International Film Funds
IDFA's Jan Vrijman Fund supports filmmakers and festivals in developing countries. Its goal is to stimulate local film cultures and to turn the creative documentary into a truly global film art. Since 1998, the Fund has supported 247 documentary projects and 57 documentary festivals and workshops.
It is a prerequisite, however, that the filmmaker is a citizen of and lives and works in a developing country as defined on the DAC-list .
Categories: Script and Project development | Production and Post-production |
Other activities:
- Support of local activities that aim to promote the documentary film genre, and that act as a meeting point for filmmakers and the audience (festivals, among other things). Besides financial support, JVF and IDFA can offer their know-how.
- Organisation of workshops, for filmmakers and producers from non-Western countries, dedicated to script development, production, distribution and sales, and marketing.
- Activities aimed at the distribution of documentaries in developing countries.
Jan Vrijman Fund Website
The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program provides year-round support to nonfiction contemporary-issue filmmakers internationally. The program encourages the exploration of innovative nonfiction storytelling, and promotes the exhibition of documentary films to a broader audience. It supports independent artists both domestically and internationally through the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Documentary Composers Laboratory and Edit and Story Laboratory, panels at the Filmmakers Lodge at the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance Independent Producers Conference , and a variety of collaborative international documentary initiatives.
The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund is a key program of the Documentary Film Program, dedicated to supporting U.S. and international documentary films that focus on current human rights issues, freedom of expression, social justice, civil liberties, and exploring critical issues of our time.
The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund encourages the diverse exchange of ideas crucial to developing an open society, raising public consciousness about human rights abuses and restrictions of civil liberties, and fostering an ongoing dialogue about these issues.
SDF Grant Categories: Development, Production and Post-Production, Engagement*and Impact.*
http://www.sundance.org/
The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund will award finishing funds to those films that best promote social change by through complete, thoughtful and dynamic storytelling. Films should resonate with a mainstream audience and ideally be non-traditional in approach.
We are looking for films whose emphasis is on story – not lesson – with an intention to inspire an audience. Films need to illuminate issues in need of comprehensive coverage currently missing in the mainstream media and should be driven by thoughtful, accurate and complete storytelling of the subject matter. For example we are looking films that examine or document:
• people who are ignored, ostracized or otherwise marginalized
• people fighting for political, social, economical or societal justice
• social movements
Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund Website
EURIMAGES is the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European cinematographic works. Set up in 1988 as a Partial Agreement it currently has 33 Member States.
Eurimages aims to promote the European film industry by encouraging the production and distribution of films and fostering co-operation between professionals.
Eurimages’ first objective is cultural, in that it endeavors to support works which reflect the multiple facets of a European society whose common roots are evidence of a single culture.
The second one is economic, in that the Fund invests in an industry which, while concerned with commercial success, is interested in demonstrating that cinema is one of the arts and should be treated as such.
Bearing this in mind, Eurimages has developed four funding programs: Assistance for co-production; Assistance for distribution; Assistance to cinemas; Assistance to digitization for Eurimages funded projects.
The Hubert Bals Fund is an initiative of the International Film Festival Rotterdam that provides grants to remarkable cinema projects in various stages of completion.
The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature-length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The HBF provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects.
Since the Fund started in 1988, close to 600 projects from independent filmmakers in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realised or are currently in production. Every year, the IFFR screens completed films supported by the Fund.
Training, workshops, the Hubert Bals Fund Award: The Fund also support special projects, such as training initiatives for filmmakers in developing countries.
Hubert Bals Fund supported films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam: Each edition, the International Film Festival Rotterdam screens a large part of the year's harvest of completed films supported by the fund. Hubert Bals Fund supported films may be selected in Competition or the Sturm und Drang, Time and Tide or other sections.
Hubert Bals Fund supported films at major international film festivals: Many international film festivals keep a close eye on completed HBF supported films and select them for their programmes. Each year, HBF supported films are screened at, among others, the Cannes, Venice, Locarno, Toronto and Pusan film festivals.
The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch non-governmental development organisations Hivos and NCDO, the DOEN Foundation and Dutch public broadcasting network NPS.
Hubert Bals Fund Website
The Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film
The Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film supports the completion of original documentaries that explore the Jewish experience in all its complexity. The priority of the fund is to support projects that address significant subjects; offer fresh, challenging perspectives; engage audiences across cultural lines; and expand the understanding of Jewish experiences.
Grants from the fund must be used for projects in postproduction at the time of the application. Awards generally range in size from $20,000 to $35,000 and are awarded to up to six filmmakers annually.
To be eligible for this fund, the project must be co-produced with an American entity.
www.jewishculture.org
The aim of the World Cinema Fund is to help the realization of films of feature films and creative feature-length documentaries with a strong cultural identity. Another important goal is to strengthen the profile of these films in German cinemas. The World Cinema Fund has an annual budget of about 500,000 Euros at its disposal and provides support in the fields of production and distribution.
The WCF offers production support & distribution support.
The Dubai Film Connection focuses on bridging cultures by bringing international and Arab film professionals together to collaborate on the realization of 15 selected projects. The event includes:
- Three day schedule of one-to-one meetings between the 15 selected director/producer teams and key industry professionals from the fields of production, sales, distribution, funding and broadcasting with a view to assisting in the realization of the project
- Individualized meeting agendas prepared in advance of the event for all participants
- Program of networking events and industry panels
- Project Dossier detailing the selected projects available on the festival website and circulated to all industry professionals in advance of the Project Market
- Team of industry experts available for consultation and support to enable all participants to have a productive experience
- Viewing library containing previous films of directors selected for DFC
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