The goal of LEF New England is to fund the work of independent documentary film and video artists in the region and to broaden recognition and support for their work, both locally and nationally. It also supports programs that highlight the rich history and ongoing legacy of innovation within New England’s independent film community.
LEF New England launched the Moving Image Fund (MIF) in 2001 to support new film and video work. The Moving Image Fund provides funding across all phases of production, supporting films from the early risk-taking stage, through a film’s completion.
Since its inception, LEF’s Moving Image Fund has awarded over 500 grants to New England-based independent filmmakers with over $5.5 million in funding.
LEF New England's Values
The overarching goal of LEF New England’s philanthropic investment is to help build a sustainable and strong community of support for artists and their work over time.
Individual creative voices: We are committed to supporting the individual creative voices of artists, and encouraging filmmakers to refine their unique lens and opportunity for meaning-making in work that is provocative, heartfelt, and challenging in style and substance.
Artistic risk-taking: We are committed to supporting nascent vision and creative risks that are a part of the process of making a film, which might be expressed as playfulness, provocation, or experimentation in form and/or content. LEF is deeply rooted in its origins as an arts funder.
Creative growth and capacity-building: We are committed to nurturing and maintaining the creative growth of filmmakers, knowing that an individual artist’s evolution has ripple effects within the community they’re a part of.
Diversity in all forms: We are committed to considering how each group of supported projects reflects the diversity of the community of filmmakers living and working in New England.
Relationship-building: We are committed to being in dialogue with filmmakers over time and to building relationships through our peer review process, as well as by offering peer review feedback as a form of constructive in-kind support and mentorship.
Consistent support: We are committed to offering consistency in our grantmaking, maintaining a predictable calendar, support for feature-length works, and similar grant amounts for each phase. Applicants are also able to re-apply.
