Funding Opportunities

American Documentary Film Fund

Open to independent American filmmakers for the financing for new projects as well as works in progress. Supports via direct funding, mentorship, editorial support and national distribution and engagement strategies.

Artangel Everywhere

Over the past two decades, through a number of open calls, Artangel has invited UK-based artists to share ambitious ideas to transform the cultural landscape. The resulting commissions have been ground-breaking works in performance, film, installation, and radio, each situated in an unexpected place in the UK.

BFI / Doc Society Fund

The BFI/Doc Society Fund supports creative and hybrid feature documentaries and short films by diverse creative voices from all over the UK. The fund has three calls a year for feature documentaries, and one for shorts.

Catapult Film Fund

Catapult Film Fund provides development funding to documentary filmmakers who have a compelling story to tell, have secured access to their story and are ready to shoot and edit a piece for production fundraising purposes. Our mission is to enable filmmakers to develop their film projects to the next level at a moment where funding is hard to find. Applications are accepted year-round.

Chicken & Egg Pictures

Chicken & Egg Pictures supports women nonfiction filmmakers whose artful and innovative storytelling catalyses social change. We envision a world in which women filmmakers, representing a range of experiences and backgrounds, are fully supported to realize their artistic goals, build sustainable careers, and achieve parity in all areas of the film industry.

Creative England Growth

Creative England uncovers, connects and backs the best original storytellers; driving diversity, collaboration and growth in the creative screen industries.

DFI: Doha Film Institute

Doha Film Institute's film funding initiatives offer creative and financial support to filmmakers based in Qatar and around the world, helping them to unlock their artistry, manage their productions effectively and make high-quality films.

Film London Funding

Film London directly runs several production schemes - supporting local grassroots film-making talent, artists working with the moving image. Award-winning films have been produced through these varied programmes that were all introduced to encourage creativity and develop skills within London-based film-making communities. Provides various grants for short and feature projects.

Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein

Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein supports cinema films, high-end series and innovative audiovisual formats of all genres. We provide financial support for all phases of the production process from script to screen. MORE INFO

Filmmakers Without Borders

Filmmakers Without Borders supports independent filmmakers around the world via grants and other funding initiatives. Supported projects include narrative films, documentary films, and new media projects that align with themes of social justice, empowerment, and cultural exchange.

Fondation AlterCiné

Every year, the Foundation awards a grant of 10,000 Canadian dollars and a few 5,000 Canadian dollars grants to some filmmakers to assist in the production of a documentary project. The grant is aimed at young video and filmmakers born and living in Africa, Asia or Latin America who want to direct a film in the language of their choice that respects the aims of the Foundation.

Good Pitch

Good Pitch brings together documentary filmmakers with foundations, NGOs, campaigners, philanthropists, policymakers, brands and media around leading social and environmental issues. Over a year, the selected filmmaking teams receive sustained mentorship and professional development. This includes two campaign development workshops.

Hot Docs Documentary Funds (Various)

Hot Docs offer various production funds providing Canadian and international documentary projects with much-needed development, production and completion grants, as well as valuable professional development opportunities.

IDFA Bertha Fund

The IDFA Bertha Fund is designed to stimulate and empower the creative documentary sector in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe by supporting innovative documentary projects by talented filmmakers from these regions. The Fund provides development, production and distribution grants through two funding schemes.

LEF: Moving Image Grants

LEF is a private family foundation that funds creative endeavors in California and the New England region. LEF invests in documentary film and video projects that demonstrate excellence in technique, originality of vision and voice, and creativity in form. Pre-production, production and post-production funding available. Feature-length and primary creative personnel must reside in New England.

Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography and Film

The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film will award a US$5,000 grant to a single completed “Short-Short” documentary film project. Our grant is open to up-and-coming, independent film makers and directors in all countries. Participant must be committed to the field of reportage and documentary film making. Currently suspended until further notice.

Movies That Matter

Movies That Matter offer a start-up grant for new human rights film events and an impact grant for existing events that want to increase their impact or want to add new activities to their programmes. These events can take various forms, such as human rights film festivals, LGBTQI film festivals and mobile cinema projects. Please note Movies that Matter does not support film production.

One World Media Fellowship

One World Media Fellowship is aimed at aspiring journalists and filmmakers who seek to make a career out of reporting on stories from the global south. We guide filmmakers and journalists on a single project, and provide a supportive network of mentors and peers through the production and completion of their project.

Rogers Documentary Fund

Supporting Canadian documentary film production in English and French.

San Francisco Film Society Documentary Fund

The SFFILM Documentary Film Fund (DFF) supports riveting documentaries in post-production distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters and an innovative visual approach. DFF grants are awarded once each year to documentary feature projects and are open to filmmakers internationally.

Screen Australia

Various funding opportunities and support for Australian documentaries.

Sundance Documentary Funds

The Sundance Institute Documentary Funds supports the work of nonfiction filmmakers from around the globe. The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund accepts submissions via two open calls per year, with decisions being made in the summer and winter.

The Edinburgh Pitch

The Edinburgh Pitch is the only international documentary pitching forum in Scotland. It is aimed at independent filmmakers and companies developing and raising finance for creative feature documentaries and considering international co-productions.

The Ford Foundation - Just Films

The Ford Foundation seeks to reduce inequality in all of its forms, and artist-driven documentary and emerging media projects are crucial to this effort. As part of the Creativity and Free Expression program, Just Films funds social justice storytelling and the 21st-century arts infrastructure that supports it.

The Gotham Fiscal Sponsorship

The Jerome Foundation’s Film and Video Grant Program

The Jerome Foundation’s Film and Video Grant Program is a production grant program for individual film and video artists who work in the genres of experimental, narrative, animation, and documentary production.

The Miller / Packan Film Fund

The Miller / Packan Film Fund supports documentaries that Educate, Inspire and Enrich. The Fund is financed through the Rogovy Foundation. We believe in the transformational power that comes from enlightening narratives and inspiring characters.

Tribeca Film Institute Documentary Funds

Grants and guidance to support exceptional character-driven, nonfiction works that spotlight contemporary themes with an original focus and bold, creative filmmaking.

Visions est sud

The fund supports film productions from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe, aims at making them visible worldwide and guarantees their distribution in Switzerland. In case a project is being supported, all rights for Switzerland are automatically transfered to visions sud est.

Whicker's World Foundation

The Film & TV Funding Award is awarded annually to an emerging filmmaker from anywhere in the world with the most promising pitch for a director-led documentary. With a main award worth £80,000 and a runner-up contribution of £15,000, The Whickers Film & TV Funding Award is one of the most significant documentary awards in the world.

World Cinema Fund

Together with the Federal Foundation for Culture and in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, the Foreign Ministry and German producers, the World Cinema Fund works to develop and support cinema in regions with a weak film infrastructure, while fostering cultural diversity in German cinemas. The World Cinema Fund supports exclusively the production and distribution of feature-length films.