Are you a media producer looking for the latest grant opportunities to help take your production to the next level? Get ready to explore, envision, and unlock the doors to new horizons in media production grants!
Apply for Blue Ice Docs Development & Production Grant
Deadline: 5 January 2024
Applications are open for the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund (HDBID), a fund for filmmakers who live and work on the African continent.
Eligibility Criteria
- The applicant must:
- Be the producer and primary rights holder of the project
- Have a registered production company that is associated with the project in a country on the African continent.
- In all cases both the director and producer must:
- Hold citizenship, or have legal permanent residency, and primarily live and work in Africa.
- The project must:
- Be produced and shot in Africa;
- Be either a high-quality feature or broadcast-hour length documentary to audiences both locally and internationally (school work, series, and fiction pieces are not eligible);
- Be in development, production or post-production as of April 2024. The Fund will not consider projects that will be completed by Hot Docs 2024.
- African projects with international co-production partners are eligible to apply to the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund if the following conditions are met:
- The African partner must be the primary partner and primary rights holder of the film;
- The director on the project must be a citizen of an African country who primarily lives and works in Africa;
- There must be an African producer on the project who is a citizen of an African country and who primarily lives and works in Africa;
- A co-production agreement must be submitted with the application;
- The Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund will enter into an agreement only with the African partner and all grant funds must be spent in the African region of production;
- Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund applications will only be accepted in English.
WCF Post-Production Funding Program
Deadline: 28 February 2024
Projects in post-production phase are eligible to apply for funding under the World Cinema Fund (WCF) Africa programme.
Eligibility Criteria
- Entitled Applicants and Recipients
- Registered film production companies based in Germany (in the commercial register or registered trade) and those from other EU member states, provided they have a branch or place of business in Germany and can prove a working relationship with a director from the regions/countries eligible for WCF funding.
- Film production companies from WCF-supported regions/countries that can confirm their collaboration with a director from a WCF-supported region/country.
IBF Europe – Minority Co-production Funding Scheme
Deadline: 15 January 2024
Applications are open for the IDFA Bertha Fund (IBF) Europe – Minority Co-production funding scheme.
Requirements
- Requirements for projects
- The project should be a creative documentary with a minimum length of 60 minutes.
- The project should be in mid-production to rough cut stage. The production timeline and financing strategy should indicate that the film will be finalized before March 2025.
- The project should have a director (or directors) with nationality from a country on the IBF Europe Country List and who preferably lives and works in a listed country. Projects with a co-director from a country that is not on the IBF Europe Country List are not eligible.
- Requirements for applicants
- The applicant should be a minority producer in the project and should be an audiovisual entity established in one of the countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-program and owned—either directly or by majority participation—by nationals from such countries.
- The applicant should have demonstrable experience in film production and co-production.
- Requirements for co-production structure
- The project should be produced with a minimum of two co-production countries: (at least) one co-production company from a country participating in the MEDIA Sub-program and (at least) one co-production company from a country on the IBF Europe Country List.
- The share of the applicant co-producer from a country participating in the MEDIA sub-program must amount to a minimum of 20% and must be a minority share in the co-production structure. A division of 50%-50% is allowed.
- The co-production agreement or memo-deal needs to contain detailed provisions on the following aspects:
- Clear indication of the participation of each co-producer in the financing of the project;
- Joint ownership of all the rights;
- Sharing of the revenues between all co-producers (exclusive and/or shared territories); taking into account that the producers coming from the MEDIA Sub-program countries together have a share between 20% and 70%;
- Definition of the total budget, spending requirements and the event of over-budget;
- Reference to the treaties applicable.
CFPs: Realization of Minority Co-Production Fund
Deadline: 15 January 2024
The Realization of Minority Co-Production Fund supports idiosyncratic, artistic minority co-productions with a good chance of international festival selection with a large international audience reach, with a substantial creative and technical contribution from the Netherlands.
Who is eligible?
- A production company (a legal entity, not a sole proprietorship or partnership) that has been established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a member state of the EU, EEA or Switzerland for at least two years and produces and exploits films and other audiovisual productions on a continuous basis.
- The production company is represented by the Dutch minority co-producer. As a major producer, he/she has been primarily responsible for realizing:
- at least one free animation production (not a commissioned film) in the Netherlands (application for short animation);
- at least one free, non-commissioned production in the Netherlands (request for research & experiment).
OpenDocs: A Program to provide Production Support and Creative AI Tools
Deadline: Ongoing
Applications are now open for the Runway Studios’ OpenDocs, a program to provide production support and creative AI tools to documentarians from diverse communities and regions.
Submission Guidelines
- No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or participate.
- Scope of Projects: This grant is open to supporting original non-fiction projects: documentaries, animations rooted in reality and any other innovative experimentation around the documentary genre. Projects that blend real-life footage with imagery generated by Runway’s generative models, or exclusively utilize Runway models.
- Project Stage: Projects can be in the late development stage or early production phase. Completed projects will not be accepted.
- Originality & Ownership: Projects must be original and must not be encumbered by third-party rights. The authorship should be wholly recognized by the applicant.
- Technical Requirements: Projects submitted should, to some degree, employ techniques or methodologies based on generative video technology enhanced by AI models and AI-powered tools. Additionally, they must provide an English-subtitled version of the finished film.
- Duration: projects must adhere to a maximum duration of 7 minutes to maintain a focused and engaging narrative experience.
- Production Time: the production timeline should not exceed 3 months from the moment the grant is received.
Applications open for Netherlands Film Production Incentive
Deadline: 15 January 2024
With the Netherlands Film Production Incentive, the fund aims to stimulate film productions that are developed and produced with creative and production freedom and thus increase production activity for creative and technical film professionals and film companies in the Netherlands as well as the international competitive position of the Dutch film industry.
Who is eligible?
- An independent production company (a legal entity, i.e. not a sole proprietorship or partnership) that has been established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a member state of the EU, EEA or Switzerland for at least two years and produces films and other audiovisual productions on a continuous basis and exploits.
- The production company is represented by a producer who, in the seven calendar years prior to the application, has been primarily responsible for realizing at least one majoritarian film production (reference film) with a production budget of at least €500,000, – and a cinema release in the Netherlands.
Sri Lanka: Apply Now for Story Production Grants for MoJo-Labs
Deadline: Ongoing
Do you want to tell stories with just your smartphone? If yes, then apply for Story Production Grants for MoJo-Labs
Eligibility Criteria
- Women – journalists, activists, amateur content producers, social media influencers and anyone with a passion for telling stories.
You can apply for this grant as an individual or as a group.
Call for Applications: Story Production Grants for Cross-Cultural NewsLab (Sri Lanka)
Deadline: Ongoing
Are you a journalist? Do you want to tell cross-cultural stories from around Sri Lanka? Then this Story Production Grant for Cross-Cultural NewsLab is for you.
Eligibility Criteria
- Anyone who would like to report stories, from any background: mainstream media, alternative media, media startups.
- Negombo, Kandy, Vavuniya and Batticoloa.
Apply for Netherlands Film Production Incentive High-End Series
Deadline: 15 January 2024
Apply now for the Netherlands Film Production Incentive to stimulate high-end series that are developed and produced with creative and production freedom and thus increase production activity for creative and technical film professionals and film companies in the Netherlands as well as the international competitive position of the Netherlands strengthen the Dutch film industry.
Who is eligible?
- An independent production company (a legal entity, i.e. not a sole proprietorship or partnership) that has been established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a member state of the EU, EEA or in Switzerland for at least two years and that produces film productions, series and other audiovisual works on a continuous basis produces and exploits productions.
- The production company is represented by a producer who, in the seven calendar years prior to the application, has been primarily responsible for realizing at least one majoritarian film production (reference film) with a production budget of at least € 500,000 and at least one cinema release in the Netherlands or one majoritarian series (reference series) within the same category and minute price (as for the series for which an application has been submitted), which has been made public primarily via television/VOD broadcast in the Netherlands. The categories are drama series, animated series and documentary series).
Call for Proposals: Community Heritage Film Production – Wat Chaiwatthanaram (Thailand)
Deadline: 31 December 2023
The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok is seeking to contract a local Thailand-based documentary filmmaker or production company to produce a short documentary film to highlight community-centered stories about the value and impact of the AFCP-supported Wat Chaiwatthanaram project in Ayutthaya, which is Thailand’s largest AFCP cultural heritage conservation site.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Applicants must be at least 18 years of age at the time of application.
- Applicants must be authorized to work in Thailand.
- Applicants should reside in Thailand.
- Applicants should have previous storytelling experience through video/film.
- Present a concept note for a 10 to 20 minutes film.
Call for Applications: Films, Unexecuted Screenplays & Production Market Projects (Saudi Arabia)
Deadline: 4 January 2024
Applications are now open for registration in the Saudi Film Festival’s competitions of films, Unproduced scripts and production market projects.
Terms of participation for the production market
- Submission must contain people from the following roles (producer, writer or director).
- At least one of the following roles must be of Saudi nationality (producer, writer, or director).
- It is allowed for one person to play more than one of the following roles (producer, writer, or director), provided that no less than two people apply.
- Submission must meet the production market registration requirements.
- The project must contain completed text. (Even if it was in the initial versions).
- The project must be a feature film or short film.
- Projects for television programs or a separate episode within a series program are not accepted.
- The project must not be a television series, whether documentary or dramatic.
- It is not allowed to participate in more than two projects.
The Uncertain Kingdom’s Short Film Production Fund (UK)
Deadline: 31 December 2023
The Uncertain Kingdom is offering grants to make a short film on the theme of ‘belief’.
Who can apply?
- The Uncertain Kingdom is for experienced storytelling teams with confidently executed, accomplished work under their belts.
- If you are a director and haven’t previously made a film but have equivalent experience in theatre or another mode of storytelling, they welcome your application.
- They take a hands-off approach and will have minimal creative involvement. Filmmakers have final cut.
- Projects must come to us fully developed. There’s no training element to the project, so they need to be confident you can deliver.
- The Uncertain Kingdom is an inclusive project and they actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and from all regions of the UK.
- Your team
- Applications should be made in teams consisting of:
- producer(s), director(s) and writer(s)
- producer(s) and writer/director(s);
- producer/writer(s) and director(s);
- or, where a writer is not required: producer(s) and director(s)
- They would prefer producer and director to be separate people. Sometimes (particularly in documentary) that isn’t appropriate, so they can make exceptions. However, if you are both a producer and director, please consider attaching another producer.
- Team members may be of any nationality but must all live in the UK and have the right to work in the UK.
- The producer, writer and director (as applicable) must be eighteen or over.
- Your experience
- Producers must have made at least one short film that has been screened at a BAFTA or Oscar qualifying film festival or had an equivalent success, such as a TV broadcast.
- Directors must have made at least one short film that has been screened at a BAFTA or Oscar qualifying film festival or had an equivalent success, such as a TV broadcast. Or, if the director is coming from another storytelling background, you must be able to demonstrate that they have had a similar level of experience and success.
- Your film
- Your film must respond to the theme of ‘belief’.
- Your film can be any form, genre or style.
- If your film is fictional, it must be original (there must not be any underlying rights).
- Your film must have a maximum running time of 15 minutes, including all credits.
- Your film must be capable of achieving a maximum 18 BBFC certificate.
- Your film must respond to the theme of ‘belief’.
Call for Entries: VFF Documentary Film Production Award 2024 (Germany)
Deadline: 1 February 2024
The DOK.fest München and VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film und Fernsehproduzenten mbH are pleased to announce the 7th VFF Documentary Film Production Award at the 39th DOK.fest München 2024.
Eligibility Criteria
- Films that meet the following criteria are eligible for submission to the VFF Documentary Film Production Award:
- Cinema film production with a minimum length of 72 minutes
- 51% German production participation
- Publication after 1 January 2023
- Public screening at DOK.fest München 2024 possible (cinema exploitation may have already begun)
- If your film has already participated in a previous DOK.fest München edition, a new submission is not possible.
- University films (including graduation films) are not permitted.
- English or German subtitles are required for the viewing process. An exception exists for submissions in German, English, French and Spanish.
Selection Criteria
- The selection for the VFF Documentary Film Production Award takes place according to the criteria listed below. It is the responsibility of the producer to present the special production performance to the jury through the documents to be submitted:
- Commitment of the production in choosing a challenging subject
- Commitment and creativity in putting together the financing
- Creative / innovative evaluation of the film
- Creative input from the production.
Struts Media Arts Production Fund – Canada
Deadline: 15 January 2024
Struts Gallery is excited to announce the Media Arts Production Fund to help support the production of media arts projects by artists at all career levels.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Media Arts Production Fund is a regional fund open to artists living in Atlantic Canada and supports the creation of media arts projects including video, audio, XR, film, new media, performance, digital, electronics, 3D printing, and time-based art.
- Commercial music videos and music recordings are not eligible for the production fund.