Sundance Film Festival
Indie film lovers everywhere will come together to be the first to discover and celebrate the bold, creative visions and exciting new talent.
Document Human Rights Film Festival
Document Festival is Scotland’s international human rights documentary film festival, it provides a unique platform that attracts Scottish, British and international documentary filmmakers and promotes local and international discussion, cultural exchange and education.
International Film Festival Rotterdam
IFFR offers a high quality line-up of carefully selected fiction and documentary feature films, short films and media art. The festival's focus is on recent work by talented new filmmakers.
Big Sky Documentary Festival
Rooted in the heart of the mountain west, The Big Sky Film Institute nurtures and elevates non- fiction films that have the power to transform our world, our culture, our youth, and ourselves.
True/False
True/False is a film festival focuses on cinema constructed from reality. Our goal is to forge a supportive, celebratory refuge for filmmakers and amplify the possibilities of creative nonfiction.
Tempo Documentary Festival
Tempo Documentary Festival is the largest festival of its kind in Sweden. Tempo has since the start presented creative documentaries from all over the world, which would otherwise not reach the Swedish audience.
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
The most dynamic documentary industry event in Southeast Europe Thessaloniki Documentary Festival promotes and supports the documentary medium from the stage of development.
SXSW Film Festival
Featuring provocative dramas, documentaries, comedies, genre standouts and more, the SXSW Film Festival has become known for the high caliber and diversity of films presented, and for its smart, enthusiastic audiences.
Cinema du Reel
Cinéma du réel is now mobilising to support the diversity of writing, forms and ideas and give them resonance. Cinéma du réel will be proposing a stroll through the fields of documentary cinema so that everyone can continue to cultivate their view of the world and what we are.
Submissions Information
Essay Film Festival
The Essay Film Festival presents a global range of contemporary and restored essayistic works, each exploring the critical and creative zone of possibilities that lies between experimental and documentary modes of filmmaking
CPH:DOX
CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, is one of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world.
DOCVILLE
DOCVILLE, the largest documentary film festival in Belgium, has a strong focus on author driven documentary with special emphasis on the cinematic experience in general and cinematography in particular.
ZagrebDox Festival
ZagrebDox is an international documentary film festival taking place in Zagreb every year. The festival is intended to provide audiences and experts insight into recent documentary films, stimulate national documentary production and boost international and regional cooperation.
American Documentary Film Festival (AmDocs)
The American Documentary and Animation Film Festival (AmDocs) is a non-profit entity, creating a forum to celebrate and promote documentary film - and the independent filmmakers around the world who bring knowledge and awareness through their stories about real people and issues.
Full Frame Documentary Festival
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of nonfiction cinema.
Visions du Reel Festival
Visions du Réel is one of the only Swiss film festivals to present a majority of its films as world or international premieres.
Movies That Matter
Movies that Matter wants to open eyes for human rights. Our core tasks are the screening of human rights related films and the stimulation of screenings of human-rights films.
Hot Docs Film Festival
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market.
DOK.fest München
We see documentary film as an art form that uses the means of cinematic aesthetics to negotiate relevant values and invites dialogue on a social, personal and artistic level. Documentary film is the art of the hour.
DOXA Festival
DOXA is an international documentary festival featuring new work selected by a jury, as well as thematic programming presented by independent curators.
Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival
Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is the largest film festival in Poland. It is the only film festival in Europe which takes place in seven different cities at the same time.
Docs Barcelona Festival
DocsBarcelona brings together professionals from all over the world every year.
Documenta Madrid
Documenta Madrid is an international film festival organised by the Madrid City Council.
Docaviv - Tel Aviv International Documentary Festival
Docaviv NPO acts at the heart of one of the most innovative, vital, and surprising creative arenas – that of documentary filmmaking. Our vision is to provide unique platforms throughout Israel for screening documentaries, exposing new audiences to the genre.
Atlanta Docufest
Docufest brings you the best independent documentary films from across the globe. The festival spotlights powerful and meaningful life stories which educate and entertain audiences of every demographic.
Sunny Side of the Doc
Each year, the 4-day event brings together broadcasters, decision makers, financing bodies, distributors, content creators and producers from around the world to sell or buy projects and programmes, and to find coproduction partners.
Encounters - South Africa Documentary Film Festival
The Encounters Festival promises some of the globe’s most talked-about and award-winning documentaries, a diverse and riveting line-up.
Sheffield Doc/Fest
Sheffield Doc/Fest is an international film and arts festival and marketplace, with a mission to spark imaginations and empower our capacity for change by celebrating, championing and debating documentary film and art as a collective form of engagement.
FID Marseilles
Today, the FIDMarseille is recognized as a source of new cinemas, both documentary productions as well as fiction films.
SiciliAmbiente Documentary Film Festival
SiciliAmbiente is an international festival of documentaries, shorts, animations, and fiction films related to environmental, sustainability, and human rights issues.
Dokufest
DokuFest, International Documentary and Short Film Festival is the largest film festival in Kosovo.
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival is the world's longest continually-running film festival. We believe in transforming lives through the watching, making and understanding of film.
Open City Docs Fest
The organisation nurtures the next generation of filmmakers, audio producers and VR filmmakers through training programmes, an annual film festival, a feature documentary development lab, and other screening projects throughout the year.
Camden International Film Festival
Recognized as one of the top documentary film festivals in the world, the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) brings the finest non-fiction cinema to the rugged coast of Maine, showcasing documentary features and short films from around the globe.
BFI London Film Festival
Experience the world's best new films before they hit the cinema. Dates for 2022 not yet confirmed.
Doclisboa
Doclisboa seeks to imagine reality through new cinematic forms of perception, reflection and action, placing filmmaking into dialogue with its history to question the present of cinema.
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Amidst turn-of-the-century bathhouses and on the doorstep of a national park lies the unforgettable spa city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, host to North America’s oldest all-documentary film festival.
DOK Leipzig
DOK Leipzig is an annual festival for documentaries and animations that celebrates film and promotes debate. The festival focuses on the values of peace, tolerance, human dignity and freedom of expression.
Jihlava IDFF
The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival is a significant European festival of artistic and critically reflective documentary work.
AFI Docs Festival
Showcasing the best in documentary programming from the US and around the globe in the heart of the nation’s capital, AFI DOCS is the nation’s premier documentary film festival.
DOC NYC
Documentary storytelling is flourishing like never before. DOC NYC is at the center of celebrating and supporting this cultural movement.
IDFA
IDFA believes in the power of documentaries. In creative documentaries that deepen, reveal and inspire. In documentaries that bring people closer together. And in documentaries that stand for change by inspiring people to act.
Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM)
The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is one of North America’s leading documentary film festivals. Each year, the RIDM presents Canadian and international documentaries. Its industry event, Forum RIDM, is Quebec’s only documentary forum. Dates for 2022 not yet announced.
Kasseler Dok Fest
The Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival is a yearly six-day event and includes short and feature documentary films and artistic-experimental productions.
Frames of Representation
The ICA’s annual film festival FRAMES of REPRESENTATION focusses on the role of spectatorship. The festival continues to be an international showcase for the cinema of the real, exploring in depth the aesthetic and political implications of filmmaking as both a collective practice and an art form.
RAI Film Festival
The RAI Film Festival celebrates the best in ethnographic, anthropological and archaeological filmmaking from around the globe.
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: beneath a mountain in Scotland; on a much-quarried island off the Dorset coast; at the site of a confrontation in Yorkshire between striking miners and mounted police.
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.
BFI Young Audiences Content Fund
The Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF) supports the creation of distinctive, high-quality content for audiences up to the age of 18.
Catapult Film Fund
Catapult Film Fund provides development funding to documentary filmmakerswho 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 catalyzes 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.
Cinereach
Cinereach is a film foundation and production company that champions vital stories, artfully told. Cinereach develops, produces, finances, and supports feature-length fiction, nonfiction and hybrid films crafted for the big screen. We seek to work with both unknown and established filmmakers who may face creative, financial or systemic obstacles to realizing ambitious visions.
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.
Doc Society Circle Fund
The Doc Society Circle is a film fund to support the very best artistic and journalistic films being made by filmmakers globally. It's a fund which complements existing international grantmakers, state funds and broadcast partners for maximum effectiveness.
This fund is currently by invitation only.
Docheads
Doc Heads exists to support documentary filmmakers in all ways – through our bi-monthly nights, access to events/festivals, discounts, networking opportunities and funding opportunities. Set up in 2009 by four filmmakers as a way of introducing all our filmmaking friends to each other, it’s expanded to become one of the leading organisations in the documentary world.
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.
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.
Flex Fund (Doc Society)
A joint initiative by Skoll Foundation, Ford Foundation and Doc Society, Flex Fund supports innovative and creative projects emerging from partnerships between moving image storytellers and social entrepreneurs.
Flex Fund grants are only available to joint Skoll Foundation and Ford Foundation grantees.
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.
Applications by post only by 15th August every year.
Fork Films Fund
Fork Films awards grants to full-length non-fiction films that foster a culture of understanding and work towards a more peaceful and just society, while utilizing powerful and artistic storytelling methods. Specifically they seek films that promote peacebuilding, human rights, and social justice, with a particular emphasis on projects that bring women’s voices to the forefront.
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, taking place right after project selection and again on the eve of the live event.
Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund
The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund provided finishing funds to feature-length documentaries which highlight and humanize issues of social importance from around the world. The fund was geared towards films, based anywhere, in production or post-production with no intended premiere exhibition date. Funded films were driven by thoughtful and in-depth storytelling, bolstered by a compelling visual approach.
Hartley Media Impact Initiative
The Hartley Media Impact Initiative oversees a fiscal sponsorship program for documentaries that focus on the impact of religions on current global issues.
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. Filmmakers from and living in the mentioned regions can apply for IBF Classic. European co-producers of documentaries from these regions can apply for IBF Europe.
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 (40 minutes or over) only. Primary creative personnel (director and/or producer) 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.
Short documentary projects (10 - 30 minutes) only.
Movies That Matter
Movies That Matter offer a start-up grant for new human rights film events and an impact grantfor existing events that want to increase their impact or want to add new activitiesto 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.
Pulse Doc Society Genesis Fund
The Pulse Doc Society Genesis Fund is an international film fund supporting the inception of long form feature documentaries driven by imaginative and innovative storytelling.
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 opportunites 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 Fledgling Fund
The Fledgling Fund offers grants to support outreach and engagement for social issue documentary film projects that have the potential to inspire positive social change around issues that affect the most vulnerable.
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, JustFilms funds social justice storytelling and the 21st-century arts infrastructure that supports it.
The Gotham Fiscal Sponsorship
The Gotham acts as your project’s exclusive fiscal sponsor for the duration of your project. However, all the rights and creative control to the project remains with you. Projects fiscally sponsored by The Gotham (formerly IFP) gain access to foundation and government funding and give donors the incentive of a charitable deduction for income tax purposes.
The Jerome Foundation’s Film and Video Grant Programs
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.
Threshold Fund (Doc Society)
The Threshold Foundation looks to support documentaries that address the most important issues facing the world using a plan of action that is powerful, innovative, and unexpected. Applications are by invitation only and Doc Society will make recommendations to Threshold Foundations Funding Circle.
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.
Wellcome Trust - Public Engagement Fund
At Wellcome, we believe in the power of ideas to improve health. We support thousands of scientists and researchers in more than 70 countries, as well as innovators, educators and artists.
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.
Women In Film Foundation's Film Finishing Fund
Through this fund, a select group of films is awarded grants in cash and in-kind gifts, enabling them to complete production; many going on to gain distribution, receive top honors at film festivals, and win accolades including Oscars and Peabody awards.
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 films and feature-length documentaries. Feature-length only.
WorldView
WorldView is a CBA [Commonwealth Broadcasting Association] Project that aims to improve UK public understanding and awareness of the developing world via the mainstream broadcast and digital media. They have three funds available, The Multimedia Fund, New Genres Fund, and Project Development Fund.
Animated Docs
The home of animated documentary: a meeting place for film-makers, researchers and fans alike.
Doc Alliance Films
A creative partnership with key European festivals, the aim is to advance the documentary genre, support its diversity and continuously promote quality creative documentary films.
DocHeads
A collection of the best UK short docs around that have been shown at regular London-based events.
Documentary Heaven
A vast collection of documentaries spanning across every genre.
Documentary Lovers
A full list of short and full-length films, educational talks and video previews that you can sort by topic to pique your curiosity.
Dogwoof On Demand
Discover the latest releases to arrive on Dogwoof On Demand's platform to watch from the comfort of your home.
Festival Scope
You will be able to watch films, discover new talent, contact rights holders and directors, and view exclusive content: features films & documentaries, shorts, works in progress.
Films For Action
A catalogue of over 900 of the best films and videos that can be watched free online. A great resource.
Folkstreams
Delve into the archives; Folkstreams aims to build a national preserve of hard-to-find documentary films about American folk or roots cultures.
MiniMovies
A MiniMovie is an episodic documentary consisting of a series of 8 to 10 episodes of 3 to 7 minutes each. Put together, the episodes form a self-contained story.
Mubi
Sign up and you can stay tuned with international festival goings on, plus view lots of docs and shorts for a small fee.
Short of the Week
A non-exclusive promotion program for filmmakers looking to build an online audience. You can watch a great variety of short docs, and submit your own short film.
Top Documentary Films
A wealth of top documentaries, split into thematic categories.
Vimeo Documentary Channel
A place for Vimeo's documentaries including full documentaries, single chapters, or extended trailers, over 3 minutes in length.
ANIDOX
ANIDOX is a creative platform for the development and production of animated documentary projects, running a laboratory, a professional training course,a residency program and masterclasses. Bringing together international film professionals to attend seminars and hands-on creative workshops. Its main goal is to foster and develop collaborations between animation and documentary creatives, and help them move further with their projects.
Goldsmiths - MA in Screen Documentary
This MA develops your skills and creative vision in the field of screen documentary production, and your understanding of the historical context and contemporary modes of documentary production, against a background of the wider theoretical issues raised in media production.
London College of Communications - MA Documentary Film
You will direct and produce your own film in a high definition professional environment on this highly regarded course. You will benefit from the extensive industry experience, including BBC and Channel 4 broadcast, gallery and festival screenings, of your tutors. You will also learn how to pitch and compete for funding and commissions.
NFTS - Directing Documentary
The NFTS has a tradition of enabling documentary filmmakers to find a distinctive voice that both prepares them for the Industry and makes their work a force for changing it. The goal of the course is to give our graduates the tools and the confidence to become successful members of the international documentary community.
NFTS - Documentary Short Courses
These industry-renowned courses are aimed at professionals in film and television as a means of furthering their careers. These course are across all NFTS UK Locations as well as some offered exclusively online.
Queen Mary University - MA in Documentary Practice
The course is practical, creative, and supports students who wish to become professional filmmakers and/or research academics. This combination of production professionalism and academic excellence is key to promoting intellectual, current, and socially engaged documentary makers.
Royal Holloway - MA Digital Documentary
This is an exciting and dynamic time for documentary practice; in recent years there has been a renaissance in documentary, seeing huge developments in both technology and form. Documentary stories are now being told via telecommunications, in cinemas, on TV, and online.
SUMMERDOCS: A Summer School in Documentary Direction
After 10 years establishing and developing this innovative Summer Course in partnership with the NFTS the course will continue in partnership with Channel 4. The NFTS offers a summer school where the expertise of professional mentors will help you begin to become the documentary maker you want to be.
UCL - MA Ethnographic and Documentary Film (Practice Based)
This programme is unique in the UK as it is based in a university, but run by leading film practitioners from the world of professional media. Run in conjunction with Open City Docs, the programme offers a choice of three pathways or strands: reportage based documentary, non-fiction and a new VR strand. All three strands allow students to draw on the world-class expertise and resources in the Department of Anthropology, whilst providing opportunities to take courses in other faculties and schools. As a practice focussed MA, training encompasses all the technical issues surrounding the preparation, production, editing and distribution of the visual image.
University of Hertfordshire - Film and Television MA
The MA Film and Television Production degree’s mission is to provide an environment for students to develop their vision and use their voice as a filmmaker, with a strong focus on feature film, high-end drama and feature documentary
University of Sussex - Creative Documentary Practice MA
Taught by committed and active filmmakers. You’ll produce a portfolio of short non-fiction films in a creative and stimulating environment. You can pursue your own interests through your film practice and will learn a range of approaches to visual story-telling.
University Of Sussex - Journalism and Documentary Practice MA
This MA is for you if you have a passion for news, current affairs, documentary or any aspect of factual programme-making. It offers a practical training in, and critical engagement with, journalism and documentary-making.
University of Wales - Documentary Film & Television MA
This Documentary Film masters degree is all about telling human stories through film. Working with top industry practitioners and alongside BBC Wales’ training scheme It’s My Shout, you will learn the importance of storytelling, self-shooting and single camera 'guerilla' filmmaking.