences, rock and roll film screenings and industry panel discussions and a whiskey fest to be remembered!

The inaugural CBGB Film Festival features an amazing line-up of rock-themed premieres from July 5 to 8.  The line-up includes the World Premiere of The Rise and Fall of The Clash, about the true untold story of the implosion of the legendary band at the height of success; the New York Premiere of Bob and the Monster about the life and struggles of indie-rock hero and life changing Celebrity Rehab drug addiction counselor Bob Forrest; the US Premiere of the What Did You Expect? The Archers of Loaf live at Cat's Cradle, by Gorman Bechard; and the New York Premiere of Just Around the Corner about the life of Parkinson's disease activist and entertainment manager Bob Benjamin.

All premieres will take place at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema with additional screenings at Anthology Film Archives and The Magno Screening Room. For detailed information on line up schedules and to purchase festival passes go to: www.CBGB.com.

With support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, CAAM (Center for Asian American Media)  is able to offer funding to independent producers for documentary projects intended for public television broadcast. All projects must conform to standard public broadcasting lengths. This round of funding is for applicants with documentary projects at the post-production stage intended for public television broadcast. All projects must conform to standard public broadcasting lengths (26:46, 56:46 or 86:46). The Board makes final approval. The review process for CAAM Documentary Completion Funding takes approximately three months.

For documentary public television projects seeking post-production funding, awards average $20,000 and should be the last monies needed to finish the project and deliver the broadcast master. Projects must have a key personnel member with prior public television credit. Applicants must submit a full length rough cut to be considered.

Review the Eligibility Guidelines below before applying.

To apply visit: http://caam.slideroom.com

ABOUT THE PRODUCERS INSTITUTE

The Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, launched by BAVC in 2007, is a week-long social impact laboratory that connects the world’s best social issue documentary filmmakers and partner nonprofit organizations with leading technologists and mentors to develop transmedia tools and story assets to advance shared social change agendas.

CALL FOR ENTRIES, MAY 2012

Through a competitive application process, BAVC will engage media partners to select six of the world’s most promising and important social issue documentary projects for Producers Institute 2012. Selection will focus on documentary films and transmedia projects that have the greatest potential to catalyze action around contemporary social justice issues, with an emphasis on projects that highlight themes of economic justice, educational opportunity and human rights. Filmmakers will apply with partner organizations that already work with the communities they mutually seek to reach, educate, inspire and move to action. The partner organization will commit to participate alongside the producer at the Institute and to use the resulting project to affect social change.

Fill out the online application form

See our FAQs page for more information

Designed to help filmmakers develop skills as creative independent producers, the Producing Lab is an intensive seven-week program that takes place in Los Angeles each Fall. Producers apply with feature length narrative projects that they are in the process of producing. A maximum of ten projects are selected each year.

During the Lab, Fellows develop a strategy and action plan for bringing their current projects to fruition. A secondary goal of the program is to help advance the careers of the Lab Fellows by introducing them to film professionals who can advise them on both the craft and business of independent producing.

Participants with qualifying projects are also eligible for a $25,000 production grant awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Enter the code “PARTNER” to save $20 on your application fee.

The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund reviews between 1,400 and 2,000 proposals annually, choosing 35-50 for support each year. In funding such work, the Documentary Fund encourages the diverse exchange of ideas that is crucial to fostering an open society and public dialogue about contemporary issues.

The Documentary Fund provides grants to filmmakers worldwide for projects that display:

• Artful and innovative storytelling techniques
• Global relevance
• Contemporary social issues
• Potential for social engagement

Applications are accepted in two funding categories:

• Development funding is provided to projects that are between development and preproduction. Grant amounts for this category are up to $20,000. There is no reel required with an application, but clips, teasers, trailers, or images are highly encouraged. A previous work sample is required.
• Production/Post-production grants provide funds up to $50,000 to filmmakers in various stages of the production and post-production process. Applications are required to include continuously edited material that is approximately 20 to 75 minutes for the project being proposed. The reel should convey the narrative and aesthetic visual for the final film. If available for consideration, longer cuts and fine cuts may be submitted. A previous sample work must also be included with the application.

Loudspeaker Films, Communities for Teaching Excellence & Students Matter invite you to a very special evening featuring the L.A. premiere of the TEACHED film series, a keynote address by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and discussion of current teacher evaluation and accountability initiatives.

We will screen two TEACHED short films that were largely filmed in Los Angeles—The Path to Prison and The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out—and hear from local education leaders and teachers including:

• Pearl Arredondo, Teacher featured in The Blame Game
• Yolie Flores, Founder, Communities for Teaching Excellence
• Steve Hill, Teacher featured in The Blame Game
• John Lee, Executive Director, Teach Plus L.A.
• Ama Nyamekye, Executive Director, Educators4Excellence L.A.
• Michael Stryer, Director-New Unionism, Future is Now Schools

The evening starts at 6:30 pm with guest check-in and reception; the program begins at 7:00 pm. Tickets must be reserved in advance. NOTE: you do not need to print out a ticket; we will add your name to the guest list.

Please contact screenings@teached.org with any questions.

Outfest 2012, the 30th Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival,  features 147 films and videos from 24 countries in 6 different venues across Los Angeles over 11 days.  Eighty-six separate public programs, 7 galas, 60 features, 13 short film programs and 12 panels and special events and countless parties and receptions!

In the Online Film Guide, festival programs are arranged in to these categories categories: Features (US Dramatic Features, International Features & Documentary Features) Shorts, Panels and Special Events - among other sections.

To streamline the entry process, we prefer you submit via Withoutabox.com, which provides cost-saving, paperless submission to film festivals around the world. Withoutabox features online applications via one master entry form. It’s economical, eco-friendly, and secure. Simply fill out one master entry form and take advantage of quick entry, extended deadlines, and powerful submission management tools. Most importantly, becoming part of Withoutabox is free and filmmakers submitting an upgraded project will get $5 off the entry fee.

Just follow this link and follow the instructions to register and apply.

If you'd like to apply outside of Withoutabox, have no fear! We've got you covered. You can also apply right here on this very website by continuing to our submissions form. Fill out our online form, pay via PayPal or send a check along with your DVD in the mail.

Deadlines and Fees to remember when submitting your film(s):

• Early deadline for submissions is March 16, 2012. Feature $35 / Short $25
• Regular deadline for submissions is May 15, 2012. Feature $40 / Short $30
• Late deadline for submissions is June 15, 2012. Feature $45 / Short $35
• Withoutabox Extended deadline for submissions is July 13, 2012. Feature $60 / Short $50

* Submit using withoutabox.com and receive $5 off your entry fee

Formats

• Exhibition: HDCam / DigiBeta / Blu-ray
• Pre-screening: DVD (NTSC, region 1 or region-free) or secure link (Vimeo, etc)

The UnionDocs Collaborative Studio (CoLAB) is a one-year program for a select group of emerging 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. The program consists of weekly production meetings, seminars, screenings and other public programs, along with regular masterclasses and critiques with visiting artists.

The UnDo Collaborative Studio represents 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 UDC 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.

Non-resident application deadline is July 15, 2012.

 The Bertha BRITDOC Connect Fund is the first European-based outreach and engagement fund, and is open to filmmakers from around the world.

Films have inspired people to engage and to act. They have led to changes in law, policy and practice. They have led viewers to question the status quo and to care more about their communities and the world around them. They have affected the way people give and/or invest money.

But for a film to achieve all this, it needs a structured outreach and audience engagement plan, and the capacity to implement it.

The Bertha BRITDOC Connect Fund is a joint initiative between The Bertha Foundation and the BRITDOC Foundation.

The fund is looking to support smart, strategic outreach campaigns for ambitious independent documentary films with a social issue at their core; films which have the ability to achieve real change on a local, regional or global level.

The Bertha BRITDOC Connect Fund is now open. This call will close on Monday, July 16 at 4:00 p.m., UK time.

Since 1996, the Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film has supported the completion of over 80 original documentaries that explore the Jewish experience in all its complexity. The fund was created with a lead grant from Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation and sustained over 10 years with major support from the Charles H. Revson Foundation. The priority of the fund is to support projects that address significant subjects; offer fresh, challenging perspectives; engage diverse audiences; and expand the understanding of Jewish experiences.

In the past fifteen years, documentary films supported by the Kroll Fund have received Academy Award® and Emmy Award nominations, Golden Globe Awards, George Foster Peabody Awards, and prizes at festivals such as the Berlin International Film Festival, Silverdocs, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival. Past grantees include Waltz with Bashir, Budrus, Blessed is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh, Crime After Crime, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, Off and Running, and The Rape of Europa, among others.

Applications are due Monday, July 16 by 5 PM EST. Please do not wait until the last minute to submit your application.

Who We Are
Founded in 1980, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is the first and largest of its kind in the world. Today, we are more than a festival: we are the leading advocate for independent Jewish cinema. Our programs include:

Annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Our hallmark program is a renowned three-week summer Festival, screening in four Bay Area venues, featuring the highest quality Jewish films from around the world. As the first of more than 100 Jewish film festivals worldwide—and still the largest, with some 30,000 attendees—SFJFF is an influential showcase bringing together filmmakers and audiences to celebrate Jewish cinema and explore its new frontiers.

Year-round Screenings & Events
Throughout the year, SFJFF@YBCA brings monthly screenings to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and special SFJFF@...screenings occur at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and other Bay Area venues. We co-present dozens of films with other Bay Area organizations, including our partner organizations in our year-round home in the 9th Street Independent Film Center, and members of SFJFF's Jewish Film Forum are treated to sneak previews of theatrical features.

Young Adult Education Programs
The New Jewish Filmmaking Project, produced by Citizen Film, is a year-round program of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Since 2002, 50 young adult filmmakers, ages 15-25 have worked with the NJFP to create sophisticated, authentically personal short films. Those films have been viewed by some 300,000 people to date. Half Remembered Stories, which rolled out at the 30th SFJFF last summer, was the first NJFP production to combine today's online multimedia technology with traditional storytelling forms.

Filmmaker Support
Since 2005 our annual Freedom of Expression Award honors film artists whose work is a testimony to the unfettered imagination.

Online Resources
In Spring 2009, SFJFF launched a digital media initiative at www.sfjff.org to expand online access to and knowledge about Jewish-subject film. Created with the support of the Charles H. Revson Foundation and Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, these innovative online resources will include information on the more than 1000 films presented by SFJFF, tools to connect audiences to films and to one another, a rich array of contextual media and the more than 250 titles and accompanying curricular resources of the Jewish Heritage Video Collection (JHVC). For more about our online resources, click here or visit the New Media Initiative section of our website.

Directed by award-winner Jeffrey Schwarz, Vito paints a touching portrait of this outspoken activist in the LGBT community's struggle for equal rights, using period footage and film clips to capture a vibrant era of gay culture. "If you're going to talk about the gay-rights movement, you're going to talk about Vito," says journalist David Ehrenstein.

The documentary features rich archival interviews with Vito, as well as insights from gay rights activists, including: Larry Kramer and Arthur Evans; film scholars, among them former MoMA film curator Jon Gartenberg; and journalists/writers such as Michael Schiavi and Gabriel Rotello. Vito also offers personal accounts from his many friends, including Lily Tomlin and Bruce Vilanch, and his family members, including brother Charles Russo and cousin Phyllis Antonellis.

Vito was produced and directed by Jeffrey Schwarz; executive producer, Bryan Singer; co-producers, Philip Harrison, Lotti Pharriss Knowles; editor, Philip Harrison; director of photography, David Quantic; composer, Miriam Cutler. For HBO: supervising producer, John Hoffman; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

If you're a filmmaker with a documentary project looking for a producer and resources to make your project come true, you cannot miss the Match-Making session of Documentary in Europe 2012-held this year September 10-13 in Bardonecchia, Italy.,

Together with screenings, master classes and meetings with commissioning Editors and European producers you will have the unique opportunity to present your documentary idea.

Extended deadline: July 24

Documentary in Europe 2012 hosts the third ESoDoc's session

During the September Documentary in Europe Workshop, we will host the third ESoDoc's session.
Our participants will have the opportunity to attend ESoDoc masterclasses and sessions. A unique chance to be part of this great event and get closer to the documentaries that 'can make a change'.
We think this partnership will make the event a unique event in the documentary landscape! More info here

Stay tuned!

Information on Documentary in Europe is being continually updated at the website and in all Documentary in Europe's social network

The Northwest Film Fund supports documentary film projects at any stage of completion in the Northwest (which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska).

Via an open invitation process, Northwest Film Forum awards at least one grant of $10,000 in cash, as well as a package of artist services including legal consulation, post-production services with leading Seattle post houses, and meetings with KCTS-Channel 9 and the Seattle International Film Festival. Grant awards are competitive and decided by a panel of experts who review an initial round of applications and make the final selection.

Northwest Film Forum has nurtured filmmakers since 1995, having supported over 700 Northwest projects through our artist-focused programs. The Northwest Film Fund was created in 2011 to offer vital support to emerging filmmakers, to help promising films transition more rapidly from the planning stage to production and to provide a platform to introduce excellent new documentaries into the world.

Rodriguez was the greatest '70s US rock icon who never was. Momentarily hailed as the finest recording artist of his generation, he disappeared into oblivion-only to rise again, amid much acclaim and success, in a completely different context, a world away.

In the late ‘60s, a musician was discovered in a Detroit bar by two celebrated Motown producers who were struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics. They recorded an album that they believed was going to secure his reputation as one of the greatest recording artists of his generation. But the album bombed, and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. A bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, the album became a phenomenon. Two South African fans then set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation led them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about Rodriguez. This is a film about hope, inspiration and the resonating power of music. 

Searching for Sugar Man, written, directed and produced by Malik Bendjelloul, opens in theaters July 27 through Sony Pictures Classics.

The 16th Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, LA Shorts Fest, is accepting film submissions.

The LA Shorts Fest is Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences accredited. They are the only film festival with SIX award categories recognized by the Academy. In the past, 41 films have received Oscar nominations with 12 winning the coveted Oscar statue. The Festival annually attracts more than 7,000 moviegoers, filmmakers and entertainment professionals looking for the hottest new talent.

In order to enter, your film must meet the following criteria. Visit www.LAShortsFest.com for more details.

• Films must have been completed after Jan. 1, 2011
• All non-English films must have English sub-titles.
• Works-in-progress will be considered, provided they will be completed prior to the Festival.
• Though not a requirement, we prefer that films NOT screened in Los Angeles County. Our selection committee will factor in previous screenings in the Los Angeles area when determining a films selection.
• Films must NOT have screened in a SHORTS film festival in Hollywood.

San Francisco has long been a hub of documentary film. So it seemed natural that the next stop for  summit leaders Andrew Zinnes and Genevieve Jolliffe would be by the city by the bay! Come hear two intensive days of industry experts discussing the trends of all things nonfiction to get a leg up on your career. And doing a little networking never hurt either.

Dates: July 28-29, 2012, 9am-5pm

Price: $179 (early bird price $129 until June 29th, 2012)