New England-based directors and producers seeking production and post-production funds for feature-length (40+ min) nonfiction film and video projects are encouraged to apply for LEF’s next grant deadline on January 16, 2026.

The Moving Image Fund’s Production and Post-production grants have a two-part application process. Filmmakers interested in applying for project support must first submit a brief Letter of Inquiry (LOI).

From these initial inquiries, a smaller pool of applicants will be notified on Friday, March 6 about whether they are invited to submit a full application.

A maximum of eight (8) grants of $15,000 each will be awarded to projects in the Production phase, and a maximum of six (6) grants of $25,000 each will be awarded to projects in the Post-production phase during LEF’s major grants review. Please note that in order to be eligible for Post-production support, the project for which you are applying must have received previous LEF support.

• Production funds may be used for shooting picture and sound, early stage editing, equipment costs, materials, travel, and staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise)
• Post-production funds may be used for editing costs, rights, online, sound mix, color correction, transfers, distribution strategy, and staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise). To be eligible for Post-production funding, the project must have already been supported by LEF at a previous stage (Early Development, Pre-production, or Production)

More information about this opportunity is available here.

Deadline: Friday, January 16 at 11:59pm

For more instructions, visit LEF’s How to Apply page.

The Moving Image Fund’s eligibility criteria are:

• Projects must be long format with projected running times of 40 minutes or more.

• Primary creative personnel (director and/or producer) must reside in New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont).

• Projects must not be commissioned or work-for-hire, and the director/producer creative team must have creative control of the project.

• Projects with directors or producers enrolled in high school, undergraduate or master’s degree programs at the time of application are ineligible for consideration.

• Multi-channel or installation work will not be considered.
• For prior grantees, a final report on previous LEF grant funding is required.

Still not sure if you’re eligible? Take a look at our FAQ page.

Virtual Info Session

To learn more about the Moving Image Fund, join LEF staff for a 60-minute virtual info session hosted via Zoom at 3:00pm ET on Thursday, December 4.

This session will include live captioning (CART). Please let us know by Monday, November 24 if you’d like to request ASL interpretation (SVI) for this meeting.

Heads Up for Boston-area Nonfiction Filmmakers!

The Harvard Film Study Center-LEF Fellowship, an opportunity for one Boston-area filmmaker to receive a $15,000 grant and access to FSC’s pool of production and post-production equipment and community, will be accepting applications starting in early December.

You can stay up-to-date on this and more opportunities through LEF’s newsletter or by following LEF on Instagram.

The post Now Accepting MIF Letters of Inquiry for Production & Post-production through January 16 appeared first on LEF Foundation.

The LEF Foundation has awarded 13 Moving Image Fund grants totaling $52,500 in support of feature-length documentary works by New England-based filmmakers.

The LEF Moving Image Fund invests in feature-length documentary films that demonstrate excellence in technique, a resonant story or idea, and originality of artistic vision and voice. The most recent round of awards includes eight grants of $5,000 to projects at the Pre-production stage and five grants of $2,500 to projects at the Early Development stage. 

The projects this round reflect on our current moment: often precipitous, a turning point, a possibility for new directions. The cohort includes imaginative works that layer artifice onto the real to reveal larger truths, films that utilize verite modes to patiently observe the workings of life in front of the camera, and ambitious projects tracing the slow progress of thoughts and actions over time.   

PRE-PRODUCTION

Feu de Lune

Directed by Dominic Yarabe

Produced by Eliza Soros

Feu de Lune follows two ten-year old twins in a rural West African village as they reenact an epic myth to preserve their community’s fading oral histories. But the spell is broken when their play reveals a buried secret—a civil conflict largely erased from national memory. 

Green Light

Directed by Anna Barsan

Produced by Paige Wood, Kate Levy

Green Light follows the expansion of a video surveillance network in Detroit, investigating the promises of public safety while probing the tensions between visibility and control. Through the lens of a city under constant watch, the film asks: Who feels safe? Who is seen? And what remains beyond the camera’s gaze? 

Letters of Elsewhere

Directed by Abhi Indrekar

Produced by Dakxin Chhara, Michaela Henry

Caught in immigration limbo in America, a filmmaker unable to return home to Chharanagar turns his lens on the stillness around him—capturing the beauty, grief, and ghosts of exile—while composing poetic letters to the homeland he can only now visit through memory.

Rompío Fuente en la Noche (Water Breaks at Night)

Directed and Produced by Rosalyn Negrón

Intimate portraits of pregnant women in Vieques, a Puerto Rican island without a hospital, once a site of U.S. military exercises. As they prepare for childbirth, they hope for safe births amid the lingering threats of contamination and hurricanes. For them, bringing new life into Vieques is both a blessing and an act of defiance.

The Eye of Eternity

Directed and Produced by Matteo Moretti

Three Shakers sustain a centuries-old faith as their Maine village becomes a haven for seekers—a former Shaker, Franciscan friars, and other kindred spirits. In a world that often writes them off as relics, this documentary offers a rare, present-tense portrait of belief, belonging, and the quiet strength it takes to carry a fragile tradition into an uncertain future.

The Low Season

Directed by Bernardo Ruiz

Produced by Bernardo Ruiz, Andrea Patiño Contreras

A woman from the future arrives in present day Queens, New York in order to lead immigrant families to safety as bounty hunters prey on them.

The sea will bring the miracle

Directed by Felipe Esparza Pérez

Produced by Lady Vinces Cruz

Carmen is a young widow living in Puerto Eten, a town marked by state neglect. When Li Guang, a shipwrecked Chinese fisherman, is rescued and secretly protected by Carmen, his arrival coincides with alleged miraculous apparitions of the Divine Child wrongly attributed to Aurelio, Carmen’s young son. She must face the pressure of a community that sees in her son a divine sign, while struggling to protect him from the fanaticism and growing tensions in the village.

The Swimmer

Directed and Produced by Sara Jordenö

“Tell your story. Tell it again. Tell it anyway.” Arash, an Afghan refugee and aspiring competitive swimmer, asks Sara, a filmmaker, to make a film about his life in limbo, and his dream deferred. 7 years later, Arash disappears. Together with Ahmad, an actor, Sara attempts to re-tell Arash’s story in his absence. A feverishly surreal imagined conversation between a documentarian and their participant, The SWIMMER asks hard questions about the labor and accountability of the artist-as-witness.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

98 Days

Directed by Cashmere Jasmine

Produced by Andy Fraser, Cashmere Jasmine, RJ Dawson

98 Days is a hybrid documentary tracing activist-filmmaker RJ Dawson’s journey from the 2020 Grand Park occupation where Black Unity organizers and unhoused residents clashed with police and internal divisions to his current work with the Center of Independent Living Storytellers Initiative, a disability justice media project confronting 2025’s attacks on healthcare access.

Ancestral Days

Directed by Bronte Stahl

Produced Isabella Rinaldi

Francesco leads personalized ancestral tours in Sicily for Americans in search of their “roots”. Among the bureaucratic, parochial, pastoral, and familial spaces his work takes his clients, ironies and absurdities emerge and invite a reflection on gentrification, immigration and the act of remaining.

Combat Zones (Working Title)

Directed by Stephen Wardell

Produced by Matthew Hipps

When a movie theater is removed from a community, what is left behind? To better understand the contemporary landscape of queer public space, we trace the remains of X-rated movie theaters in Boston and reanimate the fantasies that populated them.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Directed and Produced by Asha Tamirisa 

“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” is an experimental documentary that explores wildfire smoke as a means for how to sense and make sense of the climate crises. Smoke is quickly becoming a quotidian aspect of human life as wildfires proliferate in many parts of the world. Drawing from interviews, sensory ethnographic methodologies, and materialist media practices, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” will allow for critical and affective engagement with this growing transnational dilemma.

Writing for My Mother

Directed and Produced by Natalie Pattillo

WRITING FOR MY MOTHER is a feature-length documentary that examines the declining literacy rates in the United States. Director Natalie Pattillo—whose mother faces literacy challenges—is uplifting the heartfelt and timely stories of adult learners and their children, as well as the advocates fighting for the right to read, write, and vote.

At LEF’s August deadline for Pre-production and Early Development, 52 eligible applications were received from filmmakers working throughout New England. Three peer readers from the local filmmaking community who represent a diversity of perspectives on documentary were invited to review, discuss, and make recommendations on the applications. These peer evaluations informed LEF staff’s final grant decisions.

“Independent filmmakers are a resilient bunch who know they haven’t chosen a straight-forward path,” said Lyda Kuth, LEF Executive Director.  “At this moment, they persevere to make work despite widespread cuts to federal funding and fewer opportunities to show their work via public media. At LEF, we see this first-hand, as evidenced by the wealth of documentary projects that continue to be made here in New England. We value their contribution and feel lucky to have them here.” 

This is the sixth year that the Moving Image Fund has included support at the Early Development stage, giving initial seed funding to filmmakers who have not yet had a chance to shoot or edit sample footage for their current projects.

“Our production team is grateful for this critical, early support from LEF as we undertake an ambitious project in challenging times for independent film,” said grantee Andrea Patiño Contreras.

“LEF’s support has made it possible for me to keep creating independent, creative nonfiction work that would otherwise be nearly impossible to sustain,” said grantee Anna Barsan. “In a challenging funding and political landscape, they’ve been steady, generous, and truly engaged with artists and their work.”

All applicants who applied for LEF funding for either Pre-production or Early Development will have the option to receive review notes from staff to learn how their proposals were evaluated by the peer reviewers and to ask any questions. 

“As a regional funder, LEF New England has the privilege of learning about a wide array of new feature-length nonfiction films made by a diverse community of New England directors and producers who are just beginning to seek funds for their projects,” said LEF Program Director Gen Carmel. “Because of our local scale and position as the first source of grant support for many projects, we know how crucial it is to be able to share constructive peer review feedback with all of the filmmakers who request it at this stage.”

In addition to this group of grantees, LEF will also award $270,000 to 12 projects in Production and Post-production later in the fiscal year, following the next January 2025 application deadline. In total, LEF plans to distribute $322,500 in funding to documentary productions over the course of its 2026 fiscal year.

The next Moving Image Fund grant deadline will be Friday, January 16, 2026 for New England-based directors and producers seeking Production and Post-production support for feature-length documentaries.

You can find more details regarding LEF Moving Image Fund guidelines and eligibility on our website.

You can subscribe to LEF’s mailing list to receive a monthly newsletter and the latest updates about grantee news, filmmaker opportunities, and calls for Moving Image Fund submissions. For more information on the Foundation or its funded projects, please contact Program Officer Matthew LaPaglia at matthew@lef-foundation.org.

The post The LEF Foundation has awarded 13 Moving Image Fund grants totaling $52,500 in support of feature-length documentary works by New England-based filmmakers appeared first on LEF Foundation.

LEF New England is now welcoming applications for Pre-production and Early Development grants through the Moving Image Fund.

A maximum of (6) Pre-production grants of $5,000 each and (6) Early Development grants of $2,500 each will be awarded for the use of:

• research
• travel
• location scouting
• script or storyboard development
• experimentation with shooting picture and sound
• distribution planning
• fundraising
• creating a trailer
• schedule and budget development
• staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise)

Pre-production applications require a current work sample from the project you are proposing for funding. Early Development applications require two past work samples, and current work samples are not accepted.

The Moving Image Fund’s eligibility criteria are:

• Projects must be long format with projected running times of 40 minutes or more.
• Primary creative personnel (director and/or producer) must reside in New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont).
• Projects must not be commissioned or work-for-hire, and the director/producer creative team must have creative control of the project.
• Projects with directors or producers enrolled in high school, undergraduate or master’s degree programs at the time of application are ineligible for consideration.
• Multi-channel or installation work will not be considered.
• For prior grantees, a final report on previous LEF grant funding is required.

Still not sure if you’re eligible? Take a look at our FAQ page.

You can also reach out to LEF Program Officer Matthew LaPaglia and LEF Program Director Gen Carmel with any questions.

Deadline to Apply:

Friday, August 8 at 11:59pm

Please review the Moving Image Fund guidelines and take a look at our frequently asked questions.

Please note: The Moving Image Fund’s submission portal has moved. 

Now, through an account with LEF’s grant interface, you’ll be able to apply for funding, view your previous grant support, and complete final reports, all in one place.  

For more instructions, visit LEF’s How to Apply page.

Virtual Info Session

To learn more about the Moving Image Fund, join LEF staff for a virtual info session hosted via Zoom from 12:00–1:00pm ET on July 14.

This session will include live captioning (CART). Please let us know by Monday, July 7 at 9am if you’d like to request ASL interpretation (SVI) for this meeting.

The post Now Accepting Pre-production & Early Development Applications for 2025 Summer/Fall Grant Cycle appeared first on LEF Foundation.

The LEF Foundation has awarded 14 Moving Image Fund grants totaling $270,000 in support of feature-length documentary works by New England-based filmmakers.

The LEF Moving Image Fund invests in feature-length documentary films that demonstrate excellence in technique, strong storytelling ability, and originality of artistic vision and voice. The most recent round of awards includes eight grants of $15,000 to projects at the Production stage and six grants of $25,000 to projects at the Post-production stage. 

The grantees for this round of the Moving Image Fund include films grounded in singular lived experiences and films that attempt to unpack much larger systems and structures that shape our world. All of the films are deeply rooted in their respective places, whether they are locations steeped in personal or political history, enduring communities, or geographies that extend beyond immediate perception. This round of grants emphasizes the unique lenses of New England-based filmmakers, reflecting a broad diversity of approaches to nonfiction filmmaking, spanning patient verite, the inquisitively essayistic, personal lyricism, and self-reflexive forms.

PRODUCTION

Blindball (w/t)

Directed and Produced by Carla Borrás (MA) and Jessica Massa

25 athletes. 6 months. 9 spots on Team USA. More than a gold medal at stake.  In the Bronx, an under-resourced team of baseball players — some born blind, others having recently lost their sight — train for the world cup of blind baseball. The athletes, men and women ages 20 to 70, face obstacles on and off the field in this genre-defying documentary about what it looks, sounds, and feels like to live boldly without vision.

Caretakers

Directed by Ambrus Hernadi (MA)

Produced by Rita Balogh

Caretakers is an observational documentary following two Hungarian women, Zsuzsa and Beata, as they navigate the hidden struggles of undocumented caregiving in Germany and in the U.S. Balancing family ties, isolation, and an uncertain future, their journeys expose the harsh reality of migrant caregivers, revealing a system that benefits from their work while refusing their recognition.

Eurydice in the Underworld

Directed by Felicity E. Palma (RI)

Eurydice in the Underworld is a handmade experimental film that examines the effects of cancer treatment on a young working-class woman’s body. Using performance, soundscape, interventions with the lens and the filmic body, and the texts and diaries of Kathy Acker who died from the disease, the film explores notions of isolation and alienation set within a landscape that is intimately connected to the artist’s own cancer treatment and heritage.

HANNAH

Directed by Siobhan Landry (MA) and Angie Morrill

Produced by Siobhan Landry and Carolyn Shadid Lewis

In 1697 Hannah Dustin was taken captive. She returned in possession of ten native scalps, including those of women and children. HANNAH documents how the Hannah Dustin story is presented today, alongside a dialogue between female-identified artists, both native and white, who are drawn in by the legend. The film is an unsparing consideration of colonial violence as well as a creative and humorous exploration of how these kinds of stories might be told differently.

Heaven Through the Backdoor

Directed by Anna Fitch and Banker White (MA)

Produced by Sara Dosa, Hannah Roodman, and Banker White

Part myth, part documentary, HEAVEN THROUGH THE BACKDOOR explores the mystery of death through the unconventional friendship of Anna & Yo, two kindred spirits born 49 years apart. Using intricately built miniature sets, puppetry, and other creations, the film juxtaposes intimate vérité of Yo’s last year with Anna’s wildly imaginative interpretations of her stories. It is in this invented, magical world that our film takes place.

Highest Nature

Directed by Elle Rinaldi (CT)

Following the flight paths of a young bird watcher and a birds of prey showing duo, we observe two very different breeds of environmentalists: one who observes, classifies, and questions the environment and our relationship to it from a distance; and two committed to education through captivity, training, and showmanship. Both of their unique approaches reveal the natural world’s beauty and brutality, teaching us how to look, listen, and be better creatures in our environment.

Memory of Lightning

Directed by Riccardo Giacconi (MA)

Produced by Fabrizio Polpettini

The film follows a 30-year-old radio producer as she records voices and sounds in a small rural village, summoning the distant memory of a violent act that the local community still grapples with. Through her microphones, she facilitates a sort of séance, where the past is brought to the surface through conversations and by listening to soundscapes at various crime scenes as if searching for phantom radiation that still resonates in the air. The film aims to evoke the practice of radio-making in the form of a portrait within a portrait.

The Teachers Project (working title)

Directed by Luke Meyer (MA)

Produced by Luke Meyer, Raoul Meyer, Tom Davis, and Jenna Sauers

THE TEACHERS PROJECT is a compelling, character-driven journey into the lives of American educators as they navigate the intensifying culture war that has enveloped the nation’s schools since 2020. As political battles over sanctioned ideas, books, and lesson plans rage from national headlines to local school boards, the film reveals the devastating consequences of this chaos and conflict for teachers, students, communities, and the future of American education.

POST-PRODUCTION

Beyond the Fold

Directed and Produced by Ross McClean

Produced by Bronte Stahl (RI), Ross McClean, and Roisín Geraghty

Ryan finds peace working with sheep inside a Northern Irish prison. Faced with a hostile environment upon release, he looks to find a place for himself. 

Chelsea (working title)

Directed by Jenny Alexander and Sabrina Avilés (MA)

Chelsea is a Latinx immigrant city in New England that has long been overlooked. Three community leaders are fighting against the myths and realities that face their community to uplift their city.  What happens when you believe in yourself when no one else does?

Cosmic Moose and Grizzly Bears Ville

Directed by Amber Bemak (MA)

Produced by Zoe Sua Cho (CT)

Peter Valentine, living on disability in an apartment, fought MIT while they demolished his neighborhood to develop University Park, claiming he couldn’t leave because it was his electromagnetic laboratory. Eventually, MIT gifted him the entire building, moving it to another street. Peter was diagnosed schizophrenic and unmedicated all his life.

Early Mourning, Tarpon Springs

Directed and Produced by Jodie Mack (VT)

Traversing people and peepholes, socioeconomic and school class, pressure and pleasure, witness and whiteness, this animated, auto-erotic and auto-ethnographic feature film locates strange threads between mediumship and the photographic medium. A bereaved sibling approaching the 30-year anniversary of her sister’s car-crash death sets out to create a homespun epic funeral, driving around schools and strip malls of Florida and uncovering familial, sexual, ecological, and historical ghosts.

My Skin and I

Directed by Milton Guillén and Fiona Guy Hall (VT)

Produced by Milton Guillén, Fiona Guy Hall, May Odeh, and Zorana Mušikić 

An exiled Nicaraguan music producer living in Berlin pursues a dangerous creative obsession that he fears conflicts with the needs of his family.

The River

Directed by Caitlyn Greene

Produced by Sara Archambault (RI), Caitlyn Greene, and Department of Motion Pictures 

THE RIVER is a vivid, character-driven film about Louisiana’s complex relationship with the Mississippi River.

“As the Moving Image Fund rounds out its first quarter-century of supporting filmmakers in New England, we find ourselves in a climate that is threatening to independent creative voices,” said Lyda Kuth, LEF Executive Director. “The films receiving grants this year are a remarkable cross section of the vibrancy and creative risk-taking that LEF will continue to champion in the region and beyond.” 

“I grew up in New England, surrounded by film programs that were supported by the LEF Foundation. From DocYard to CIFF and beyond, the artists whose stories came out of these communities showed me the power of cinema to open minds to lives different than ours, while also illuminating our shared humanity,” said grantee Carolina Borrás. “My co-director Jessica Massa and I could not be more honored to now have the chance to be the storytellers, with the support of this LEF Moving Image Grant.”

The formal grant review process began in early winter when LEF received 96 eligible letters of inquiry at its January 2025 deadline for Production and Post-production. These proposals were evaluated by a group of three New England-based filmmakers serving as peer readers, in addition to LEF staff.

Of these initial inquiries, 30 projects were invited by LEF staff to submit a full application, including 22 finalists in Production and 8 finalists in Post-production. All 30 full applications were then evaluated by a peer review panel made up of filmmakers and professionals from across the U.S. who represent a diversity of perspectives on documentary. Peer reviewers remain anonymous and change at every round. 

“At LEF, we aim to provide support for a community of filmmakers over time by going beyond the grant to offer all of our applicants 1:1 peer review feedback, guidance, and connections to other capacity-building resources,” said LEF Program Director Genevieve Carmel. 

“Having support from LEF at the pre-production, production, and post-production phases of this piece has enabled my work to travel conceptually deeper, formally larger,” said grantee Jodie Mack. “Through their support, I am able to advance my craft in the pursuit of animated nonfiction.”

“While the Moving Image Fund is structured around project-based support,” said Carmel, “we know the ripple effects that offering both grant funding and constructive feedback can have – beyond propelling a film project forward, it can encourage the creative growth of a filmmaker, deepen their contributions within a regional creative economy, and build recognition for their voice within the larger field of filmmaking.”

In addition to this group of grantees, LEF also awarded $47,500 to 11 projects in Early Development and Pre-production earlier in the fiscal year. In total, LEF will be distributing $317,500 in funding to documentary productions over the course of its 2024–25 fiscal year. After 25 years since its inception, the Moving Image Fund has awarded over 500 grants totaling more than $5.5 million in filmmaker support.

The next Moving Image Fund grant deadline is Friday, August 8 for New England-based directors and producers seeking Pre-production and Early Development support for feature-length documentaries.

You can find more details regarding LEF Moving Image Fund guidelines and eligibility on our website.

You can subscribe to LEF’s mailing list to receive a monthly newsletter and the latest updates about grantee news, filmmaker opportunities, and calls for Moving Image Fund submissions. For more information on the Foundation or its funded projects, please contact Program Officer Matthew LaPaglia at matthew@lef-foundation.org.

The post LEF has awarded 14 Moving Image Fund grants totaling $270,000 in support of feature-length documentary works by New England-based filmmakers appeared first on LEF Foundation.

New England-based directors and producers seeking production and post-production funds for feature-length (40+ min) nonfiction film and video projects are encouraged to apply for LEF’s next grant deadline on January 17, 2025.

The Moving Image Fund’s Production and Post-production grants have a two-part application process. Filmmakers interested in applying for project support must first submit a brief Letter of Inquiry (LOI). This year, the amount of information requested through the LOI form has been reduced.

From these initial inquiries, a smaller pool of applicants will be notified on Friday, March 7 about whether they are invited to submit a full application.

A maximum of eight (8) grants of $15,000 each will be awarded to projects in the Production phase, and a maximum of six (6) grants of $25,000 each will be awarded to projects in the Post-production phase during LEF’s major grants review. Please note that in order to be eligible for Post-production support, the project for which you are applying must have received previous LEF support.

• Production funds may be used for shooting picture and sound, early stage editing, equipment costs, materials, travel, and staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise)
• Post-production funds may be used for editing costs, rights, online, sound mix, color correction, transfers, distribution strategy, and staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise). To be awarded Post-production funding, the project must have already been supported by LEF at a previous stage (Early Development, Pre-production, or Production)

More information about this opportunity is available on the Guidelines and How to Apply pages of LEF’s website.

The Moving Image Fund’s eligibility criteria are:

• Projects must be long format with projected running times of 40 minutes or more.
• Primary creative personnel (director and/or producer) must reside in New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont).
• Projects must not be commissioned or work-for-hire, and the director/producer creative team must have creative control of the project.
• Projects with directors or producers enrolled in high school, undergraduate or master’s degree programs at the time of application are ineligible for consideration.
• Multi-channel or installation work will not be considered.
• For prior grantees, a final report on previous LEF grant funding is required.

Still not sure if you’re eligible? Take a look at our FAQ page.

Heads Up for Boston-area Nonfiction Filmmakers!

The Harvard Film Study Center-LEF Fellowship, an opportunity for one Boston-area filmmaker to receive a $15,000 grant and access to FSC’s pool of production and post-production equipment and community, will be accepting applications starting in early December.

You can stay up-to-date on this and more opportunities through LEF’s newsletter or by following LEF on Instagram.

The post LEF Now Accepting Moving Image Fund Letters of Inquiry for Production & Post-production Grants appeared first on LEF Foundation.

The LEF Foundation has awarded 11 Moving Image Fund grants totaling $47,500 in support of feature-length documentary works by New England-based filmmakers.

The LEF Moving Image Fund invests in feature-length documentary films that demonstrate excellence in technique, a resonant story or idea, and originality of artistic vision and voice. The most recent round of awards includes eight grants of $5,000 to projects at the Pre-production stage and three grants of $2,500 to projects at the Early Development stage. 

The projects in this round reveal the scope and scale of belonging, from the intimate realms of family and identity to larger ones of community, culture, and the natural world. With focuses that shift across borders from New England to Appalachia and Puerto Rico, and further still to France, Venezuela, Colombia, Morocco, and Japan, the films navigate the unique ripple effects of inheritance and intervention alike. Whether their interest is in the fate of a generations-old restaurant, the fault lines in a family’s history, or the unexpected relationships that fuel our understanding of ourselves, the filmmakers receiving grants approach their material with sensitivity and deep curiosity.   

Pre-production

A Permanent Dream

Directed by Gabrielle Lubtchansky

Produced by Brooke Saias

Dar Marjana

Directed by Lamia Lazrak

Produced by Lisa Yadao, Irene Yadao + Manette Pottle

Illusions of Winter

Directed by Drew Swedberg

Produced by Josh Povec, Drew Swedberg, Bailey Beltramo

In the Keeping

Directed by Emily Drummer

Produced by Felipe Troya + Alex Denison

Kowloon!

Directed by Erin Ramirez + Mona Xia

Produced by Erin Ramirez, Mona Xia + Donovan Tolledo

Look at This Bird (Working Title) 

Directed by Elle Rose Rinaldi

Produced by Camara Aaron + Bella Racklin

Someone’s Father

Directed by Andrea Patiño Contreras

Produced by Andrea Patiño Contreras + Gabriela Díaz Arp

Tonada Menguante 

Directed and Produced by Luis Arnías

Early Development

Out in the Mountains (Working Title)

Directed and Produced by Amanda Kowalski

Paper Ties

Directed by Ezra Rose

Produced by Zoë Andrikidis

Rompió Fuente en la Noche (Water Breaks at Night)

Directed and Produced by Rosalyn Negrón

At LEF’s August deadline for Pre-production and Early Development, 52 eligible applications were received from filmmakers working throughout New England. Three peer readers from the local filmmaking community who represent a diversity of perspectives on documentary were invited to review, discuss, and make recommendations on the applications. These peer evaluations informed LEF staff’s final grant decisions. 

“With each Moving Image Fund round, we’re introduced to new filmmakers and to new and compelling projects in addition to filmmakers we have come to know over the years,” said Lyda Kuth, Executive Director. “It’s affirming and inspiring, both to staff and to the peer reviewers, to see the pool of New England filmmakers be continually renewed and expanded.”       

This is the fifth year that the Moving Image Fund has included support at the Early Development stage, giving initial seed funding to filmmakers who have not yet had a chance to shoot or edit sample footage for their current projects.

“LEF’s support comes at a critical time of research and development for our story,” one grantee shared. “At a time when financing independent films is so difficult, this grant will truly propel us forward.”

“Support during the early stages of documentary filmmaking is both rare and vital to bringing independent films to life,” another grantee shared. “I’m deeply grateful to LEF and the Moving Image Fund for championing independent documentary filmmakers in New England, where there is a strong, passionate and talented community of filmmakers with a deep love for non-fiction filmmaking.”

All applicants who applied for LEF funding for either Pre-production or Early Development will have the option to receive review notes from staff to learn how their proposals were evaluated by the peer reviewers and to ask any questions. 

“We were honored to work with a group of local peer reviewers who shared their insights and feedback on each of the 52 proposals that we received this round,” said LEF Program Director Gen Carmel. “We are committed to sharing that feedback in one-on-one calls with each team that would find it helpful to hear what the peer reviewers found most resonant, where they had any questions, and any ideas or resources to share. For us, these calls are also an opportunity to learn more about what LEF might be able to improve about its review process.” 

In addition to this group of grantees, LEF will also award $230,000 to 12 projects in Production and Post-production later in the fiscal year, following the next January 2025 application deadline. In total, LEF plans to distribute $277,500 in funding to documentary productions over the course of its 2025 fiscal year.

The next Moving Image Fund deadline will be Friday, January 17, 2025 for New England-based feature-length documentary directors and producers seeking to submit a Letter of Inquiry for Production or Post-production support.

Submissions will open in mid-November.

You can find more details regarding LEF Moving Image Fund guidelines and eligibility on our website.

The post LEF Foundation Announces $47,500 in Pre-production and Early Development Grants to New England Documentary Filmmakers appeared first on LEF Foundation.

LEF New England is now welcoming applications for Pre-production and Early Development grants through the Moving Image Fund.

A maximum of (6) Pre-production grants of $5,000 each and (6) Early Development grants of $2,500 each will be awarded for the use of research, travel, location scouting, script or storyboard development, experimentation with shooting picture and sound, distribution planning, fundraising, creating a trailer, schedule and budget development, and staffing (creative, technical, or otherwise).

Pre-production applications require a current work sample from the project you are proposing for funding. Early Development applications require two past work samples, and current work samples are not accepted.

Please review the Moving Image Fund guidelines and take a look at our frequently asked questions.

Deadline: Friday, August 16 at 11:59pm

Virtual Info Session

To learn more about the Moving Image Fund, join LEF staff for a virtual info session hosted via Zoom from 3:00–4:00pm ET on Monday, July 15.

This session will include live captioning (CART). Please let us know by Monday, July 8 at 9am if you’d like to request ASL interpretation (SVI) for this meeting.

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The LEF Foundation has awarded 13 Moving Image Fund grants totaling $255,000 in support of feature-length documentary works by New England-based filmmakers.

The LEF Moving Image Fund invests in feature-length documentary films that demonstrate excellence in technique, strong storytelling ability, and originality of artistic vision and voice. The most recent round of awards includes seven grants of $15,000 to projects at the Production stage and six grants of $25,000 to projects at the Post-production stage. 

This round’s selected projects are in conversation with one another in many ways. Some projects navigate families and localities, while others address interwoven narratives that span generations and geographies. The projects engage various approaches to nonfiction form—archival, hybrid, character-driven, lyrical—to create cinematically compelling works about experiences of erasure and repression, climate change and cultural loss, legacy and belief, and more.   

Production

• Black Pearl (dir. Iyabo Kwayana; prod. Sebastián Pinzón Silva)
• Burlington, This is You! (dirs. Myles David Jewell + Lauren-Glenn Davitian; prods. Meghan O’Rourke + Jordan Mitchell)
• The Fate of Human Beings (dir. Heather Cassano; prods. Heather Cassano + Emily Hofelich)
• Life is Strange, Leia Lu (working title) (dir. Matt Reynolds; prods. Tom Schiller + Christina Mastrangelo)
• My Skin and I (Milton Guillén + Fiona Guy Hall; prods. Zorana Mušikić + May Odeh)  
• The River (dir. Caitlyn Greene; prod. Sara Archambault)
• We Sing Nonetheless (dirs./prods. Adam Mazo + Ben Pender-Cudlip)

Post-production

• A Body To Live In (dir. Angelo Madsen Minax; prods. Angelo Madsen Minax + Lyle Ravi Kash)
• Backside (dir. Raúl Paz-Pastrana; prods. Patricia Alvarez Astacio + Gabriella Garcia-Pardo)
• REMAKE (dir. Ross McElwee; prods. Mark Meatto + Ross McElwee)
• Softly in all directions (dir. Anna Barsan; prods. Shannon Fitzpatrick + Patrick Brăila)
• Unconscious Medicine (working title) (dir. Julie Mallozzi; prods. Julie Mallozzi + Emily Abi-Kheirs)
• Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong (working title) (dirs. Kaitlyn Schwalje + Alex Lewis; prods. Rebecca Stern + Justin Levy)

“The films receiving grants this year are only a small selection of projects out of the many ambitious works being made by New England-based filmmakers,” said Lyda Kuth, LEF Executive Director. “As we approach 25 years of the Moving Image Fund, we’ve had the opportunity to support a regional community of filmmakers and their work over time.” 

“As a Vermont filmmaker, LEF’s support helps us solidify a deeper reach for a local story that has national context,” said Myles David Jewell, whose project received a Production grant. “They have proven a commitment to cinematic form and values-based non-fiction, so we are deeply grateful for our opportunity to show up for this process.”

The formal grant review process began in early winter when LEF received 83 eligible letters of inquiry at its January 2024 deadline for Production and Post-production. These proposals were evaluated by a group of three New England-based filmmakers serving as peer readers, in addition to LEF staff.

Of these initial inquiries, 32 projects were invited by LEF staff to submit a full application, including 23 finalists in Production and 9 finalists in Post-production. All 32 full applications were then evaluated by a peer review panel made up of filmmakers and professionals from across the U.S. who represent a diversity of perspectives on documentary. Peer reviewers remain anonymous and change at every round. 

“Because LEF’s decision-making process invites a new group of peer reviewers to participate at each round, we value being able to share a robust set of peer review feedback notes by phone with every applicant who requests it,” said LEF Program Director Gen Carmel. “We hope it helps to inform their creative process and any future applications. These phone calls are also one way that the LEF team can learn more about how we can improve our filmmaker support programs.”

Julie Mallozzi, whose project received a Post-production grant, shared: “LEF’s funding has been crucial for my film, providing first encouragement at the early development phase and then later crucial finishing funds to get us to the screen. I have appreciated LEF’s open process and the community they foster among New England’s documentary makers.”

In addition to this group of grantees, LEF also awarded $52,500 to 14 projects in Early Development and Pre-production earlier in the fiscal year. In total, LEF will be distributing $307,500 in funding to documentary productions over the course of its 2023–24 fiscal year. 

The next Moving Image Fund grant deadline is Friday, August 16, 2024 for New England-based directors and producers seeking Pre-production and Early Development support for feature-length documentaries.

LEF will announce the open call for applications on June 14.

You can find more details regarding LEF Moving Image Fund guidelines and eligibility on our website.

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The LEF Foundation has awarded 14 Moving Image Fund grants totaling $52,500 in support of feature-length documentary works by New England-based filmmakers.

The LEF Moving Image Fund invests in feature-length documentary films that demonstrate excellence in technique, a resonant story or idea, and originality of artistic vision and voice. The most recent round of awards includes seven grants of $5,000 to projects at the Pre-production stage and seven grants of $2,500 to projects at the Early Development stage. 

The group of projects funded in this round amplify local and global perspectives. From neighborhoods around Boston, to Western Massachusetts and overlooked corners of Maine, New England is a rich backdrop for some of the projects while functioning as a springboard to other parts of the country like Illinois, South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama, and globally to places like Wales, Greece, Ireland, Palestine, and the upcoming Paris Olympics. These films reckon with legacies both personal and cultural, enlisting innovative nonfiction storytelling strategies to bring to the screen considerations of artistic freedom, mythmaking, ecology, sexuality, personal history, and political action.  

Pre-production

97

Directed by Kate Way

Produced by Jennifer Wiggin, Tom Wiggin, Allyson Rice, + Kate Way

1511

Directed by Michelle Trujillo

Produced by Sydney Combs

BY ALL YOUR MEMORIES

Directed by Kelly Gallagher

Produced by Mary Jirmanus Saba

The Cardiff Tapes

Directed by David Shayne

Produced by Leila Philip

Rebounds

Directed by Fern Silva

Produced by Rea Apostolides

The Selma Project

Directed by Jay Paris

Produced by Jay Paris, Anna Myer, Carlos Mejia, + Charles Bonner

Uncovered

Directed and Produced by Sarah Bliss

Early Development

Breakin’ Away 

Directed by Oliver Arias

Produced by Eric Axelman

Cosmic Moose and Grizzly Bears Ville

Directed and Produced by Amber Bemak

John Henry: Unmasking America’s First Real Black Superhero (wt)

Directed and Produced by Randall MacLowry + Tracy Heather Strain

THE MIDWAY IN SUNLIGHT AND SHADOW: A 21st CENTURY GUIDEBOOK TO THE 1893 WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION

Directed by Marc Fields

Produced by Marc Fields + Shaun Clarke

Opening the Heart (working title)

Directed and Produced by Zulilah Merry

OVERDUE: Boston Chinatown’s struggle to reclaim and restore its branch library 

Directed by Jesse Epstein + Melissa Taing

Produced by Heang Leung Rubin + Melissa Taing

SILVER & earth

Directed by Kathryn Ramey

Produced by Emily Abi-Kheirs

At LEF’s August deadline for Pre-production and Early Development, 37 eligible applications were received by filmmakers working throughout New England. Three peer readers from the local filmmaking community who represent a diversity of perspectives on documentary were invited to review, discuss, and make recommendations on the applications. These peer evaluations informed LEF staff’s final grant decisions.

“The filmmaking community here is dedicated to peer support for one another and to ambitious filmmaking, making New England a strong incubator for nonfiction,” said Lyda Kuth, Executive Director. “In each round of the Moving Image Fund, we at LEF are exposed to dozens of projects that bring greater nuance to well-known histories or reveal new experiences altogether. The abundance of filmmaking practices in our region is reflected in this round of selected projects, which, even in early stages, are a driving force in the kinds of stories and voices New England has to offer.”        

Now completing its fourth year, funding at the Early Development stage is still one of the Moving Image Fund’s newest additions, giving initial seed funding to filmmakers who have not yet had a chance to shoot or edit sample footage for their current projects.

All applicants who applied for LEF funding for either Pre-production or Early Development will have the option to receive review notes from staff to learn how their proposals were evaluated by the peer reviewers and to ask any questions.

“We are excited to be able to facilitate an application process that invites peer reviewers to share feedback on proposed projects in their earliest stages,” said LEF Program Director Gen Carmel. “We know that writing a project grant application takes time and care, and we hope to reciprocate by hosting calls with each team that might find it helpful to hear what reviewers found most resonant, and where they had any questions, ideas, or resources to share. Additionally, these calls are one way for us to continue the conversation with applicants, learning about what LEF might be able to improve about its review process.”

In addition to this group of grantees, LEF will also award $205,000 to 11 projects in Production and Post-production later in the fiscal year, following the next January 2023 application deadline. In total, LEF will be distributing $257,500 in funding to documentary productions over the course of its 2024 fiscal year.

The next Moving Image Fund grant deadline will be in January 2023 for New England-based directors and producers seeking Production and Post-production support for feature-length documentaries. Please check lef-foundation.org for details regarding LEF Moving Image Fund guidelines and eligibility. You can subscribe to the LEF New England newsletter for the latest updates on deadlines, grantees, filmmaker opportunities, and more. For further information on the Foundation or its funded projects, please contact Program Officer Matthew LaPaglia at matthew@lef-foundation.org.

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LEF New England is now welcoming applications for Pre-production and Early Development grants through the Moving Image Fund.

A maximum of (6) Pre-production grants of $5,000 each and (6) Early Development grants of $2,500 each will be awarded for the use of research, travel, location scouting, script or storyboard development, experimentation with shooting picture and sound, distribution planning, fundraising, creating a trailer, and schedule and budget development.

Applications for both phases require a written proposal and a full line-item budget. Pre-production applications require a current work sample from the project you are proposing for funding. Early Development applications require two past work samples, and current work samples are not accepted.

Please review the Moving Image Fund guidelines and take a look at our frequently asked questions.

Deadline: Monday, August 7 at 11:59pm

The post LEF New England Now Accepting Moving Image Fund Applications for Pre-production and Early Development Through August 7 appeared first on LEF Foundation.

The LEF Foundation has awarded 12 Moving Image Fund grants totaling $220,000 in support of feature-length documentary works by New England-based filmmakers.

The LEF Moving Image Fund invests in feature-length documentary films that demonstrate excellence in technique, strong storytelling ability, and originality of artistic vision and voice. The most recent round of awards includes eight grants of $15,000 to projects at the Production stage and four grants of $25,000 to projects at the Post-production stage. 

Drawing on approaches that are lyrical, investigative, participatory, and often deeply personal, this year’s selected projects delve into memories and archives to reconcile past events and imagine different futures, while others rooted in the contemporary moment consider actions both individual and collective that have the potential to shape tomorrow.

Ultimately, the funded projects represent just a small portion of the exciting work being pursued by New England-based nonfiction filmmakers. 

Production

• A Body To Live In (dir. Angelo Madsen Minax; prod. Lyle Ravi Kash)
• Chelsea (working title) (dir./prod. Sabrina Avilés + Jenny Alexander)
• Early Mourning, Tarpon Springs (dir./prod. Jodie Mack)
• From The Land (dir. John Hulsey; prod. Ahsen Nadeem + John Hulsey) 
• The Fuck You Spark (dir. James Rutenbeck + Harmon dot aut; prod. Sabrina Avilés)
• Nine (dir./prod. Rachael DeCruz + Jeremy S. Levine)
• She Cried That Day (dir./prod. Amanda Erickson)
• Softly in all directions (dir. Anna Barsan; prod. Shannon Fitzpatrick, Patrick Brăila, + Charlotte Cook)

Post-production

• How to Clean a House in 10 Easy Steps (dir. Carolina Gonzalez Valencia; prod. Carolina Gonzalez Valencia + Brenda Avila-Hanna)
• Kaksori! (dir./prod. Shirley Kim-Ryu + Eben Portnoy)
• My Disability Roadmap (working title) (dir. Dan Habib + Samuel Habib; prod. Dan Habib)
• Night Fight (dir. Khary Saeed Jones; prod. Khary Saeed Jones + Kendra Taira Field)

The formal grant review process began in early winter when LEF received 68 eligible letters of inquiry at its January 2023 deadline for Production and Post-production. These proposals were evaluated by a group of three New England-based filmmakers serving as peer readers, in addition to LEF staff.

“In facilitating this initial evaluation by local peer readers, one of our aims is to connect New England filmmakers to the varied ideas, people, and places inspiring their peers,” said Lyda Kuth, Executive Director. “We hope this results in a deepening sense of commitment and belonging to the dynamic documentary landscape in the region.”

Of these initial inquiries, 30 projects that most aligned with LEF’s funding criteria were invited by LEF staff to submit a full application, including 21 finalists in Production and 9 finalists in Post-production. All 30 full applications were then evaluated by a peer review panel made up of filmmakers and professionals from across the U.S. who represent a diversity of perspectives on documentary. Peer reviewers remain anonymous and change at every round. 

“We are grateful to all of the filmmakers who shared their projects with LEF, and all of the peer reviewers at the letter of inquiry and panel stages who evaluated these applications with careful consideration for each project’s creative intentions,” said LEF Program Director Gen Carmel. “All of the reviewers approached this process with first-hand knowledge of the complex challenges and unknowns that only reveal themselves through the process of making a film.” 

“We know how much effort goes into creating grant applications for LEF’s reviewers to make informed decisions. As a regional funder that seeks to support the New England filmmaking community in ways that go beyond its grant making, LEF is committed to offering peer review feedback by phone to every applicant who requests it. These phone calls are also a way for LEF to improve our process by learning from applicants about their experience.”

In addition to this group of grantees, LEF also awarded $45,000 to 12 projects in Early Development and Pre-production earlier in the fiscal year. In total, LEF will be distributing $265,000 in funding to documentary productions over the course of its 2022–23 fiscal year. 

The next Moving Image Fund grant deadline is Monday, August 7, 2023 for New England-based directors and producers seeking Pre-production and Early Development support for feature-length documentaries. LEF will announce the open call for applications in early June. Please check lef-foundation.org for details regarding LEF Moving Image Fund guidelines and eligibility. You can subscribe to LEF’s mailing list to receive a monthly newsletter and the latest updates about grantee news, filmmaker opportunities, and calls for Moving Image Fund submissions. For more information on the Foundation or its funded projects, please contact Program Officer Matthew LaPaglia at matthew@lef-foundation.org.

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All letters of inquiry for projects in production and post-production are due on Friday, January 20 at 11:59pm. You can read more and apply on the How to Apply page of LEF’s website.

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